The Paris Architect: A Novel

Bette walked over. “I don’t know; you’re the architect, you tell me.”


“There must have been an old radiator inside here, then they took it out,” said Lucien as he pried up the wooden sill with his penknife and looked into the cavity.

“Ask the children to come here,” he said. He tossed some cushions from the sofa into the cavity.

“All little bunnies, come out here please.”

Emile and Carole scampered out in glee.

“Children, let’s play a game,” said Lucien.

The children smiled and nodded their heads excitedly.

“It’s sort of like hide-and-seek. I want to hide you under the window,” said Lucien. He lifted Emile and put him inside the hole, then Carole. They both fit snugly side by side.

“This will be our secret hiding place,” he said as he lifted them out. “All right, back in the bedroom to play, my little ones.”

“Suppose the Boche search there; they could lift the lid up and find them.”

“The lid will be hinged at the back, and there’ll be two locks on the underside of it that you’ll have Emile fasten when they’re inside. The Boche won’t be able to lift the lid. And you’ll place lots of stuff on top, like bowls and vases of flowers.”

“What a clever man. You thought of that very quickly.”

“I have had a bit of experience in these matters. Now if you’ll get my suit, I’ll be on my way. But I’ll return right after my meeting, because I also have a secret. I think you’ll find it quite interesting.”





53





“I didn’t realize you had such a peculiar sense of humor, Monsieur Manet.”

“The fact is, I don’t have a sense of humor at all. So my wife tells me. But in the case of this refuge, I had no choice.”

“Did you happen to notice that it’s right across the street from 11 rue des Saussaies?”

“Yes, Lucien, I did.”

“Which happens to be Gestapo headquarters?” Lucien peeked between the curtains to look at the building. Lucien had first visited this apartment a week ago to check it out for hiding places. He’d been so intent on making sure he wasn’t being followed, he hadn’t realized until he’d left that it was directly across the street from Gestapo headquarters. The sight of the official-looking building nauseated him, as if he’d eaten a bad oyster. He hoped that at this meeting, he could persuade Manet to change locations.

“Of course, every Parisian knows that address,” replied Manet with a sly smile.

“And are you still intent on using this flat?”

“Like I told you, I had no choice in the matter. Time is critical, and this is the only apartment I could secure at the moment, so you’ll have to be extra clever.”

“That, Monsieur Manet, is the understatement of the century. There’s no way to find another place?”

“No. And I’m sorry to say that you must be extra quick. I must move in a guest in a few days. He’s in great danger at the moment. He’ll be staying here for a while. It’s still too dangerous to get to Spain, and Switzerland is out of the question.”

“There are horrible things taking place over there even as we speak,” said Lucien, half expecting to hear screams of agony coming from across the street.

“If we’re not careful, you and I could wind up there.”

“Believe me, I’ve thought about that scenario hundreds of times.”

“I’m not surprised,” replied Manet.

“Well, I have to admit that this choice of apartment does have a kind of insane ingenuity to it.”

“So do you have any ideas, Lucien?”