J. Janes - Kaleidoscope

Louis was yelling for him to join them. ‘Their SS handlers, Hermann. They will be coming!’

The dust stung the dogs’ eyes. It burned their nostrils and reached far down into their throats. It only drove them to a madness that alarmed. Flinging the last of the bottle at them, Kohler ran but by then Louis and the girl had vanished. Ah merde ! Where had they gone?

There was a cistern deep in the rocks below the ruins. As he peered doubtfully past the girl, St-Cyr saw that the steep and narrow staircase disappeared uncomfortably into inky darkness below. ‘ Ah Nom de Dieu ,’ he whispered, giving a troubled sigh. ‘We must wait for Hermann, mademoiselle. This I cannot undertake myself.’

‘But we must, monsieur. The dogs, isn’t that correct? There is a narrow bridge to cross. Once there, I will come back for your friend.’

‘Leave an arrow for him. Place it up high, in sunlight if possible. That will have to do.’ Merde , this place! Ruin piled upon ruin; passageways and passageways.

As she stepped past him, they brushed against each other precariously. His back was to the wall; she had nothing but the abyss to guide her steps.

He watched as she found a slender patch of sunlight high on the wall and placed the arrow there; he hoped Hermann would not be too busy with the dogs to notice it.

‘The dogs …?’ he asked, and wondered what had happened to them.

‘Hurry,’ she said, her voice a hush, and stepping quickly past him, went down the steps. ‘Come,’ she urged. ‘Don’t hesitate. It’s quite safe but stay close to me.’

‘Josette-Louise … your voice, mademoiselle? You have used the voice of your sister.’

‘Have I?’ she asked, flashing a smile. ‘She is with me, Inspector. Can’t you feel her presence? It was she who discovered this place and who found the beaker you have in your pocket.’

‘Ah yes. “Drink and live for ever”.’

‘Let us drink then, when we reach the water. Let us drink to her.’

Ah Nom de J e sus-Christ , Hermann, he shouted to himself. With what are we dealing? Two people; two voices. The one from the world beyond. Both calling to each other …

Down in the darkness there was nothing but the sound of trickling water as it spilled over the cistern’s lip. And he had to wonder how it was that the village had never discovered this ready source, just as he had to wonder where Jean-Paul was hiding. ‘Mademoiselle …?’ he began hesitantly, only to find that she had left him.

Immediately a cold sweat broke out all over him. ‘Chamonix again!’ he cursed. Jean-Paul, he was so near, so near …

Feeling with a toe, he hazarded a step – felt all around him with a hand. A bridge, she’d said. A narrow walkway.

Listen as he did, the sound of the water was not near or far, or from the left or right, but coming from everywhere. It echoed too. And the musty damp of the ages was there as well. Ah yes. And the stale pipesmoke and tobacco of the present. That, too, of small cigars. Dutch cigarillos.

Getting down on his hands and knees, St-Cyr found the narrow slab of stone that formed the bridge, and crossed over what must be a chasm filled with water. Now the ground was flagged and he could feel the edges of each stone. He went on for perhaps twenty metres, perhaps a little more. A narrow fissure forced him to stand and squeeze sideways and only then did he realize a wall or several layers of rock must have slid sideways to all but close the passage. An earthquake perhaps. In Aegean times, or Roman.

Here time really had no meaning.

The fissure ended. St-Cyr sucked in a breath. Josette-Louise was standing on some rocks in the centre of a circular pool whose rim was only slightly raised. Sunlight fell on her from a hole high in the roof above, but all around her there was darkness.

Jean-Paul would be waiting for him. Then why … why did he feel he was so near?

Kohler dragged in a ragged breath and brought the stone down with all the force he could muster. The dog’s skull cracked. Blood shot from its eyes. ‘There …’ he gasped, too tired to fling the boulder from him in disgust. ‘I like dogs, damn it! Good dogs. I always had one when a boy.’

Kneeling still, he let his hands fall between his legs as he bowed his head in utter exhaustion. First one and then the other of the dogs had come at him. Unsteady … yes, yes, perhaps, but how was he to have known for sure?

Dragging himself up, he leaned against the wall and tried to still the aching in his head. Jesus, it was as if all the fireworks in China were going off inside him.

Blood still seeped from the damage Delphane had inflicted. Must he bear the scars of every investigation Louis and he got into? He wanted to rage aloud at the injustice of it all. He wanted to curse Himmler and the Fuhrer but knew it would serve no purpose. ‘Louis …’ he muttered. ‘Must get to Louis before that bastard does him in.’

‘Monsieur …?’

It was the weaver but she had not come alone. Two burly SS with Schmeissers stood on either side of her, and neither of them looked happy about the dogs.

Kohler raised a tired hand to signal that he’d seen them, and when she walked on ahead, he thought that maybe they might shoot her. The walls confined. There was a cleared space where blocks of stone had perhaps been quarried by one of the villagers to finish off a house or build one. She crossed this and then, suddenly, came up three simple steps and was standing before him.

He asked what had happened and she said, ‘I know the ruins, though not as well as my daughter. Jean-Paul might just be able to escape. Herr Munk has offered to let Josette go free if I will see that her father is stopped.’

‘Have they killed the boy?’

She shook her head and saw him nod – understood at once that this one had not wanted Bebert or any of them to have been taken. ‘Carlo’s dead. He tried to snatch a gun from one of the SS. Herr Munk could not have let him live.’

Kohler nodded grimly. ‘Questions … there’d have always been questions about the villa and who really owned it.’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, that’s so, isn’t it?’

‘Come on. We’d better find them. Those two can follow if they want.’

He took her by the wrist and she let him do so, was glad of the gesture, but when they saw the arrow, she had to follow him down the steps. They were so steep. Darker, darker, and darker …

‘Ssh!’ he said. ‘Listen!’

The girls were calling to each other. ‘Josianne, why didn’t you tell me you’d found this place?’

‘Josette, I wanted to but then I could not control myself. I went all to pieces. A terrible fit. The worst one ever.’

‘That’s why you took your things up to the ruins and sat at the Window of the Gods. I just knew there had to be a reason for your sitting there like that so quietly.’

And from elsewhere, echoing also, ‘I would never have given you epilepsy, Josette. I would have shared Alain with you, just as we shared everything.’

‘Yes, yes, my sister, this I know. He loved us both. Hey, I found the beaker, Josianne! The Inspector has it in his pocket.’

‘It’s beautiful, Josette. It was to be a present for you but I could not dig it up again … again … She … she …’

Kohler felt for the weaver’s arm and gently tugged on it, signalling to follow him. The voices came from everywhere. Now, too, the sound of trickling water.

‘I’ve never been here,’ she whispered anxiously.

They crossed the chasm and came to the fissure. ‘Sideways,’ he said. ‘You after me. Don’t stay behind … behind … behind …’ Ah merde, merde , even whispers echoed! A loose rock fell. The sound of it was canyon-loud, and after it, there was the sound of someone running and then only that of the water.