by Bill James
Yes, instead of gumshoeing, Mount might go back to thirty-seven and ask Toulmin what had happened, suppose (1) Toulmin could be asked; (2) Toulmin wanted to answer; and (3) wanted to answer with the truth. Or, Mount could put an end to this evening’s business, go home, and wait there to see if Toulmin called in. If not, Mount should get down to the Wilhelmstrasse tomorrow and perhaps the next day, hoping Toulmin would soon be back at work and interceptable.
To Mount, only the return to thirty-seven now, tonight, seemed right. All the alternatives looked like postponements and evasions; would be postponements and evasions. He went back up to the third floor on the stairs he had just come down and was about to use the skeleton key on Toulmin’s lock when a middle aged couple came out from apartment thirty-nine, next door, perhaps on their way to a restaurant or to visit friends. They might know Toulmin, at least by sight. Perhaps they’d find it odd – worse than odd – to see a stranger able to open the door. They might suspect a burglary and call the police. Mount kept the key hidden in his hand and knocked gently with his knuckles, like a visitor. Toulmin did not respond. The couple paused behind Mount. ‘We think he was certainly there a little while ago,’ the man said. ‘We heard sounds. Perhaps with company. Voices.’
Did Clifford have it right and some of the plattenbauten had slewed, letting noise through?
‘Men’s voices,’ the woman said.
‘He has been away, but we believe he came back,’ the man said.
‘Perhaps he is asleep after a journey,’ the woman said. ‘But if your business is important and you don’t mind waking him, it might be necessary to knock harder on the door.’ She came forward and formed fists, then gave the door a patterned beating with them. ‘Mein herr!’ she yelled. ‘Here is someone to see you.’ She turned to Mount. ‘I do not know his name. He is very solitary here.’ The man also knocked on the door: heavier blows, and less frequent.
The woman from thirty-four opposite came out into the corridor to complain that the din had woken her baby. Mount could hear it screaming. The door to thirty-seven remained shut. ‘I wanted to see some other apartments,’ Mount explained to her. ‘Certainly yours was very impressive, but I need additional information.’
‘These apartments are famous,’ the man said.
‘Indeed, yes,’ Mount replied.
‘It is what is known as a settlement,’ the older woman said. She continued to hammer the door, but in a slower series of blows now.
‘He knows about it. He was here with many others this morning, examining,’ the woman from thirty-four said.
‘I thought I’d do some random calls, to extend my familiarity with the . . . the settlement,’ Mount said.
‘We are very satisfied with number thirty-nine,’ the man said.
‘We are proud to be in the vanguard of this type of accommodation,’ the older woman said.
The thirty-four woman went back into her apartment to calm the child.
‘I’ll try an apartment on one of the other floors, I think,’ Mount said.
‘You could have come to look at ours,’ the man said, ‘but we have an appointment elsewhere.’
‘I think you must be English,’ the woman said. ‘You speak German, and understand it, very well, but I think English.’
‘Are the English interested in this settlement?’ the man asked. ‘Many countries admire it. Although there is not always full friendliness these days between Germany and England, certain civic problems, such as accommodation, are the same, and we can help each other.’
‘Why I’m here,’ Mount said.
‘Cooperation,’ the man replied.
‘Vital,’ Mount said.
‘In a social sense,’ the man said.
‘In many matters,’ the woman said.
‘Civilized,’ the man said.
‘Certainly,’ Mount said.
‘Doesn’t life have to continue, despite political troubles?’ the man said.
‘I agree,’ Mount said.
‘Mutual help,’ the man said.
‘Not to be denied,’ Mount said.
‘For instance, didn’t the Führer kindly attend the wedding of your Diana Mitford and Oswald Mosley, held in Josef Goebbel’s own house because some English did not like Oswald Mosley?’ the woman said.
‘A happy international gesture,’ the man said.
‘If you wish, you may call on us in the morning, and we would be glad to show you thirty-nine,’ the woman said. ‘Certain special features.’
