The Officer's Prey E-Book

Armand Cabasson

• Herausgeber: Pushkin Vertigo
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 555

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

In the first of the Napoleonic Murders series, described as a 'splendid war epic' by Sunday Telegraph, Napoleon begins his invasion of Russia.June 1812. Napoleon leads the largest army Europe has ever seen in his invasion of Russia. But amongst the troops of the Grande Armée is a savage murderer whose bloodlust is not satisfied in battle. When an innocent Polish woman is brutally stabbed, Captain Quentin Margont of the 84th regiment is put in charge of a secret investigation to unmask the perpetrator. Armed with the sole fact that the killer is an officer, Margont knows that he faces a near-impossible task and the greatest challenge of his military career.

Leseprobe

THE OFFICER’S PREY

ARMAND CABASSON

Translated from the French by Michael Glencross

For Emmanuelle with whom I have the joy of sharing my life and for Françoise

Contents

Title PageDedicationCHAPTER 1CHAPTER 2CHAPTER 3CHAPTER 4CHAPTER 5CHAPTER 6CHAPTER 7CHAPTER 8CHAPTER 9CHAPTER 10CHAPTER 1 1CHAPTER 12CHAPTER 13CHAPTER 14CHAPTER 15CHAPTER 16CHAPTER 17CHAPTER 18CHAPTER 19CHAPTER 20CHAPTER 21CHAPTER 22CHAPTER 23CHAPTER 24CHAPTER 25CHAPTER 26CHAPTER 27CHAPTER 28CHAPTER 29CHAPTER 30CHAPTER 31CHAPTER 32CHAPTER 33EPILOGUEAUTHOR’S NOTEAPPENDIX 1APPENDIX 2APPENDIX 3About the AuthorCopyright

CHAPTER 1

STRANGELY, his hands were not trembling. The man was gazing at the body of the servant to whom he had been talking just a few moments earlier. His victim, now a pitifully bloodied and mutilated corpse, was real enough. But he was staring at her with as little feeling as if she were a broken doll. What made him uneasy was not that he had killed her, but that he felt no guilt. In sharp contrast to his inner turmoil as he’d stabbed the woman again and again, he now felt calm.

He stood up so suddenly that his chair almost toppled over. Time was against him. The innkeeper or one of his employees was bound to knock on the door sooner or later to ask for help serving the customers. The man knew he had to shake off his lethargy. His shoes, trousers, shirt and hair were all covered in blood. He had managed only partially to clean it from his hands and face. Impossible to run the risk of encountering a customer in the corridor. And how could he walk through the main room downstairs without being accosted by one of the infantrymen that were eating, getting drunk, smoking, chatting and leering at the serving girls? When he had entered the bedroom he had not known he was going to kill the woman. Now he realised he was trapped and his only route of escape was through the window.

The bedroom was on the third floor, under the eaves. It had rained the whole evening and heavy cloud still hid the moon. The pitch-dark gave him a reasonable chance of being unnoticed by the many soldiers passing in the street. He opened the window and cautiously looked down. Three infantrymen were staggering along, laughing and bumping into each other. Groups of Italians and Frenchmen were arguing, neither understanding what the other was saying. The French army IV Corps was camped nearby, so the small town and all the neighbouring villages were thronged with soldiers.

Like a hussar committed to the charge, the man decided to go for it. With his bloodstained shirt concealed by an ordinary soldier’s grey greatcoat, he climbed on to the windowsill and hauled himself up on to the overhang of the tiles. From there he reached the top of the roof without difficulty, crawled carefully along to the large stone chimney and hid behind it. Now what? There was nothing he could hold on to in order to climb down. In any case, that was out of the question for the time being. For the moment he stayed hidden in the darkness.

The street seemed to belong to another world; it was bathed in light and full of activity. The inns and private houses with rooms to let to soldiers had put lamps and candles in their windows. A constant stream of soldiers was arriving from outlying areas, lighting their way with torches, which made the countryside look as if it were swarming with fireflies. Most did not have the required passes, but the soldiers that were supposed to escort them back to their dreary camps were instead joining in the revelry.

The man looked at the next roof. There was a narrow street between but he should be able to leap across it. He stood up, negotiated his way round the chimney and flung himself into space. Stumbling against the other chimney, he fell forward, but managed to cling on to the ridge of the roof. A few tiles, dislodged around him, slid halfway down. He recovered himself and began moving again. He was in a hurry, trying not to think about the abyss that had opened up inside him in that bedroom, the chasm he was only just discovering. The roof of the adjoining house was rather less steeply pitched. The minutes were ticking by and he had still managed to advance only a few yards. Taking a risk, he stood up and moved forward, arms spread out, treading hesitantly like a tightrope walker. Fortunately, the ridge of the roof was a tile wide and, quickly learning dexterity, he speeded up. In this way he went past two houses, scrambled on to a raised roof and leapt across a second narrow street to land three feet below on the chimney of an inn.

By now he was almost running. Then an old tile suddenly gave way beneath him. He whirled his arms about, twisting this way and that, his body swaying as if unsure which way to fall, but eventually he regained his balance. The tile, meanwhile, continued its descent and shattered at the feet of a soldier in a grey greatcoat. The man immediately levelled his musket at the rooftops.

‘Stop! Who goes there?’

‘Private Mirambeau, what are you playing at?’ roared a sergeant.

‘A tile nearly hit me on the head, Sergeant. Someone’s walking on the rooftops.’

The sergeant looked up. ‘There’s nobody up there, Mirambeau, just crumbling tiles that—’

The sound of firing cut short the NCO’s words. The soldier’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he had just made out the outline of a rapidly disappearing figure.

‘To arms! There’s someone on the rooftops.’

Immediately a crowd gathered around the two men. A corporal, completely drunk, pointed his musket skywards.

‘It’s a Russian spy! Fire away like at Eylau, lads.’

He fired and two infantrymen did likewise. A hot-headed young lieutenant rushed up, sabre in hand.

‘Who’s attacking us?’

‘Private Mirambeau’s seen a Russian spy leaping about on the rooftops, sir.’

‘There are three of them at least,’ someone claimed authoritatively.

