PC Tassker, the local constable, was there, along with the Home Guard and a small group of locals, all watching as the debris was gathered. Part of the fuselage had washed ashore, as had some of the cargo, a jacket and mission equipment, and finally a case was dragged up the beach. This created quite a stir amongst the onlookers. Tassker stepped forward.
‘Come on, everybody,’ he said in his official voice. ‘This is war business. I can’t have you all lingering around here. We have to wait until someone from the War Office comes down to look at all this.’
Everyone started protesting.
‘It won’t hurt just to take a peek inside,’ stated Vivi, eyeing the suitcase with anticipation. ‘I have a patient in the hospital, and he lost everything when his plane came down. If this wreckage is from that plane, then there may be important documents, pictures of his loved ones. You could at least take a peek.’
PC Tassker looked around nervously. The Home Guard were occupied close to the water, inspecting some more of the fuselage that was being brought up the beach.
‘You’ll be the death of me, Vivienne Hamilton,’ he said, blowing out air.
‘Come on, Henry,’ she implored. ‘Just a quick look?’
The policeman carefully snapped open the clasps and threw back the lid, and they both stood back in shock. Instead of civilian clothes, as she’d expected, and personal items, the first thing to greet them was a German army uniform. By the stripes and the flags on the pocket, she knew instantly that this belonged to a member of high command. Vivi was confused and disappointed. This case wasn’t from François’s crash, but obviously another plane, maybe shot down by their own forces.
‘Now we’ve gone and done it, Vivienne,’ spluttered Tassker with great concern. ‘Look at the state of that. That’s a Nazi uniform. What’s a Nazi’s uniform doing on a plane all the way over on this coast?’
Vivi shook her head, trying to make sense of it herself, then she had a thought. ‘The man I’ve been nursing was from France. It can’t be his. Or maybe it was something to do with the work he was doing,’ she offered.
‘We should probably just close it up again and say nothing,’ PC Tassker said, sounding desperate.
Vivi shook her head. ‘I need to know what this is, Henry.’ She knelt down and started to rustle through the clothes and then she found some paperwork in a sealed container, that had amazingly mostly survived seawater damage. The uniform did indeed belong to a member of high command. She opened it up, and to her horror, there was the picture of her patient and below it the name, Major Marcus Vonstein.
She shook her head in disbelief and tried to make sense of this. Surely this was wrong. Why did François have German paperwork if he was undercover for the French Resistance? Then a fear-inducing thought struck her, as she remembered every single word that she’d told him about the Prosper Network.
She didn’t even wait for Henry to close the suitcase. She marched right back to the house, her heart beating hard in her chest, and straight to François’s room, flinging open the door. Her patient was sleeping. She didn’t wake him gently.
Slamming the door behind her she snapped in German, ‘Major Vonstein, I presume.’
Instantly his eyes opened and he looked concerned.
‘You have found my suitcase,’ he said quietly, answering her back in German.
She looked into his eyes and she tried to read him. But he was blank and it took everything within Vivi’s control not to grab her bandage scissors and stab him with them. He had deceived her. Instead, she approached his bed, her body shaking with anger.
‘You used me. You used me to find out information.’
He shook his head vehemently.
But before she could say anything else, the door opened again and in came PC Tassker with the Military Police who were always present at the hospital. Vivi translated for them all.
‘We have reason to believe that you’re a member of the high command of the German army and, in that respect, we must take you into custody.’
François’s eyes did not leave Vivi’s and she saw the desperation in them as he answered.
‘As you can see, gentlemen,’ he said pointing to his leg, ‘I am unable to resist your request.’
One of the military policemen continued, ‘You shall now be guarded, and as soon as you are well enough, you will be transported to a prison that we have locally for enemies of the Allies.’
The patient nodded.
They walked over and handcuffed him to the bed.
Vonstein shook his head in disbelief. ‘That is unnecessary. My leg is broken.’ He then shouted after Vivi as she started to leave, ‘Miss Hamilton, I want to thank you. I am grateful for all your care.’
Vivi did not look back. She had too many feelings going on inside her shaking body. Mainly anger and frustration, but she also felt so foolish she was beside herself. As she rushed from the room all she could think about was what she had said to him, and the people she might have put in danger, yet again.
The next day, an officer arrived from the local regiment, ahead of the members of the intelligence services who would arrive from London in a few days to interrogate the prisoner. Vivi was summoned to the matron’s office to meet with them.
PC Tassker introduced him to Vivi. ‘This is Vivienne Hamilton. Her family owns this manor. You can trust her. She also speaks fluent German.’
The field officer eyed her quizzically. ‘And why is that, young lady? Why do you speak German?’
She looked between the two of them and the matron. She knew that she wasn’t supposed to really speak about SOE, especially after what had just happened with Vonstein. But what was the harm now?
‘I lived in Europe for some time. And I have, in the past, done war work. That can be checked upon. I’d rather not talk openly about it, but I have been trusted by the government in the past.’
The man nodded, understanding that Vivi was protecting the work that she’d done, and he seemed satisfied that she would be a good translator for them.
‘You understand, Miss Hamilton, that we have to be careful? If there was any chance that you were working for the enemy, you could translate things to the prisoner that could be of consequence. Matron tells me you and the prisoner were quite close.’
Vivi flushed, speaking rapidly to cover her embarrassment. ‘That was before I knew who he really was. You should have no worries of me treating him any different than any other Nazi, now I know who he really is.’ The picture of him kissing her swam into her thoughts and she shuddered with the memory. How could she have been so foolish? She continued to reassure the officer. ‘Of course, I’m happy to provide a transcript of the things we talked about, if you wish.’
The authorities went with Vivi to interrogate Marcus though he gave nothing but his serial number, name and rank. The whole time his eyes never left her face but she found a spot above his head to ask him the questions, fighting her anger mixed with tears.
After the meeting they all reconvened in Matron’s office.
‘We had an idea that he’d be awkward. It’s pretty much what we expected,’ the field officer informed the matron. ‘However, we’ve caught wind of something we would like to track. Afraid I can’t give you any details. We have a feeling this man may have been a part of something the enemy was cooking up, and we’d like to find out what it is. With your permission, Matron, we’d like to bring in another German soldier. The hope is, as they talk freely with one another, he will disclose some secrets of where he’s from and why he is here. We will set up a listening device in the room so that we can track everything that is said. In the meantime, Vivi, if you can continue to win him over, you can try and find out anything that you can.’