Chapter 35 Chapter Thirty-Four

Paris' red-light district is a narrow, seedy neighborhood on the low hill behind the Rue de la Chapelle, not far from the Gare du Nord.Its centerpiece is Coal Street.On the north side of the street is Chapel Abbey, erected like a marble statue in a dump.The abbey consisted of a chapel and a house where eight nuns lived, dedicated to helping the poorest Parisians.They cooked soup for the starving elderly, dissuaded desperate women from suicide, dragged drunken sailors out of gutters, and taught the children of whores to read and write.Next door to the Abbey is the Chapel Inn. It's not quite right to say that this hotel is a brothel, because there are no prostitutes living here, but if it is not full, the proprietress is willing to rent out the room by the hour to women with heavy makeup and cheap evening gowns, come with them Most of them were fat-bellied French businessmen, sneaky German soldiers, or some young people with little experience in the world, who were so drunk that they couldn't see what each other looked like.

Flick felt a sudden relief as she stepped over the threshold—two gendarmes dropped her off half a mile away.Along the way she saw two notices for her arrest.Christian gave her his handkerchief, a square of clean cotton with white dots on a red ground, which she put on her head to hide her fair hair.But she knew that anyone who looked closely at her would recognize her as the person on the notice.There was no other way, she could only lower her eyes and pray to God while walking.She felt that she had never traveled such a long way in her life. The proprietress was a pleasant-looking, overweight woman in a pink silk bathrobe over a whalebone corset.Flick thought she must have lived in luxury before.Flick had lived here before, but the landlady didn't seem to remember her.Flick called her "ma'am," but she said, "Call me Regina." She took Flick's money, gave her the room key, and asked no questions.

Flick was about to go upstairs to her room when he glimpsed from the window Diana and Maude arriving in a grotesque taxi that was nothing more than a bicycle pulling a sofa on two wheels.The fuss with the military police didn't seem to calm them down, and the two giggled about the strange car. "My God, what a shitty place this is," Diana said as soon as she entered, "maybe we can go out to eat." Restaurants in Paris remained open during the occupation, but most of their customers were, of course, German military officers, and the agents tried not to go there. "Don't even think about it," said Flick angrily. "We'll hide here for a few hours and go to the East Station at dawn."

Maud looked at Diana reproachfully and said, "You promised to take me to the Leeds." Flick suppressed his anger. "Where do you think you are?" She shrugged at Maud. "Okay, stop losing your temper." "No one can leave! Do you understand?" "Okay, okay." "We'll send a man out for food in a moment. I'll have to hide for a while now. Diana, you sit here and wait for the others while Maude checks in for you. Let me know when everyone is here." While climbing the stairs, Flick encounters a black girl in a red dress and discovers she has straight black hair. "Wait a minute," Flick said to her, "can you sell me your wig?"

"You can buy it yourself at the corner, dear." She looked Flick up and down, thinking she was an amateur whore, "but, to tell you the truth, I don't think a wig is enough for you." "I need it urgently." The girl pulled off her wig, revealing a head of curly hair that clung to her scalp. "I still have to work on it." Flick took a thousand-franc note from her coat pocket. "Go and buy it yourself." She looked at Flick the other way, thinking that with all her money she couldn't possibly be a whore.Finally, with a shrug, the girl accepted the money and gave Flick the wig.

"Thank you," Flick said. The girl hesitated for a moment, no doubt wanting to know how many such big bills Flick still had. "I'm coming with the girls too," she said, reaching out and touching Flick's chest lightly with the tips of her fingers. "No, thank you." "Maybe you and your boyfriend—" "No." The girl looked at the thousand francs. "Well, let's say I don't have to work tonight. Good luck, dear." "Thank you," Flick said, "I need it." She found her room, put the box on the bed, and took off her coat.There is a small mirror over the washbasin.Flick washed his hands and stood looking into his face for a moment.

She combed her blond hair behind her ears and fastened it with bobby pins.Then she put the wig on and adjusted it.The wig is a bit big, but it still fits.Black hair completely changed her look.However, her beautiful eyebrows are now looking a little strange.She took out an eyebrow pencil from the makeup box and darkened her eyebrows.It's much better this way.Not only does she look like a brunette, but she looks more aggressive than that sweet chick in a swimsuit.Despite the same straight nose and stiff chin, she looked like sisters before and after the wig, nothing alike except this family trait.

Then she took her ID card from her coat pocket.She retouched the photo very carefully, using an eyebrow pencil to draw faint traces of black hair and black eyebrows.After finishing the painting, she looked at the photo carefully for a while.She didn't think anyone would tell it had been altered unless it was rubbed vigorously to remove the pencil marks. She took off her wig, took off her shoes, and lay on the bed.She hadn't slept a wink for two nights, Thursday was spent making love to Paul, and Friday was spent on the metal floor of the bomber.Now she closes her eyes and falls asleep in seconds.

A knock on the door woke her up.To her surprise, it was dark outside and she slept for hours.She walked to the door and asked, "Who is it?" "Ruby." Flick let her in and asked, "Is everything all right?" "I don't think so." Flick closed the curtains and turned on the light. "What happened?" "Everyone came in, but I don't know where Diana and Maud are. They're not in their rooms." "Where did you find it?" "The proprietress' office, the chapel next door, the bar across the street." "Oh, God," said Flick panicked, "these two bloody fools, they're out."

"Where are they going?" "Maude wants to go to the Ritz." Ruby wondered. "How could they be so stupid!" "Maude will." "But I think Diana has more brains than she does." "Diana was in love," Flick said. "I figured she would do what Maud told her to do, and she wanted to impress her lover, take her to trendy places, and show she knew all about the high world." "They say love is blind." "Right now, love is fucking suicide. I can't believe it, but I bet they go there. They think they're looking for food and a place to live, but they're actually looking for death."

"what should we do?" "Go to the Leeds and bring them back—if it's not too late." Flick puts on her wig.Ruby said, "I was wondering how your brows got darker, it works, you look nothing like you used to." "Okay. Take your guns." In the lobby, Regina hands Flick an envelope.The recipient's name is in Diana's handwriting.Flick ripped it open and saw that it read: She showed Ruby, then tore the note to pieces.What made her even more angry was herself.She knew Diana from a young age, knew she was stupid and irresponsible.Then why did I bring her here?she asked herself.Because I have no other choice, she answered herself. They leave the hotel.Flick didn't plan to take the subway, because she knew that there were Gestapo checkpoints at some stations, and there would be spot checks on the trains at any time.The Ritz Hotel is located at Place Vendôme, half an hour's quick walk from Coal Street.The sun had set, and night was falling fast.They also had to keep an eye on the time, as there was a curfew at eleven o'clock. Flick wondered how long it would be before the people at the Ritz reported the presence of Diana and Maude to the Gestapo.They would probably see right away that the two women were unusual.Their papers said they were secretaries working in Reims—what was a woman like that doing in the Ritz?They were supposedly well-dressed in occupied France, but they certainly did not look like typical Ritz patrons—the wives of diplomats from neutral countries, the companions of black-market merchants, or German army officers. family members or mistresses.The hotel manager himself probably wouldn't do much, especially if he was anti-Nazi too, but the Gestapo had spies in every big hotel and restaurant in the city, and they made money off of reporting suspicious strangers.This common-sense detail is instilled in every cadet during the Special Operations Division's training—but Diana and Maude took just two days of the entire course, which took three months. Flick quickened his pace.