‘So you have decided to abandon her. You should try studying your own character, your own personality. Tell me where I can see her to sort this out.’
Laurent did not take offence. ‘If you wish, you can see her right here in this office, in a couple of hours. She is on her way here now, under police escort.’
‘They are bringing her to you? Why?’
‘Well, you see, I am the only person who can identify her. My receptionist was able to identify, very vaguely, a tall woman in a dark coat and hat calling at this office. But she changed her clothes and her appearance after we had met, and left by my private exit. I am the only person who knows that the woman who came in, and the woman who left, are the same, just as I am the only person, certainly in Switzerland, who knows that she is the Countess von Widerstand.’
‘You mean you went to the police? You are even more of a bastard than I thought.’
Still Laurent would not take offence. ‘I did not go to the police, Mr Bartley. They came to me, to see if I had any information upon this mysterious woman.’
‘And you identified her. As the Countess von Widerstand.’
‘It is my duty to do so.’
‘You—’
Laurent held up his finger, ‘I think you are about to repeat yourself. I did my duty, as a citizen. It is time to face facts, Mr Bartley. Anna is a self-confessed mass murderess. If she were to be arrested by the Russians she would be charged as a war criminal. I can understand that you are upset, as she is one of your employees. But you know, she is actually better off here than anywhere else. If you were to have a private word with the prosecutor, which I can arrange, and explain the circumstances, I am sure he would not ask for the death penalty, in which case, well, fifteen years, with the possibility of parole after ten, I mean, she would only be thirty-five years old. Her whole life would still be in front of her.’
‘You certainly seem to have it all thought out,’ Clive conceded. ‘Although perhaps you have not properly considered the effect spending a minimum of ten years behind bars would have on that personality you have analysed so competently.’
‘Debts must be paid, Mr Bartley.’
‘Thus speaks the conscientious banker with a reputation to protect. However, we seem to have reached a stage where you have removed not only the gloves, but every rule of civilized conduct. So you will allow me to enter the fray.’
Laurent frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that, for example, is it not a fact that since July 1943, since, indeed, the night of these “murders” that are so concerning your police, you have been laundering money for Herr Himmler, just about the most vicious of all the Nazi leaders, a man who will certainly be put on trial as a war criminal when he is captured?’
‘That is confidential information.’
‘Oh, really? Have you any idea how much the media adores access to confidential information? Have you any idea how strong are the waves of revulsion that are sweeping across the world as the extent of the Nazi horrors are uncovered? At the revelation of Auschwitz, a death camp created by Himmler? That revulsion is going to include anyone who has done business for them, or with them. Do you seriously think that you will attract any future clients, or indeed retain any of your present ones, should that news be released? You could well find yourself indicted for war crimes yourself.’
‘You—’
‘And all to no purpose. I am prepared to testify, and if necessary to prove, that I was in that bedroom when Anna shot those men, that they were Gestapo agents sent to arrest her, and that she killed them in self-defence after they had drawn their weapons. No doubt she will be deported, but she will certainly be acquitted. While you business, your reputation, and I would say your life, would be in ruins.’
Laurent stared at him as a rabbit might stare at a snake. ‘There is nothing I can do,’ he muttered. ‘The police have her.’
‘But they can prove nothing against her, without your identification. So all you have to do, is fail to recognize her as the woman with whom you have been dealing.’
‘But they know who she is,’ Laurent almost wailed.
‘No they do not. They have arrested someone named Anna Fehrbach, who may bear a faint resemblance to the infamous Countess von Widerstand. All you have to do is say that she is not the Countess von Widerstand, and that you have never seen her before in your life. Be a man for once in your life. Then neither Anna nor I will ever trouble you again.’
*
Anna and Clive sat together in the back of the Lysander, her parents in front of them. ‘What are you going to do with me?’ she asked. ‘With us?’
