Heidelberg Effect

by Kiernan-Lewis, Susan

  She pushed her uneaten plate of eggs away and sat down on the couch with her beer. Her cellphone was on the coffee table but she tried to remember the last time he had called. Had she pulled away first or did he?

  He had been back in Dothan three weeks by now. If she looked at the situation realistically for just a minute, she couldn’t imagine a hot guy like Rowan sleeping alone every night. Even if he had intended to, there’d always be somebody winking or flirting with him. You don’t get to be that cute without a lot of women paying attention to you. No way he was still alone. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was sure he was the one who had stopped calling her. What a fool she was to think he was back home waiting for her. He’d obviously hooked up with someone in Dothan—someone real and in his own continent—and like every other guy she ever met, he didn’t want to break the news to her.

  She thought back on her college boyfriend. She had been convinced that he was the One. And for awhile it had been pretty perfect. But when he dumped her—taking her totally by surprise—he said it wasn’t because he didn’t love her any more. How’s that for an original dump line? she thought, ruefully. He said it was because she didn’t need him and he needed a girl who did. Bizarre. She thought so then. She thought so now.

  As for Rowan, it probably was never real anyway. How could it be? How could you know a person in just one weekend? She glanced over at the lamp table where she kept a framed photo of the two of them. A waiter had taken it the Saturday before she left. Sure, he was good looking. The crooked smile, the twinkle in the eyes, she could see how she—or some other love-starved woman—would be charmed by that.

  Doesn’t mean it’s real.

  Feeling more alone than she had since she first moved to Heidelberg, Ella ate her cold dinner in front of the television set and focused on trying to decipher the German dialogue to keep herself from thinking.

  Even though he’d officially been back on the job three weeks, the guys were just now getting around to the official welcome at their local Dothan watering hole. It was great to be back. Not that he needed an enforced administrative leave of absence to tell him he didn’t like to be idle. But the time away from work had been particularly hard on him. He joked with the guys at the bar tonight that the next time he was shot, he’d remember that the bullet was the least painful part of the whole process. That got a few wry laughs. Fact is, he was the only one in his office to ever take a bullet. That put him in sort of a special class as far as the other Deputy Marshals were concerned.

  “How ya doing, sport?” Gary Shipley smacked another frosted beer bottle down on the bar in front of Rowan to join the dozen or so other full bottles that people had been buying him all evening. “Pacing yourself, I hope?”

  Rowan grinned at him and took a long pull on the beer. He felt talked out and was happy to just sit and drink tonight. Fact is, the more he drank, the less he felt like talking.

  Gary had been on assignment the last month and this was the first time Rowan had seen him since before he was shot. Gary looked different. He was tan and lean, like he’d been working out instead of just bragging about it. His hair was cropped close but not shaved like it often was. And there was something else.

  Gary settled himself down on the barstool next to Rowan.

  “Seriously, man,” he said. “You really ready to come back? You look kinda…I don’t know, unhappy.”

  Now that was different. Gary was the least perceptive person Rowan knew.

  “I’m great,” Rowan said.

  “Well, no sir, anyone can see that you are not great. You look all hangdog and…holy shit. You’re in love. Son of a bitch!”

  Rowan stared at him.

  “Who the fuck is it?” Gary said. “Do I know her? Did I do her?” He laughed. “No, seriously, Ro, who is she? You meet her in Atlanta?”

  “Stop talking.”

  “Soon as you start talking.”

  “You don’t know her.”

  “So it is a woman. I knew it! She in Dothan?”

  “No.”

  “So, Atlanta. Well? What’s the problem?”

  “There is no problem.”

  “Okay, Ro, I’ve never seen you like this, like ever. You look like some kind of fucking poster child for lovesick puppies or something. Talk to Uncle Gary.”

  “Go fuck yourself.”

  “Well, it’s a start. Hey, you hear I’m engaged?”

