He would love to find evidence sufficient to report the two to the Gestapo, who’d have no qualms getting the truth out of them, but without a stronger case against them, Louis ran the risk of getting in trouble himself. Claus Bauer, disfigured as he was, had become the most popular instructor on his staff. Parents—the fathers, the most powerful Nazi and Vichy officials in Paris—had begun requesting Herr Bauer as their sons’ field and mathematics instructor. Also, Louis had discovered that Major General Konrad March had hired him to tutor his son, a move that had outraged him, since it could reflect badly on himself and the program.

Nor did Louis dare to point a finger at a man in Jules Garnier’s position based on a mere hunch that might turn out to be a waste of the Gestapo’s time. Garnier had been nothing but cooperative with the Nazi authorities in establishing the special school for their children, and the Gestapo had their hands full tracking down and interrogating persons of real interest. The organization had begun taking a dark view of informers who turned in suspects out of vengeance, jealousy, and personal gain. And in his secret heart, Louis had to admit to all three.

Absorbed in his thoughts, Louis did not at first hear the sound of someone knocking on his department’s outer door. By the time it registered, the knocking had increased in tempo and volume, demanding entrance. Who in hell—?

Louis set his teeth angrily and grabbed a truncheon. What idiot would come pounding on his door at six o’clock on a Saturday evening in the cold and dark? He’d make him sorry he ever had the notion. He stomped to the door and threw it open. “Oh, my God!” he let out, hiding the truncheon behind his back and snapping up a Nazi salute at the presence of his visitor on his doorstep.

“Your landlady said I might find you here,” Major General Konrad March announced himself.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX