He says what I wrote down is encredeebal."
"Get out of my way!" yelled the second guard, running up the corridor and rushing into the suite.
"Where .. . ?" His question was stopped by an aikido chop to his neck, followed by a two-fingered prong to the space below his ribcage, the combination leaving the guard temporarily breathless and unconscious, but again without harm. Drew pulled him over to the couch and performed the same exercise he had with the first Deuxieme officer, only with necessary variations. He lay prone on the pillows, legs and arms stretched and tied to the sofa's feet, mouth gagged, but his head angled, with no loss of air. Latham's FINAL gesture was to yank out the telephones in both rooms. He was now free to begin the hunt.
e walked up the steps of Phyllis Cranston's apartment house in the rue Pavee, entered the lobby, and Hpressed the bell for her flat.
There was no answer, so he kept ringing, thinking she might be in a stupor, if Witkowski's opinion was justified. He was about to give up, when an obese, elderly woman came out of the locked hallway, noticed the button he was pressing, and spoke in French.
"You looking for the Butterfly?"
"I'm not sure I understand you."
"Ah, Amiricain. Your French is terrible," she added in English.
"I was the sorriest woman in Paris when your airdromes left France."
"You know Miss Cranston?"
"Who here does not? She's a sweet thing and once was very pretty, as I was. "Why should I tell you anything else ?
"Because I have to speak with her, it's urgent."
"Because you're 'horny," as you Americans call it? Let me tell you, monsieur, she may have the malady, but she is no whore!"
"I'm not looking for a whore, madame. I'm trying to find someone who can give me information I need very quickly, and that person is Phyllis Cranston."
"Hmm," mused the old woman, studying Drew.
"You are not looking to take advantage of her because of her malady? If you are, you should know that her friends in this building protect her. She is, as I said, sweet and kind and helps out people who need help.
We are not poor here, but many of us are close to being so, what with the taxes and the high prices. The Butterfly is free with her
American money and never asks for repayment. On her days off she cares for children so their mothers can work. You will not harm her, not here."
"I don't want to harm her, and I'm not looking for a Mother Teresa. I told you, I want to find her because she may have information I need."
"Do not mention catbolique to me, monsieur. I am a Catholic, but we told that filthy priest to stay away from her! "
Bingo, thought Latham.
"A priest?"
"He took advantage of her, he still takes advantage of her!"
"How [email protected]
"He comes late at night, and the absolution he's looking for is between his two legs!"
"She accepts him?"
"She feels she has no choice. He's her confessor."
"Son of a hitch! Listen to me, I have to find her. I've spoken to that priest and he gave me her name. Not for the reason you might think, only because he may have said things to her he shouldn't have said."
"And who are you?"
"Someone who, believe it or not is fighting France's battle as much as I am my own country's. The Nazis, madame, the goddamned Nazis are beginning to march again all over Europe! I know that sounds melodramatic, but it's true. "
"I was a small child and saw them execute people in the streets," said the old woman, whispering, her lined face pinched.
"They can do it again?"
"They're a long way from it, but we've got to stop them now."
"How is our Butterfly involved?"
"She was given information she may have innocently imparted to others. Or perhaps not innocently. That's as honest as I can be.
If she's not here, where is she?"
"I was about to tell you to go to Les Trois Couronnes, a cafE down the street, but it is past midnight, and you need not go there.
She's right behind you, being helped u' the P
steps by her neighbor, Monsieur Du Bois. As is quite apparent, her malady is that she drinks too much wine. There are things she has to forget, monsieur, and she does it with wine."
"Do you know what they are?"
"It is not my business to know, and what I know I keep to myself.
We take care of our Butterfly, here."
"Will you accompany