‘That would be very kind,’ Mount said.
‘At eleven o’clock?’ the man said.
‘Excellent,’ Mount replied.
‘It is the least we can do to show how much we appreciate our good fortune as residents,’ the man said.
Mount went down to the grass patch outside, where he had stood before, and looked up at thirty-seven. Now, he couldn’t make out that weak line of light over the living room curtains. He waited a timed five minutes. When he returned to the third floor there was nobody about and the child in thirty-four no longer screamed. He opened the door to thirty-seven, stepped inside and closed it quietly behind him again. The apartment seemed dark throughout. He switched on his torch and opened the door to the living room. ‘Toulmin,’ he said, in a big whisper. ‘It’s I, Stanley Charles Naughton.’
At first sight, the room looked more or less as it was before, except for the closed curtains: the pieces of newspaper, the single shoe, and a bottle scattered about the floor, the three sideboard drawers still open. He swung the torch beam slowly, systematically, left to right, right to left, looking for any changes, such as blood on the carpet and a body, from, say, a knifing or efficiently silenced pistols. No. He wondered if the woman from thirty-nine was right, and Toulmin had fallen into a deep sleep following . . . following what? Following whatever he had been doing. Mount entered the big bedroom. Toulmin was not there. The bed remained a mess. Mount looked under it and in a wardrobe. Again nothing. And nothing different in the guest bedroom or anywhere else in the apartment. He returned to the living room and put the torch beam on to the papers and books. Yes, family letters and a wedding invitation, plus official notification of the visit by housing experts. The books were David Copperfield in English, and an English-German dictionary.
When Mount returned to Steglitz a couple of hours later he found Toulmin waiting in one of the armchairs. ‘Stanley! Good,’ he said. ‘I came at once. I knew you’d be concerned. I wasn’t able to call lately because I’ve been in Moscow. It was decided very abruptly that we should send a reciprocal mission about the non-aggression pact – to show, and, indeed, to emphasize, Germany’s continuing enthusiasm. I was drafted into the support team. I’ve had bodyguards with me the whole time. They even had to take me home tonight – sort of finally sign me back over to myself. All very secret. We came by car, but they parked it around the corner out of sight.’
Toulmin must have left the building through the main entrance immediately after the escorts had withdrawn. Mount realized he would have been on the way up those rear stairs then from his holly-tree post, hoping to talk to him in thirty-seven. ‘We’ve all been anxious,’ Mount said. ‘I went over to have a look in your apartment.’
‘In case I was dead there?’
‘That sort of thing.’
‘Thanks for worrying.’
‘You’re important.’
‘A whispering voice.’
‘An important whispering voice. And for the greater good.’
‘Which is that?’
‘You know, don’t you?’
‘I called in on the girls at the Toledo to tell them I was fine,’ Toulmin replied. ‘They both had pre-commitments for part of this evening, but they will be with us shortly.’ Mount’s front doorbell rang. ‘And here they are, the loves.’
‘They were concerned about your congestion,’ Mount replied.
‘I bought a fur hat there. Also, I found the very cold Russian air suits me,’ Toulmin said. ‘I have hardly
coughed.’
‘I’m glad,’ Mount said. He went to the door.
‘Hasn’t he been a very naughty man, Stanley?’ Olga asked. ‘He told none of us he would go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, where it is said the remains of James, son of Zebedee, lie.’
‘True,’ Mount said.
BOOK TWO
FIVE
MOST SECRET
To: Major Andreas Valk, Deputy Commandant, Internal State Security.
From: Lieutenant V Mair and Lieutenant BL Schiff
In accordance with our instructions issued Tuesday, October 11 1938, we went by car to the apartment home of Konrad Paul Eisen (KPE) in Lichtenberg at 07.30 on October 12 1938. We had been ordered to act as a Designated Protection Unit. We accompanied Eisen to Templehof-Berlin airport. We subsequently flew with KPE and other Foreign Service officials and Protection Units in a chartered aircraft to Moscow. Our orders listed 4 (four) objectives:
(1) Provide bodyguard protection for Eisen.