Further along the street other soldiers were firing or calling on their comrades to do so.

‘A great big devil of a fellow!’ declared one unsuccessful marksman.

His companion took aim.

‘Devils don’t scare me – take that!’ But his shot failed to halt the moving figure.

‘Surround the buildings!’ the lieutenant shouted excitedly.

The gang of soldiers split into two groups which charged off in opposite directions. Some were laughing their heads off, finding, in their drunken high spirits, this manhunt even better entertainment than a game of cards.

The fugitive kept running and with each step might have fallen to his death. A bullet struck a chimney near him, showering him with fragments of stone. He could hear shouts and cries, and the sound of firing. Someone yelled: ‘The Russians are taking pot shots at us from the rooftops!’ and the street was soon alive with the rumour. One bullet shattered a tile at the fleeing man’s feet, another whistled past his ears while a third broke a windowpane and produced a burst of drunken laughter.

Suddenly he noticed a tree growing against the back of the building. Without hesitating, he ran down the steep slope and flung himself as far forward as possible, arms outstretched. The leap seemed to last an eternity. Then foliage grazed his face. He grabbed a branch but immediately it bent beneath his weight and snapped. His ribs were struck a painful blow by another considerably thicker branch, but he clung on to it, now only a few feet above the ground. He dropped down and landed in a puddle.

He was about to rush off into the shelter of the nearby forest when a voice rang out behind him.

‘Hold it. So where do you think you’re going, old son? You wouldn’t be the cause of all these fireworks, would you?’

The man turned round. A sergeant was pointing his musket at him, the bayonet fixed.

‘Come closer to the light.’

The shouting was getting nearer. The man obeyed.

The sergeant blinked several times, straightened his musket and stood to attention. ‘Beg your pardon, Colonel. I’ve only just recognised you.’

The man lunged forward and stabbed him with his knife, right in the heart.

‘More’s the pity for you …’

*

That 29 June 1812, Captain Margont watched the crossing of the Niemen in fascination. The river marked the border between the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, an ally of France, and Russia. Getting across this obstacle was therefore the first test in this campaign. A few days earlier, Napoleon and the bulk of his troops had crossed the broad stretch of water further to the north via the three bridges built by General Éblé in record time. Margont was serving in IV Corps, made up of forty thousand men under the command of Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Napoleon’s stepson and Viceroy of Italy. Now it was the turn of this force to enter Russian territory.

The regiments were impatiently crowding one another, bunching up the ranks of those in front, who were going too slowly. The infantrymen were calling the cavalry mounts ‘lame hacks’, ‘worn-out nags’ and ‘meat barely good enough for the butcher’s knife’, to which the mounted chasseurs retorted that the battalions were just ‘brainless centipedes’ and the infantrymen ‘big mouths on short legs’.

Perched on a hilltop, Margont could make out nothing but a seething mass of humanity. This dark, tightly packed column of men, their muskets glinting in the brilliant sunshine, cut a swathe through the green expanse of fields and the blue strip of river. The 84th Infantry Regiment of the Line, in which Margont served, had still not crossed and the men were wilting in the heat. Since it would not be their turn for some time yet, they had been allowed to make themselves more comfortable. They had fallen out of line, stacked their muskets and taken off their knapsacks before spreading out. There had been a brief scramble for the few shady spots under the trees, but now the pragmatists were dozing while the idealists hotly debated the merits of the campaign.

Margont wiped his brow with the back of his hand. The sun was giving him a headache and he regretted not being able to remove his shako, the cylindrical headgear that was so heavy. This campaign meant a lot to him. He was not the staunchest supporter of the Emperor’s decisions, considering that Napoleon had let himself get carried away by his countless successes. Worse than that, the wars, which had formerly been intended to defend the state, safeguard the ideals of the Revolution and free nations from the yoke of ancient monarchies, were now turning into imperial conquests. But he admired the genius of the man, a strategist who had won so many unlikely, even impossible, victories. By defeating Austria, Prussia and many other countries, Napoleon had preserved the achievements of the Revolution: the abolition of feudal privileges, the establishment of the Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, including the passage that appealed so much to both heart and mind: ‘Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything that injures no one else …’

The war between France and Russia had broken out because of the Tsar’s decision to stop enforcing the blockade imposed by Napoleon with the aim of ruining England financially until she was forced to sue for peace. But Margont was not naïve. He knew that another reason for this conflict was that Europe was too small for two such powerful emperors. He himself was preparing to take part in this war for other reasons (though he would have been forced to fight anyway). Committed to the values of republicanism, citizenship and liberalism, he dreamt of the day when all monarchies would collapse and be replaced by republics that would blossom like flowers in a wasteland. Although he was now thirty-two, his ideas were the clear-cut, strongly held convictions of youth. Nevertheless, he was aware of the irony of a situation whereby, in the interests of the republican cause, he was serving a republican emperor who was becoming ever more imperialistic. Reality has an unpleasant habit of overriding one’s ideals with its contradictions, disillusions and ironies. But Margont thought that it was Napoleon who was really the plaything of the Revolution and not the reverse. French soldiers carried with them the ideas of liberty and equality and these ideals took root in people’s minds.

An aide-de-camp galloped down a hillside, knocking over a stack of muskets, and brought his horse to a halt in front of a group of men. Three infantrymen turned round and pointed towards Margont, and the horseman set off again in his direction. On reaching Margont, he reined in his horse, wheeling it round under control. His uniform was soaked with sweat. His chubby cheeks and round face made him look like a peach oozing its juice. Locks of fair hair were plastered to his forehead. He must have wished he was back in Alsace or Normandy.

He hurriedly returned Margont’s salute and asked hopefully: ‘Are you Captain Margont of the 84th?’

‘That is correct.’

‘In that case, I request that you follow me without further ado.’

‘May I know why?’

‘No. They are orders.’

This type of answer annoyed Margont. And he hated even more what he was going to reply.

‘I’ll follow you.’

The two men set off at a gallop. Margont turned round for a last look at the Niemen. But he would be seeing it again before long. He would even have the pleasure of hearing it flowing beneath him.

