89. Getting Rid of That Bug
Chapter 3
With the briefing over, three of the men left the office. Actor stayed behind to have a word with Garrison.
"Warden, if you would spare a minute to come into the library with me where there is a map of Marseille? I wonder, do you have an approximate time you expect to reach there after you finish the mission? I would like to meet you at a public location. I plan to make arrangements for all of us at a location that should be quite suitable for everyone. If I cannot do that, I will find something, maybe not equal, but at least comfortable."
Garrison gave him a dubious look before following the Italian into the library. Actor selected a rolled up map from the box filled with similar rolls. He opened it on the table and smoothed it out with his hands.
"Will you be taking a train or car?" asked Actor.
"I don't know yet," replied Garrison.
Actor nodded. He pointed with his long index finger to the train station. "From here," he traced the streets, "go three blocks to the right and one block left. Here," he indicated, "is a park. I will be waiting for you on a bench, smoking my pipe."
"Disguise?" asked Craig.
"Not necessary," replied Actor. "If you were to be seen in Aix-en-Provence, I will not be with you."
"And this is all you have?" Garrison wasn't satisfied.
Actor shook his head. "I won't know until I get there."
Now Craig frowned. "Why a public place? Why not somewhere outside of the city?"
"If you have been made," said the Italian rolling up the map, "They will expect you to hide, not be out in plain sight. If my first choice is available, there will be Germans there. They will not expect you to be walking in as though you haven't a care."
The Lieutenant was dubious. "Actor, just what kind of place is this?"
The con man made a vague motion of his hand and returned the map to the box. "Very lovely décor."
"And how much is this going to cost me?" continued Garrison suspiciously.
Actor shook his head again. "We shouldn't have to pay anything. Call it a favor by a friend from years ago."
Warning bells were going off in Garrison's head, but this part of the caper was all Actor's and until he could see what problems there might be, Craig would just have to trust the world's best confidence man.
They all went to the kitchen and served themselves bowls of thick, hearty, filling stew from the pot. The bowls were wiped clean with the biscuits Terry had left in the warmer. Leaving what little was left over to cool, the men went to their rooms and gathered their needed clothing and supplies for the duffle bags that would go with them.
Casino walked past Garrison's room on his way downstairs again. He poked his head in and said, "Warden, if you got any laundry you want done, leave it on the bed."
"Why?" asked Garrison.
"Sister's coming tomorrow to water the vegetables and she said to leave the laundry on our beds, and she would do it tomorrow," was the reply.
"And she's not coming back," said Craig.
"Says no," Casino shrugged. Without anything further, he continued downstairs.
Garrison shook his head.
GGGGG
The jump was uneventful. They landed close together, gathered their chutes and hid them under bushes. Garrison looked around in the dim light and a man stepped forward from the trees. He was short and mustachioed. Craig cautiously stepped forward.
"Lt. Garrison?" asked the man in heavily accented English.
"Yes, I'm Lt. Garrison," Craig replied.
The man smiled. "I am Jacques. Follow me. I will take you and your men to a safe house."
Garrison flicked his fingers, motioning the other men to come. They followed the Frenchman through the trees to the road. A laundry van was parked beside the road and a younger man came around to open the back doors. Chief walked ahead of the others and gave a tiny nod when he found the van was empty. The five men climbed into the back and settled on benches along the walls while the doors were closed behind them.
It was about a twenty minute drive to enter the city and finally stop. The back doors were opened, and the men cautiously got out. They were in a dark alley behind a laundry. Quickly they were taken inside and down some stairs into a basement. The accommodations were lacking in comfort. There was an oblong wooden table that was scarred with cuts. Six straight wooden chairs lined the table. In one corner of the room was a pile of blankets. There was no other furniture. An oil lamp sat in the middle of the table. Jacques left them after lighting the lamp.
Casino looked around, flipped a chair so he could straddle it with his arms crossed over the top. "Yeah, really comfortable," he grumbled.
"'Ey, mate, at least it has a roof over us," said Goniff, taking another chair. "Wish it had a fire. Me bones are positively creakin'."
Chief had already figured that out and had walked over to the pile in the corner. He picked up a blanket and flung it to hit the Englishman in the head. "Here, get warm." He wrapped one around his shoulders and went back to the door to listen.
Goniff shrugged and wrapped himself up in the one tossed to him. Casino shook his head, got up and retrieved a blanket for himself, wrapping up before resuming his seat.
Obviously the two leaders were on their own. Actor rose next and picked up two blankets. He returned to his chair and handed one to the Lieutenant before pulling the other one over his shoulders.
