I am well. I was wounded in the leg the other day, but I’m still going strong, although hobbling a bit. Savvas was killed in the fighting. He was a very brave boy. When is this madness going to end? Petracles was captured but we got him back, a little worse for wear than when we lost him, but he is a strong boy and he will come through.
I will leave you now, and again I want to thank you for the parcel, but please, next time no more Vegemite. If I have trouble with the truck, I may use it again. May God bless you, my sisters, and know I am thinking of you every day. One day I will emigrate to The Land of Milk and Honey and be with you, but my place for now is here, fighting for my homeland.
Love, Thanasi.”
Zoe’s thoughts and prayers went out to Thanasi, who they considered a brother. Athanasios Klaras had been with the Greek Community Party (known as the KKE), functioning as the leader of the communist Resistance cell. Their friendship with him had been born from their mutual love for the village priest, Father Haralambos. The cleric’s death had bound them together and allowed that friendship to grow.
“We’ll go to church tomorrow and light a candle for Savvas,” Eva said quietly.
“Oh, I almost forgot. The letter from the Immigration Department also came today.” Zoe held out another letter.
Eva took the envelope, but she just stared at it.
“I know you’ve been waiting to get this letter. Shouldn’t you open it?” Zoe prompted.
“I will,” Eva said and turned the envelope over, staring at the flap on the back.
“Father H would be so proud.” Zoe took the letter out of Eva’s hands. “Do you want me to open it?”
“No...I mean yes.”
Zoe suppressed the urge to tease Eva and simply tore the envelope open. She removed the letter without reading it and gave it back to Eva. She watched Eva’s face, trying to discern whether the news was good or bad. “What did they say?” she asked impatiently.
“I need to go for an interview,” Eva said as she scanned the letter. “They want identification and a picture of me for my new passport.”
Good news! Zoe flashed a wide smile and rolled onto her side to hold Eva as they laughed together.
“Father H would have loved that,” Zoe said, and proceeded to tickle Eva until she squealed and fought against Zoe’s hands, trying to tickle Zoe back at the same time.
Their playfulness ended with them sprawled on the grass. Eva turned her head to gaze at Zoe. “So is now the right time to tell me?”
Zoe put aside her sketchpad and then turned and faced Eva. “I don’t know how you do that.”
“It’s the same way you know when something is on my mind.” Eva took Zoe’s hands and held them. “What is on your mind? I know it has something to do with Henry.”
“It does have to do with Henry, but it’s not about Henry. Last night when he arrived and I made him dinner, we talked for a while.”
“What about?”
Zoe took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Henry is here to track down war criminals that escaped. He’s working for the War Crimes Unit.”
“Yes, I know that, he told us in his first letter to us when we first arrived.”
“Hm. As I said, these war criminals escaped from the Allies in Europe and headed to America, England and other places, including Australia.”
“Alright,” Eva replied quietly.
“Henry told me last night that he was sent here to track down your stepfather.”
Eva stared at Zoe for a long moment. “My stepfather is alive?”
“Yes.” Zoe leaned across and brought her sketchpad closer. It had a sleeve where Zoe kept notes or parts of drawings. She took a photograph and gave it to Eva.
Eva stared at the image. It was indeed Hans Muller in the photograph. Half his face was scarred and he wore a black eye patch, but he looked as menacing as ever. There was no mistake—this was the monster that had terrorized and brutalized Eva to her core, and he was very much alive.
Eva’s hands were shaking as she held the photograph. Zoe took the picture out of her hand, then crumpled it up in disgust and threw it behind her. Eva put her arm around Zoe’s shoulders and brought her close.
“Why isn’t he dead?” Eva asked, her voice wavering with emotion as she gazed at Zoe, whose own tears were tracking down her face.
“He escaped from the house. I don’t know how and neither does Henry. He’s been running from the Allies.”
“How?”
“Major Rhimes is with him,” Zoe replied. She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “The War Crimes people in Germany sent Henry because he knows them.”
Eva brought her bag closer and emptied it. She found the cigarettes and the matchbox. She tried to light the cigarette but found her hands were shaking too much. Zoe took the cigarette, put it to her lips, and lit it. Without a word, she gave the cigarette to Eva, who took a long drag from it. “I’ve been having this dream for months now, Zo. In it my stepfather is still alive.”
“I know. Now that we’re sleeping together, I know the toll it’s taking on you.”
“It’s the same dream, and it ends the same way.”
“What happens in this dream?”
Eva closed her eyes and fell silent for a few moments. She smoked the cigarette while Zoe waited patiently. “He’s in our apartment and wants to kill me…us.”
“You mean in our apartment?”
“Yes. I don’t know how to stop him. It ends the same way.”
“How?”
“I don’t want to say it out loud. If it stays in my dream, then it’s not real,” Eva whispered. Her eyes fell to the cigarette and she watched the ash fall to the grass. Zoe brushed her cheek.
“A dream can’t hurt us, Evy. We know he is here, and we have Henry. We are not alone here and he is not the mighty Major Muller who played God. He is a nobody who is being hunted.”