Margont took the same route as the day before, but in the opposite direction. Soon he reached the 15th Division, the Pino Division, consisting of Italians, who made up the rearguard of IV Corps. The Italians were easily recognisable from their green or white and green coats, whereas the dominant colour in the French infantry was dark blue.

After what seemed an excessively long ride, as is always the case when you don’t know where you are going or why, the aide-de-camp stopped his horse not far from a blue and white striped tent. It had a four-sided roof and was big enough to sleep a dozen men. Six soldiers in green coats were guarding it: grenadiers from the Royal Italian Guard, wearing enormous black bearskins, each topped with a red plume; and guards of honour whose gilded helmets had black crests and white plumes. A very eminent person was here.

A moment later, a grenadier called out Margont’s name and the captain entered the tent.

CHAPTER 2

MARGONT found himself face to face with Prince Eugène and immediately stood stiffly to attention. With a wave of the hand the prince invited him to sit. Two chairs, probably commandeered from a nearby farm, had been placed in the centre of the tent. As it was out of the question for a prince to sit on a seat identical to that of one of his subordinates, the guards of honour had used all their inventiveness. One of the chairs, bedecked with an elaborately embroidered cushion, had been arranged on a dais covered with a sumptuous Turkish rug decorated with red, gold and brown arabesques. It was an unconvincing imitation of a throne. The rest of the furniture was simple: a sofa used as a bed, a trunk and a trestle table with a large map of Europe spread out on it. The Empire and its allies covered the entire map with the exception of three countries: Portugal, England, and Russia in all its immensity.

Prince Eugène was thirty-one. His puffy oval face was elongated by his high forehead. His slightly untidy auburn hair detracted somewhat from the formality of his coat, with its collar heavily embroidered in gold, voluminous epaulettes and colourful medals. His uniform could not, however, disguise his youthfulness, and many thought him a man promoted too soon and too far. He was said to be constantly cheerful. That was not true. He scrutinised Margont closely, noting his attractive face, his slightly prominent cheekbones and the scar on his left cheek. This gave him a martial appearance that held a particular appeal for Prussian ladies, as such marks were much appreciated in Berlin. His blue eyes and fair hair gave him a slightly Nordic look, whereas in fact he came from the south-east of France. The prince kicked back the dais with the tip of his boot, grabbed his chair and placed it opposite Margont’s.

‘Hang all this absurd protocol. We’re at war. I shall come straight to the point.’

Splendid, thought Margont.

However, Eugène still hesitated. He tried to sound firm but his face betrayed his anxiety.

‘I need someone for a secret mission of the highest importance. But I know nobody who can carry it out with the necessary speed, panache and discretion. You were recommended to me, hence your presence here. Secrecy is one of the key aspects of this business! If you take on this heavy responsibility and anything leaks out, you will be shot even before a court martial can be convened to sentence you.’

Margont wondered who the person was to whom he owed the pleasure of this summons.

‘If you are successful, you will be promoted to major. You will immediately receive ten years’ pay.’

Margont had visions of himself in a small mansion in Nîmes or Montpellier …

The prince continued, ‘The necessary official explanations will be given but the mission must never be mentioned. Do you accept?’

‘The fact is, Your Highness has not—’

‘Thank you for this resounding and unqualified “yes”. I knew the Empire could count on you. Here is a quick summary of this whole wretched business. Last night in Tresno, a small Polish town near the River Niemen, a woman was murdered in her bedroom. She was called Maria Dorlovna – Polish but of German extraction. Her murder was a terrible butchery. If that were the whole story I wouldn’t even have been informed of it and the military police would now be investigating. The problem is, it is possible that the culprit may be an officer serving in the army corps that I have the honour of commanding.’

Margont responded to the news with an aplomb that both pleased and amazed the prince.

‘Such calmness, Captain. You barely seem surprised. It couldn’t be you, by any chance, could it? That would simplify my life considerably.’

‘Unfortunately, I regret to say that I must disappoint Your Highness.’

‘What impertinence! Well, the person who recommended you did warn me of that displeasing trait of yours. I must confess that it made me hesitate before choosing you.’

Not enough, unfortunately, thought Margont.

‘But I said to myself that a good many of our finest officers were the personification of impertinence. Look at Murat. He charges at the head of his squadrons and sometimes considers himself a one-man vanguard. Then there’s Ney, the great Ney. On the battlefield he’s everywhere at once, always rushing to where the action is fiercest, like a moth drawn to the light. Lasalle, too. He dubbed any hussar who hadn’t died by the age of thirty a wastrel. What’s more, he followed his own precept at Wagram, only a few years late. And don’t all these heroes, and the Empire itself, spring from the greatest and most daring example of impertinence of all: the people of France decreeing a republic? In France, insolence is not a defect, but a badge of honour! That said, it’s like alcohol: it quickly goes to your head and causes blunders, so do not overindulge.’

The prince folded his arms and stared Margont straight in the eye.

‘I suppose your quip was a clever manoeuvre designed to make me choose someone else. It was crafty but it hasn’t worked. Far from discouraging me, you have confirmed me in my decision. So, as I was saying, it would appear that the murderer is one of my officers.’

The prince gave Margont an account of the race across the rooftops and the confrontation between the sentry and the fugitive.

‘The sentry stood to attention? Are you sure of that?’ said Margont with a surprised look.

Eugène stiffened and his brow furrowed. It was clear that he would dearly have liked to say the opposite of what he must.

‘I’m quite certain, thanks to the testimony of another sentry, who was too far away to intervene but who saw the whole scene. The soldier who was stabbed had the rank of sergeant. A sergeant would not suddenly have stood to attention in front of an immediate superior who had just jumped down from a roof, was not wearing regulation uniform and was not on duty. No, given the way he reacted and the speed with which he did so, he must undoubtedly have recognised an officer. At least a captain, or perhaps someone of even higher rank … Now then, Captain Margont, take that look off your face. Anyone would swear that you were no longer listening to me and that you were desperately searching for a way of shirking this task.’

Margont was absent-mindedly tapping the hilt of his sword.

