The Statement by Brian Moore Read Free Book Online Page A

charge hadn’t been laid against him we wouldn’t be able to touch him now.’
    ‘You’re right, Madame. That changed things. Of course, he’d have been freed in any case, when the statute of limitations for wartime crimes ran out five years ago. The question is, why didn’t he come out of hiding then?’
    ‘I suspect he was afraid of reprisals, perhaps from the sons and daughters of his victims. The same people who’ve launched this new charge against him, the charge of a crime against humanity for the murder of the fourteen Dombey Jews in 1944. Thank God, there’s no statute of limitations on that.’
    ‘Except for his age,’ Roux said. ‘He’s seventy years old.’
    ‘I know. If he drops dead before we find him, the big fish will never be brought to trial.’
    ‘Big fish? Do you mean people in the Church?’
    ‘No, I don’t mean the Church, although the Church is involved, of course. Tell me, Colonel, are you a Catholic?’
    Roux shrugged. ‘Statistically, yes. Practically, no.’
    ‘Like so many of us,’ Judge Livi said. ‘Neither believing nor practising. And yet we know that, within the Church – what’s the phrase? – within my Father’s house there are many mansions. I think that’s particularly true today. Everyone knows that the main body of the French hierarchy was pro-Vichy during the Second World War. There may be things that the Church still wishes to conceal. But we also know that this wasn’t the whole truth. There were prelates and priests who actively supported the Resistance, hid Jews and protested against the deportations.’
    ‘True. But I believe, Madame, the media’s charge that, over the years, monsignors, bishops, even cardinals, have been involved in efforts to secure a pardon for Brossard is nothing less than the truth. The Church is heavily compromised. And they know it. That’s why Cardinal Delavigne has appointed laymen to head his investigation. By the way, I’ve been told we may have a lead there.’
    ‘You don’t waste any time, do you?’ Judge Livi said. ‘What sort of lead?’
    ‘A member of the Cardinal’s commission.’
    ‘That could be helpful.’
    ‘Yes, but it could make things difficult for us. If the Church carries out a real investigation, priests who helped Brossard in the past may turn against him. And that will drive him deeper into hiding.’
    ‘On the other hand, Colonel, some of them may be willing to co-operate with us?’
    ‘I hope so. But you mentioned, earlier . . . you said something about big fish?’
    ‘Don’t you know the people I’m referring to?’
    Roux hesitated. Don’t make a gaffe. Let her tell me. He shook his head.
    ‘Three other Frenchmen were accused, like Brossard, of crimes against humanity. None have been brought to trial. One of these men, Vichy’s top representative in dealings with the Nazi occupiers and the man responsible for the first big round-up of French Jews in 1942, here in Paris at the Vélodrome d’Hiver, managed like the others to have his case delayed time after time, and is still living in Paris, in comfort, a free man. As is the second man, the former Vichy Chief of Police. It’s interesting to know that this same Vichy police chief stood for election to parliament after the war and was, moreover, a close friend of the President of the Republic.’
    ‘I remember thinking much the same thing,’ Roux said.
    ‘As for the last of the three, he is possibly the greatest criminal of all. He’s living, at liberty, in Paris, in his comfortable home, surrounded by friends and relations. He’s not, like Brossard, a convicted criminal, with a long record in police dossiers. He is a Commander of the Legion of Honour, a greatly skilled technocrat, accustomed to operate at the highest level of government. He’s a former Secretary General of the Department of the Gironde, a friend to several French presidents in the post-war years and was a minister in Giscard d’Estaing’s government in the