Pale Horse Riding by Chris Petit

Author:Chris Petit [Petit, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

V

Morgen arrived back at the garrison wild-eyed and smelling of drink, after travelling all night on a slow goods train. He told Schlegel, who was still in bed, to get a move on; a taxi waited.

The driver was the one who had taken Morgen around the square on their arrival. Morgen gave their destination as the new camp guardroom. He said nothing during the short journey, about his absence or anything else, yawning so much that his cigarette fell out of his mouth and he stared in disbelief until Schlegel retrieved it.

Schlegel looked out of the window and thought how sex with Ilse had become complicated in ways he found arresting and unsettling. The previous night she said she was having her period. She used a colloquial term he hadn’t heard before. She changed her dress for one of the smart ones lying around and told him to rub himself against her; she showed him the spot. Against the dress, he was thinking; that was the thrill for her, contemplating the implications of soiling the borrowed clothes of an unknown woman, probably dead. Ilse had a handkerchief ready. She seemed entirely practical and guilt free. Only fools get caught, she said, changing back into her dress.

Juppe was waiting under the arch by the guardroom, grumbling about having been so summoned. Morgen announced he was there as legal prosecutor on the authority of the Reichsführer-SS. He intended a full inspection of the guardroom and a crematorium.

Juppe’s Adam’s apple jumped.

The guardroom was a shock. They were traditionally functional spaces but this more resembled a hotel lobby, with a huge stove and armchairs, on which soldiers sprawled drunk, uniforms in disarray, being waited on by exotic female prisoners wearing a haphazard array of fine clothing that looked like it had come from a dressing-up box. One of the women was cooking potato pancakes, which the others served to the men, who fondled them as they passed.

Morgen stared. Their arrival made no difference, other than one man raising his bottle in salute. Even the stickler Juppe appeared indifferent to this breach of protocol. Morgen told him to dismiss the women and have the men line up. Juppe sounded apologetic as he carried out the order. The men took their time, not bothering to fix their dress, making a point of insubordination.

Morgen asked a soldier why he was drunk on duty. He answered that he was not technically as they were off-duty now. Where was the present guard? asked Morgen. Late, he was told. Someone sniggered. Juppe made sideways eye contact with the men, to say it had nothing to do with him.

Morgen inspected the room, leaving the guard to stand. He turned on Juppe and asked why he shouldn’t have the lot of them cashiered.

Juppe swallowed hard and said the men had been working all night on two transportations.

Morgen insisted on a locker inspection and the men grew nervous.

Their contents reminded Schlegel of Ingeborg Tanner’s, except the range of goods was much wider.

Among the hoard were several jars of fleshy material floating in liquid.

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