“But—”
“We have the upper hand. This time we really do. He can’t hurt you; I won’t allow him to hurt you. Henry is here, we have Earl and the police. There’s so many of us against this lonely old bastard. He is not as powerful as he was.”
“He is to me, up here, and also here.” Eva touched the side of her head and then her chest. “He’s powerful in my nightmares.”
“That’s the only place where he is powerful, and we can’t beat him there, for now, but we can beat him out here,” Zoe replied. “We also have Hannah, and she’s helped us so much.”
“Does Hannah know about him still being alive?”
“No.” Zoe shook her head. “Henry was going to tell you this morning but I didn’t want him to.”“
“You wanted to tell me.”
“I did. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about him and what he did to you and me. Henry and the War Crimes Unit will catch him. I know they will. “
“Hm.” Eva nodded and stubbed out her cigarette into the grass. “It’s getting cold, Zo, and you need to get inside. The night air won’t be good for you.”
“I know,” Zoe answered ruefully.
They packed away the picnic basket. While Zoe was folding the blanket, Eva stood and looked around.
“What’s the matter?” Zoe asked.
“I feel like someone’s watching us,” Eva said. She glanced around even more studiously. The picnic area was surrounded by shrubs and the area was quiet.
“Hmm.” Zoe could not see anything.
Eva’s apprehension was obvious as they walked away from the picnic area. Occasionally, her suspicious gaze would dart here and there.
“I used to get this same feeling back in Aiden,” Eva said.
“Was someone following you?” Zoe asked, keeping pace with Eva up the small hill.
“Yes,” Eva replied. “My uncle had someone follow me all the time. I guess it was to keep me safe.” There was an edge of sarcasm in her tone as she emphasized those three words, which told Zoe that the guards’ function had been anything but safeguarding Eva.
> “And it was the same feeling?” Zoe persisted.
“The same.”
Zoe did a complete turn and tried in vain to ascertain what the problem was. She did not see anything out of the ordinary. A woman with a baby stroller was slowly making her way up the road, and children were playing street cricket. “I don’t think it’s him. You’re tired from this stupid job, and now this.”
Eva sighed. “It might be that.”
They fell silent and were still quiet when they entered their apartment block. Zoe saw Eva look back again. It was clear that she was unable to shake the feeling that they were being watched.
“You really think someone is watching us?” Zoe asked.
“Yes.” Eva entered their building. Zoe took a final look around, shrugged, and joined Eva inside.
Chapter Sixteen
Henry stood at the top of the steps leading down to the lower level of the Australian War Crimes Unit. It was described to him as “The Pit.” His English was not as fluent as he would like, but he had a good grasp of the language to understand what the pit referred to.
“It’s not so bad once you don’t mind the lack of lights.”
Henry turned to find a young woman had come up behind him. She was the director’s secretary and had been sent to show Henry to the War Crimes Unit. “Miss…er..”
“My name is Alice Birdswaite.”
“Thank you, Miss Birdswaite, for showing me to the office,” Henry said slowly as he enunciated his words. He found, in the short time had been in the country, that Australians had a very difficult time in understanding his accent.
With a slight frown, he walked down the steps and into a semi-darkened corridor.
Henry glanced at the piece of paper where the Personnel Department had scribbled the names of the agents he would be working with and their office number. He looked at the nearest door office and scowled. There was no number and no identification on it. He heard voices emanating from further down the corridor.
“David and Friedrich work down here. Unfortunately, we haven’t got room upstairs.”
“Is anyone else down here?”
“On and off.”
Henry scowled. He wasn’t sure what ‘on and off’ meant.
“We’re here, just around the bend.”
Henry walked purposely towards the voices and rounded a bend to find himself in another dim lit corridor. At the end of the corridor was an open door, and the voices got louder. He glanced down at his new shoes, which made a squeaking noise on the linoleum floor.
“Right, this is where I leave you,” Miss Birdswaite said. She waved goodbye to Henry and disappeared down the corridor and around the bend.
Henry stood just outside the doorway that led into a medium sized office with four desks that were placed in the center of the room. A large bank of filing cabinets was under the windows. He could see a fair-haired man on the phone and waited patiently for him to finish.
The man placed the telephone receiver under his chin and hunted around for something on his desk. Just as he found a piece of paper, he glanced up and saw Henry waiting just outside the door. “Oh, Freddy, I think I see reinforcements at the gate,” he said with a chuckle. “About time. Yes, see you soon.”
David Harrison was a tall man in his mid-thirties, with blond hair and green eyes. He waved for Henry to enter, and adjusted his tie. “Hello, you must be Heinrich, pleased to meet you. I’m David Harrison,” David said in German as he stuck out his hand.
Henry smiled and shook his. “My name is Henry, not Heinrich.”
“Oh?”
“My mother, bless her, loved Shakespeare and Henry V too much.”
David laughed lightly and pulled up a chair for Henry to sit. “So, Henry, welcome to the War Crimes Unit.”
“It is small.”
“It is. We are a small team. There’s myself, Friedrich Jacobs, and Alastair, and too much work.”
“There’re four desks.”
