The Cyclist (2 page)

He was not a man to embrace the past from habit, but the events of the last few years forced him to look back at his prewar life with a heartbreaking nostalgia. Auguste smiled, recalling a scene from those “old days”. He was a young policeman then and as in all his memories of those times, the sun was shining. Off-duty, he sat in the café on the square under a bright red and blue striped parasol, he ate a salad with walnuts and duck gizzards, oil and vinegar. He could almost smell the balsamic odours, recall the taste of the Rosé and how it mingled with the flavours in his mouth. His superior pointed over his shoulder across the square and they shared a joke. What was it? Something to do with promotion? His memory seemed clouded, he was forgetting. It was a long time ago, a time of happiness and so details were out of mind.

He had worked in the City Police Force for over twenty years now, but in his early days, he was not ambitious and never sought promotion; it just happened. His precise police work and his tenacity investigating cases drew him to the attention of his superiors and so the elevation of rank came uninvited. It might have been that murder case when the murderer, a farmer, hid the body under a hay-stack. If Auguste had not brought his Scottie dog with him the seventh time he questioned the man, he might not have found it. It had been the dog’s constant fascination with the yellow hay-pile alerting him, which led to his finding the body.

He did well out of the case; it was widely publicised. The town acknowledged his abilities too. Auguste knew he was a good investigator and experience now gave him an edge. He also knew he was too emotional for the job, as Odette, his wife, often told him. Auguste felt sorry for the murderer’s wife at the time and her subsequent suicide shocked and depressed him. She was shunned and castigated by everyone but there was nothing he could do for her and he knew it. Those feelings blunted his triumph and made it all a hollow victory when they discovered her body hanging by the neck from a rafter in the barn.

The German occupation was changing his role and every aspect of his life changed with it. Auguste felt like a man on a treadmill who discovers he is only marking time but has long since ceased to care. His existence in the Vichy police was taking him nowhere now and he knew it. He was a second-class bureaucrat in the eyes of the German administration and nothing more. It was as if he spent the last ten years blinkered not seeing what was coming when it was obvious to everyone in the rest of Europe. At first, with the defeat, he felt shocked, threatened. Before it happened he trusted the Maginot line, he thought the Government knew how to defend the country. Disillusionment came when the Germans entered Paris and he wondered what would become of his wife and family; he feared for his life. The family felt tempted to flee like so many others all over France, but Paris was a long way away and salvation came for Auguste in the end. It was Pétain, hero of the last war, who seemed to save France, save him, Odette and little Zara. He thought then the President was right; the only way forward would be to work with the Germans and God knew, how as a policeman, he tried. Policing was his job and he continued to exist within its framework. He could no more buck those traces than he could leave his beloved France.

He was a short stocky man and he wore his brown hair close-cropped in a military style. Deep crow’s feet were imprinted at the sides of his grey eyes, a relic of happier days when there was much to smile about. His black uniform, threadbare but neat, was symptomatic of stringencies as well as his own personal quest for precision and tidiness in a time of upheaval.

A knock on his door drew him away from the window and he sat down behind his desk, trying to look occupied.

‘Enter,’ he said.

Édith, a short plump woman of middle years entered. She had worked at the Prefecture since long before the war started. She knew everyone in the town but Auguste felt her greatest asset was her experience and her knowledge of police procedure when there were difficulties. She showed him the ropes when they first promoted him; she kept him straight afterwards and he trusted her.

She smiled a sympathetic smile and presented him with a letter. Édith had a habit of wrinkling her small, upturned nose, which supported the gold-rimmed, half-moon spectacles through which she peered down at him.

‘This came from Lyon,’ she said.

‘Lyon? Late in the day for messages from Lyon.’

‘Jean dropped it in. He said it came by special delivery—a motorcyclist no less. It was to be in your hands immediately.’

He took the envelope but noticed his hand betrayed a faint tremble when he saw the Prefecture emblem. It had already been opened, he assumed by Édith.

‘Something more?’ he said.

‘No, no.’

‘Édith. It was addressed to me. Maybe you should have let me open this one.’

