“Any particular reason?”
“I’d just like to have a look around, that’s all.”
The cart track was heavily overgrown. Greiser drove along it until they were out of sight of the road, and they got out and left the Citroen there, taking a field path across the woods of the de Ville estate. It was very quiet and really rather pleasant, only the sound of the birds, and then a young woman carrying a basket appeared unexpectedly from beyond the high granite wall at the end of the field. It was impossible to see her face. For one thing, she was wearing a headscarf, but the old cotton frock was tight enough to reveal, even at a distance, a body that was full and ripe. She didn’t notice them and followed the path into the wood.
Kleist said, “Now that’s interesting.” He turned to Greiser and smiled. “Would you say we should investigate, Sergeant?”
“Very definitely, Herr Inspector,” the younger man said eagerly and they quickened their pace.
The young woman was in fact Mrs. Vibert’s daughter, Mary. After Sean Gallagher’s visit to tell her to take the weekend off, the old woman had remembered the eggs she had promised Helen de Ville for the evening meal. It was these that the girl was taking to the house now.
She was only sixteen and already blossoming into womanhood, but not very bright, with a simple, kindly face. She loved the countryside, the flowers, the birds, was never happier than when walking alone in the woods. Some little way in, there was an old granite barn long disused, the roof gaping, the doors hanging crazily It always made her feel uneasy, and yet drawn to it by a strange fascination, she paused, then walked across the grass betwen crumbled walls to peer inside.
A harsh voice called, “Now then. What do you think you’re doing?”
She turned quickly and saw Kleist and Greiser advancing toward her.
After leaving Mrs. Vibert’s, Sean Gallagher walked down to the south meadow where he had three cows grazing, tethered to long chains in the Jersey manner. They were a precious commodity in these hard times and he stayed with them there in the sunshine for a while then started back to his cottage.
When he was still two fields away he saw the Germans walking toward the wood, saw and recognized Mary. He paused, shading his eyes against the sun, saw the girl disappear into the trees, the Germans following. Suddenly uneasy, he started to hurry. It was when he was halfway across the field that he heard the first scream. He cursed softly and broke into a run.
The weather was the best of spring, delightfully warm as Sarah and Martineau followed the track from the house through the pine trees. There were daffodils everywhere, crocuses and snowdrops in profusion, camellias blooming. Beyond, through the trees, the waters of the bay were blue merging into green in places Birds sang everywhere.
Sarah held his arm as they strolled along. “God, that wonderful marvelous smell. Straight back to childhood and those long hot summers. Did they ever exist, I wonder, or was it all an impossible dream?”
“No,” he said. “They were the only true reality. It’s the past four years that have been the nightmare ”
“I love this place,” she said. “It’s an old race, the Norman stock here, and the de Villes are as old as any of them We go back a long way. Robert de Ville fought at the Battle of Hastings with Duke William of Normandy ”
“Good old William the Conqueror?”
“That’s right. He ruled Jersey before he became king of England, so its we who colonized the English, if you like, not the other way about.”
“There’s arrogance for you ”
“These are my roots.” she said “Here I belong. This is home. Where do you belong. Harry?”
“Stateless person, that’s me ” he said lightly “For years an American living and working in Europe No family left worth speaking of ”
“Citizen of the world?”
“Not really ” He was upset and it showed in a sudden angry unease. “I just don’t belong. Don’t belong anywhere.
Could be I should have died in those trenches back in nineteen eighteen. Maybe the man upstairs made a mistake. Perhaps 1 shouldn’t be here at all.”