Garrison nodded his thanks and pulled the blanket around himself before smoothing out the map of the area on the scarred tabletop. The light from the oil lamp cast a dim shadows over the wrinkled paper. He looked at Actor and moved the map between them.
"We're here," said the Lieutenant. "Tomorrow you have to go to the train station here." He pointed with his finger.
"Assuming the trains are still running," said the con man. "May I remind you I am very familiar with this area? I do know how to get to Marseilles and where in Marseilles to go." His tone was quiet and soft.
Still, Garrison gave him a sharp look. "Sorry," he said with a touch of sarcasm.
Actor ignored it. "You are planning to check out the country home of Garnier tomorrow and hit it tomorrow night."
"Yes," replied Craig.
"In that case, shall we say meet in the park at ten o'clock the next morning?" suggested Actor. "It will not be crowded yet. May I suggest coming by car? Even if it is a 'borrowed' vehicle?"
"Better than the train," agreed Garrison. "Less suspicious looking than four men carrying kits."
"Also easier to get to where we will be staying until taking the fishing boat out to the sub," added Actor.
The Italian pulled a pack of French cigarettes from his pocket and offered one to the officer. Craig accepted it with a nod and allowed the con man to light it for him. Actor lit one for himself and sat back in his chair. He glanced at Casino. The safecracker was asleep with his head on his arms crossed over the back of the chair. Goniff was curled up in his blanket, asleep propped against the wall on the floor.
Garrison talked softly. "Two 'easy' ones in a row? I don't like it."
"Maybe they have decided to take pity on us," suggested Actor, drolly.
Craig gave him a disbelieving look.
"Then, again, maybe not," countered the Italian with a crooked grin. "Well, we are used to winging it."
"Wouldn't know what to do if we didn't have to wing it," came a soft quiet drawl from the door.
GGG
The next morning, in the alley the five men went to the car Chief had 'borrowed' and got in. The first stop was the train station, where Actor got out and retrieved his kit from the trunk of the car. He bent down by the passenger window that Garrison had opened.
"See you tomorrow," said the confidence man. "Do your best to get along without me."
"I hope there's no train," said Casino snidely from the back seat, "and you have to walk."
Actor smiled at Garrison and ignored the safecracker. He watched as the car pulled away. He had not mentioned it, but he was not comfortable with this new plan for him to leave the group and find accommodations. The last time they had done that it had turned into a fiasco. With nothing to be done about it, Actor walked casually into the train station.
GGGGG
Chief backed the car up into the woods close to the estate. The four men got out and walked stealthily through the trees to the edge of the manicured lawn surrounding the austere two story house.
They studied the surrounding area and the building itself. The manor house was two stories of light, orange-colored stucco with a red tiles roof. There were many tall windows with green shutters evenly spaced on both floors.
"Too many windows," groused Casino quietly.
A circular drive lined with tall bushes passed close to some tall trees which were beginning to drop their leaves. The trees gave shade and shadows to the side of the house. The men stayed hidden and waited for an hour. There were no outside guards.
Single-file and spaced with Chief leading, they snuck around to the back area. While the front was manicured, the back had not been kept up. There was a small square pool without a fountain, filled with scummy water. The trees and bushes looked like they had not seen a trimmer in a long time.
"Easy to get to the door without being seen," observed the scout.
Casino gave a humph. "The windows don't open.
Garrison looked at his men. "Then I guess we go through the door."
They waited and watched for any guards checking the grounds and the house. When there were none in the next half hour, the group made their way back to the car.
GGGGG
The commuter train took exactly thirty minutes to reach the station in Marseilles. Actor disembarked with the other passengers and wandered in the midst of a small group out of the station. The air was crisp and had the light smell of the sea to it. The Italian did not mind the walk of a half mile to the estate on the outskirts of town. He shifted his bag to his other hand and set off.
Twenty minutes later, Actor stopped in front of a wrought iron spiked gate in the midst of an eight foot tall brick wall. It was the main entrance to the centuries old three story stucco building at the other end of the gravel drive. The con man allowed himself a smile. It had been a long time since his last visit here. He opened the gate enough to allow himself and his kit inside and closed it behind him. As he walked toward the building, he looked around, pleasantly surprised nothing seemed to be changed from the last time he had been here.
Upon reaching the steps to the front door, Actor smiled and walked up the two brick steps to rap the lion's head door knocker. He did not wait long before the door opened to reveal a young woman in a black and white maid's uniform.
"Good morning, sir," she said in French. "Please come in."
"Merci," said Actor stepping through the open door past the woman. "Is Madame Felice still here?" he asked in the same language.
