House of Thieves (36 page)

Two hours before meeting Manet and Lucien was already on his fourth glass of faux red wine. The euphoria of tricking the Germans had worn off, and the reality of being murdered by the Gestapo for getting involved in this scheme returned. A thousand things could go wrong. He knew that Parisians were betraying Jews to the Germans every day. Suppose someone tipped off the Gestapo about Manet's Jew and the column didn't work? The Jew would give up Manet, and Manet would give him up. He'd be crazy to do this.

Before he'd left the apartment on rue Galilée, Lucien had sketched out the details of the column on a scrap of paper. He turned it over now and began sketching out the building for the factory in Chaville, a suburb west of Paris. He imagined a sawtooth roof to let in light, with glass walls separated by steel mullions one meter apart. Every ten meters he added a brick wall. The entry would have a curving brick wall leading to a deeply recessed glass doorway. Maybe the whole thing could be built of poured concrete, with powerful-looking arches on the inside. He smiled as he drew the profile of the arches, each one with its own flaring buttress to resist the outward thrusts. He tried four different profiles until he settled on the one he liked best.

Lucien had visited Walter Gropius's Fagus Factory in Germany in the '30s and had been dazzled by the sleek, clean design. Since then, Lucien had always wanted to design a factory complex. Although it had come to him in a most bizarre way, this commission could be the opportunity he'd been looking for. To prove that he really had talent by designing a large, important building.

He drained the wine in his glass and stared out across the lifeless rue Kepler. The biggest shock he'd experienced when he'd returned to Paris was its surreal emptiness. The boulevard Saint-Germain, the rue de Rivoli, the Place de la Concorde—all were deserted most of the time. Before the war, even the rue Kepler would have had a steady stream of pedestrians in the evening hours. Lucien had loved to gaze out at the city while sipping his coffee or wine in a café, watching for interesting faces and especially beautiful women. But as Lucien sat by the window now, he saw very few people and it saddened him. The Boche had sucked the wonderful street life out of his beloved Paris.

Lucien never got the chance to fight the Germans. Though he hated their guts, he knew he would've been a terrible soldier in battle—he was scared of guns. Honor and service to country were ideals cherished by the French, although he'd always thought of them as a load of patriotic horse manure. But since his return to Paris, he'd had a gnawing feeling inside him that he was a coward. This was reinforced by the fact that there were so many women in Paris and so few men—most had been killed or captured during the invasion. But not Lucien. His neighbor, Madame Dehor, had a lost a son, blown to bits attempting to stop a Panzer tank. Six months after the boy's death, he could still hear her wailing uncontrollably through the thick walls of the apartment building. Secretly, Lucien was ashamed that he was so useless to his country. Sometimes, he felt guilty that he was alive.

And Lucien knew he didn't have the guts to join the Resistance. Besides, he didn't believe in their cause. It was made up of a bunch of fanatical Communists who'd commit some stupid, meaningless act of sabotage that would trigger the Germans to kill scores of hostages in retaliation.

Lucien looked at the sketch of the factory. On the whole, Manet was offering him a pretty good deal—if you removed the possibility of torture and death by the Gestapo. One secret hiding place he designed in less than an hour, in exchange for twelve thousand francs, which could buy plenty of black market goods. Plus the factory commission. He flipped the paper over to the sketch of the column, which immediately brought a smile to his face. The sense of mastery and excitement he had felt in the apartment returned. He'd experienced such intense pleasure when he'd realized that the column would work. Maybe this was something he could do to get back at the Germans. Sure, he couldn't risk his neck by shooting them, but he could risk it in his own way. And besides, given the solution he'd invented, was there really that much risk? The Gestapo would search and search the apartment and never find the hiding place. That image pleased the hell out of him.

This was suicidal. But something within Lucien compelled him to do it.

• • •

“You're what the Jews call a
mensch
, Monsieur Bernard,” said Manet, who took a sip of wine. Lucien had made sure they had a table off by themselves.

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Lucien. It sounded kind of insulting, similar to the Jewish word
schmuck
.

“I believe it means a human being, a person who stands up and does the right thing.”

“Before I do the right thing, there're a few conditions.”

“Go on,” said Manet.

“I'm not to know anything…I mean anything…about your goddamn Jew,” said Lucien, looking around him to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation.

“I understand perfectly.”

“What about the workmen who'll be doing the construction? How do I know they won't talk?”

“They are men who have worked for me for over twenty years. I can trust them and so can you.”

“The tenants will wonder what's going on when they hear all the noise. Every one of them would be deported if a Jew was found in the building. If they suspected anything, they'd inform the Germans to save themselves.”

“There's a risk, I agree, but the concierge has been well paid to lie if need be. All the tenants are at work during the day. Besides, your solution is ingenious because it's so simple—there won't be that much noise.”

“What about the owner of the building? What if he gets wind of the work?”

“I am the owner, Monsieur Bernard.”

Lucien finally relaxed and sat back in his chair. With those concerns out of the way, it was now time to get down to business.

“You mentioned a fee of twelve thousand francs, Monsieur Manet.”

Manet produced a thick hardback book out of the satchel he held on his lap. He placed it on the table and pushed it toward Lucien.

“Do you like to read? This novel by the American writer Hemingway is most entertaining,” he said with a great smile.

Lucien never read anything except architectural magazines. But he did go to the cinema and had seen all the American films based on great works of literature, so he could pretend he'd read the books.