‘For it to be a captain is just about acceptable, Your Highness. But if it is someone of higher rank …’

‘No arrests. Whether it’s a captain or a major – I dare not imagine anyone above that – you will take no initiative. Nothing foolish or it’s the firing squad!’

‘I take Your Highness at his word.’

‘You will draw up a report for me in the greatest secrecy and I will take the necessary steps.’

The prince breathed in slowly, which Margont took to be a ploy intended to give emphasis to what he was about to say.

‘Captain, have you given a moment’s thought to what would happen if the rumour spread that one of our French officers is a maniac who tortures and butchers Polish women? All the regiments would denounce their own captains, majors, colonels … Whole companies would refuse to obey the orders of the man they took to be the murderer. But, even worse, the victim was Polish and of German extraction. You can well imagine the reaction of the tens of thousands of Poles, of Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine, and of Prussians and Austrians taking part in this campaign. Already there’s little love lost between the Prussians, the Austrians and ourselves. It would not take much to inflame people’s passions. There would be disagreements, desertions … If this matter were taken up by agitators, spies and enemies of France, it could shake to the foundations the carefully constructed diplomatic edifice built up by the Emperor.’

The prince stood up and began to walk around the two chairs.

‘You were at the battle of Auerstädt.’

‘That is correct, Your—’

The Viceroy interrupted him abruptly with a wave of the hand. ‘Of course it is correct. I know all about you. At Jena and Auerstädt we blew these wretched Prussians and their Saxon allies to smithereens. And today they are at our side, fighting with us against the Russians!’

The prince spread his arms in a gesture of powerlessness. ‘Ah, the miracles of diplomacy! I shall never get used to it, even though I observe its rituals. In short, a rumour such as “A French officer is murdering and mutilating Polish women” – and “officer” would soon become all officers, and the Polish woman would become in turn German for the Germans, Prussian for the Prussians, Austrian, Saxon, et cetera – is quite enough to rekindle ill feeling in the hearts of those who lost a brother, a cousin, a friend or an arm at Jena, in Italy, at Wagram …’

The prince continued to walk around in a circle as if this circle embodied the problem he was unable to solve.

‘When the Emperor was told about this business, he lost his temper. He began to rant at my messenger in Corsican!’

The Viceroy stopped dead. He was lost in thought and was staring at the elaborate arabesques on the rug.

‘Just think about the Russian civilian population!’ he exclaimed all of a sudden, raising his head. ‘How could we rally them to our cause, or at least prevent them from doing too much harm to our rear? “Here come the women-killers!” Pillagers! Yes, they’ll think we are pillagers. And what about the Emperor? He’ll fly into a rage again, that’s for sure. Then there are the Germans …’

His words were becoming more and more disjointed as troubled thoughts swirled around in his head. Margont had the impression that the prince was hiding something from him. It was a vague feeling prompted by various small details: an evasive look; a hurried delivery as if Eugène wanted to convince him quickly; a puzzled expression; lips that opened as if about to say something then closed again immediately … It lasted a few moments, then the prince’s attitude became perfectly assured again.

‘Captain, you are going to unmask this man for me!’

Eugène spoke these words with incisive firmness. If he had been hesitating about whether to reveal an extra piece of information, he had in the end decided to keep it to himself.

‘For the moment there are no such rumours. It should be added that I have taken every possible precaution. The person who discovered the body was the innkeeper with whom the victim lodged, a certain Maroveski. I had him arrested and he’s being held in an isolated farmhouse. Officially, he robbed an officer. His gaolers speak only Italian, so he can’t tell them anything. On seeing the body, this Maroveski informed a picket of soldiers on duty, who immediately alerted a captain on guard. The officer was completely out of his depth and informed my general staff. I had these witnesses interrogated by one of the captains from my Royal Guard. They told him nothing. The sentry was a long way from the murderer, it was dark and the scene lasted only a few seconds. All he noticed was that the man was between five foot six and six foot in height. A remarkably precise piece of evidence indeed!’

That leaves a mere five hundred suspects, thought Margont.

‘The soldiers who kept watch at the spot until the arrival of my grenadiers, the captain on guard and this sentry were all transferred to Spain at daybreak.’

Margont managed to restrain his anger. ‘But it’s essential for me to question these men personally, Your Highness!’

‘Well, you’ll just have to do without what they would have been able to tell you. I had to nip the rumour in the bud. They are on their way to Vieja Lamarsota, Vieja Lamarora. In a word, you could say they’re off to “Vieja Go-to-Hell”!’

‘I regret to inform Your Highness that I decline to carry out this investigation.’

The prince gave him a taunting look, as if daring Margont to stick to this position.

‘Because you think there’s still time for you to set off for Vieja Something-or-Other, do you? If you refuse to help me, it won’t be the road to Spain for you but the nearest wall!’

The Viceroy of Italy broke off. Margont’s silence confirmed that he could continue.

‘When one of my aides-de-camp, General Triaire, gave the order to go to fetch you, he led the messenger to believe that he wanted to inform you personally of the death of your brother.’

‘I don’t have a brother.’

‘Well, you do now. Major Henri Margont, killed in an ambush on the road to Madrid a few days ago. That band of guerrillas led by the famous Mina again. Your brother was a close friend of General Triaire. That’s why you were sent for. You have my deepest sympathy.’

‘My friends know I don’t have a brother, so if they hear that—’

‘Do as Triaire does: make it up!’

The prince eventually sat down. He seemed eager to see the back of this captain who was going to lighten his burden considerably.

‘To summarise, my grenadiers are guarding the innkeeper and that poor woman’s bedroom. The body has been buried …’

The captain looked up to the heavens.

‘The body has been buried!’ the prince repeated unequivocally. ‘All that a few soldiers and the inhabitants of Tresno know is that a woman has been murdered. They do not know that an officer is the suspect and that the victim was found in a grisly state. Now you may ask any questions.’

‘Why not put the military police in charge of this case?’

‘Impossible! There would inevitably be leaks. This investigation must not be carried out by a whole host of people. I need a single sleuth answerable only to me. Leaks would produce rumour, which I fear almost as much as I do the Russians. Besides, the leaks might come to the attention of the murderer, who would then discover that we knew he was an officer. We would lose our only trump card.’

