Dowsey thought, That sounded sarcastic, almost impertinent.
“Try signing for the prisoner, Andy,” the captain said. “You’re in charge, I’m just observing.”
A French capitaine and a French sergeant got out of the ambulance. The capitaine walked up to the black captain, saluted, and handed him a clipboard.
“After we’re sure the prisoner is alive, Lieutenant Anderson will sign the receipt,” the black captain said. “I am presuming, Anderson, that you arranged for a doctor?”
“I did.”
“Your response should have been ‘I did, sir.’ Think ‘role reversal.’ Say, ‘Yes, sir.’”
“Yes, sir.”
“Close your mouth, Lieutenant,” Captain Dunwiddie said to Dowsey, “or you’ll catch flies and look like Lieutenant Anderson.”
“Yes, sir,” Dowsey said.
The capitaine gestured for his sergeant to open the rear doors of the former ambulance.
When they had been opened, Dowsey saw the ambulance held three men, two French soldiers, and a third man in shackles with a black bag over his head.
“Get him out of there,” the black captain ordered. “Leave the bag over his head.”
The prisoner was, with some difficulty, extracted from the ambulance.
“Anybody speak German?”
“I do, sir,” Sergeant Wagner said.
“Ask him if he’s all right.”
“I demand to know where I am,” Luther Stauffer said in English.
“Herr Sturmführer, you’re not allowed to ask questions,” Dunwiddie said.
“I demand to know where I am,” Stauffer repeated.
“Duly noted,” Dunwiddie said. “Anderson, you told me you had arranged for a doctor.”
“I don’t know where the hell he is,” Anderson said.
“Well, while we’re waiting, and if you’re satisfied that the prisoner is alive, why don’t you sign the receipt for him?”
“Yes, sir.”
“A question, Lieutenant Anderson,” Dunwiddie said. “After you’ve signed for him, do you want everybody to stand around here waiting for the doctor, or are you going to take the Sturmführer to the examination room and get him out of his clothing?”
Another jeep rolled up and a pudgy captain with the Medical Corps caduceus on his lapels got out.
“Who’s in charge?” he demanded.
Dunwiddie and Anderson pointed to each other.
“I’m just a spectator, Doctor,” Dunwiddie said. “The Sturmführer with the bag over his head is the man you’re to examine. Lieutenant Anderson will show you where.”
“I know where the examination room is,” the doctor said.
“And while you’re doing that, I would like a word with the interpreter. What did you say your name was, Sergeant?”