“Looking for me, Herr Rhimes?”
Rhimes jumped, startled, as he turned towards Marko. He was standing there with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. He was a middle-aged man with thin, greying hair, of middling height and sporting a ridiculously thin moustache that made him look quite comical. Rhimes disliked Marko, but he would deal with the Devil himself if it meant his safety and the continued well-being of his friends.
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to contact you,” Rhimes snapped.
“My day off today. Thought I would take a leisurely walk. It’s quite fortuitous I ran into you, isn’t it?” Marko sat down next to Rhimes on the bench.
Rhimes frowned. “Yes, quite fortuitous. So what do you have for me?”
“You’re not one for small talk, are you?”
Rhimes stared at Marko for a long moment. Marko smiled. Rhimes wasn’t sure why he did so, since there was nothing funny being said.
“Right, let’s get down to business. Well, from reading her file, I would say you are in a heap of trouble,” Marko said. He took out a cigarette and lit it.
Rhimes tried to control his rising temper. “Do you have a copy of the file?”
“You know that’s against the law, Herr Rhimes,” Marko replied with a smirk.
Rhimes closed his eyes and counted slowly until he had regained control of himself. He could not afford to kill this idiot, not until he had what he wanted. “How much is this going to cost me?” he asked when he could trust his voice again.
“I have a figure in my head. Maybe we can get some coffee and discuss it.”
“Fine, let’s get this done. Lead the way.”
Rhimes followed Marko from the subway into a coffee house across the street. Marko led him to the table at the far end of the room and then sat down. He waited until a waitress took their order before reaching into his pocket and retrieving a piece of paper. “Before we discuss our little business transaction, why is this woman so important?” he asked.
“None of your business, Mr. Berckett. I paid you well for the information you have supplied to us, but I don’t think it’s in your best interests to ask so many questions.”
Marko retained the same irritating little smirk on his face until the waitress came back with their order. “Herr Rhimes, I have something you want desperately and I can’t figure out why. Was she your mistress or something?”
Rhimes refused to rise to the bait, but his patience was wearing thin. “No.”
“Alright, so you don’t want to discuss it. How about we discuss how you will make me a happy man, and then I can make you a happy man? How does that sound?”
“Fine,” Rhimes spat out.
“I’m assuming you don’t have this much on you?” Marko asked. He handed Rhimes a note.
Rhimes’ eyebrow rose at the figure written on the piece of paper. “No, I don’t carry that kind of change on me.”
“A Nazi with a sense of humor!” Marko said, just loudly enough for Rhimes to hear. He smiled and watched Rhimes over the top of his coffee cup. “How about I meet you someplace and then we can exchange gifts?”
Rhimes sighed. He would indeed give Mr. Berckett a gift, but he doubted the man would enjoy it. He needed that file, and then he would deal with this trash. ”Fine.” Rhimes took a pen from his jacket pocket, scribbled an address on a napkin, and then folded it and gave it to Marko. “Meet me there at seven o’clock tonight. I will have your gift.”
“Excellent. It’s been good doing business with you, Mr. Rhimes,” Marko said. He got up and left the coffee shop.
“Indeed,” Rhimes said and shook his head. He waited a few minutes before returning to the train station.
***
Hans Muller sat on the sofa and watched Rhimes glance at the clock yet again. He had been watching Rhimes for over an hour as he paced back and forth in the small apartment that was their refuge, wearing a path in the cheap carpet, or so it seemed.
“You can’t do it here,” Muller finally said.
“Why not?”
“You’re going to get blood on the carpet, and Mrs. Neiler will be upset,” Muller replied with a grin. Rhimes grinned back at him.
“Hans is right, Erik. Mrs. Neiler is none too happy if we just get beer on the carpet,” their hired thug, Klaus, piped up from the corner. He waved the gun he had been busy cleaning.
A knock on the door prevented Rhimes from replying. He pulled out his own gun and looked through the spy hole. He opened the door to reveal Marko standing outside. Rhimes quickly ushered him into the room.
