The Paris Architect: A Novel

“I’m going to take off the blindfold. Ready?”


Adele loved this game. It was exciting and decidedly erotic. When she and Schlegal had finished their lunch at the little inn in Savran, he’d blindfolded her after they got back into his car and had told her he had a wonderful surprise to show her. The sensation of being blindfolded while riding in the car was wonderful. Her senses of hearing and smell were intensified. Adele could feel every vibration of the road and smell the cut rye in the fields they passed. Soon, the car came to a stop and her Gestapo lover guided her gently out and onto a stone walk.

“I’m going crazy with curiosity, you evil man.”

“Just a few more steps,” Schlegal said before yanking off the white handkerchief.

“My God, this is incredible!” Adele said.

“It’s all yours, my love. All thirty rooms. Until the Reich decides how to dispose of it.”

In front of Adele stood a seventeenth-century hunting lodge with corner towers capped by witch’s-hat roofs. Surrounding the building was a dense forest of huge ancient trees, almost blocking out the sky.

“It’s as wonderful as Chateau de Chambord. I was there for dinner once, did I ever tell you that?”

“Yes, a few hundred times, my sweet,” said Schlegal. “Now you have your own chateau to do with whatever you like.”

“I can’t wait to show Bette, she’ll be so jealous,” she giggled. Her high heels clattered on the stone path as she ran up to the giant front doors and flung them open. When Schlegal walked in, she was racing uncontrollably from room to room on the first floor.

“It’s completely furnished,” she shouted.

“Down to the last pot in the kitchen, which you’ll see is as big as a ballroom.”

“I’ll be able to entertain two hundred, at least.”

“At least,” said Schlegal.

Adele could see that her lover was quite pleased with himself, knowing this little present would win her heart.

“Where on earth did you get this place?”

“It belonged to a French nobleman. He was hiding Jews here, but they escaped from us.”

“That must have made you quite annoyed, my love,” said Adele tauntingly.

“It most certainly did, so the Reich appropriated his home.”

“And what happened to the nobleman?”

“He’s in Switzerland, so he’ll never set foot in his ancestral home again.”

“What an idiot, to give all this up for a bunch of Jews,” said Adele.

“You’d be surprised, my love, at how many Frenchmen have risked their lives for them. I’m talking about men whose families go back hundreds of years.”

Adele was uninterested in this revelation and turned her attention to the grand staircase.

“Let’s see the rest of the place. I’ll race you upstairs,” said Adele, kicking off her shoes.

Schlegal followed her up the grand carved-wood staircase. She ran ahead, going from room to room, exclaiming with delight at every treasure she found.

Adele reappeared at the end of the corridor, leaning seductively against the jamb of a doorway.

“I believe I’ve discovered the master bedroom, Herr Colonel,” she said, while she slowly unbuttoned her white silk blouse, revealing the black brassiere Schlegal so admired.

“Mm, allow me to verify this discovery,” he replied.