  Rowan’s hand was poised in midair as he lifted the bottle to his lips. He brought it down without drinking. So that’s the difference he was seeing. Gary was in love. Rowan smiled and tapped his bottle to the heel of Gary’s bottle.

  “Cheers, man,” he said. “That’s great. Who’s the lucky girl?”

  “It’s me that’s lucky, man,” Gary said, his eyes glittering as he thought about his girl. “She’s an angel. I can’t believe she said yes.”

  Wow, Rowan thought. The transformative power of love. It truly was a sight to behold.

  “Well, that’s just fucking awesome, Gary,” he said. “Just awesome.”

  The bar maid approached both men from behind and put her hand on Rowan’s shoulder. “You guys okay?” she said. She was petite like Ella, with a killer figure and very little in the way of the costume covering it. Rowan couldn’t help but notice that she was falling out of her “merry widow” bra and directing both barrels right at him.

  Rowan turned to her and smiled, his eyes boldly tracing her figure. “You know?” he said. “Now that you mention it, I’m thinking that maybe we could be a little better.”

  The next day, after a grueling morning of work that failed to occupy her thoughts, Ella ate lunch at her desk. As she spread out the waxed paper of her tuna sandwich and her apple, she got a thumbs up from Heidi leaving for lunch with several office mates. Hugo was with them. He winked at her and Ella found herself wondering exactly what it was that he did for their company. He wasn’t an investigator like she was and he was only sometimes in the office. If he was still speaking to her after learning about her notorious lineage, she would have to ask him about it. It surprised her that she didn’t know.

  Before lunch hour was over, her cellphone buzzed. As she dug it out of her purse she found herself hoping it was Rowan although he hadn’t called in weeks and never called in the day. It was her father.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “Hi, sweetie, can you talk?”

  Her guard went up instantly. For her father not to bother with weather forecasts or questions about her life in Heidelberg meant he was calling with a purpose.

  “What’s up?”

  “Just wondering how my Number One daughter is doing.”

  Ella frowned and looked at the digital clock on her computer. Had he been drinking?

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  “So, did your investigations prove fruitful?”

  Okay now she really did think her dad was totally losing it. He must be driving Susie crazy

  “My investigations?”

  “About your mother’s family.”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, she knew that the need for an important conversation with him had been in the back of her mind ever since she first learned about Vogel. There was no question about him not knowing. The CIA would have cleared her mother early on so that little secret would have been long out. Unfortunately, now was not a good time to talk about it.

  “Not fruitful, really,” she said. “But if you could give me any leads, that would be great.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  She waited but her father didn’t speak.

  Now wasn’t a good time anyway, she reminded herself. “How’s Susie?” she asked.

  “Good, good,” he said. “She’s taking up pottery. She really loves it.”

  “That’s nice,” she said. “Good for her. Well, Dad? I’m right in the middle of my work day…”

  “Of course, sweetheart,” he said. “Still carry your Taser?”

  For the love of God…
<
br />   “You know I do,” she said, watching her supervisor walk past her frowning. “Gotta go, Dad,” she said.

  That night she didn’t bother going home to change first. She and Heidi went straight out to dinner and the clubs. They were at a table in a noisy club with music and dancing. They had left their dinner wines far behind and were forgetting the strains of the day to the tune of Absolut martinis straight up. They both smoked and Ella thought that Heidi was just about the best accessory a single girl could have. She was so effortlessly elegant—kind of like a German Grace Kelly—that she brought up Ella’s game, too. Or at least that’s the way Ella saw it. She examined the pink lipstick stain on the filter of her Marlboro Light. What goes around comes around, she thought. Smoking is cool again.

  “I was afraid Frau Imlereich was going to fire me today,” Heidi said, as she sipped her drink. “I am always late back from lunch. I couldn’t bear it if we were not together at work, Ella.”

  Ella grinned. With all the friends that Heidi had—including in the office—it pleased Ella that she would be missed by her friend.

  “I know, me, too,” Ella said. “But honestly, Heidi, how do you stand being on the front desk? It must be so boring! I mean, even with my job there’s never a concrete result that you can point to and say, ‘there, I did that. There is the result of my eight hours at this desk.’ You know?”

