38 “do it again”

“Matches, mademoiselle?” Delphine was perky, perhaps because her feet were now warm in her lovely boots.

“Of course.” I handed over some money. “Any news?”

“Mademoiselle.” She stepped closer. “I have seen the tall thin man again, with the big man and two other men, they looked like twins… in fact, all the men looked like brothers, or part of some group, they all dressed the same and they don’t speak French to each other.”

“When did you see them?”

“Last night, after I had left my shoes with Monsieur Levi, you know, the shoemaker, and on my way home… it was late, about nine o’clock.”

“Do you usually work that late?”

“Madame Levi gave me some dinner.” She smiled a shy smile.

“Where did the men go?”

“I think to a café… I didn’t follow them. I didn’t know when you would return.”

“That’s alright. Here.” I handed over some more money. “All work requires payment. Treat yourself to a proper lunch as well.”

“Oh no, mademoiselle. I’m saving for a new coat. A red one.”

But I wasn’t at Gare Montparnasse to gossip with Delphine, though her gossip proved that I was right to come. I wanted to call Fox while the photo was still hot in my pocket.

“Fox.” His voice cut down the line.

“Would you care for tea at Angelina’s today? How about one o’clock?”

“I’ve been expecting you. Give me your number.”

“You might know it already. It’s the public telephone at Gare Montparnasse.”

“Very good, Vixen.”

He rang back in less than a minute.

“Teach me half the gladness that thy brain must know, Vixen.”

“Such harmonious madness? I rather think so. Today I meet with a couple of your friends, Princes Phillip and Carl.”

“I have no German friends.”

“I thought you might have been at military academy together. In Prussia, isn’t it, German military training?” There was a heavy silence at the end of the line.

“Anyway, I’m hoping Pip and Charlie will lead me to their English cousins. Thank goodness you’re sending me and not Fry, though. These men love flattery and Fry’s about as flattering as a dose of the pox.”

The silence continued. I heard nothing from his end, just the tooting of trains here, footfalls and yelled French, the squeal of wheels and rush of steam.

“Did you stay at the academy long or did you cut out early to go to medical school? How is your brother, by the way? I’m surprised you didn’t introduce him during the war. Of course, you couldn’t have if he’d fought for the Germans… a German brother, well, well, the world should listen then, Fox.”

“As I am listening now.” He sounded almost human.

“Have you been wandering brotherless among the stars that have a different birth? Or are you like a dying lady, lean and pale, who totters forth…”

“Vixen.” His voice was raw, his pauses pregnant. “Vixen…”

“Oh, I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry. But you might want to call your dogs off Captain Browne. He was just acting on orders and I’d hate to have to avenge him.”

“You’re threatening me.”

“Just chatting. It really would be much better over chocolate at Angelina’s, you know… I think we could both do with a bit of sweetness.”

He laughed then, an actual hoot, that made my heart jump, that made me grin despite myself.

“Oh, very good Vixen. Hail to thee, blithe spirit!”

“I think you can send me some proper payment now.”

“I don’t have it here. You’ll have to wait until I return to London.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“And yet you will.” There was a new tone in his voice, a softness, a warmth. I had threatened him with exposure and he had laughed; he liked it. I liked that he liked it.

This is not what I had expected at all.

“I’ll confer with Fry for all the details of the princes,” I said. “I have a feeling that a notepad, not handcuffs, will secure the information we need. Will Roger be with him?”

“Roger?”

“Ah, so it was an alias. A tall thin man…”

“You’ll meet him soon, no doubt. Bacon will deal with the details.”

“Fry will? If you don’t want the details, what are you doing in Paris?”

“What indeed.” And he hung up.