Margont guessed a third reason. He was under Prince Eugène’s orders; there was no one else he could talk to about this business, so to antagonise the prince could cost him dearly. Conversely, an investigator from the military police would be accountable to his own superiors. By choosing Margont, the prince ensured total control of the investigation. He would have complete freedom in deciding the fate of the culprit if he were unmasked. But if he proved to be a high-ranking officer, would he be fairly tried and sentenced, or would he be discreetly transferred to ‘Vieja Go-to-Hell’?

‘Why choose me, Your Highness?’

The Viceroy stood up and grabbed a document case lying on the sofa. He swiftly opened it and took out fifteen or so sheets of paper.

‘You have been chosen for a number of criteria. I know everything about you, Captain. Your childhood, your short and enforced career in the Church, your military record, your opinions, the books you read, the names of your friends …’

‘May I know how Your Highness obtained all this information? You could not have found out my life story overnight.’

The prince had the triumphant look of someone who sees his predictions coming true, giving him the misleading but exhilarating feeling of being in total control.

‘A few years ago I got Triaire to draw up a secret list of individuals with various skills. My idea was to create my own network of spies. But in the end the ones the Emperor uses proved so efficient – Schulmeister is the prime example – that I abandoned my plan. However, Triaire continued to keep this register, striking out the names of those killed in combat and adding others. One day, your name cropped up.’

‘Is there really only one way of being struck off the list?’

The prince ignored the question. He casually pulled the reports from his file as if pulling the petals off a daisy. The reports were in such small, compact handwriting that they looked like pages from a bible. Triaire had conducted his investigation meticulously. With every page that the prince skimmed through, Margont felt a little more exposed. At last the Viceroy looked up.

‘I don’t have time to go into the details of your life, even if it does seem to have been of keen interest to the good Triaire. Let’s talk about the battle of Eylau, which you took part in, or rather, the aftermath of Eylau. It was at this point that you became a little more critical of the Emperor.’

Margont stared in disbelief. Only his best friends, Saber, Lefine and Piquebois, had such a clear idea of his opinions. Which one had given the information to Triaire’s men? Lefine, without a doubt. In any case, he had to respond.

‘Your Highness, I have always been faithful to the Emperor and to the ideals of the Revolution and I—’

‘I know. Otherwise you wouldn’t be on my list! Let’s just say that you are not one of those who think that everything – absolutely everything – that the Emperor does is faultless and admirable. And, cautious as you are, you keep your criticisms for your closest friends.’

‘Not close enough, it would appear.’

‘The only close friends who keep secrets are dead ones.’

‘I wouldn’t go so far as that with the one who betrayed me.’

There was a change of attitude in the prince. His features softened. The Viceroy temporarily gave way to the man.

‘Why this change of heart in 1807? It was the battle of Eylau, wasn’t it? I have to admit that I myself … One may admire the tactical genius of generals, the heroism of certain soldiers and epic feats of arms, but one cannot ignore the slaughter that goes with all this. The human spirit is like blotting paper: it can absorb blood up to a point but in the end it will become saturated and overflow.’

This was not what Margont was fighting for. But Eylau had shown him what reality could sometimes do to noble feelings and good intentions. Ten thousand dead and forty thousand wounded was not just a slaughter; it was the end of the world. As a result, the Emperor had forbidden the wearing of white uniforms. Officially, it was because they were reminders of the old regime, but also it was because they made the bloodstains too obvious.

The prince had fallen silent. Was he back at Eylau or on the shore of another sea of blood? Maybe all this was a carefully staged attempt to make him more likeable in Margont’s eyes. It was difficult to fathom this illustrious figure: sometimes calculating and manipulative, haughty and disdainful; sometimes sympathetic and humane. Margont was unable to say which of these facets was more genuine or to tell which would win out in the end.

‘Eylau justifies the criticisms you occasionally make of some of the Emperor’s decisions,’ the prince concluded.

He turned over a sheaf of pages.

Margont got his comment in first. ‘As does Spain.’

‘Indeed. I know that you ventured the opinion that the occupation of Spain was a mistake.’

The hypocrisy of politicians! thought Margont. It was no longer the prince or the general talking but the diplomat concerned for the image of the Empire. Spain was ablaze, every peasant a part-time guerrilla: tens of thousands of Frenchmen had died in ambushes; young women were taking up arms as the need arose; the inhabitants of cities under siege were hanging those of their number who wished to capitulate; even priests in their cassocks were firing from their church towers … But the official version was that the conquest of Spain had not been a mistake and, no, fanatical nationalism heightened by the mystical fervour of the Spanish was not a problem.

‘Well, Captain, let me tell you that I chose you for three reasons and one of them involves Spain.’

More bad news brought by a Spanish ill wind. Would they never be rid of it, even here, at the other end of Europe?

‘First, according to Triaire, you are good at investigating. Secondly, you are not indispensable for the good running of your regiment. And thirdly, you are a hero of the Peninsular War, during which you were promoted to the rank of Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. This last point will ease your task and if, at the end of your enquiries, I decide to reveal the name of the murderer, no one will question your conclusions.’

The prince’s naïvety was disarming. For him it was obvious that the culprit would be unmasked. How could it be otherwise, since he had given the order?

‘And what excuses shall I give to leave my regiment and move about as I please, Your Highness?’

The Viceroy handed him two documents. ‘Here are two passes. The first is signed by Triaire and is more than enough to open most doors for you. If you did happen to come up against any higher authority, you would use the second one, which bears my own signature. It goes without saying that this document should be used only as a very last resort.’

Margont glanced at the handwritten lines, their gracefully shaped, outsized capitals in no way attenuating the terseness of the instructions. Captain Margont had been entrusted with a mission of the utmost importance. He should be asked no questions about it. He was entitled to go anywhere – the word was underlined. His every request, whatever its nature, should be granted immediately. In the event of any disagreement concerning the said requests, the person should obey but would be entitled to make a complaint to the signatory of this order. Margont was dumbfounded. These two sheets of paper made him superior – in the context of this investigation – to a major-general.

