with a feeling of bottled hate – he had never known such humiliation, such a distilled sense of betrayal and loss. This was the wretched character of Bernhard Riedle’s life. He was at the mercy of a man who seemed utterly contemptuous of him. He was fifty-nine years old and knew – because he had no illusions about such things – that he would never again experience a love as intense and as fulfilling as that which he had experienced with Dmitri.
It was a Saturday night in June. Tourists in the Grande Place. Teenagers drinking cheap beer, couples with selfie sticks taking flash photographs in front of the Hôtel de Ville. Bernhard despised them, not least because he envied them their youth and apparent happiness. The square stank of horse manure and cheap melted chocolate and it was almost impossible to take more than a few steps without tripping over a small child. Bernhard felt less alone among the crowds, but wished that he had taken one of the smaller side streets through the old town instead of subjecting himself to the chaos of the square. He had eaten an early dinner in a poor and expensive Italian restaurant, leaving half of his food untouched, a bottle of Verdicchio emptied. Before dinner he had consumed two beers on an empty stomach and now felt the familiar symptoms of a depressive drunkenness. He was wary of encountering an associate from the building project, or even the client himself. It would take very little for Bernhard to break down; a small gesture of kindness, an expression of empathy, and he might even collapse in tears. He did not want to undermine his reputation nor be exposed for the lonely and broken fool that he had become.
He decided to return home, to take a sleeping pill, then to go to church in the morning. He had begun to pray last thing at night, pleading with God to ease his suffering, to show Dmitri the error of his ways. It was time to take his prayers to a place in which he might find some modicum of spiritual solace. He knew that Dmitri believed only in himself and in his own strength. He would doubtless hold Bernhard in even greater contempt for the naivety of his new-found devotion. So be it. He had to try to find some semblance of calm, a way to end the turbulence into which he had been thrown since Egypt.
Riedle walked towards his apartment block in the Quartier Dansaert, the crowds ebbing away as he reached Rue des Chartreux. The entrance to the building was set back from the street by a short, dimly lit passageway in which couples sometimes lurked for a furtive kiss, and where Bernhard’s neighbours tied up their bicycles and pushchairs. By the time he reached it, the bustle of the night had receded to an absolute stillness, the only noise in the neighbourhood the echo of Bernhard’s footsteps as he turned towards the door.
What happened next happened quickly.
There was a man of Somalian appearance standing in the passageway, most likely a drug addict. His jacket was torn, his shoes stained. Bernhard could smell the sharp acidic filth of his clothes and sweat.
‘Entschuldigen Sie mich,’ he said, instinctively speaking in German. The Somali was blocking his route to the door and took a step towards him.
‘Argent,’ he said, the French aggressive and guttural. ‘Portefeuille. Maintenant.’
As Bernhard processed the realization that he was being mugged, a second man walked into the passageway behind him, shutting off any hope of escape. This man was taller than the Somali and almost certainly of Eastern European descent. He loomed over Bernhard. There was a livid birthmark to the left of his nose.
‘Un moment, s’il vous plaît,’ he said, turning back to the Somali, desperately searching for his wallet. Bernhard reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a handful of loose change. Some of the money spilled on to the ground as he tried to pass it to the Somali.
‘Fucking money now,’ said the Eastern European.
‘Oui, oui. Yes, OK,’ Bernhard told him, spinning around. That was when he saw the knife, hidden within the folds of the man’s leather jacket. Bernhard let out a gasp, still desperately searching for his wallet. Had he been pickpocketed in the Grande Place? He was terrified of being cut. Of all things, at that moment he thought not of Dmitri – who would surely have been able to protect him from his assailants – but of ISIS, of kidnap, of heads sliced apart by machetes. He wondered if the men were terrorists.
‘Watch.’
The Eastern European had flicked at the antique Omega Constellation on Bernhard’s wrist, sending pain shooting along his forearm. He winced and cried out as the man hissed at him in French to remain silent.
‘Argent.’
Before Bernhard had a chance to remove the watch, the Somali had grabbed him by the right arm, almost knocking him to the ground. A car drove past but did not stop. Bernhard wanted to shout out but knew that they would run him through with the knife. He was pitiably afraid. He had never known such fear, even when attacked as a young man, for his habits, for his dress, for the sin of being gay. Those attacks had conferred upon him a certain nobility and he had at least experienced them with other men, in groups of two or three. On this occasion, however, he was quite alone. He could be killed for the watch, for the contents of his wallet, and the men would never be caught.
Then, a miracle. One of the tenants from the apartment block came into the passage from the street, jangling a set of keys, whistling a tuneless song. He was about forty-five, lean and reasonably fit. The man looked up, realized what was happening and acted with astonishing speed. In clear, confident French, he approached the men, stepping in front of Bernhard as he did so.
‘Mais qu’est-ce qu’il se passe? Dégage de là.’
Bernhard felt himself pushed against the wall as the Somali moved past him to confront the neighbour. The next thing Bernhard knew, the neighbour had disarmed the Eastern European, knocking his knife to the ground. It spun away to the far side of the passage as the Somali doubled over from a savage kick in his groin. Meanwhile, the Eastern European was nursing a cut on his arm. He cried out in pain and ran on to the street, leaving his friend behind. The neighbour – who was dressed in jeans and a dark sweater – dispatched a second, heavy blow to the Somali, this time to the side of his neck. He fell on to the cobbled tiles of the passageway, where blood had dripped on to the ground. The neighbour then grabbed Bernhard, put a key in the lock, and guided him inside the entrance of the apartment building before slamming the door behind them. All of this had taken less than twenty seconds.
‘Are you all right? Ça va?’ he asked, holding Bernhard’s forearms and fixing his eyes with a manic, adrenalized stare. As Bernhard registered that his saviour was British, he became dimly aware of the rapid kick and scrape of a man trying to kickstart a motorbike on the street.
‘Oui. Ça va. Yes,’ he replied, shaking his head in bewildered gratitude, thanking the Englishman as effusively as he could manage. So great was his relief that he felt he might be on the verge of laughter.
‘Did they attack you?’ the man asked. ‘Did they take anything?’
‘No,’ Bernhard replied. ‘You were extraordinary. I do not know what happened. Thank you.’
‘Stay here,’ said the neighbour and re-opened the door. He walked back along the passageway until he was standing outside on the street. The Somali had disappeared. The neighbour then took a tissue from his pocket, bent down and mopped up the blood that had spilled on the ground. At that moment, Bernhard heard the motorbike catch and roar, buzzing past the Englishman, who swore loudly – ‘Fuck you!’ – as the Eastern European made his escape.
‘Did you get the licence plate?’ Bernhard asked, when the man had come back into the foyer.
‘I’m afraid not,’ he replied.
‘Never
