Page 86 of The Last Library of Paris

‘There’s no French citizen named Alain Travers.’

‘Guy gave me his details,’ I said. ‘Perhaps he got the date of birth muddled. Or perhaps I did. I’m always swapping the numbers because we write them differently in America.’

But Marcus was shaking his head.

‘There’s no French citizen named Alain Travers at all.’

‘I checked,’ I said. ‘I double checked. Because even though I go by Frances, it’s my middle name so I know how things can get confusing.’

‘You asked Guy for the details?’

‘I did.’ I had done that because I didn’t want to alert Alain that we were having him vetted. But perhaps it had backfired. Perhaps Guy had given me the wrong information.

‘Maybe it’s just a spelling error?’ I suggested.

I stood up and went over to my desk where there was some Book Service paperwork.

‘Alain signed for a donation the other day when I was out,’ I said. ‘His name will be on the receipt, hold on …’

I leafed through until I found it. But there, clear as day in Alain’s handwriting, was his name – Alain Travers.

‘What does this mean?’

‘Does he have an ID card?’ Marcus asked.

‘Of course.’ The Nazis were very fond of doing spot checks on our identity cards and the punishments for not carrying them were severe.

‘It must be false.’

‘Shit,’ I said. ‘Where would he get false papers?’

Marcus shrugged. ‘The Resistance?’ he said.

‘Or the Germans?’

‘Possibly.’

‘I saw him with a Nazi.’

I looked at Marcus, standing in my office in his uniform, and thought about how I was with a Nazi too. Or at least, that’s how it would look if anyone saw us together. But this was different.

‘I saw him with a Nazi in the street.’

‘You didn’t say.’ A tiny muscle beside Marcus’s eye flickered but other than that he was still.

‘Sylvie convinced me he was selling him medication.’

‘He sells on the black market?’

I nodded. ‘Medication, food, drink … He can get hold of anything.’

Marcus took his hat off and rubbed his forehead, then he put it back on again.

‘Can you run the Book Service without Alain?’

I thought about it. ‘Yes. It is not complicated and we only send packages twice a month. But …’

‘But?’