‘Power can be intoxicating …’ the prince commented soberly. ‘But you will answer with your life for the use you make of these papers. Were I to learn that you waved them under the nose of some Russian aristocrat to requisition his stately home with a view to leading a life of luxury, or that you showed them off in an attempt to seduce some beauty by playing the dashing secret agent, then it would mean the firing squad!’

‘What am I going to tell my colonel? And anyone I have to show these orders to? Because I’m still bound to be asked questions.’

‘Do as Triaire does. Make something up! I think I’ve told you everything. Any questions? Yes, you’re bound to have some. Well, keep them to yourself. I’m handing responsibility for this problem over to you. You will give me regular progress reports on your investigation. And, above all, be discreet! You may leave.’

Margont was still gazing at the passes. ‘They’re fakes, aren’t they?’

The prince was stung to the quick. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Secrecy is so dear to your heart that I take it these documents are fakes. If my investigation implicates someone powerful, and if the affair becomes common knowledge, then you will be able to disavow me. I will be called a spy or a crank, and people will claim that I wrote the safe-conducts myself.’

Prince Eugène was caught off guard. ‘Well, you … They are a good enough likeness to serve their purpose. In any case, you now have a further reason to act with the utmost discretion. Did I not tell you that you may leave?’

Margont stood up, saluted and went towards the exit. The half-light inside the tent was oppressing him; he wanted to see daylight again, the morning light that drives away the fears of the night.

But the prince called out to him: ‘Captain! The messenger I sent to inform the Emperor put forward the names of five investigators to His Majesty. You are the one the Emperor chose. He affords you his full confidence and is convinced that you will prove worthy of this honour.’

CHAPTER 3

MARGONT wanted first of all to question the innkeeper before he too was sent off to Vieja Go-to-Hell, a village that was certainly filling up quickly these days. The gaolers had been informed of the visit and took Margont to see the prisoner, though not before carefully divesting him of his weapons.

‘Poor man.’ These were the two words that immediately came to mind on looking at Maroveski. His whole world had collapsed. He was over forty. His ginger hair was tangled and his bulging stomach and flabby cheeks contrasted sharply with his deep-set, dark-ringed eyes. Glazed with tears, they seemed to look without seeing, and it took him a few seconds to realise that someone had entered his cell.

‘Captain, I’ve done nothing wrong!’ he exclaimed, sobbing.

‘I know,’ said Margont. ‘How do you come to speak French?’

‘I took part in the Polish campaign. God bless the French for having freed us. I was a canteen-keeper. I followed your troops and sold them good bread and vodka. Mulled wine too, and well-cooked bacon.’

‘I’ll see that you get all that here.’

‘And eggs as well?’

‘Until your stomach’s full to bursting! Listen to me carefully: nobody will harm you. You’re going to stay here …’

Maroveski let out a cry that would have melted the hardest of hearts.

‘You’re not a prisoner,’ Margont added. ‘Not exactly … but you knew the murdered woman. I’m in charge of the investigation and when the culprit has been arrested you can go free, provided that you never breathe a word about this business.’

‘I swear it! I swear it by the Holy Virgin! Get me out of here, Captain! I won’t say a thing!’

‘You’re staying here for the time being!’

Even though he had no choice, Margont disliked being so hard. The grenadiers of the Royal Guard were holding their prisoner in the cellar of a commandeered farm. The place was cold and the stone walls and vaults were oozing damp. Daylight entered only through a basement window blocked by a grenadier’s boots. There was nothing to do here except engrave your sufferings on the walls. Margont found the place oppressive. It reminded him of his childhood years spent in a monastic cell: the sound of the bolt locking the door, the fading footsteps of the key-holder, the silence, the deadly boredom, the despair. If Margont had been locked away here he would have attempted every means of escape. Every single one.

‘Do you read?’

‘I never learnt.’

‘What a pity. You will have good meals here, the guards will take you for walks regularly and, as soon as possible, I’ll have you set free.’

Maroveski dared not speak. He was broken. His yellowing teeth bit nervously into his lower lip.

‘Tell me about the dead woman,’ continued Margont.

The man blanched. He could see again her bloodied body, the expression of pain on her face. That was perhaps worse than the physical mutilations she had suffered.

‘I’m not the one …’ he stuttered.

‘I know that. Calm down.’

From having been desperate, Maroveski suddenly became wary.

‘Why is a captain investigating Maria’s death? She was just a decent, simple girl.’

Margont was taken by surprise. The prince’s political explanation would have satisfied him had it not been for those few moments of hesitation.

‘They’re orders,’ he replied.

The stock answer of soldiers when they do not want to give one. Maroveski was used to dealing with the army, so did not pursue the matter. He dropped his suspicious air and looked sorrowful again.

‘Do you know who could have behaved like this?’ Margont went on.

‘It’s … Prince Charming.’

Margont stood motionless as if the slightest movement might make this first hint of a clue disappear into thin air.

‘That’s what she called him, Captain.’

‘Have you seen him?’

‘Never. All this is so strange … I must tell you about Maria first. She came from a good family but her parents have been dead a long time. Maria was thirty-six. Her husband was a sergeant, killed at Wagram. Since then Maria led a respectable life!’

This last sentence was spoken with deliberation. Maroveski was searching for the right words and speaking slowly.

‘Maria didn’t have much money. She had no family left, so two years ago she came to see me. We struck a deal. She lived in my inn for free, and did the housework and cooking and made herself generally useful. She worked hard and was polite. In three years she never had anyone, you understand. Yet with all these soldiers around here there was no shortage of men, and she was pretty, was Maria. She could have got married again or … entertained men. But no. I used to say to her: “Get yourself a husband before it’s too late.” But Maria wanted the perfect man: kind, well-mannered, knowledgeable … And then just the day before she died, she came back really happy – singing, even. I teased her and said: “Well, Maria, you’re in good spirits today.” I was teasing her but she blushed and told me she might have met her “Prince Charming”. I didn’t say anything. What sort of man could have seduced Maria in a day? I’ve had plenty of sweet-talkers on my premises: wealthy merchants, educated landowners …’

‘Did she talk to you about him again? Did she say where she had met him?’

