J. Janes - Salamander

Had Louis come upstairs? Had she seen him? ‘Now look, crimes of passion are always dealt with less severely. If there are extenuating circumstances, the courts will be lenient.’

She gave the half-smile of tragedy. ‘Eighteen, monsieur? Eighteen ? Were you not the one to catch the child that fell from it’s mother’s arms?’

‘The tenement fire … You lit it to take the heat off your brother.’

‘A Salamander , monsieur! A creature of mythology. One that lives in fire and basks in its warm embrace as naked lovers do in the act of their union. A scaleless, slippery animal whose skin is soft ! A creature that can change its colour when trapped! A chameleon , monsieur-that would have been a far better code-name for you people to have used. A lizard that can vanish !’

‘Will he torch the theatre?’

‘As he torched the cinema of the Beautiful Celluloid?’

Again there was that half-smile both cruel at what life had dealt her and yet bemused. ‘Another fire for which there is no need, monsieur? You see, I didn’t know. Until that fire at the cinema, I never thought for a moment that my brother might have been responsible for those other fires. He was my saviour. He was the one person to whom I could run for shelter. And in any case, he could not have done the cinema fire alone, could he? Oh mais certainement he must have had help before, but had he had it this time? I hesitated to approach the ruins. I was so afraid Henri would have been trapped inside. Burnt to a crisp. Ashes … nothing but ashes. But the memories kept crowding me and I saw my Max in flames. I saw his face begin to melt, I heard his screams. Now I know Henri must have found us together just as he discovered Father Adrian with me.’

Ah Gott im Himmel , the kid was going to kill herself!

‘My brother has always been fascinated by fire, monsieur, and has always wanted me. Henri used to watch me when I was naked as a child. He would strike matches and hold them up, and I would not understand the intensity of his gaze. Oh for sure he would never bring them too close to me and I knew this yet was always afraid. He used to bathe me, did you know this? He used to worship his little sister whom he called “perfection”.’

She became more matter of fact. ‘You see, monsieur, Henri would play a game with Claudine and Ange-Marie, a game in which fire was discovered to cause arousal. Really it was fear, I guess. Oh mon Dieu , who’s to say? But Ange-Marie knows all about it. You’ll have to ask her.’

‘And Claudine? What about her, mademoiselle? What about the keys to your school?’

He wanted the phosphorus. He wanted to keep her talking so as to still death’s sweet moment for as long as possible. ‘Claudine had to be killed, isn’t that so? She could not be allowed to live knowing what she did. She had made a telephone call for Henri that had summoned Father Adrian to his death, she had agreed to meet with a certain woman in a certain cinema. The white sugar of oxalic acid was placed in the bowl, then the concentrated sulphuric allowed to drain slowly down the inside to cover the oxalic which immediately began to fizz.’

‘Yes, but who did it?’

‘Claudine would never know. You see, she feared another-isn’t that correct? A German lady. Beautiful, wanton, eager to touch Claudine’s breasts with fire as a lover would. Naked and alone but secretly watched by another who would take photographs of them. Photographs that would then anonymously fall into the hands of the Gestapo thus pointing the finger of suspicion at the two of them. Me, I have found the negatives and destroyed them.’

The girl took a breath. Perhaps she wanted to quickly brush the hair back from her left cheek, perhaps she simply wanted to swallow, thought Kohler.

‘Carbon dioxide gas is heavier than the more deadlier carbon monoxide, monsieur. Both are released in equal quantities and they tend to displace the air that is in the bowl above the mixture but …’ Again there was that smile. ‘But it really doesn’t matter, does it? Once the gases are breathed, the blood absorbs the poison and the mind slips into unconsciousness. Then death comes quickly to steal the soul and silence the tongue for ever.’

‘Did you kill her?’

He would not believe her but she would tell him anyway. ‘No, I did not. Jean-Pierre, my beautiful zazou , told me how it must have been done. He found it in one of his father’s chemistry texts.’

‘Did Ange-Marie Rachline do it?’

‘For you I have no more answers, monsieur. I have sinned and the futility of my sin is that I wished only to protect the brother whom I loved and admired and tried so hard to understand.’

‘Don’t do it, please. The phosphorus … Two bottles, Mademoiselle Charlebois. At least five hundred grams in … ah, God alone knows how many cubes.’

The phosphorus … ‘Kept under water, it bursts instantly into flame on exposure to air …’

‘Please tell us where it is,’ begged the detective and she saw that he, too, had gone down on his knees before the flame and that there were tears running down his time-ravaged cheeks. ‘Must more be killed?’ he asked. ‘Robichaud, mademoiselle? Did you have to silence him? Leiter Weidling will not be a good enough match for your brother.’

‘The German fire chief, he questioned Max and me many times after the Lubeck fire and then again after the one in Heidelberg and then … why then only myself after the fire in Koln. The flames that took my lover from me, monsieur, and now have broken my heart completely because Henri, he was there and I did not know it at the time, nor did anyone else except a certain butterfly who helped him so much and did his every bidding because she was afraid of him.’

Claudine …

From behind the ordered clutter of objects d’art , St-Cyr watched the two of them. Hermann was trying his best to pry every last thing he could out of the girl. She, in turn, was holding back even now but … but were they alone? Was the brother not watching too?

‘Leiter Weidling understands only too well what it’s all about, monsieur. The fire chief from Lubeck won many awards on the backs of my brother’s fires and now will do so again because he is not only ruthlessly ambitious but swift as a fox. When I saw him in the place Terreaux that day after the cinema fire, my heart stopped. Oh for sure I knew he was in our city, and I had been terribly worried about this because Henri had been so upset. But why had Leiter Weidling come like a vulture to feed on the roast of carrion unless he had known who was to blame?’

She paused, then said, ‘His wife, she is very beautiful but like the Salamander, must be able to change her skin when threatened or trapped.’

Louis was behind him-Kohler felt it strongly. ‘Did she know your brother would be in that cinema, mademoiselle?’

‘Was she there to meet him? Was Father Adrian? Ask … ask what you will, but not of me.’

‘Ah no, don’t. Don’t! ’ Kohler leapt. The dagger was savagely driven into her breast. In shock, her eyes widened and her mouth opened. For a moment she clung desperately to life, wanting to tell him more … more … She must tell him about Concarneau. She must! The sea … the sound of the sea, the warmth of the sun in the heat of the sands, burning … burning. A pair of white underpants she would later steal to remind Henri of it all some day. Voices … secret voices … Whispers, a shrill scream … ‘Ange-Marie … Ange … Ma … rie is … is the … the …’

She toppled over, knocking the candle stub so that it rolled on to its side with the flame flickering in her hair. Now a touch, now a curling of the hairs as they were singed.