  Heidi laughed. “You are so funny, Ella!” she said.

  “I know, right? Thinking I could find fulfillment in my employment? But you don’t mind it? The work?”

  Heidi shrugged. “One has to work.” Heidi didn’t normally drink as much as they were drinking tonight. Ella noticed that she was definitely loosening up.

  “We should go shopping together,” Heidi said and waved to get the waiter’s attention to refresh their drinks. “And spend our money before our husbands tell us we cannot.” Heidi made a face and Ella laughed.

  “The husbands we haven’t met yet,” Ella said.

  “Our work tonight is to find out why we haven’t met them yet,” Heidi said, “and why Hugo still has not made his move for you!”

  “Is he here tonight?” Ella asked, twisting in her seat to scan the other diners at the club.

  “Everyone in Heidelberg is here tonight!” Heidi said a little too loudly.

  A rush of sisterly concern flooded Ella and she reached over and took her friend’s hand. It was hard to believe that the happy and laughing Heidi had any problems. It was too easy to accept the façade as the truth and to ignore the sadness that might lay just below the surface.

  “I have an idea,” Ella said. “Let’s take the horse and carriage home through Altstadt to my place. You can spend the night since tomorrow’s Saturday. I’ll make you pancakes in the morning.”

  Heidi laughed, the sound a tinkle of genuine pleasure to Ella’s ears.

  “Nein, Ella,” she said, wagging a finger at her drunkenly. “I have a cheer-you-up present for you tonight. I have been waiting all day to spring it at you.”

  “Should I be worried?” Ella watched her friend with a combination of amusement, curiosity and mild trepidation. She really did look like she was going over the top tonight.

  “Only if hot sex and strong arms to hold you is a worry for you.”

  “Okay, now I’m really confused.”

  “Guess who?” A pair of warm hands covered her eyes from behind and Ella jumped and found herself resisting the powerful urge to judo chop her assailant to gain release. Just as well, she thought, when he dropped his hands and spun her around to face him. Her judo chopping skills were largely textbook, having had no real opportunity to ever practice them.

  “Hey, Hugo,” she said. “What a surprise.” She looked over her shoulder at Heidi who was snuggling up to a man Ella had never seen before who was obviously with Hugo. “My surprise tonight, I deduce.”

  “Happy birthday, Ella!” Heidi said too loudly.

  “Mein Gott!” Hugo said, running a hand down Ella’s arm in a proprietary way. She could smell the alcohol wafting off of him. Obviously the party had started much earlier than dinner. “It is your birthday?”

  Ella shook her head. “No,” she said. “Heidi’s being witty, is all.”

  “Well, happy birthday, liebling,” Hugo said, ignoring her words. “We’ll have to celebrate tonight!”

  “Yes! Yes!” Heidi said, clinging to Hugo’s friend. “Let’s celebrate.”

  Hugo picked up the check from the table and, over Ella’s protestations, threw down enough Euros to cover their meal.

  “I am buying you your birthday meal,” he said, happily. “Now, where to?”

  Heidi jumped up and grabbed her coat.

  “Erik and I are going back to my place,” she said, looking at Ella. “Pancakes another time, Ella?”

  Whoa. Things were happening fast.

  “How long have you known Erik?” Ella blurted the words before she knew they were forming in her head.

  Both Heidi and Hugo laughed. Erik looked like he didn’t understand English. A tall, lanky young man with sallow skin, he waited patiently for Heidi to extricate herself from the group. He stood apart, as if ready to drag her out of the restaurant if things took too long.

  “I love Americans,” Heidi said, swooping in and giving Ella a kiss on both cheeks. “Do not worry about me, my friend,” she said. “I have known Erik long enough to know him.” She giggled at her own nonsense and then turned to stumble into Erik’s waiting arms. She waved as he escorted her out. “See her safe home, Hugo!” she called before disappearing into the crowd.