(2) Ensure he did not compromise the mission by undisciplined behaviour.
(3) Ensure he did not:
(a) defect, or
(b) establish secret connection with my member of the host party
(4) As routinely required, note any material (conversation, actions, possessions) relevant to his personal dossier.
We left the car at a distance from the Lichtenberg apartment block, to avoid attention. We understood KPE had been pre-informed by telephone he would be in delegation to Moscow and that we as escorts would call at his home, present our identity documents and exchange the codewords ‘Rudolph’ (us) and ‘of Austria’ (KPE response), then remain with him throughout the journey and period in Russia. All formalities were successfully concluded. We waited unsupervised in his living room while he completed packing in the larger bedroom. He said he had heard of the Moscow journey only fifteen minutes before we arrived, while he was having breakfast and preparing to go to his office.
We were able, as required at (4) above routinely, to examine certain items, to add helpful biographical matter to his Internal State Security File. Papers available in our plain view are listed below. (This search was incomplete. It had to be discontinued on his return to living room and departure to airport. Factual detail unverified at this stage (repeat, unverified).)
(1) Parents live Bremen. Regular financial support from him. A letter offered ‘once more, dear Konrad’ thanks for sending a ‘very welcome addition’ to ‘our pension’. Amount unspecified. In case the Bremen address not already on File we noted it.
(2) Invitation to brother’s marriage, November 19, also Bremen. Cheap, write-in-names card on poor paper. Brother Luca, fiancée Agnes Rosina Ritzel.
(3) Letter from Luca praising romantically her looks and temperament, attacking rumours of pregnancy, and suggesting possible wedding presents in descending order of expense. Top: genuine china dinner service with floral pattern. Bottom: flat iron.
(4) Receipt for one-day hired van payment, October 3.
(5) Untouched questionnaire about apartment life in plattenbauten block.
(6) Receipt for purchase payment of birch wood and metal laminated armchair, October 3. (No such chair visible among apartment furniture, but only living room viewed at this stage. See, also, later entry in report.)
(7) Notification of forthcoming organized visit to the apartments by international party studying effects of plattenbauten construction, Monday, October 17, with possible temporary inconvenience for residents.
We left the vehicle in the official airport car park to await our return.
MOSCOW:
(1) Armament
As instructed, DPUs carried no weapons in case of airport searches. On arrival we were met as scheduled by special contact at the hotel and issued with unfired Walther PPK automatic pistols. Transfer of weapons to us difficult owing to marshalling (see (3) below), but efficiently and confidentially carried out. Pistols to be returned at end of visit if not used.
(2) Accommodation
We and others of party allocated to Ravan Hotel not far from Kremlin where negotiations to take place. The Ravan third-quality Russian, but adequate for short stay. Our rooms, second floor: KPE. No. 6, a double; we a ‘family room’ (No. 8) with communicating door to No. 6, as requested. Searched both rooms for listening devices while talking about non-sensitive topics, such as the flight, sport and Moscow weather. Nothing found. The search to be repeated at least daily.
(3) Marshalling
A ‘tourist guide’ allocated to each hotel, function to shepherd and monitor delegates. Soviet GUGB – State Security. ‘Ivan.’ Fluent German. Present at all hotel meals. Joined different table each time. Listened and occasionally talked. Delegates alert to him and spoke only generalities in his presence. Held conversation with KPE at dinner about Martin Luther, holidays in Black Forest, plattenbauten buildings, the American non-Jewish actor, Clark Gable. ‘Ivan’ organized afternoon visit to Lenin mausoleum, Red Square. Said we should regard this as ‘a solemn but joyful occasion’ because of Soviet history. Body of Lenin preserved by constant use of chemicals. When leaving tomb, KPE asked ‘Ivan’ about possible girls, but ‘Ivan’ said ‘inappropriate’ and topic not raised again during Moscow stay.
