share. The tip of the iceberg. The rest, only she knew about.
Therefore the rest already doesn’t exist. As of now.’
We smoked another cigarette each and sat quiet. Then we
walked back, slowly, side by side, a little burned out, at some
kind of peace.
The coffin was in the corbillard when we got back to her
building. They must have stood it upright in the elevator. The
concierge was out on the sidewalk, standing next to the old man
with the medal ribbon. He was leaning on his walking sticks.
The nurse was there too, standing on her own. The pallbearers
had their hands clasped in front of them. They were looking
down at the ground.
‘They’re taking her to the dpdt mortuaire,’ the nurse said. The funeral parlour. ‘OK,’ Joe said.
I didn’t stay. I said goodbye to the nurse and the concierge
and shook hands with the old guy. Then I nodded to Joe and set
off walking up the avenue. I didn’t look back. I crossed the
Seine at the Pont de l’Alma and walked up the Avenue George V
to the hotel. I went up in the elevator and back to my room. I
still had the old guy’s box under my arm. I dropped it on the
bed and stood still, completely unsure about what to do next.
I was still standing there twenty minutes later when the phone
rang. It was Calvin Franz, calling from Fort Irwin in California.
He had to say his name twice. The first time, I couldn’t recall
who he was.
‘I spoke to Marshall,’ he said.
‘Who?’
312
‘Your XII Corps guy.’
I said nothing.
‘You O K?’
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I’m fine. You spoke to Marshall.’
‘He went to Kramer’s funeral. He drove Vassell and Coomer there and back. Then he claims he didn’t drive them the rest of
the day because he had important Pentagon meetings all afternoon.’
‘But?’
‘I didn’t believe him. He’s a gofer. If Vassell and Coomer had
wanted him to drive, he’d have been driving, meetings or no
meetings.’
‘And?’
‘And knowing what kind of a hard time you would give me if I
didn’t check, I checked.’
‘And?’
‘Those meetings must have been with himself in the toilet
stall, because nobody else saw him around.’
‘So what was he doing instead?’
‘No idea. But he was doing something, that’s for sure. The
way he answered me was just way too smooth. I mean, this
all was six days ago. Who the hell remembers what meetings
they had six days ago? But this guy claims to.’
‘You tell him I was in Germany?’
‘He seemed to know already.’
‘You tell him I was staying there?’
‘He seemed to take it for granted you weren’t heading for
California anytime soon.’
‘These guys are old buddies with Willard,’ I said. ‘He’s
promised them he’ll keep me away from them. He’s running the
110th like it’s Armored’s private army.’
‘I checked those histories myself, by the way. For Vassell and
Coomer, because you got me curious. There’s nothing there to
suggest either one of them ever heard of any place called
Sperryville, Virginia.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Completely. Vassell is from Mississippi and Coomer is from
Illinois. Neither of them has ever lived or served anywhere near Sperryville.’
313
I was quiet for a second.
‘Are they married?’ I said.
‘Married?’ Franz said. ‘Yes, there were wives and kids in
there. But they were local girls. No in-laws in Sperryville.’
‘OK,’ I said.
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘I’m coming to California.’
I put the phone down and walked along the corridor to
Summer’s door. I knocked and waited. She opened up. She was
back from sightseeing.
‘She died last night,’ I said.
‘I know,’ Summer said. four brother just called me from the
apartment. He wanted me to make sure you were OK.’
‘I’m OK,’I said.
‘I’m very sorry.’
I shrugged. ‘Conceptually these things don’t come as a
surprise.’
%Vhen was it?’
‘Midnight. She just gave up.’
‘I feel bad. You should have gone to see her yesterday. You
shouldn’t have spent the day with me. We shouldn’t have done
all that ridiculous shopping.’