Franco-Prussian War. Look, I donât know how long they were in that safe. No one does. Each agent-directeur simply thought it best to leave those damned boxes alone.â
âItâs serious,â said Kohler lamely.
âAre the Resistance involved in this matter?â shouted the Chief.
Ah no ⦠thought St-Cyr, dismayed at the sudden turn. Counter-terrorism, subversion, tracking down Jews, gypsies and all others of the Reichâs so-called undesirables were Walterâs responsibility, not just combating common crime. But then, too, in one of those paradoxes of the war, he ran gangs of known criminals who did the Gestapoâs bidding when they, themselves, wanted to remain at armâs length.
A cop, and now a thug too, he unfortunately knew the city well, having worked here in his youth as a heating and ventilating engineer. He spoke French as good as any Parisian, even to the argot of Montmartre.
That grim, grey look passed over them. âIâm warning you. I want no trouble with this. Berlin are adamant. The Gypsy is to be apprehended at all costs. Taken alive if possible â there are things we need to know from him â but dead will do. Thatâs what they want and I must insist on it.â
âAnd Herr Engelmann ⦠why is he here?â asked Kohler.
âWhy not? The IKPK have card indexes on all such people.â
âThen it didnât stop functioning at the onslaught of hostilities. Heydrich kept it going?â asked Louis.
âAs the Gruppenführer knew he should have. Herr Engelmann is not just with their robberies division. He holds a cross-appointment with the Berlin Kripo. In the course of his duties in â38, and then in â40 and â41, he went to Oslo several times to interview our friend, and has come to know him intimately, if anyone can ever do so.â
âThen why is he being so difficult? Why doesnât he take us fully into his confidence?â asked Kohler.
Security allowed only so much to be said. âThat is precisely what I have asked him to do. Full co-operation. A concerted effort to bring this safe-cracker in and quickly before he does us all an injury from which we cannot recover.â
Boemelburg was clearly worried. Leaning forward, he hurriedly shoved things out of the way, and lowered his voice. âWhose agenda is he following? What are his next targets? Where will he hole up and exactly who is helping him?â
Nana Thélème or someone else?
The set of fingerprints was very clear, the head-and-shoulders photographs sharp, but to St-Cyr the file card â the top in a bundle of perhaps thirty â was like one of those from the past. It evoked memories of Vienna and the IKPK and worries about the distinct possibility of another high-level assassination, the then impending visit of King George VI to France in July of 1938. Boemelburg and he had worked together on it, a last occasion before the war.
The IKPK had sent such cards to all its member countries, requesting whatever they had on a certain criminal or type of crime. These cards were then stored in rotatable drum-cabinets and a detective such as Boemelburg or himself, or Engelmann, could in a few moments collate data from cities in France with that from Britain, the Netherlands, Turkey, Italy, Greece and, at last count in 1938, some twenty-eight other countries around the world.
Lists of stolen property were painstakingly spelled out where possible. Missing persons, unidentified cadavers, murder, arson, counterfeiting, fraud, drug trafficking and prostitution â all were there at the turn of the drum and yes, very early on, even in 1932 and â33, there had been concerns about a Nazi takeover, yet the service had offered immense possibilities. A radio network in 1935 linked many of the major cities, allowing policemen to talk directly and informally to colleagues in other countries, very quickly forming professional liaisons that
âItâs serious,â said Kohler lamely.
âAre the Resistance involved in this matter?â shouted the Chief.
Ah no ⦠thought St-Cyr, dismayed at the sudden turn. Counter-terrorism, subversion, tracking down Jews, gypsies and all others of the Reichâs so-called undesirables were Walterâs responsibility, not just combating common crime. But then, too, in one of those paradoxes of the war, he ran gangs of known criminals who did the Gestapoâs bidding when they, themselves, wanted to remain at armâs length.
A cop, and now a thug too, he unfortunately knew the city well, having worked here in his youth as a heating and ventilating engineer. He spoke French as good as any Parisian, even to the argot of Montmartre.
That grim, grey look passed over them. âIâm warning you. I want no trouble with this. Berlin are adamant. The Gypsy is to be apprehended at all costs. Taken alive if possible â there are things we need to know from him â but dead will do. Thatâs what they want and I must insist on it.â
âAnd Herr Engelmann ⦠why is he here?â asked Kohler.
âWhy not? The IKPK have card indexes on all such people.â
âThen it didnât stop functioning at the onslaught of hostilities. Heydrich kept it going?â asked Louis.
âAs the Gruppenführer knew he should have. Herr Engelmann is not just with their robberies division. He holds a cross-appointment with the Berlin Kripo. In the course of his duties in â38, and then in â40 and â41, he went to Oslo several times to interview our friend, and has come to know him intimately, if anyone can ever do so.â
âThen why is he being so difficult? Why doesnât he take us fully into his confidence?â asked Kohler.
Security allowed only so much to be said. âThat is precisely what I have asked him to do. Full co-operation. A concerted effort to bring this safe-cracker in and quickly before he does us all an injury from which we cannot recover.â
Boemelburg was clearly worried. Leaning forward, he hurriedly shoved things out of the way, and lowered his voice. âWhose agenda is he following? What are his next targets? Where will he hole up and exactly who is helping him?â
Nana Thélème or someone else?
The set of fingerprints was very clear, the head-and-shoulders photographs sharp, but to St-Cyr the file card â the top in a bundle of perhaps thirty â was like one of those from the past. It evoked memories of Vienna and the IKPK and worries about the distinct possibility of another high-level assassination, the then impending visit of King George VI to France in July of 1938. Boemelburg and he had worked together on it, a last occasion before the war.
The IKPK had sent such cards to all its member countries, requesting whatever they had on a certain criminal or type of crime. These cards were then stored in rotatable drum-cabinets and a detective such as Boemelburg or himself, or Engelmann, could in a few moments collate data from cities in France with that from Britain, the Netherlands, Turkey, Italy, Greece and, at last count in 1938, some twenty-eight other countries around the world.
Lists of stolen property were painstakingly spelled out where possible. Missing persons, unidentified cadavers, murder, arson, counterfeiting, fraud, drug trafficking and prostitution â all were there at the turn of the drum and yes, very early on, even in 1932 and â33, there had been concerns about a Nazi takeover, yet the service had offered immense possibilities. A radio network in 1935 linked many of the major cities, allowing policemen to talk directly and informally to colleagues in other countries, very quickly forming professional liaisons that
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