‘Your parents will be settled in some quiet place, and we will find your father a job in journalism. As for you, young lady, the first thing we have to do is give you a new identity. The papers are being prepared, but as of now, you are Anna Fitzjohn.’
‘Isn’t that a little archaic? And theatrical.’
‘Not at all. Your father’s name is Johann, right? So, son of, or in this case, daughter of, John. Then we intend to place you in absolute security, where only Billy and I will have access to you.’
‘For how long?’
‘Until things settle down, and we can make arrangements. But the arrangement will be made. Believe me.’
‘Oh, I believe you. And I think I could do with a good long rest, a freedom from tension. But . . . you will come to see me?’
‘I will come to see you at least once in every week, until we have sorted out a permanent home for you.’
‘Will that home include you?’
He squeezed her hand. ‘I have that in mind.’
Epilogue
‘Was it that simple?’ I asked.
Anna made a moue. ‘Nothing is ever that simple. Neither Clive nor I had any idea of what was going to happen, that far from remaining bosom buddies the Americans, after Roosevelt had died and Truman had taken over, discovered that the Russians under Stalin were only half a degree better that the Nazis.’
‘That must have been good for you.’
‘There were plusses and there were minuses. They still had me very much in mind, if for a different reason. You know, when I walked away from Stefan and Birgit, I genuinely wanted to turn my back on the past. But one can never do that.’
‘Did you ever have cause to regret sparing their lives?’
‘I’m afraid I did.’
I knew she would tell me of it, in her own good time. ‘What about Joe Andrews and the OSS?’
‘The OSS very rapidly became the CIA. Their reputation for skulduggery has become legendary. As was mine.’
‘Don’t tell me you worked for them?’
‘They had something they wanted done, and they felt that I was perhaps the only person who could do it. So . . . there is a very important rule for success in life. Indeed, for survival. If you can’t beat them, you simply have to join them.’
I considered. ‘And Laurent? Did Clive ever tell you the truth about him? How he wanted to betray you to the police?’
Once again she looked into my eyes, and once again I felt that chill. ‘Yes, he did.’
‘But—’
‘As he himself said, debts have to be paid.’
I drank some wine. ‘But anyway, Hitler and his gang all got their comeuppance. He and Eva, Goebbels and his wife and children, Goering, at least, all committed suicide. Were you sorry not to have been there to watch them go? To see Goebbels get his comeuppance after the way he betrayed you?’
‘If I had been there, Christopher, I would not be here now. Besides . . . they were the most horrendous people who have ever walked this earth. But I knew them all . . . so well.’
‘And Himmler?’
She shrugged. ‘I would have liked to finish him myself, but things do not always work out the way we would like. I do not know what transpired between him and Bernadotte, but I know that he returned to Berlin. Perhaps he wanted to complete the deal by releasing me and my parents. I have often wonde
red what his reaction was to finding out that I had already left.’
‘But Goebbels did not denounce him to the Führer.’
‘Apparently not. I don’t know the truth of that, either. He eventually betrayed himself. He left Berlin just before the Russians completed their encirclement, ostensibly to rally the troops in the north-west, and once he was out, he stupidly radioed Hitler to inform him that as he, Hitler, was now trapped in the city, Himmler intended to take over as Führer. Hitler apparently went berserk and ordered his execution. But it was all too late. He was captured by the British. They didn’t know who he was. He was wearing civilian clothes and had completely changed his appearance. They actually held him for three days, apparently without even searching him. Then when the penny finally dropped, and they charged him, he bit his capsule and died. I only learned all of that later. But by then –’ she brooded – ‘there was so much unfinished business. Katherine . . .’
‘Did you ever find her?’
She made one of her moues. ‘She found me.’
I waited while she drank some wine. Then I asked the question I had really been after. ‘Did you ever go back for that ten tons of gold you buried in the river?’
Anna Fehrbach smiled.
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Angel of Doom (Anna Fehrback Book 5) Page 28
