Major Hodges was not a small man. Yet he gave an impression of smallness because his head was proportionately quite large. Hair grey and white; moustache dark and trimmed far above his top lip. A little chin—or, rather, a chin dwarfed by a hammock of flesh below, which protruded from his collar and curved underneath. As he cleared his throat and turned his whole stiff body to look at one of his officers, that pad of flesh rippled.
“We’ve heard, Father Anthony, that you have something of a special expertise in Nablus.”
“Expertise? Oh, I don’t know about expertise. An interest, certainly. I have an interest.”
“Right. Thing about Nablus is—do you mind if I sit down?”
“Of course.”
“Take a seat, gentlemen.”
Three chairs screeched across the stone floor. Major Hodges sat nearest to Antoine and gripped the leather beak of his field cap.
“Thing about Nablus is they’re unruly. Is there anyone in here by the way?”
“We are alone.”
“Good. Nablus. Worst of the lot. Our trouble is, we’ve not got any …” he lowered his voice, “intelligence … from there since about nineteen seventeen or thereabouts. Asked the French nuns to keep an eye but … the thing about Nablus, as you probably know, well, it’s a town of fanatics. Lot of troublemakers. What we in the CID, that’s the Criminal Investigation Department, like to call mischief makers. Probably worse than Hebron, in fact.”
Antoine inclined his head, not in agreement, but to show he was listening.
“Catch a troublemaker in Jerusalem and chances are two out of three he’s from Nablus or thereabouts. That is not a lie. What I’m coming to is, it has been proving somewhat difficult to get many facts on the ground, so to speak. We recently set up a new department but if I’m honest with you, it doesn’t matter if any one of us doffs the uniform. No one is going to talk to us.”
Antoine glanced at the two other officers. One had big orange sideburns. The other had the tender features of an adolescent.
“We’ve been really struggling to get a local on board. But we’ve been doing the rounds and we heard you know a bit about the place. What we’re trying to do is ascertain how much recent events were planned in advance. Nablus being one of the more organised in terms of, well, activities, as well as, like I say, more unruly. So if there is any sort of plan that is what one might call systematic on behalf of these mischief makers, to agitate the people, we need to keep an eye. Do you see? On the Jewish side we all know who’s who. The Arabs are a bit different. Look, I’m going to level with you. We’re behind and we’re low on staff. We’ve started collecting fingerprints but what we really need is facts, names, alliances. Market gossip. We’ve got one report about the major families from about three years ago but things are always changing—and I’ll tell you it’s been bloody hard to find an Arab from Nablus who’ll talk to us, and who we can trust. And one who speaks English.” He took a breath, and fixed Antoine. “What we’re wanting to know is—”
“Have I heard anything.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “And also,” he gave a voluntary exhalation, “a bit more. We were wondering whether you might actually be willing to work for us. I know you’re a holy man but it’s quite common among your profession, believe it or not. And we know you speak the language, and about your considerable expertise in the study of Arabs.” He gave a sardonic smile. “You will have some compensation, it will be small, but you will be honoured of course by His Majesty’s Government for your services.”
With an air of conclusion, he pursed his lips. His fingers were very tight on his cap, Antoine noticed, and the skin under the nails was going white. Antoine turned and looked through the window on the other side of his carrel.
“What would it involve?”
“Involve,” repeated Hodges. “Lingering round the markets. Catching news here and there. Small is fine for starters, just to get a sense of … who the troublemakers might be. Next, make some friends.”
Antoine took his time, looking at the sky. Nablus was unruly. Perhaps she was. She was complex, like a beautiful engine with different parts that conflicted to make the vehicle move. These were idiotic policemen, drawn from all quarters of their empire to