J. Janes - Carousel

‘Will you have to choose between him and France some day?’

‘He’ll have to choose between me and the Third Reich. I could never shoot him, not after what the two of us have been through.’

‘What about the hostages?’ she asked.

‘Rerouted to the South, to Perigord. It was the best we could do under the circumstances. Hermann fixed it using two of Antoine Audit’s trucks. I got the baker Georges and his girlfriend to go along with them.’

‘So, it’s only the two of us and it won’t work.’

‘You’re much taller than me.’

‘Another excuse?’

‘There are eight hundred German servicemen out there and any one of them would give an arm or a leg for what you have just offered but me …’

‘Yes, yes, I know, Jean-Louis. War is dangerous and so is being a detective when no one really wants one, but we need you to help us in the Resistance cell I’ve formed, so there is an end to it, and I have laid my life in your hands.’

‘You’re a very determined woman.’

‘One doesn’t get anywhere without determination.’

Her arms went about him, her lips … the feel of her. Ah Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu … the coal-black stallion, the shower of emeralds and gold coins …

Paris … Paris under the Occupation. A carousel …

‘Louis … Louis, I hate to break things up, but the Chief wants to see us right away.’

‘Another murder?’ Ah no …

‘Provence. Some little place in the hills. He thinks it still might be a good idea if we got out of town for a while.’