“Gentlemen, I’m pleased to meet you,” Marko said.
Klaus grunted and continued cleaning his weapon. Muller nodded as Marko sat down.
“So, do you have what I asked for?” Marko asked.
Rhimes shrugged. “It all depends. Do you have the file?”
Marko smiled and produced a file from his briefcase. He handed it to Rhimes, who flipped through it, then handed it to Muller.
“Well?” Marko asked, twitching nervously.
“She is alive. That’s her,” Muller muttered. He stared at the photograph of Eva, hatred burning inside him on seeing her smiling face.
Marko’s smile turned ingratiating. “Does that mean I get my money?”
“You’re going to get something better,” Rhimes said, sitting down next to him.
“W-what?” Marko stammered.
“Actually, I’m going to give you a choice,” Rhimes said. He held his gun to Marko’s head. Marko blinked furiously as the blood drained from his face and his hands started to shake. ”Okay, choice number one is that I kill you here,” Rhimes said matter-of-factly.
“Mrs. Neiler doesn’t like blood on the carpet,” Klaus muttered from his corner.
“Bl-blood...on the ca-carpet?” The sharp scent of urine blossomed in the air as a terrified Marko wet himself, a stain spreading across the front of his trousers and a yellow stream running down his leg onto the floor.
Muller looked at the stinking puddle with disgust. “She doesn’t like that, either.” He smirked, the expression pulling at his scarred face. They were toying with Marko, who had probably realized by now that he had walked into a trap and was not going to get out alive.
“Choice number two would be for Klaus to take you on a nice scenic trip to the Blue Mountains. Would you like that?” Rhimes asked, still holding the gun to Marko’s temple.
“Since Mrs. Neiler isn’t going to be happy with us getting blood on the carpet, I think option number two is best, don’t you?” Rhimes looked over at Klaus. “Klaus, please escort Mr. Berckett out.”
Klaus unfolded himself from the chair. He was a mountain of a man who towered over Marko. He grabbed Marko roughly by the arm and yanked him to his feet. Marko whimpered, hanging limp in Klaus’s beefy grasp.
“Oh, before I forget. Thank you so much for the file,” Rhimes said pleasantly as Klaus dragged Marko out of the door. ”That was one very stupid man,” he muttered.
Muller stared down at the photograph in his hand. Eva’s smiling face drew his attention. So beautiful and yet that beauty is a lie, he mused. One would never guess that beneath that lovely exterior is a loathsome abomination. The photo also showed a blond-haired man laughing and holding Eva closely.
“She doesn’t look like a lesbian to me,” Rhimes remarked, glancing over Muller’s shoulder at the photograph.
“This is a fake,” Muller said, confident that he was correct.
“Why are you so quick to believe she is a lesbian? Who told you?”
“Reinhardt told me.”
“Both times?” Rhimes asked.
Muller nodded.
Rhimes continued, “Could it be he simply was lying?”
“No. They were to be married and there was no reason for him to lie. He would know if she were lying. They had sex.”
“Was she conscious at the time?” Rhimes asked with only a hint of irony.
Muller glared at him, his confidence
not faltering in the least. “This is a fake,” he repeated. “I know my own daughter, Erik.”
“Not well enough if she is a lesbian, my friend,” Rhimes replied, softening his jibe with a little smile. ”What does the rest of the file say?” He picked up the folder. He looked through the statements and shook his head. “We need to get out of here.”
Muller sat silent with the picture in his hands and his head down, lost in his own thoughts about his treacherous daughter and the disgrace she represented.
Rhimes raised his voice. “Hans, did you hear me?”
“Ja, I heard you,” Muller snapped.
“Well?”
“I want her dead,” Muller replied, scrunching up the photograph in his fist.
“Listen to me. They won’t catch us if they can’t find us. I’ll get Klaus to—”
“No! I want to do it this time. I sent Reinhardt to do a man’s job the last time and the fool got himself killed. I need to do it myself,” Muller insisted. One of his arms had been badly burned and he had limited use of that limb, but he was determined that his deviant stepdaughter must die.