  Ella looked at Hugo. “That’s not necessary,” she said quickly.

  “Few things in life are,” he said smiling enigmatically.

  The walk was slow and unhurried. When they arrived at her apartment, Ella had already decided she would allow him up for one drink as a thank-you for the escort home. She had to admit he was supremely gorgeous in that very blond Hitlerjugend sort of way. Like the messenger boy in The Sound of Music who’s so cute and fresh before he goes all Nazi on poor Elsa or whatever the girl’s name was. The fact was, it had been a horrible day and Ella wasn’t ready to be alone. She was absolutely sure she could manage things so they didn’t get out of hand. Just watching Hugo walk her to her apartment convinced her he was probably too smashed to even get it up.

  Once in the apartment, she poured them both wine from a bottle she had opened the night before. He offered her a cigarette and she decided to join him on the balcony where the two of them sat smoking and drinking and talking until one glass of wine turned into three and she was looking through her cabinets to find the Wild Turkey she thought she still had. She took her shoes off and loosened her hair so it fell down around her shoulders. When they ran out of matches, they lit their cigarettes off each other’s and giggled and talked about nothing until the streets outside her apartment were as quiet as death.

  She noticed he hadn’t mentioned the Vogel connection. Probably assumed she would just as soon forget it. He was right.

  “It’s getting chilly,” he said. “Shall we go in?”

  “I hate to,” Ella said, feeling woozy and high but better than she’d felt in days. “But you’re right.” She gathered up the bourbon bottle and the ashtray while he picked up the two drinking glasses.

  As they settled on her couch in the living room, he made his move, totally surprising her. He slid next to her and grabbed her hips with his hands and pulled her to him where he planted a very wet and somewhat sloppy kiss on her laughing mouth.

  “Oh, stop, you’re making me dizzy,” Ella said, giggling. When she reached up to wipe some of the slobber off her mouth, the gesture so tickled her that she started laughing like she couldn’t stop.

  “It is very funny.” Hugo said as he watched her try to get control of her laughter. Just the way he said it set her off again.

  “I’m sorry, Hugo,” she said, still laughing. “I’m not laughing at you, I’m just—” but she couldn’t get the rest
of the sentence out because she was so definitely laughing at his patient expression.

  Hugo pulled back, frowning and watching her. When she finally stopped laughing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a small block of white cheese.

  “You see what I have here?” he said, holding the white block up for her to see.

  She wiped her eyes and squinted at it. “Looks like…tofu?” she grinned like she was going to start laughing again but he spoke quickly.

  “C-4,” he said.

  She wasn’t laughing now. She looked at the tofu-like block.

  “C-4 as in explosive?” she said.

  He nodded. “I am using it in my job,” he said.

  Ella shook her head and tried to remember what his job was.

  “My job,” he said, as if hurt that she didn’t instantly know, as if she must have been thinking of him all these weeks as he was thinking of her.

  “Your job as a…”

  “I am a building demolition contractor. My firm dismantles buildings.” He waved the block in her face.

  “I’m impressed,” Ella said, feeling more sober by the moment. “You bring your work home with you?”

  Hugo shrugged. “It’s controlled,” he said. “To be certified to handle C-4 speaks to my ability as a contractor.”

  “What does it say about you that you would bring it on a date?” Ella asked.

  He grinned, tossed it in the air and caught it.

  “That I want to impress my date, of course,” he said. “Did it work? I have the blasting caps, too. Want to see?”

  “Sure.” Ella was starting to talk to him as she would a crazy person. Don’t upset him. Don’t let on he’s upsetting you.

  He pulled out three long metal tubes with wires attached to the ends.

  “I carry them around like most men carry car keys!” He placed them on the coffee table with the C-4 and then turned to Ella. His grin was so genuine and playful that Ella’s suspicions fell away. He was just a big doofus trying to impress a girl, she thought. In a really bizarre fashion. The interesting thing? It sort of worked. Ella found herself fascinated with the items on the coffee table.