“Yes. The vacant desk belonged to Jimmy.” David indicated the desk near which Henry was sitting. “We lost Jimmy last week.”
“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Yeah, so am I, the lucky bastard got married and is moving interstate.” David chuckled. “Did you think he was dead?”
“Yes.”
“No, he’s very much alive but no longer with us. Now Hubert, our boss, you met him, haven’t you?”
“Yes, very nice man.”
“Hm, that’s debatable,” David muttered under his breath. He grabbed several files off his desk. “Hubert tells me you’ve been assigned to us on a temporary basis? How temporary? We can use all the help we can get.”
“Temporary as in catching the men on my list and then taking them back to Germany for trial.”
“How many on your list?”
“Ten, including Hans Muller and Erik Rhimes. There are quite a few more but I’m tracking the ten.”
“Muller? Hm, Freddy was talking about this one the other day.”
Henry scratched his bearded chin trying to decide if he should let David know of his history with Hans Muller. “I know them both. I served under Muller in France and Greece.”
“You served under him?”
“Yes and I was working for the French Resistance and then later with the Greek Resistance.”
“Ah, so that’s why they sent you.”
“Yes. I’ve witnessed the man’s brutality first hand.”
David sat back in his chair and ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair. “Freddy has been following a couple of leads, so when he comes back, we can discuss what he’s found out. Where are you staying?”
“I am staying with friends.”
“Well, that’s good. So get comfortable and tell me what you know about these two.” David pulled several more files off a chair and offered it to Henry. “When did you first meet Muller? I hope you don’t mind me asking, but the more we know about these characters, the better it is. We don’t often have investigators working on cases that involve people they know.”
“Yes, that’s why they sent me. My boss thought it would be valuable to have this knowledge.” Henry loosened his tie a little and fanned himself with his hat as the heat became a little too uncomfortable. He stood and took off his jacket and put it on the back of his chair. “Where was I? Oh, yes. I met Muller in 1941.”
“In Germany?”
“No, in Paris. I was under Doctor Dieter Muller’s command. I was his driver for a long time and then he introduced me to his brother Hans Muller.”
“Ah, so that’s the connection.”
“Yes. That’s someone else that’s wanted for war crimes. He conducted experiments on jews and—”
“Like Josef Mengele?”
“Yes, just like him, although Mengele was far worse from what I have read. I was introduced to Hans Muller when Doctor Muller made me his driver,” Henry said as he watched David rise from his chair and take several steps towards a pitcher of water. He filled the glasses and brought them back to the desk. “Thank you,” Henry said as he took the glass of cool water and took a sip.
“What prompted Dr. Muller to introduce you to his brother?”
“Major Muller had his daughter with him but she was frail and needed a driver. Eva was recovering from—”
“Eva Muller?”
“Yes.”
“Now, where did I see...” David rummaged through his files. “Ah ha!” he said and held up a brown folder. He opened the file and quickly started to read the notes. “Yes, Eva Theresa Muller, Hans Muller’s daughter.”
“You have a file on Miss Muller?”
“Yes. Do you know—”
“Eva Muller is not a war criminal. Why do you have a file on her?”
“Are you certain of that?”
Henry sighed. He leaned back on his chair and nodded. “Yes, I’m very certain. Eva Muller was working with the Resistance in France when Muller was stationed there.”
“He brought his
daughter into a war zone?”
“Yes. He was a sadistic bastard who wanted to keep his daughter with him after his wife was killed.”
“Was she sent home after France?”
“No.” Henry shook his head. He let out a frustrated breath and looked up at the ceiling. “Eva was severely injured during a bomb blast which was planned by the Resistance. Even then he didn’t let her go home. His brother was stationed in France, so he treated her.”
David looked down at the file before him as silence descended on the two men. After a long moment he looked up. “If she was working for the Resistance, why didn’t they warn her?”
“Eva planted the bomb. She wanted to kill her father and her uncle.”
“That obviously didn’t happen.”
“No,” Henry replied as he looked down at his hands. “No, it didn’t happen. She barely survived the bomb blast, and even then the bastard insisted she follow him to Greece. Mr. Harrison, Eva is not involved in any war crimes.” Henry’s voice rose at the suggestion his gentle and sensitive friend could be involved in any war crime.
“How do you know?”
Henry stared at his new colleague for a long moment. “I was Eva’s driver and guard in France and Greece. As I told you, she was working with the Resistance.”
“How did she get away with it?”
“I was helping her,” Henry replied. “It was not easy, but we found a way. Eva forged her father’s signature on identity papers.”
“That was very clever and dangerous.”
“Eva was doing it on her own until I caught her forging an identity card,” Henry replied before he took a sip of the water. “She’s a very courageous woman, but she was going to get caught.”
“No doubt.” David glanced down at the file. “She lives here in Sydney. Did you know that?”
“I do. That’s who I’m staying with.” Henry grinned when David’s eyes widened.
“Does she know Muller is alive?”
“No. I haven’t told her.” Henry turned his head and noted the time on the wall clock. “She probably knows now.”
“How?”
Where Shadows Linger (Intertwined Souls Series Book 2) Page 14