Rhimes sighed in resignation. “I suppose you won’t leave until you have your own way,” he said. “All right. So be it.”
“Good,” an irritated Muller replied. His gaze returned to the crumpled photograph. “I am going to kill her.”
Rhimes exhaled loudly. “This is a trap,” he said, in an apparent attempt to convince Muller to drop his plan. “It’s a trap. Can’t you see that?”
“I see this.” Muller pointed at the photograph, a black tide of hatred rising until he could have choked on it. He controlled himself with an effort. Rhimes was his friend and had his best interests at heart, even if he could not comprehend how Eva’s continued existence was a blot upon everything good and decent, everything the glorious Third Reich had stood for.
“They want you to try and kill her,” Rhimes pleaded. “It’s a trap. Berckett was set up and we are being set up. I can smell it.”
“You need to calm down, Erik,” Muller replied. He retrieved the photograph and smoothed out the creases, then took out his lighter and set it on fire. He watched as Eva was consumed by fire, holding the photo by the corners until the heat became too much for him and he dropped it into the empty trashcan.
“I can’t support you—”
Muller gave Rhimes a lopsided smile. “I know it’s a trap.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “They are rank amateurs if they think they can fool me. I will kill her, Erik. I will!”
Rhimes sighed. “If you kill her, then will you listen to me?”
Muller’s smile turned menacing. “When she is dead, I will go wherever you want.”
“Fine.” Rhimes shrugged. “Such a waste of a beautiful girl,” he added beneath his breath.
Muller merely returned his gaze to the ashes of the photograph. I should have killed her when I had the chance. I was too softhearted, he thought. I let her get away with her deviant behavior too long, and then I trusted someone else to take care of her. Now I’m going to do the job properly. She won’t get away again!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Eva spent the morning eating breakfast in bed while Zoe read the newspaper to her. Afterwards, they spent a long time exploring Zoe’s new relaxation techniques again just to make sure they were correct. Zoe chuckled and gave herself a mental pat on the back for attempting to relax Eva to the point where they hadn’t talked about Muller for most of the day.
It was mid-afternoon when they heard a knock on the door. Zoe put on her robe and answered the summons. She opened the door to let Elena in—she was dressed up and ready for the dance and her date with Friedrich Jacobs.
“Why are you dressed already?” Zoe asked, moving aside to let her pass.
“I was nervous,” Elena said, coming into the lounge. She frowned at the sight of Zoe and Eva in bathrobes despite the late hour, and shook her head at them in disapproval.
“What’s the matter, El?” Zoe asked, smirking. She thought she already knew the answer to the question.
“Nothing,” Elena replied, moving to the sofa. “I’m just so nervous,” she repeated. “I’ve tried on six dresses since this morning and nothing seems right. I’m down to two possibilities, but I can’t make up my mind.”
Eva waved at Elena and headed back to the bedroom.
“Zo, are you paying attention?”
Zoe looked back at her friend and smiled. “You wore six dresses since this morning and nothing seems right,” she said.
“How do you do that when you weren’t even paying attention and were watching Eva instead?”
“It’s a gift,” Zoe replied with a slight smile. “I’m sorry, El, a lot has been going on in the last couple of days and…” Zoe stopped talking when Eva walked back out of the bedroom.
She whistled at the sight of Eva’s long legs exposed by the tan shorts she had change into. The outfit was completed by a white shirt. “Nice view. Where are you off to?” she asked, keeping her attention fixed on Eva.
“Going to Earl’s place to pick up some stuff I forgot from work,” Eva explained. She walked over and gave Zoe a kiss before she left.
Elena inhaled, and then let out the breath in a sigh. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You just did.” Zoe grinned at her own joke.
“How did you know you were in love with Eva?” Elena asked.