The maid showed him to a parlor to his right. "I will inform Madame Felice you wish to see her. Who should I say is calling for her?"
"You may tell her Actor. She will know," said the con man.
At least he hoped she would know. It had been so long other women of his acquaintance seemed to no longer remember him. He brushed that sad thought aside and took a seat in an antique wooden legged chair with tiny-flowered upholstery. His eyes swept the room, taking in the period piece furnishings, the Persian rug on the floor, and the antiques artfully arranged around the room. That had not changed either. The faint swish of silk turned the con man's attention to the doorway and a warm smile graced his face. He rose from his chair and faced the woman who came to stand just short of touching him.
A few years older than he, the woman with the carefully coiffed dark hair above some faint new wrinkles at the corners of the familiar chocolate eyes, slowly shook her head and smiled.
"Actor," she said. "It really is you. I was afraid to believe it. It has been so long. There were so many rumors, I thought you were dead."
The tall man held out his arms in invitation and she moved into their circle to exchange a heartfelt kiss with him. They hugged before she stepped back to look up at him.
"Where have you been?" Felice asked.
"That, Cherie, is a long story," he replied.
"Will you stay long enough to tell me?" the woman asked.
"Ah, that is what I need to talk to you about," said Actor. "I am in need of a place to stay for a couple nights."
A frown crossed her face. "Are you in trouble with the Boche?"
"Not at the moment," he reassured her. "However, there are five of us. Can you accommodate us?"
"Five?" asked Felice in surprise. "You never liked working with someone, let alone a group."
'That is part of the long story," said Actor. "Do you have room for us?"
"No," said the woman sadly. "I could take two of you, but not five. This war has brought more business than ever. I have more girls now."
The Italian had wondered if that would be the case. "Is Avril still in business?" he asked.
Felice nodded. "You know she has a lower class of clientele than I do?" she asked to remind him.
Actor chuckled. "Some of our group would fit in there."
"Heaven's, what are you into now?" the woman asked in surprise.
"More of the long story," replied the con man. "First, let us see if she can accommodate three of the men."
"Come to my office and we can call her." Felice took his hand and led him out of the parlor.
After satisfactorily conducting business with Avril from the office telephone, he sat comfortably in an upholstered chair, with his pipe and a balloon of cognac, watching Felice working at her desk. Carefully, he recited to the woman his escapades since the last time they had seen each other. When he reached his release from Alcatraz, he worded it to seem he had been offered his freedom by a wealthy patron in return for his services as a confidence man in Europe.
"About that time," Actor said, "I would have made a pact with the devil to get out of that place. So here I am."
Felice smiled at him from her seat behind her desk. "I am so happy you are here, mon amour."
Actor smiled, "As am I, Cheri."
They continued to chat and catch up on what had happened during the intervening years. Felice was open about the problems in Vichy France and her business. Actor was a little more circumspect about his jobs after Alcatraz and the men he was with.
When it was time for Felice to open her establishment for business, Actor took his bag to the room that would be his for the next two days. The room beside his would be Garrison's. These rooms were not the usual bedrooms in the house. Not that the others were not nicely decorated, but these were reminiscent of the 1700's and had very comfortable furniture, bedding, and an abundance of antiques. There was a well-stocked dry bar, and the necessities for a drinking and smoking man. He checked the top drawer of the nightstand and found an assortment of other necessities which brought a smile of anticipation to his face.
Setting his bag atop the brocaded bed coverlet, Actor opened it, very happy neither the Lieutenant nor the other men had dared look inside. Out came his purple smoking jacket, a set of pale blue silk pajamas, some undergarments, a carefully folded tuxedo, ruffled white shirt, cummerbund, slippers and a pair of patent leather dress shoes. The clothing was smoothed out on the bed and placed on hangers in the armoire.
Satisfied with the arrangement, Actor sat in a high-backed chair and contemplated the woman downstairs. She was one of the very few he had remained some kind of friends with. She had found him years before lying dazed and bleeding in the alley behind her first establishment in Marseilles. Felice had taken him in and cared for him. She had wanted nothing in return from him. He continued to visit her whenever he was in the area, and they had naturally become lovers. Felice had set up this house, borrowing funds from him, and he had followed her. Finally, it had become too dangerous for him to remain in France or other parts of Europe, and he had taken a steamer to America, without telling her he was leaving. He had not been sure of her reception when he had knocked on the door. Apparently he was forgiven for disappearing on her.
As the shadows lengthened and the heavy drapes were closed, Actor wondered what Garrison and the others were doing. Hopefully, he would find out tomorrow.
8