(4) Work timetable
Negotiations all day each day and evenings until dinner, except for Lenin tomb excursion, visit to a Kremlin cathedral, escorted shopping. KPE bought hat. Designated Protection Unit personnel excluded from negotiation sessions. On standby in adjoining ante-room – reading and cards. KPE did not talk about discussions except description as ‘difficult but positive’ and ‘very wearing though satisfying’ for all German party.
RETURN:
October 17. In accordance with our orders we accompanied KPE to his home, as completion of our door-to-door assignment. We again left the car at a distance.
V Mair
BL Schiff
This report now necessarily divides into two. Separate, individual accounts follow.
VM writes: we had identified the windows of KPE’s apartment from outside on our introductory visit. No curtains had been drawn when we left for airport. As we approached the building on foot, bringing KPE back to apartment, I noticed what appeared to be a man watching us from the living room. He stood very briefly at side of window, part concealed by material of furled back curtain. Heavily built, over 6 feet tall and with thick black or brown hair. It was dark. He seemed shocked at our arrival. I say this because he almost at once moved away from the window and out of sight. He made no sign of greeting. A ‘welcome-home’ gesture would have been natural in someone well known to Eisen. Perhaps he noticed that I had seen him.
Once he’d gone I was not certain someone had actually been there. I could not tell whether BLS or KPE had noticed him. Neither gave any sign. I decided it was in the best interests of the assignment not to ask.
(1) In poor light and from a distance I might have mistaken the outline of the bunched curtain for the physique of a man.
(2) Possibly it was important to know the relationship of KPE to this man, if someone had in fact been at the window. It might put KPE on guard if I showed awareness:
(a) Our original briefing said KPE lived alone after a divorce. We had been given no information that he might have a lodger, guest or homosexual partner.
(b) That is, of course, if KPE knew this man. The fact that apartment was unlit suggested the man might be an intruder, possibly a stranger to KPE.
We continued. We entered apartment 37. There appeared to be nobody present now. I wondered again if I had been mistaken about the man at the window. The living room looked as we had left it. I told KPE it was a specified duty for us to check the whole apartment, to ensure his safety. I went into all the other rooms with him and did basic searches but found nobody. Most of the apartment was very untidy. Evidently no-one had been in to clean during his absence.
Andreas Valk had already read the report twice. He rested and put it asi
de for a few minutes now. Obviously, he’d have to bring both of them in for a meeting, Mair and Schiff. And obviously, too, he’d have to congratulate them, though what they’d done, and described towards the end of the report, was well outside what they’d been told to do. You could call it initiative. You could call it insolence. On the whole, Valk thought he’d better call it initiative. Otherwise, he might look grudging, or even envious. He would be warm and sincere with his praise, but unextravagant. These two must not get to think themselves abnormally talented and sharper at the game than he was. If they spotted the flimsiest chance, people like this pair would try to take over.
Naturally, it was in periods of prolonged, unrelieved stress that leadership could falter and, having faltered, never recover. Valk had been at the Somme as a junior officer and in four or five months witnessed several of these sly, de facto mutinies. Eventually, he became involved in one himself: a tottering, useless senior man had to be replaced. Possibly the experience made him unduly wary of such dethronings today: that is, his own, Andreas Valk’s. He went back to the report:
BLS writes: it surprised me to hear VM say we had been instructed to search the apartment on return. Untrue. I therefore assumed he might have noticed something unusual but did not wish KPE to know this. While they examined the entire apartment I scrutinized the living room looking for what might have disturbed VM. At first, nothing apparent, but could not find among sideboard papers receipt for the birch wood and metal laminated chair. This had unquestionably been present when we first called on Eisen (see paragraph 6 of original inventory of papers). VM and KPE returned, both seeming relaxed. KPE drew curtains, said the journey had tired him and that he would soon make the bed and sleep. We said we sympathized and left.
