The door opened and Ariane came in. She said, with an anxious note in her voice, ‘What’s the matter, Theo?’

‘Vodka.’

‘Apart from your hangover, I mean.’

‘I’m fine.’ It didn’t answer her question, and he could see that she wasn’t reassured.

‘Florence told me that Vernhes came this morning. What did he want?’

‘To ask after Sabine.’

‘Is that all?’

‘Does it surprise you?’

‘That won’t have been his real reason for coming.’

‘No.’

She sat down beside him.

‘Is it very bad?’ she asked.

‘Terrible.’

‘You were away about twelve hours; were you drinking vodka all that time?’

‘Not all the time. Tea to start with.’

‘And what were you talking about in this marathon drinking session?’

‘The exploits of the Resistance. Its hatreds and rivalries. Nikola told me about the bad relations between Group Rainbow and the FTP Group Noix. Is it true?’

‘Yes, it is. You didn’t have to drink a bottle of vodka to learn that; I could have told you. Nikola doesn’t know even half the story, because he never tried to work with them.’

‘Whereas you were the liaison officer between the Secret Army and the FTP.’

‘Giving me a title like that makes it sound much more … real than it was. I tried to persuade the FTP not to do things, or not to do them in a certain way. And to convince Henri that certain things had to be done, for the sake of good relations, if nothing else. I don’t think I ever succeeded. Each group did what it intended to do anyway. This wasn’t an army in any sense that you would recognise, Theo.’

‘My problem is that I don’t know whether Nikola is a man with persecution mania and a strong gift for fantasy, or whether he has got something. He says that Henri was betrayed, that someone alerted the Germans to the plan to liberate Lepech. His theory is that it was the communists.’

‘The communists?’ Her astonishment was unmistakable. ‘Yes, he meant Vernhes.’

‘Vernhes betrayed him? How?’

‘You thought it was someone else?’

‘No, no. Go on.’

‘Nikola thinks that on the day that the Resistance took over Lepech Perdrissou, which was the day before liberation, you remember, the arrival of the Germans was too pat.’

‘This is paranoia,’ Ariane objected. ‘The FTP were there as well. It was my supreme triumph of co-operation. He can’t use that as evidence of an attempt to get rid of Henri.’

‘It’s more complicated than that. According to Nikola the FTP disappeared from the scene as soon as the Germans began shooting; they suffered no injuries, no casualties, no captives. Then he claims that he was present when Vernhes proposed to support Henri in an attempt to rescue the two prisoners, Pierre Rouget and Philippe Boysse. Henri went ahead with the plan that they made, but Vernhes and his men failed to turn up and do their share. Instead, the rest of the German unit caught them in the rear. As a result, Henri and five others were captured and seven of his men were killed. Only six got away. Those are heavy losses for an afternoon’s parade. He says that Vernhes now denies ever suggesting a rescue attempt.’