She walked to the door but turned back as if there was more to say.

‘I assumed…’

Auguste shrugged and indicated the chair.

‘You’ve read it, so you might as well sit down and tell me what’s in it. Am I in trouble?’

The office door gave a quiet click as she shut it. She returned to sit in the chair in front of the desk and crossed her legs. Her worn black suit had seen better days but no one had money these days.

‘No, nothing like that. It’s more Jewish business.’

‘And so urgent it has to be sent at the end of the day? No doubt, they think there is going to be a Jewish uprising, a declaration of independence. Perhaps every homosexual is carrying a gun as well.’

‘It’s from Tulard. A special directive.’

‘More work, I suppose. He should, of all people, know I have enough on my hands enforcing all the new laws. I am used to prejudice against Jews, it’s been common enough here, but the Germans seem to revel in it.’

‘They want all Jews rounded up and interned in Drancy,’ she said.

‘All Jews?’

‘Yes. Will you do it?’

‘But of course I will do it. It’s my job. We need to cooperate with the Germans or things may get much worse for everyone. They will replace the entire Civil Administration with German Military personnel. The work we do here protects the country and the people.’

‘You really believe that? You don’t sound so convinced.’

He was silent. She looked at the floor.

She said, ‘I...’

‘What do they want all the Jews for anyway? I know they use them to work in munitions factories, but how many people do you need for such a thing? They sent twenty thousand away at the end of last year.’

‘Perhaps they die and need to be replaced.’

‘Die? No, Brunner told me they have good, warm accommodation and they are well fed. No, the Germans are plotting something, mark my words.’

‘Brunner is unreliable. You can’t believe him. ’

‘He’s
Sicherheitspolizei
. You might find him unpleasant but he can hardly be unreliable.’

‘If he was just another SD officer it wouldn’t matter. He has a bad reputation.’

‘Keep your voice down Édith. You’ve told me already. I can’t believe in rumours. I am a man who needs proof, you know that.’

‘I understand, but all the same he makes my flesh crawl,’ she said.

‘Well, I have to work with him. He’s not so bad once you get to know him. He’s quite the Francophile you know.’

She was silent again. A gloomy atmosphere appeared between them now and Auguste wanted to end it. He read the memo.

‘You can go now.’

‘There was one more thing, Auguste.’

‘Yes?’

‘François Dufy.’

‘Not him again? What’s he done now?’

‘Claude arrested him.’

‘What for this time?’

She smiled and said, ‘He caught some rabbits. He stood outside the prefecture and was shouting for people to buy them. He was drunk.’

‘Well it’s no crime unless he was selling at exorbitant prices.’

‘No, he was shouting they were “as fat as Göring”.’

‘What?’

‘As fat as Göring. Claude arrested him in case the Germans heard him. He’s a fool.’

‘Yes, always drunk. What did Claude charge him with?’

‘Disturbing the peace.’

‘Well at least it wasn’t for sedition. He’d be deported for that.’

‘Claude wondered if we could keep him in the cells for a week and then let him out. He’s harmless you know.’

Édith stood.

‘Yes, yes. I hope he learns his lesson.’

‘I’m going home now. The keys are on my desk.’

She opened the door again.

‘Édith?’

‘Yes?’

‘Thank you.’

She smiled and left. The click of the door as she shut it seemed to echo in his head. Had it not been for Édith, he would have felt an utter loneliness at work. He missed the time when he was a real policeman. A solver of crimes, a true detective. And now? All he did now was persecute people he had known or to whom he had once been close. The townspeople hated him for it. He felt as if he hated himself too at times.

Without Odette to come home to, he would have left the country long ago. She kept him sane. It was a sanity he needed, for he had begun to feel the world was mad. All sense of proportion had gone, its departure leaving behind an emptiness, a potent emptiness, consuming him, spilling over into everything he saw and did.

