Philip Kerr - The Other Side of Silence

By the time I went back downstairs I was as warm as a Chinaman’s pressing cloth. So I went back into the bar and had the barman make me an ice-cold gimlet with the good stuff-the 57 percent Plymouth Navy Strength gin they give the sailors in nuclear submarines-just to help the four weaker ones I’d already drunk at La Voile d’Or to take the strain. I hurried it down with my evening meal, which was a couple of olives and a handful of pretzels.

I’d just finished eating dinner when another guest presented herself at the front desk. And it was quite a present: lightly scented, sober, tightly wrapped in black, which left you a pretty good idea of what was under the paper, and with a nice little diamond bow on the front. I don’t know much about fashion but hers was a sort of ballerina bodice-shaped dress, with one shoulder uncovered and, now that I looked at it again, not a bow on the waist at all but a little diamond flower. In her matching black gloves and shoes, she looked every bit as fine as Christian Dior’s bank balance. Mrs. French was one of our local regulars, a rich and extremely attractive English lady in her forties whose father was a famous artist who’d once lived and worked on the Riviera. She’s a writer by all accounts and rents a local house in Villefranche, but she spends much of her free time at the Grand Hotel. She swims a lot in our pool, reads a book in the bar, uses the telephone a great deal, and then has a late dinner in the restaurant. Often she’s alone, but sometimes she’s with friends. A few weeks ago, Mrs. French seemed to be making a play for the French minister of national defense, Monsieur Bourges-Maunoury, who was staying here, but that came to nothing. It seemed that the minister had other things on his mind-like the Islamic threat posed by the Algerian FLN, not to mention Egypt’s cut-price Hitler, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and perhaps the anonymous woman who was in the room next to his. He’s not a bad-looking fellow, I suppose; dark-haired, dark-eyed, perhaps a little oily, a bit small, and frankly a couple of leagues below where Mrs. French plays. I thought a nice brunette like her could do better. Then again, Maurice Bourges-Maunoury is tipped to be the next prime minister of France.

“Good evening, Mrs. French,” I said. “I hope you enjoyed your dinner.”

“Yes, it wasn’t bad.”

“That doesn’t sound nearly as good as it should be.”

She sighed. “It could have been better.”

“Was it the food? Or perhaps the service?”

“To be honest, neither one of them was at fault. And yet there was something lacking. With only my book for company, I fear it was nothing that can be easily remedied by anyone here in the Grand Hotel.”

“Then might I ask what it is you’re reading, Mrs. French?” My manners have improved a lot since I started working in hotels again. Sometimes I sound almost civil.

She opened her crocodile-leather dispatch bag and showed me her book: The Quiet American by Graham Greene. My cop’s eyes took quick note of the bottle of Mystikum, a sheaf of French francs, a gold compact, and a little purple screw-top tin that might have contained a powder puff but more probably contained her diaphragm.

“Not one I’ve read,” I said.

“No. But I think you’ve probably forgotten more about how to render an American acceptably quiet than Graham Greene has ever learned.” She smiled. “Poor Mr. Biltmore. Let’s hope he puts his sore head down to alcohol tomorrow and not your fist.”

“Oh, you saw that. Pity. I had thought the bar was empty.”

“I was seated behind a pillar. But you handled it very well. Like an expert. I’d say you’ve done that kind of thing before. Professionally.”

I shrugged. “The hotel business always presents a number of interesting challenges.”

“If you say so.”

“Perhaps I can recommend something else for you to read,” I offered, hurrying to change the subject.

“Why not? You are a concierge, after all. Although in my own experience playing Robert Benchley is perhaps above and beyond the call of your normal duties.”

I mentioned a book by Albert Camus that had impressed me.

“No, I don’t like him,” she said. “He’s too French for my tastes. Too political, as well. But now that I think about it, maybe you could recommend a book about bridge. I’d like to learn the game and I know you play it often, Mr. Wolf.”

“I’d be happy to lend you some of my own books, Mrs. French. Anything by Terence Reese or S. J. Simon would do, I think.”

“Better still, you could teach me the game yourself. I’d be happy to pay you for some private lessons.”

“I’m afraid my duties here wouldn’t really permit that, Mrs. French. On second thought, I think you’re probably best to start with Iain Macleod’s Bridge Is an Easy Game .”

If she was disappointed she didn’t show it. “That sounds just right. Will you bring it tomorrow?”

“Of course. I regret I won’t be here to give it you myself, Mrs. French, but I’ll certainly leave it with one of my colleagues.”

“You’re not working tomorrow? Pity. I enjoy our little chats.”

I smiled diplomatically and bowed. “Always glad to be of service, Mrs. French.”

In bridge that’s what we call No Bid.

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. Fancy meeting you here.”

Just a few kilometers west of Cap Ferrat, Villefranche-sur-Mer is a curious old Riviera town full of tourists enjoying its hidden Escher stairways, high tenements, and dark, winding cobbled streets. It’s a little like being in a Gallic version of a Fritz Lang movie, shadowy, secret, and full of awkward, fish-eye angles, perfect for a deracinated wanted man living quietly and under a false name. So it was surprising to bump into Mrs. French outside a bar on-of all places-the Rue Obscure, which is entirely vaulted over, like a crypt, and most reminds me of a part of old Berlin, which is probably why I go there. Alone. The La Darse Bar is a crummy, sepulchral sort of place with sawdust on the floor and sticky wooden tables and looks like it’s been in existence since the time of Charles V, but the house rose they serve in earthenware pitchers is just about drinkable and I’m often to be found there, if anyone was ever inclined to look for me. Nobody ever had been inclined to look for me and so I couldn’t help but feel that Mrs. French finding me in the Rue Obscure wasn’t entirely the happy accident she claimed. She was wearing pink capri pants, a matching head scarf, a loose black sweater, and around her neck was a string of pearls and an even more expensive-looking Leica. Hers was the kind of carefree, casual look that women spend a lot of time in front of the mirror getting just right.

“Do you live around here, Mr. Wolf?” she asked.

“In a manner of speaking. I have a place on Quai de la Corderie. On the seafront.” I wondered who among my colleagues at the GHCF might have told her where I lived and, more to the point, my habits, and quickly arrived at the name of Ueli Leuthard, who was my boss and, I knew, a friend of Mrs. French.

“You realize we’re almost neighbors, don’t you? My house is on Avenue des Hesperides.”

I smiled. My house resembled the local jail. The houses on Avenue des Hesperides were large, well-appointed villas with several stories, sprawling gardens, and expensively uninterrupted views of the sea. Describing us as neighbors was like comparing a sea urchin with a giant octopus.

“I suppose we are,” I said. “But what brings you along this street, Mrs. French? It’s not called obscure for nothing.”

“Taking pictures, like everyone else. When I’m not writing, I take photographs. I’ve even sold a few. And call me Anne, please. We’re not at the Grand Hotel now.”