Page 49 of Whispers At Dawn
‘Of course. We’ll have him meet you by the car and I’ll escort you downstairs.’
The commissaire thanked Luc for dinner and Luc said he was welcome anytime.
‘Talking of which, the German I referred to is a member of the Gestapo. When would you like to host him for dinner?’
Lizzie sputtered on the last of her wine when she heard his words and worked quickly to regain her composure.
A Gestapo thug for dinner.
The prospect of the proposed dinner set her nerves on end. The commissaire was dangerous enough, but to dine with amember of the Gestapo. That seemed a step too far, even for them.
She saw Jack raise one eyebrow with his first obvious sign of being disturbed by the evening’s events.
Luc frowned and looked troubled, dropping his friend’s official title and addressing him by his first name. ‘A member of the Gestapo, you say? You might have mentioned it earlier, Robert.’
It was a sharp rebuke, like a rap on the knuckles, but the commissaire was clearly adept at dodging people’s wrath and brushed it off smoothly.
‘Come along now, Luc, my dear old friend. Don’t be inhospitable. I promise you there will be something in it for you.’
‘I find that difficult to believe,’ Luc replied dryly. ‘When do you wish this dinner to take place?’
The commissaire placed his cap on his head and scrunched his eyes up at the ceiling, as if it might provide details of his calendar. He was silent for a moment and then announced, ‘Soon. I will be in touch.’
Luc gave a minute shrug. ‘Very well, we will make plans to entertain your Gestapo officer and be on our best behaviour.’
The commissaire smiled, pleased with his victory. ‘That’s a smart move, thank you. I will convey your invitation.’
CHAPTER 24
‘Dining with the enemy is more nail-biting than breaking into Nazi High Command!’ Lizzie whispered to Jack when everyone had retired for the night, and they were back in their rooms.
Jack chuckled at her outrageous statement. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever done anything quite as dangerous as that, and if you’d listened to my orders, you wouldn’t have either, Seagrove! It brings me out in a cold sweat just thinking about what you and Hannah got up to.’
‘Well, I’m here to tell the tale, so it wasn’t that bad. But this sitting down to dinner, hoping the enemy doesn’t suspect me every time I raise my fork to my lips, is another level of fear. I struggled to swallow through the whole meal.’
‘It’s a different game we’re playing. You did brilliantly, darling. Espionage comes in many forms and sitting around observing can be the most testing. Action is easier because we fire ourselves up and know what the immediate goal is. You’ll grow used to dining room espionage the more we do it, I promise.’
Lizzie’s senses were still on overdrive as she relived the events of the dinner. ‘I hope you’re right. I thought my heartwas going to explode when he said the dinner guest is a Gestapo officer.’
Jack said, ‘We’ll have time to talk it through with Luc to prepare.’
‘It’s imminent by the sounds of it,’ she said, crossing the room to the window where a veil of darkness had descended over the valley.
‘Do you think the commissaire suspects something? It seemed a menacing proposal out of the blue like that.’
‘I doubt it, I hear the Nazis love a freeloading dinner with the French elite. To be honest, I’m more concerned about him stealing Luc’s best wine and loading it on the train to Germany.’
‘What a horrible thought.’
‘It’s not an ideal scenario,’ Jack said, raking his hand through his floppy hair, his expression serious.
‘That’s putting it mildly. You can say that again!’
‘I could, but it will only aggravate you,’ he said.
Lizzie picked up an embroidered cushion from a nearby chair and threw it at him playfully, but he caught it like a pro with both hands and grinned at her.
‘Smart arse,’ she said, hands on hips.
