by Philip Kerr
“Please, sir,” she said quietly, “were you a prisoner in there, perhaps?”
I rubbed my chin again. “Is it that obvious?”
“Did you by chance come across another man by the name of Dettmann, Ludwig Dettmann? I’m his wife.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Frau Dettmann, no, I didn’t see anyone at all. But what makes you think he’s in there?”
She shook her head, sadly. “I don’t. Not anymore. But when they arrested him, this is where he was taken. I’m sure of that, at least.” She shrugged. “But afterward, who knows? No one thinks to tell his family anything. He could be anywhere for all I know. But no one thinks to tell his family anything. Several times I’ve been in that police station asking for information about my Ludwig, but they won’t tell me what’s happened to him. They’ve even threatened to arrest me if I go in there again.”
“Might be one way of finding out,” I said glibly.
“You don’t understand. I have three children. And what’s to become of them, eh? What is to become of them if I’m arrested, too?” She shook her head. “Nobody understands. Nobody wants to understand.”
I nodded. She was right, of course. I didn’t understand. No more than I understood what had persuaded von Helldorf to order my release.
I walked through the Lustgarten. In front of the state castle was a bridge that led across the Havel and over an island to the Teltower Tor Station, where I caught a train back to Berlin.
25
WASHED AND SHAVED and wearing a change of clothes, I walked back into the Adlon, encountering both surprise and delight, not to mention a certain amount of suspicion. It wasn’t unknown for staff to pull a sicky for a few days and then return with the same explanation as me. Sometimes it was even true. Behlert greeted me much as he might have greeted a tomcat returning home after an absence of several days and nights: with a mixture of amusement and contempt.
“Where have you been?” he said, scolding. “We’ve been worried about you, Herr Gunther. Thank goodness your friend, Detective Sergeant Stahlecker, has been able to take on some of your duties.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“But even he was unable to find out what had happened to you. No one at the police praesidium at Alexanderplatz seemed to know anything. It’s not at all like you to disappear like that. What happened?”
“I’ve been staying at another hotel, Georg,” I told him. “The one run by the police in Potsdam. And I didn’t enjoy it. Not one bit. I’m thinking of walking around to that MER travel bureau on Unter den Linden and telling them not to recommend it any longer as a place to stay when you’re in Potsdam. You can sleep much more comfortably in the river. In fact, I very nearly did.”
Behlert glanced uncomfortably around the mausoleumlike entrance hall. “Please, Herr Gunther, keep your voice down or else someone will overhear, and then we’ll both be in trouble with the police.”
“I wouldn’t be in trouble if it wasn’t for the help of one of our guests, Georg.”
“Who can you mean?”
I might have mentioned the name of Max Reles. But I saw no point in explaining exactly what had happened. Like the majority of law-abiding Berliners, Behlert preferred to know as little as possible about those things that might get him into trouble. And, in a way, I respected that. Given my own recent experiences, it was probably the more sensible way to be. So instead I said, “Frau Charalambides, of course. You know I’ve been working for her. Helping her write this article.”
“Yes, I did know. And I can’t say that I approved. In my opinion, it was wrong of Frau Adlon to ask you. It put you in a very difficult position.”
I shrugged. “That can’t be helped. Not now. Is she in the hotel?”
“No.” He looked awkward. “I think perhaps you had better speak to Frau Adlon. As a matter of fact, she inquired about you only this morning. I believe she’s in her apartment, upstairs.”
“Has something happened to Frau Charalambides?”
“She’s fine, I can assure you. Shall I telephone Frau Adlon and suggest an appointment for you?”
But sensing something was wrong, I was already running upstairs.
Outside Hedda’s apartment I knocked and, hearing her voice, turned the handle and opened the door. She was sitting on the sofa, smoking a cigarette and reading a copy of Fortune magazine, which, given she had one, seemed only appropriate. Seeing me, she threw Fortune aside and stood up. She looked relieved to see me.
“Thank goodness you’re all right,” she said. “I’ve been worried about you.”
I closed the door. “Where is she?”
“Gone home to New York,” said Hedda. “She left on yesterday’s boat from Hamburg.”
“Then I guess she wasn’t as worried as you.”
“There’s no need to be like that, Bernie. It’s not how it is at all. Her leaving Germany and promising not to write about the Olympics was the price she paid to get you out of jail. And quite possibly to keep you out of jail as well.”
“I see.” I walked over to the sideboard and picked up one of her decanters. “Do you mind? It’s been one of those—weeks.”
“Please. Help yourself.” Hedda went over to her desk and opened the lid.
I poured one out—quite a large one of whatever it was, I didn’t much care—and sucked it down like it was a medicine I’d prescribed for myself. It tasted horrible, so I prescribed myself another and brought it back to the sofa.
“She left you this.” Hedda handed me an Adlon envelope.
I slipped it into my pocket.
“It’s my fault for getting you into this in the first place.”
I shook my head. “I knew what I was doing. Even when I knew that what I was doing was, perhaps, ill advised.”
