Chapter 44 Chapter Forty-Three

It was a real struggle to fit five people into the Simca Five.Ruby and Jelly sat in the rough back seat.Paul drives.Greta sat in the front passenger seat and Flick sat on Greta's lap. They would have giggled in a normal situation like this, but now everyone was depressed. They had just killed three people and had almost fallen into the trap of the Gestapo.Everyone is now on the alert, on the alert, ready to respond quickly to situations that arise.There is only one thing on my mind, and that is to live. Flick directed Paul to another street parallel to the one where Gilberta lived.Flick had been here with her wounded husband exactly seven days before.She directed Paul to park near the park at the end of the alley. "Wait here," said Flick. "I'll go over and check."

"Jelly" said, "Be quick, for God's sake." "I'm going as fast as I can." Flick got out of the car and hurried down the alley, through a door in the back wall of the factory.She quickly crossed the garden and entered the building.The corridor was empty and very quiet.She climbed the stairs softly to the attic floor. She stops outside Gilberta's house.What she saw terrified her.The door is open.It had been chiselled from the outside, and lay on its side, with only one hinge attached.She listened, but heard nothing. It seemed that the break-in happened several days ago.She stepped carefully over the threshold.

Everything here has been hastily searched.The cushions of the chairs in the small living room were crooked, and the cupboards in the corner of the kitchen were left open.Flick looked towards the bedroom, where it was the same.Drawers had been pulled out, wardrobe doors were open, and someone had stood on the bed with dirty boots. She went to the window and looked down at the street.A black front-drive Citroen was parked opposite the building, and two men sat in the front seat. All bad news.Flick thought desperately.Someone made a confession, and Dieter Frank made the most of it.He tried his best to follow the clues, first found Miss Remus, then Brian Standish, and finally Gilberta.And Michelle?Has he been caught?It seems likely.

She thought of this Dieter Frank again.The first time she saw the brief description written on the back of his photo in the MI6 file, it made her go numb with horror.She knew now that the fright was so insignificant.He is smart and persistent.He had almost caught her at Chatreux, and he had plastered her face all over Paris, and one by one her comrades were arrested and interrogated. She had seen him only twice, and both times had lasted only a few minutes.She remembered his face deeply.His exterior, she thought, was full of intelligence and energy, with a touch of determination that could easily turn into cruelty and ruthlessness.She was pretty sure he was still on her trail.She settled down and must be more vigilant.

She looked at the sky.She had about three hours before dark. She hurried downstairs and across the garden to the Simca Five parked on another street. "Things are bad," she said, squeezing into the car. "The place has been searched, and the front of the building is under surveillance by the Gestapo." "Damn it," Paul said, "where are we going now?" "I've got another place to try," Flick said, "and drive into town." She didn't know how long this Simca 5 could continue to be used, the 500cc engine was hard to deal with such an overload.Assuming the body on Du Bois Avenue was found within an hour, how long would it take for the police and the Gestapo in Reims to be alerted and start looking for Mademoiselle Lemas' car?Dieter has no way of contacting those who are already out on duty, but they will certainly be briefed after the shift.Flick couldn't figure out when the night shift was on duty.She concluded that she was almost out of time. "Take the car to the station," she said, "and we'll leave it there."

"Good idea," Paul said, "maybe they'll think we're out of here." Flick scans the street for a military Mercedes or a black Citroen.She held her breath as they passed a line of gendarmes on patrol.However, they reached the city center without incident.Paul parked the car near the train station, and all the people quickly got out of the car and hurried away from the criminal evidence. "I must go alone," said Flick. "The rest are going to church to rest and wait for me there." "All my sins have been forgiven several times and I've been in church too long today," Paul said.

"You can pray that we will have a place to spend the night," Flick said to him, and hurried away. She went back to the street where Michelle lived.A hundred meters away from his house is the Regis House Bar.Flick walked in.The owner, Alexander Regis, was sitting behind the counter smoking a cigarette.He recognized her and nodded, but said nothing. She walked down a hallway through the door marked "Bathroom" and pushed open what looked like a cabinet.Inside is a flight of stairs that goes up steeply.At the top of the stairs is a heavy door with peepholes.Flick knocked on the door and stood there so that her face could be seen through the peephole.Presently the door opened, and it was Mimi Regis, the owner's mother, who opened it.

Flick entered a large room with shuttered windows and sloppy decor, a matted floor, brown-painted walls, and a few unshaded electric bulbs hanging from the ceiling.There was a roulette table at one end of the room.Several men sat around a large round table playing cards.There is a bar in one corner.This is an illegal gambling club. Michele likes to play high-stakes poker, and he likes to hang out with these cronies, so he comes here occasionally to pass the night.Flick had never played poker, but she sometimes sat here for hours watching the games.Michelle says she brings him good luck.It was a good place to hide from the Gestapo, and Flick hoped that she would find him there, but she looked around at the faces and was finally disappointed.

"Thank you, Mimi," she said to Alexander's mother. "Nice to meet you. Are you all right?" "It's okay, have you met my husband?" "Ah, that charming Michelle. Unfortunately, I didn't see him tonight." No one here knew that Michelle was from the Resistance. Flick walked to the bar, found a chair and sat down, and smiled at the middle-aged waitress with bright red lips.She is Yvette Regis, Alexander's wife. "Is there any whiskey?" "Of course," Yvette said, "if you can afford it." She pulled out a bottle of Dewar's White Label and poured out a few measures.

Flick said, "I'm looking for Michelle." "I haven't seen him for almost a week," Yvette said. "Damn it." Flick took a sip of his wine, "I'll wait a while, maybe he'll come."