‘No.’

‘What had she gone out to do?’

‘Errands for me, seeing people …’

‘Can you give me some names?’

Maroveski shrugged. ‘Maria was friends with everyone around here.’

Margont sighed inwardly. With the start of the military campaign he would never have time to reconstruct Maria’s movements on that day and question the people she might have met.

‘Why do you think it was this “Prince Charming” who killed her?’

‘On the evening she died there were a lot of people about: soldiers and officers, all over the place. The serving girls and I were scurrying around carrying food and wine. But Maria wasn’t there. I went up to her room to tell her to come and help. When she opened the door she was wearing her pretty dress, the one she wore to church. You can’t imagine how lovely she looked. She blushed and told me her friend was coming to visit her. She begged me to let her off work until midnight. I said yes.’

Maroveski was more pitiful than ever. He was a prisoner twice over, of this cellar and of an unrequited love now stifled for ever by death. Margont moved automatically towards the door. He felt he had already spent too long in a locked room.

‘You must surely have tried to spot her guest?’

‘Yes, but there were too many people! All out to have a good time before possibly going to their deaths.’

‘Didn’t you see him climbing the stairs?’

‘People were sitting on the steps as there was no room anywhere else. And loads were also going up to the bedrooms for drinks with friends.’

‘A Prince Charming might suggest an officer,’ Margont ventured.

The innkeeper did not react. ‘There were officers everywhere: lieutenants, captains …’

‘And higher ranks than those?’

‘I don’t know. Some customers were in civilian clothes. In any case, it was raining, so many of them were wearing greatcoats or cloaks.’

Margont wondered whether the murderer had premeditated his crime. If so, how bold of him to risk being recognised by walking through this crowd, even wrapped in a greatcoat with his collar turned up. If not, what could have led him to commit such an act?

‘And what makes you think that this man really is the one we’re looking for?’

Maroveski seemed to be pulling himself together. He straightened up in his chair. For the first time he looked Margont in the eye. The captain had the impression he was using him as a crutch. The Poles were a strange people. History had been unkind to Poland, a country constantly subject to invasion. Dordenski, a Polish friend of Margont’s, summed it up with a quip: ‘In Poland we don’t erect memorials for every war or for every massacre as other countries do. That’s because there aren’t enough stones in our country.’ And despite everything, the Poles were stubbornly refusing to give in.

‘Captain, tell me first of all, what will you do with him if you arrest him?’

‘He’ll be handed over to the appropriate authorities, tried and sentenced.’

‘But it won’t be just your decision?’

Margont smiled. ‘That’s for sure. I’m only a captain. But the person who appointed me to this task is just as eager as I am for—’

‘First he wants to know who it is. And if it’s someone wealthy and powerful or important to your army? If you discover it’s someone who’s beyond the reach of justice, what will you do?’

‘No one is beyond the reach of justice.’

‘If you really think that then I understand why you were picked for the investigation. It makes it easier for them to manipulate you.’

Margont was disconcerted. There was too much truth in this assertion.

Maroveski hesitated, then decided to continue. When he recalled the panic caused by the firing and the fear of a Russian attack, he shook his head.

‘I was sure it wasn’t the Russians. I was afraid for Maria. I tried to get to the staircase but people were pushing me towards the exit. When I did manage to get to her bedroom door, I banged on it and called out to her but she didn’t reply. Captain, the door hadn’t been forced and it was locked from the inside. She’d opened the door to the man who did it. So it must have been him …’ His fists were now clenched. ‘So I forced the door open with my shoulder. It was stupid of me because he might have still been there and killed me as well. I saw Maria stretched out on the bed, and she … she had …’

Margont gave him a few moments to recover before putting his question.

‘I know that my enquiries are painful but they are vital for my investigation. Do you remember anything in particular, was there some detail that struck you?’

‘There was blood all over her. Her face was disfigured. I looked at her only for a moment. I couldn’t stand it.’

Maroveski’s expression was blank. Once more he was in a state of complete mental disarray.

‘Oh, yes,’ he added eventually. ‘Everything was very neat and tidy. She’d made her bedroom nice to welcome him.’

CHAPTER 4

HAVING instructed the grenadiers to treat the prisoner well – instructions that he had to sketch out – Margont went to Tresno.

The village was completely unaware of the drama that had taken place. The villagers seemed obsessed with the presence of the French army and excitement was at fever pitch. A regiment was marching down the main street in orderly fashion, the soldiers trudging in step through mud that had been tramped a thousand times over. Fascinated children were crowding around, watching them, shouting: ‘Drummers! Drummers!’ and imitating an interminable drum roll with their fists. The colonel smiled and, waving his sabre imperiously like Jupiter brandishing his thunderbolt, pointed to the drummers, who immediately began to play. The children shouted joyfully and their faces lit up as if they were witnessing the most amazing of spectacles.

At the windows of the wooden houses, onlookers were jostling for position with such determination that it looked as if they might bring all the houses tumbling down. Polish women – equally concerned, whether they were wearing patched and faded clothes, or elegant dresses and spring bonnets – were calling out to the soldiers in halting French: ‘Tell Corporal Djaczek, from the 3rd Polish Regiment, that Natasha sends him kisses.’ ‘Tell Private Blachas, from the 12th Polish Artillery, that all his family send their love and are thinking of him.’ ‘Do you know whether Ivan Naskelitch, from the 14th Polish Chasseurs, is all right?’

Everywhere soldiers were buying things, to the delight of the villagers, who all seemed to have turned into pedlars. There was a delicious aroma of sausages, which made empty stomachs rumble; elsewhere were warm clothes, knitted jackets, fur-lined – if threadbare – cloaks and fur hats. Infantrymen, collapsing under the weight of parcels, were skewering loaves of bread on their bayonets. Sergeants in charge of keeping order were checking passes and other papers. Four times out of five they frowned and began to shout, but they invariably received the same reply: ‘I lost me way, Sergeant. D’you know where my regiment is?’