“Of course, Hemingway.” Gary Cooper starred in
A
Farewell
to
Arms
in 1932. It was a damn good film.

Lucien slowly picked up the book and examined the cover, then began to fan the pages. He abruptly stopped when he saw the first franc note nestled in the hollowed-out book.

“It looks most interesting. I'll start it tonight before I go to bed.”

“I know you'll enjoy it,” replied Manet.

“Now, did I hear you correctly when you said you'd be needing additional factory space for your new contract?” Lucien asked, holding on to the book with both hands in his lap.

“You did indeed. Why don't you come to my office the day after tomorrow to discuss the project—say about two. I'll have all my requirements written out for you. I'm sure you'll need to go back into the apartment to take a few measurements for a drawing, so hold on to the key.”

The smile suddenly vanished from Lucien's face. “But let me make one thing absolutely clear to you, monsieur. I'll never do anything like this again.”

“But of course, I understand completely.”

An awkward silence settled between the two men. Lucien took another sip of his wine. He wanted to get the hell out of there with his new book. Manet smiled and sipped his drink as if he were in no hurry at all.

“You asked me why I was committing suicide.”

“Yes, and you told me you're a devout Christian who wants to help your fellow man,” said Lucien.

“Devout? Not at all. I attend mass on Easter and Christmas and that's it. I do believe that as Christians, we have a basic duty to do what's right, but that's not quite the whole story. There's more to it.”

“Really?”

“Monsieur Bernard, people think the aristocracy, with their money and privilege, have everything in life, but they're dead wrong. The children of my class lack the most important thing: a mother and a father.”

“You were an orphan?”

“Not at all. I had a mother and father, but they, like others of their class, never had time for their children—attending endless social events, entertaining in the city and the country, overseeing their estates and investments. I'll bet in an average week I never spent more than an hour's time with my mother and father. They would often forget my birthday. When I was at boarding school, I didn't see them for months or even receive a letter from them. They were simply too busy for me and my brothers and sisters.”

“That's a shame,” said Lucien.

“No, I was raised by Madame Ducrot. She was my nanny, but she gave me as much love and affection as the best mother could. And she was a Jew.”

“A Jew? How did she…”

“I have no idea how my parents picked a Jew to be our nanny. Maybe they weren't as anti-Semitic as the rest of their kind. Oh, I still got the usual Catholic instruction from priests. But she never hid the fact she was Jewish; in fact, she told us all about it—the holidays, the synagogue, the Exodus—everything.”

Lucien found this fascinating.

“Several times before the war, I was a house guest of Winston Churchill's at Chartwell, his estate in England. I once asked him about a photo of an old woman on his mantel, and he told me it was Mrs. Everest, his nanny. He called her ‘Woomany.' He said that when she died, he was crushed with almost unbearable sadness and grief, a thousand times worse than when his own mother died later. That's how I felt when my nanny, who was my ‘real mother,' died. So you see, Monsieur Bernard, in a way, when I hide these people, I'm hiding Madame Ducrot.”

Order Charles Belfoure's book

The Paris Architect

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You're an architect by profession. Why do you like writing fiction?

Writing is far less stressful than being an architect. The architect must take a design on paper and transform it into a real building using someone else's money and scores of construction workers, comply with building codes and environmental laws, and take legal responsibility for the whole thing. It's very pleasurable to sit and take things out of one's imagination and type on the computer creating a story. It's a wonderful, liberating feeling.

What gave you the idea for the
House
of Thieves
?

I came across a real-life figure named George L. Leslie who came from a wealthy Midwest family and supposedly was an architect for a while in New York. He gave up his practice and became a criminal specializing in bank robberies. From my own experience, I once unwittingly designed an addition to a house owned by a mob boss. I wondered what it would be like to be drawn into the underworld.

What was the most surprising thing you found in your research of the Gilded Age?

The horrible poverty, especially for children. Thousands were thrown out into the streets by their parents because they could not feed them. They roamed the streets like alley cats. The environmental destruction was incredible then. Rivers and public streets were literally cesspools. We complain about poverty and environmental damage, but we have it a million times better today.

Who is your favorite character in the book?

Julia. She was a rebel to begin with and wasn't to be confined by the harsh code of New York high society. Meeting Nolan, the pickpocket, opened up a wonderful new world for her that she loved. Most society girls would never dream of doing such a thing.

What I said in the acknowledgments of my first novel still holds true. If you want to get a novel published, you must have people who absolutely believe in your work and stand behind you. Again, those two special people are my literary agent, Susan Ginsburg of Writers House, and Shana Drehs, editorial director of Sourcebooks Landmark. Susan gave me a great deal of valuable guidance and advice in the writing of my second novel, plus she's always teaching me how to navigate the turbulent waters of the publishing world. Working with Shana and Anna Michels showed me again how important an editor is in this whole process. An author thinks his or her manuscript is perfect but then realizes an editor's insight can raise the book to a higher level,
which is what they did.

Thanks to you all.

Charles Belfoure

Westminster, MD

An architect by profession, Charles Belfoure has published several architectural histories, two of which have won awards from the Maryland Historical Trust. He has also received grants from the Graham Foundation and the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation for architectural research. A graduate of the Pratt Institute and Columbia University, he taught at Pratt as well as at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. His area of specialty is historic preservation. He has been a freelance writer for the
Baltimore
Sun
and the
New
York
Times
and is the international bestselling author of
The
Paris
Architect
.