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Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. FIELD GRAY
  3. ALSO BY PHILIP KERR
  4. FIELD GRAY
  5. Copyright
  6. Epigraph
  7. Dedication
  8. FIELD GRAY
  9. Contents
  10. 1
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 7
  17. 8
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. AUTHOR’S NOTE

“Well, for one thing, they don’t know everything about me and Mielke. There were certain things I’ve told you that I never told them. But now it hardly seems to matter. Not anymore. I haven’t had any contact with Mielke since 1949, when I went to Argentina. Since then, Mielke has become the second or third most powerful man in the GDR, so who would believe me? How could I prove anything of what I’ve told you? It’s just my word, right? Besides, I have other things on my mind. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m rather more concerned that you believe it wasn’t me who shot those prisoners from Gurs on the road to Lourdes in 1940. I don’t think it’s even crossed their minds that you might be interested in Mielke. As far as they’re concerned, you’re only interested in settling old scores against people like me. If you’ll forgive me for saying so, gentlemen, they think your intelligence is snagged on the fence of Muslim extremism in Algeria and wholly irrelevant in their Cold War against Russian communism. You’re a sideshow. Even the British look more relevant to them than you do.”

None of this was what the French wanted to hear, of course; but it was what they expected to hear. The French were nothing if not pragmatic; facts were always of lesser importance than experience. It was, of course, the only way the French could live with themselves.

Later on, our conversation returned again to the subject of Edgard de Boudel, and one of the two SDECE men asked me the same question that Heydrich had posed about Mielke in 1940:

“Do you think you would recognize him again?”

“Edgard de Boudel? I don’t know. It’s been seven years. Maybe. Why?”

“We want to arrest him and put him on trial.”

“In the Cherche-Midi? How many trials have there been in that court? Hundreds, isn’t it? How many war criminals and collaborators have you sentenced to death? Let me tell you how many. It was in the newspaper. Six thousand five hundred. Four thousand of those sentences handed down in absentia. Don’t you think that’s enough? Or do you really mean it to feel like the French Revolution?”

They said nothing while I lit a cigarette.

“Why do you want to put him on trial? For being in the SS? Well, I’m not buying that. France is full of ex-Nazis. Besides, I liked him. I liked him a lot. Why should I betray him? Even if I could.”