The only stone buildings were the inns and the church. Because Tresno was located along a busy highway, there were many places to stay and Maroveski’s was the biggest. The window on the top floor was still open. Margont prayed that the scene of the crime had not been ransacked by those who had taken the body away. As he went inside the establishment, the wind shook the wrought-iron carafe-shaped sign hanging above the entrance, making its metal fastenings creak.

Five grenadiers were seated around a table, playing cards. Their captain, astride a chair, was watching his men as he stuffed his pipe. As soon as he saw the Frenchman, he got up and approached him. There was a brief shuffling of chairs and then all the grenadiers lined up and stood to attention. The Italian officer saluted stiffly. He was puzzled by Margont’s two epaulettes, indicating his junior rank. Since they, the prestigious grenadiers of the Italian Royal Guard, were being forced to wait for someone, that someone had to be an important person. But Margont did not look like someone important. The Italian checked his safe-conduct, then asked a question in Italian. Margont did not understand much of it. Did they want permission to leave the scene after his investigation? He settled on this explanation, reckoning that, like Guard soldiers everywhere, they were spoiling for a fight.

‘You are to remain here until further notice,’ he stated slowly, pointing his finger at the Italians before indicating the ground.

His gesture was greeted by looks of disappointment. No more glorious military campaigns. Their only battles would be at cards.

‘And no one is to go upstairs,’ he added at the foot of the staircase, waving his hands about to halt an imaginary crowd of onlookers.

He climbed a few stairs and turned round to say with barely disguised anger in his voice: ‘And I would be pleased if someone would fetch Sergeant Lefine, from the 84th.’

‘Sergeant Lefine, here,’ repeated one of the grenadiers, to make sure he had understood properly.

The hotel had been emptied of its occupants and the silence pervading the whole building was in sharp contrast to the hubbub in the streets. The door to the victim’s bedroom was wide open. A latch on the inside had given way when the innkeeper forced the door with his shoulder. Although small, the accommodation had been carefully thought out. The steeply sloping roof made it possible to stand up straight only in the left-hand part of the room. On the right-hand side it was only possible to sit or to lie down, so that was where the bed had been set up. Alongside it, a trunk served as a bedside table. A small bookcase, an unexpected item, was tucked away in a corner. So Maria had had the advantage of being taught to read by her parents. The pages of the few books on the shelves were well thumbed. Judging by the pink or pastel-coloured covers and the engravings depicting couples walking together, they were probably romantic works, novels and collections of poetry. On a table stood a candlestick, two glasses and a pitcher of wine. A jug, a tub of water and some provisions – pots of jam, vegetables and a string of garlic – were crammed on to some shelves.

The rumpled sheets were soaked with blood. Dark red spots on the floor made it possible to discern two sets of footprints. One led from the bed to the door and was probably the result of the victim’s body being moved by the grenadiers. The other went from the bed to the tub. The water inside it was red, as was the water in the jug. So it was impossible to decide whether the murderer had got rid of the bloodstains after his crime or whether the soldiers who had helped to lift the body up had simply washed their hands there. And now these precious witnesses were on their way to Spain.

‘How can an investigation be carried out in such circumstances?’ Margont asked himself angrily.

He spent an hour inspecting the bedroom but discovered nothing except a trace of blood on the bolt of the trunk. It was scarcely visible because it had been wiped. That seemed strange. The chest was spattered with blood as it had been next to the bed. Why then had this trace been wiped away? Was it something unconnected with the murder, the result of the victim having injured herself? Or had the murderer still been covered in blood when he opened the trunk, despite having had a quick wash?

Margont emptied it, carefully examining each dress, the spring jacket and the two nightdresses. The garments, which were folded, had nothing special about them.

He was peering at the window when a flurry of footsteps was heard on the staircase. A few moments later Sergeant Lefine stood stiffly to attention in the doorway and, with a smile on his face, bellowed: ‘At your disposal, Captain.’

Fernand Lefine, who hailed from Arles, was such a quick-witted fellow that the parish priest had done his utmost to teach him to read and write. His parents, humble farmers, had got it into their heads that he would become a schoolmaster or a mayor. That showed how little they knew Fernand. He was the laziest, craftiest man in the entire region. Instead of using his talents wisely, he exploited illiterates, getting them to pay him to write their letters. He had an easy-going attitude to life and considered it really stupid to see things otherwise. One day a policeman had caught him stealing from a neighbour’s vegetable garden. This representative of the law, a former soldier, had warned him that he would come back for him in three days and haul him off to prison. Lefine was then given three options: he could go to prison; he could pack his bags and prepare to spend his life as a fugitive roaming the countryside; or he could join the army, in which case the police would never dream of depriving the motherland of such a stalwart defender in these troubled times. So it was that in 1801, aged only seventeen, Lefine entered the French army. There he met Margont and the two men had become inseparable. That said, friendship, like everything else on this poor earth, has its limits.

Margont grabbed a flabbergasted Lefine by the collar and flung him to the ground.

‘You miserable wretch!’

Lefine remained sitting, clutching his throat, waiting for the storm to pass.

‘How could you have told my life story to the agents of that cursed Triaire? For what price did you betray our friendship? A high one, I’m sure.’

‘Oh, that …’

‘So there’s something else as well, is there?’ thundered Margont.

Lefine straightened his shako. His brown hair was always well cut and carefully combed. His self-assurance, knowledge and resourcefulness – a euphemism – made him a very popular figure in the 84th.

‘You notice that I confess to my crime, Captain. And a crime confessed to is half—’

‘That sort of stupid talk only works in the confessional.’

Margont squatted down to force Lefine to look him straight in the eye.

‘Of course you confess. You’re the only possible suspect! Who knew about my criticisms of the Emperor’s policy after Eylau? Only Saber and you! And Saber has too much of a sense of honour.’

‘But I also have—’

‘Don’t use words you don’t know the meaning of.’

Lefine stood up again, followed by Margont, whose nervous, jerky gestures were still menacing.

‘I was forced into it, Captain. It was last year. A sergeant-major sent for me. He told me he had orders from very high up. He wanted to know everything about you! Supposedly it was to do with promotion. He threatened me. He told me that if I didn’t obey I’d be sent to the colonies, on the other side of the world. And on top of that I’d be downgraded to—’