“How did I know I was in love with Eva? Wish I could say I knew the minute I saw her, but that’s not true. I hated Eva, and it was far from love at first sight. I don’t think that exists. I think it was a gradual thing. It’s not like in the magazines or the movies where people fall in love when they see each other across the room.”
“So it was a very gradual thing?”
“Very gradual. I believe it’s something that happens the longer you are with someone that you are in heavy like with.”
“What about Eva? Did she take a long time?”
Zoe pursed her lips and wondered how much of Eva’s past she was willing to reveal to Elena. “Eva didn’t allow herself to fall in love with me for quite some time.”
“Didn’t allow herself?”
“Things happened to her… It is equivalent of you being in Bergen Belsen,” Zoe quietly said. Elena was looking quite alarmed. “There were things that were done to her that prevented Eva from falling in love with me.”
“Wow. I had no idea. I didn’t think you could stop someone from falling in love.”
“Oh yes, my friend, there are, and the Nazi bastards knew how to do it. Evy managed to work through that problem and she did fall in love with me.”
“Is she alright now?”
Zoe gazed at Elena for a long moment. “Are you alright now from that hell hole?”
“No, I don’t think I’ll ever be alright.”
“I didn’t think so. It’s going to take many years for you to recover, and you won’t forget the horrible things that were done to you. That’s what it’s like with Evy.”
“But she still managed to fall in love with you.”
“Yes.” Zoe nodded with a beaming smile. “Don’t you find that just amazing?”
“To be honest with you, I think that’s a miracle. So seriously, when did you fall in love with Eva?”
Zoe took a deep breath. “I fell in love with Eva after Larissa was liberated by the Americans and she was recovering from being shot,” she said. “I was watching her sleep one morning and I found myself not wanting to lose her.”
“Not before?”
“No, that wasn’t love.” Zoe shook her head. “That was what my brother called ‘heavy like.’ There’s something that happens to you when you look at someone and know that whatever happens, you want them there with you.”
“That’s love?”
Zoe smiled. “That’s love,” she said.
“Is lesbian love the same as...you know?”
“I don’t know, El, I’ve never been in l
ove with a man,” Zoe admitted. “I’m guessing it is.”
“You mean you never had a crush on a boy?”
Zoe shook her head. “No, never.”
“So how do you know that you’re a lesbian if you have never fallen in love with a man?”
Zoe thought about it for a moment. She had wondered about it herself, but no one had directly asked her that question before. “I guess I know because I never had any romantic feelings for any man.”
“So when Eva showed up, you just knew?”
Zoe shook her head. “No, when we first met, I wanted to kill her. I was in the Resistance and she was the enemy. I don’t know how it happened, but it was a gradual thing. We wanted to kill each other, then it thawed out, and we became friends for almost a year before we finally told each other how we felt.”
“So this ‘heavy like,’ is it nice?”
Zoe nodded vigorously. “Oh, yes. You will know when you’re in the heavy like stage.”
Elena played with the fringe of her dress as she contemplated Zoe’s words. “Do you think I will find someone like that?”
“Are you telling me you’re a lesbian?” Zoe grinned. She got a shy smile from Elena. “You will find someone.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’m all knowing,” Zoe joked, earning a snort. “Haven’t you ever been in love?”
Elena shook her head. “If I had been, I wouldn’t be asking you now, would I?”
“I guess not.”
“Exactly,” Elena said. “So how do you know?”
“You just know.” Zoe fingered the ring she wore and glanced at Elena. “I can’t put it into words. I knew I never wanted to wake up and not find her there, you know what I mean?”
“Sort of.”
“Eva is the most important person in my life, and when you find that person...well, I think that’s what love is.” Zoe shrugged.
“If he is as loving to me as Eva is to you, then I really hope I find that special someone soon,” Elena said. “Eva just loves you so much, and I want that for myself.”
Zoe smiled. “You can’t have her, she’s taken.”
“You’re a goof. You know what I mean.” Elena tapped Zoe lightly on the shoulder. “I want what you have.”
Where Shadows Linger (Intertwined Souls Series Book 2) Page 22
