Now I’m falling under his spell, he reproached himself.

Napoleon speeded up, hurrying, hurrying. The crowd groaned, put out. Was he leaving? So soon? Was he not going to approach before he left? The Emperor questioned two other colonels, turned about and hurried off towards his escort. Some soldiers shouted again, ‘Long live the Emperor,’ while the beautiful girls made eyes at the sentries to try to get them to bow. An imperceptible eddy ran through the crowd in response to Napoleon’s slightest gesture. Margont watched the little grey figure go back up the white and blue line of soldiers.

Suddenly two boys escaped from the throng, pursued by a corporal. Other sentries came from behind to bar their route. The two young men had underestimated the speed of reaction of the infantrymen and were taken unawares. They took stones from their pockets and hurled them in the Emperor’s direction, yelling, ‘Long live Austria!’ Their stones landed in the flowerbeds as Napoleon, who had noticed the incident, disappeared into his berlin. A grenadier grabbed the outstretched arm of one of the boys and yanked it upwards, forcing the boy to let his missile go, like a giant disarming a midget.

‘Little beasts! I’ll tan your hide!’

There were protests from the public. How old were these two daring lads? Fourteen? The commander in charge of the cordon let them go, saying, ‘We only hunt the big game.’

‘We’ll get them when they’re big then,’ retorted the grenadier bitterly. ‘And then it won’t be the belt, it’ll be the firing squad.’ Margont caught Relmyer by the arm. He was unaware that he was pinching him.

‘That’s how our man operates! That’s how he was able to drag Wilhelm with him. Wilhelm wanted to join the Austrian army and his murderer led him to believe that he was going to help him cross the border and then to enlist.’

The crowd broke up around them but Margont was not paying attention to that.

‘It’s impossible to cross a river while threatening someone with a pistol. And you can’t pass through enemy lines with someone who wants to be noticed and is trying to escape from you. That doesn’t

make sense. If the murderer had regularly run risks like that he would have been caught long ago. He must have discovered that Wilhelm was hostile to the French.’

‘But how?’ Relmyer immediately asked.

‘He must sometimes go to the area around Vienna. He has already done that at least once, when he was taken by surprise with Wilhelm on the road back.’

These words reinforced Relmyer’s feeling of an invisible threat that he had had now for so many years. A latent, formless, malleable danger, a sort of thickness in the air, which was both variable and oppressive.

‘He looks for boys who are critical of the French,’ went on Mar-gont. ‘He could very well be here now, in the crowd, and have noticed the demonstration made by those two young boys. See how easy it would be. And it would be easy for him to elicit confidences, since he is Austrian. He’s worked on his technique. Now instead of forcing, he convinces. He doesn’t threaten any more, he seduces. That way he can easily lead his victim where he wants him; the victim willingly co-operates. He has adapted to circumstances and uses them to his own advantage. He chooses someone in French territory and takes them over to the Austrian side before taking advantage of them. He does admittedly run risks crossing lines, but with his exceptional knowledge of the woods and marshes of the area, the risks are limited. Moreover, riding between the two zones confuses things and helps him cover his tracks. Anyone who disappears in the French zone will only be looked for in that zone. Our man therefore puts his victims out of reach of anyone who might help them.’

Spelling out his deductions, Margont was cocooned in a universe of concepts, theories and speculation, spun out of ideas. This protected him, keeping at bay emotions, which Relmyer, on the other hand, felt the full brunt of. Wild-eyed and sweating, he appeared ready to succumb to rage, or exhaustion, or perhaps illness ... ‘Wherever he goes,’ he said, ‘he will never be out of my reach.’

‘Now he’s choosing people whose name their nearest and dearest would not be surprised to find on a list of men killed in action.

He’s covering his tracks even better than previously.’

Margont looked again at the long line of regiments a general was addressing. The scene was exactly the same as earlier but, to him, it now meant something different. Now it seemed menacing. It was no longer reassuring; on the contrary, it had become the involuntary ally of peril. The soldiers broke rank, as the grains of a wall of sand rapidly disperse.

The more troops arrive, the closer we are to the moment of battle. We can almost say with certainty that the man we’re seeking will try to get hold of another boy before the next confrontation. Whatever the outcome, the war will move on far from here, either following the retreating army, or it will be suspended. So the murderer has an incentive to act quickly.’

Relmyer’s torment was without end. ‘Perhaps it’s already too late.’

‘I don’t think so. It would be very risky to kidnap another young man from Lesdorf. Two disappearances so close together would attract attention.’

‘Several of my hussars are keeping a watch on the orphanages in the area and will spot him if he approaches.’

‘No, he’ll go looking elsewhere. But he will still need several days to pick out a potential victim and to gain his confidence. However, time is against us.’

CHAPTER 17

THE days passed; military routine was established. It was almost possible to forget that shortly people would die in their thousands ... Lefine was leaning against a chestnut tree, contemplating the branch of the Danube that separated the Isle of Lobau from the Austrians. He liked having a few moments to himself in a calm spot, far from Margont, whose constant activity tended to wear his friends out. Sure enough, here he was on his way over. Lefine cursed himself for not having taken himself further away from the regiment. He could tell what Margont was about to say.

‘Let me guess: your investigation is not progressing any more; you’re going round in circles. The Emperor is everywhere at once, the army is struggling to accomplish a thousand tasks, the Austrians are entrenched beyond Aspern and Essling ... Why are we bothering? Look on the other side of the Danube: it’s exactly the same over there. Why don’t we just stop now; there would be half the world for Napoleon and the other half for the Austrians? We would leave them Russia, India, China, Japan and all that they can find beyond, if there is anything beyond.' Lefine spread his arms wide to illustrate the proof of his idea. 'The world is a big pear: well halve it equally.’

‘Instead of talking nonsense, you could think about our investigation. You’re the one who always has ideas ...’

‘Oh, I have thought about it, would you believe! I’ve even thought of a suspect.’

‘You have? Who would that be?’

‘Relmyer. If he’s the murderer, it explains everything. It would have been easy for him to lead Franz to that old deserted farm because they were friends. There he killed Franz for some reason or other: vengeance, jealousy, unnatural desire, or bloodlust. Then he invented the story of the “evil stranger” to cover his tracks. That’s why the man we’re hunting leaves as few traces as a ghost - because he is in fact a ghost who exists only in your head.’

Margont realised that Lefine did not really believe any of that. Nevertheless the latter expounded the theory as if he did believe it because he knew that it vexed his friend. Subjected to Margont’s authority, from time to time he enjoyed reversing the roles.

As Margont turned pale, Lefine went on with increased assurance, ‘No sooner does Relmyer return than a new crime is committed. That’s no coincidence. Relmyer wanted to do to Wilhelm - whom he knew! - what he had done to Franz. But he was surprised by a patrol he managed to escape from because he had lived in the region. As for those orphans killed at Austerlitz, they were actually killed at Austerlitz. We both fought in that battle, didn’t we? Have you forgotten all those dead and wounded littering the ground? You’re in love with Luise and you’re confusing your childhood story with hers and Relmyer’s. So Relmyer is able to manipulate you. You’re looking everywhere for a murderer who's right under your nose and who must be laughing up his sleeve. Sometimes he who shouts loudest has the most to hide.’