“Noreen always did have that effect on people,” said Hedda. “When we were both girls, it was nearly always I who got caught for some infraction of the school rules, and Noreen who got away with it. But I was never deterred by that. I was always up for our next escapade. Perhaps I should have warned you about her. I don’t know. Maybe. Even now it feels like I’m the one who has to stay behind and make up her grades and offer an apology.”
“I knew what I was doing,” I repeated dully.
“She drinks too much,” said Hedda, by way of an explanation. “She and Nick, her husband. I assume she told you all about him.”
“Some.”
“She drinks, and it doesn’t seem to affect her in the least. Everyone who’s around her drinks, and it affects them a great deal. That’s what happened to poor Nick. Goodness, he never drank at all until he met Noreen.”
“She’s very intoxicating.” I tried a smile, but it didn’t come out right. “I expect I’ll have a hangover before I get over it.”
Hedda nodded. “Take a few days off, why don’t you? The rest of the week, if you like. After five nights in jail you could probably use a break. Your friend Herr Stahlecker will cover for you.” She nodded. “It’s worked out very well with him. He doesn’t have your experience, but—”
“Perhaps I will take some time off. Thanks.” I finished my second drink. It didn’t taste any better than the first. “Incidentally, is Max Reles still staying in the hotel?”
“Yes, I think so. Why?”
“No reason.”
“He told me you got his property back for him. He was very pleased.”
I nodded. “Maybe I’ll go away somewhere. Würzburg, perhaps.”
“Have you got family in Würzburg?”
“No. But I’ve always wanted to go there. It’s the capital of Franconia, you know. Besides, it’s the opposite end of Germany from Hamburg.”
I didn’t mention Dr. Rubusch, or the fact that the only reason I was going there was that he was from Würzburg.
“Stay at the Palace Hotel Russia House,” she said. “I believe it’s the best hotel in the state. Have a rest. Catch up on some sleep. You look tired. Put your feet up. If you like, I’ll telephone
the hotel manager and get you a special rate.”
“Thanks. I will.” But I didn’t tell her that the last thing I intended to do was put my feet up. Not now that Noreen was gone out of my life for good.
26
LEAVING THE ADLON, I walked east to the Alex. The railway station was bristling with SS, and yet another military band was getting ready to welcome some self-important government bonzo. There are times when I swear I think we have more military bands than the French and the English put together. Maybe it’s just a lot of Germans playing it safe. No one ever accused you of being unpatriotic when you were playing a flugelhorn or a tuba. Not in Germany.
Tearing myself away from the palpable excitement in the air around the station, I walked into the Alex. Seldte, the smart young fellow from SCHUPO, was still on duty at the front desk.
“I see your career is leaping ahead.”
“Isn’t it?” he said. “If I stay here for much longer, I’ll turn into one of these freaks myself. If you’re looking for Herr Trettin, I saw him head out of here about twenty minutes ago.”
“Thanks, but I was hoping to see Liebermann von Sonnenberg.”
“Would you like me to call his office?”
Fifteen minutes later I was sitting opposite the Berlin chief of KRIPO and smoking one of the Black Wisdom cigars Bernhard Weiss had been obliged to leave behind when he left.
“If this is about that unfortunate business involving August Krichbaum,” said von Sonnenberg, “then you needn’t worry, Bernie. You and the other cops who were in the frame as possible suspects are in the clear. Everything has been brought to a sort of conclusion. It was a lot of nonsense, of course.”
“Oh? How’s that?” I tried to contain the relief I felt. But after Noreen’s departure, I hardly cared nearly as much. At the same time, I hoped they hadn’t framed someone for the killing. That would really have given my conscience something indigestible to chew on for a while.
“Because we no longer have a reliable witness. The hotel doorman who saw the culprit was an ex-policeman, as you probably know. Well, it turns out that he is also a queer and a communist. It seems that this was why he left the police in the first place. Indeed, we now think his evidence may even have been motivated by malice against the police in general. Anyway, all of that’s irrelevant, since the Gestapo has had him on an arrest list for several months. Not that he knew, of course.”
“So where is he now?”
“In the concentration camp, at Lichtenberg.”
I nodded, wondering if they’d made him sign a D-11.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, Bernie.”
I shrugged. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do a bit more for your protégé, Bömer.”
“You did all you could under the circumstances.”
“I’d be glad to help out again.”
“These young men today,” said von Sonnenberg. “They’re in too much of a hurry, if you ask me.”
“I got that impression. You know, there’s a bright young fellow wearing green on the desk in the entrance hall downstairs. Name of Heinz Seldte. You might give him a lick. Fellow’s too smart to be left with his balls in a desk drawer like that.”
“Thanks, Bernie. I’ll have a look at him.” He lit a cigarette. “So. Are you here to play the accordion, or is there some business you and I can do?”
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
“On your opinion of Count von Helldorf.”
“You might as well ask if I hate Stalin.”
“I hear the count’s trying to rehabilitate himself by tracking down anyone the SA ever had a grudge against.”
“That would certainly look commendably loyal, wouldn’t it?”
“Maybe he still wants to be your boss here in Berlin.”
“Have you got a way of making sure that couldn’t happen?”
