“We shall have to involve the Préfecture de Police in your mission,” said Knochen. “So that the French might persuade themselves that they are preserving French institutions and the French way of life. But I tell you, gentlemen, that the loyalty of the French police is indispensable to us. Hagen? Who’s the Franzi that the maison has put up as liaison?” He looked my way. “The maison is what we call the flics in the rue de Lutèce. The Préfecture de Police. You should see the building, Captain Gunther. It’s as big as the Reichstag.”

“The Marquis de Brinon, sir,” said Hagen.

“Oh yes. You know, for a republic, the French are awfully impressed by aristocratic titles. They’re almost as bad as the Austrians in that respect. Hagen, see if the Marquis can suggest anyone to help the captain.”

Hagen looked awkward. “Actually, sir, we’re not entirely certain that the Marquis isn’t married to a Jew.”

Knochen frowned. “Do we have to worry about that sort of thing now? We’ve only just got here.” He shook his head. “Besides, it’s not his wife who’s the liaison officer, is it?”

Hagen shook his head.

“All in good time we shall see who is a Jew and who isn’t a Jew, but right now it seems to me the priority is the apprehension of a communist fugitive from German justice. A murderer. Isn’t that right, Captain Gunther?”

“That’s right, sir. He murdered two policemen.”

“As it happens,” said Knochen, “this department is already in the process of drawing up a list of wanted war criminals to present to the French. And in the establishment of a special joint commission—the Kuhnt Commission—to oversee these matters in the unoccupied zone. A German officer, Captain Geissler, has already gone down to Vichy to begin the work of this commission. And, in particular, to hunt for Herschel Grynszpan. You will perhaps recall that it was Grynszpan, a German-Polish Jew, who murdered Ernst vom Rath here, in Paris, in November 1938, and whose actions provoked such a strong outpouring of feeling in Germany.”

“I remember it very well, sir,” I said. “I live on Fasanenstrasse. Just off the Ku-damm. The synagogue at the end of my street was burned down during that strong outpouring of feeling you were talking about, Herr Colonel.”

“A representative of the German Foreign Ministry, Herr Dr. Grimm, is also on Grynszpan’s trail,” said Knochen. “It seems that the little Jew was here in Paris, in the Fresnes Prison, until early June, when the French decided to evacuate all of the prisoners to Orléans. From there he was sent to prison in Bourges. However, he didn’t arrive there. The convoy of buses transporting the prisoners was attacked by German aircraft, and after that the picture is rather confused.”