“Although with any luck I won’t be stuck in Vice for very long.”

“No?”

Willms shook his head. He was small but powerful, and sat with his legs apart and his arms folded, as if watching a football match. He said:

“After the SD school in Bernau, I was sent on an exclusive leadership course in Berlin-Charlottenburg. It was the people who ran that course who organized this posting. I speak fluent French, you see. I’m from Trier originally.”

“So that’s what I can hear in your accent. French. I imagine that comes in handy in your line of work.”

“To be honest with you, sir, it’s rather dull work. I’m hoping for something a bit more exciting than a lot of French whores.”

“There are about five hundred soldiers on this train who would disagree with that, Lieutenant.”

He smiled, a proper smile this time, with teeth, only it didn’t work any better, the way a smile was supposed to work.

“So what are you hoping for?”

“My father was killed in the war,” Willms explained. “At Verdun. By a French sniper. I was two when that happened So I’ve always hated the French. I hate everything about them. I suppose I’d like a chance to pay them back for what they did to me. For taking my dad away from us. For giving me such a miserable childhood. My family should have left Trier, but we couldn’t afford to go. So we stayed. My mother and my sisters. We stayed in Trier and we were hated.” He nodded thoughtfully. “I should very much like to work for the Gestapo in Paris. Giving the Franzis a hard time sounds just about right to me. Cool a few, if you know what I mean, sir.”

“The war’s over,” I said. “I should think your chances for cooling any French, as you put it, are rather limited now. They’ve surrendered.”

“Oh, I should think there are some left who’ve still got a bit of fight in them. Don’t you? Terrorists. We’ll have to deal with them, surely. If you hear of anything in that line, sir, perhaps you’d let me know. I’m keen to get on. And to get out of Vice.” He smiled his reptilian smile and patted the briefcase on the seat next to him. “Until then,” he added, “perhaps I might do you a favor.”

“Oh? How?”