“I might have.” I puffed the strong cigar and aimed the smoke at the high ceiling. “You remember that stiff we had in the Adlon a while ago? The one you gave to Rust and Brandt.”
“Sure. Natural causes. I remember.”
“Suppose it wasn’t?”
“What makes you think different?”
“Something von Helldorf said.”
“I didn’t know you were cozy with that queer, Bernie.”
“For the last six days I’ve been his houseguest at the police praesidium in Potsdam. I’d like to repay his hospitality, if I can.”
“They say he’s still holding on to some of Hanussen’s dirt, as an insurance policy against arrest. The films he shot on that boat of his. The Ursel. I’ve also heard that some of the dirt comes from underneath some very important fingernails.”
“Like whose, for instance?”
“Ever ask yourself how he managed to get on that Olympic committee? It’s not his love of riding, I can tell you that much.”
“Von Tschammer und Osten?”
“Small fry. No, it was Goebbels who got him the job.”
“But he was the one who broke Hanussen.”
“And it was Goebbels who saved von Helldorf. But for Joey, von Helldorf would have been shot alongside his warm friend, Ernst Röhm, when Hitler settled the SA’s hash. In other words, von Helldorf is still connected. So I’ll help you get him, if you can. But you’ll have to find someone else to put the stake through his heart.”
“All right. I’ll leave your name out of it.”
“What do you need from me?”
“The case file on Heinrich Rubusch. I’d like to check a few things out. Go and see the fellow’s widow, in Würzburg.”
“Würzburg?”
“It’s near Regensburg, I believe.”
“I know where the hell it is. I’m just trying to remember why I know where the hell it is.” Liebermann von Sonnenberg flicked a switch on his desk intercom to speak to his secretary. “Ida? Why does Würzburg mean something to me?”
“You had a request from the Gestapo in Würzburg,” said a woman’s voice. “In your capacity as Interpol liaison officer. Requesting that you contact the FBI in America about a suspect living here in Germany.”
“And did I?”
“Yes. We sent them what we got from the FBI a week or so ago.”
“Wait a minute, Erich,” I said. “I’m beginning to think this bone might make a lot more than just soup. Ida? This is Bernie Gunther. Can you remember the name of that suspect the Gestapo in Würzburg wanted to know about?”
“Wait a minute. I think I still have the Gestapo’s letter in my tray. I haven’t filed it yet. Yes, here we are. The suspect’s name is Max Reles.”
Von Sonnenberg flicked off the intercom and nodded. “You’re smiling like that name means something, Bernie,” he observed.
“Max Reles is a guest at the Adlon and a good friend of the count’s.”
“Is that so?” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s just a small world.”
“Sure it is. If it was any bigger, we’d have to hunt for clues like they do in the stories. You’d have a magnifying glass and a hunting hat and a definitive collection of cigarette ends.”
Von Sonnenberg stubbed out his cigarette in the overflowing ashtray. “Who says I don’t?”
“This information you had from the FBI. Any chance you kept a copy?”
“Let me tell you about being the Interpol liaison officer, Bernie. It’s extra sauerkraut. I’ve got plenty of meat and potatoes on my plate already, and what I don’t need is extra sauerkraut. I know it’s on the table because Ida tells me it is. But mostly it’s her that eats it, see? And the fact is that she wouldn’t keep a copy of Luther’s ninety-five theses unless I told her to. So.”
“So now I’ve got two reasons to go to Würzburg.”
“Three, if you include the wine.”
“I never did before.”
“Franconian wines are good,” said von Sonnenberg. “If you like your wines sweet, that is.”
“Some of these provincial Gestapo officers,” I
said. “They can be anything but sweet.”
“I haven’t noticed their big-city counterparts assisting old ladies to cross the road.”
“Look, Erich, I hate to give you more sauerkraut, but a letter of introduction from you or even a telephone call would straighten this Gestapo man’s tie for him. And keep it straight while I was squeezing his eggs.”
Von Sonnenberg grinned. “It’ll be a pleasure. There’s nothing I like better than clipping the tails on some of these young pups in the Gestapo.”
“I think that’s a job I’d be good at.”
“Maybe you’ll be the first person who ever enjoyed going to Würzburg.”
“That’s always a possibility.”
27
I READ HER LETTER ON THE TRAIN TO WÜRZBURG.
Adlon Hotel, No. 1 Unter den Linden, Berlin
My dearest Bernie,
It grieves me more than words can tell you that I cannot be there to say good-bye in person, but I’ve been told by someone from the police chief’s office in Potsdam that you won’t be released from prison until I have left Germany.
It looks as if this has to be for good, I’m afraid—at least for as long as the Nazis are in government, anyway—as I’ve also been informed by someone in the Foreign Ministry that I won’t be given a visa again.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough, I’ve been told by an official in the Propaganda Ministry that if I publish the newspaper article I was planning to write and call upon the AOC to boycott the German Olympiad, then you could find yourself in a concentration camp; and since I have no wish to expose you to this kind of threat, you can rest assured, my dear Bernie, that no such article will now appear.