2

Auguste pulled the door shut behind him. He sighed, as he felt in his pocket out of habit. No cigarettes. He could do with a smoke. He wished Odette was less persuasive and he was still able to smoke, but she insisted. He pictured the packet of Gitanes in his hand and the light tap, tap as he knocked the tiny fragments of tobacco from the tip. He reached the stairs and in his mind he was lighting the cigarette as he stepped down.

His thoughts were interrupted by the telephone in his office. Damn, he thought. Should he leave it? The sound was insistent; intrusive. It might be important.

He relented then and reentered his office crossing the floor-space fast.

‘Yes?’

‘Auguste.’

‘Major Brunner.’

 ‘I have bad news, my friend.’

‘News?’

‘Someone shot Meyer, right in front of our offices, from the shoe shop.’

‘Yes, I know. My men are out searching the streets, making enquiries.’

‘Shot in the face. What do you think?’

‘Terrible.’

‘I’m afraid there will have to be consequences. I have requested assistance from the Wehrmacht. They are sending troops and will be active north of the town. I expect the killer to be found, you hear?’

‘I am doing everything I can. You said the shoe shop?’

‘Yes, the murderer must have been there for days. He was a professional; it would have been a difficult shot even for a German soldier. The owner unfortunately was shot trying to escape or we would know more. Looks as if the killer escaped over the roof and ran or cycled away. No one saw a car.’

‘That much, my men know already. There is nothing we can do now. In the morning…’

‘We need to talk anyway. I will send a car tomorrow. You know poor Meyer had a wife and two daughters?’

‘No, I didn’t know him well. He and I never got on.’

‘I have had a very distressing phone-call. She became hysterical.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘He was a very valued comrade. I will ask the Mayor to erect a statue to him. It may comfort his family to know he is still remembered for his efforts by the loyal French here.’

‘A very good idea. I’m sure it will be well-received,’ Auguste lied. The thought of a statue to a German SD officer adorning the market square amused him. It was ironic. He had a vague feeling it was funny. He wondered if he was becoming hysterical.

‘Tomorrow then?’

Auguste said, ‘Yes, perhaps we will have more news then.’

The telephone clicked off and he replaced the receiver. He stood looking at the shiny black resin machine and cursed to himself. He wondered who Brunner would choose now to run errands for him. He had never like Meyer, the man picked on people and as happens to all bullies, someone must have borne a grudge. Not surprising in a world where reprisals for one German could mean twenty innocent farmers and villagers shot.

He tapped the desk with his fingers. He slowed his breathing. He had something to do now and although he recognised it was his duty, a trace of reluctance delayed him. He felt tired and as he left the office, he sighed. It seemed to him as if he trudged up a hill and each time he reached the summit another appeared before him. There was no end to this cycle of killings, reprisals and grief. Worse still, it dragged him and his men deeper and deeper into a mire of complicity with the Germans. He had to cooperate with them but he was finding it more difficult by the minute.

3

The rain came in sheets as Auguste left the Prefecture. He nodded to the desk sergeant as he closed the tall oak door behind him. The grey, stone steps echoed to the clack of his black boots as he descended and drops of rain pattered on his flat-topped hat. He crossed the square to his battered Citroën. Squatting, he checked under the vehicle.

Finding nothing attached beneath, he got in but did not start up. He sat a moment looking straight ahead. All registered Jews. It meant hundreds of people from Bergerac alone, a mammoth task. He knew he possessed the manpower. They were never short of recruits these days, since Vichy had come to power. President Pétain ensured funding for the police continued to escalate despite the German plundering.

Twenty francs to the deutsche-mark he was thinking. It was like downgrading everything in the land. You might as well give exports away, not that there was any food to export these days. Even if food was available, the food tickets limited the quantity to a mouthful.

He pressed the starter. Nothing happened. He swore. On the fourth attempt, the Citroën coughed then began chugging. It screeched as he put it into gear. He set off, double de-clutched into second, and turned left towards the bridge. Crossing above the swirling brown waters of the Dordogne, he turned left again and hit the main Sarlat road out of town. The windscreen wipers squeaked in the rain and he could only see a short distance ahead. He knew the way well enough: he had cycled here hundreds of times in his youth.