Legacy of Hate Read online

  Consider. Frau von Helsingen returns to Paulliac for the first time since her wedding to Colonel von Helsingen. She is not welcomed. We know this, both from her own evidence, and from what she told Colonel Hoeppner at the time. However, she elects to stay on for a few days, and actually invites Hoeppner to dinner at the de Gruchy chateau. They are, of course, old friends; Hoeppner was her husband’s best man. So what happens? Hoeppner innocently goes to dinner and finds himself the prisoner of none other than Liane de Gruchy, who no one had any idea was even in the vicinity. She uses Hoeppner and his car to get herself and her parents across the border into Vichy … ’

  ‘Where you followed her, illegally, and killed her and most of her associates. Yes, yes. It is all here in this file, and 1 congratulate you. But am I not right in recalling that when they left the chateau, they also left poor Frau von Helsingen tied to her bed? That is hardly evidence of collaboration.’

  ‘Well, sir, it is very easy to tie someone to a bed. The point I am making is that Liane de Gruchy must have already been in the chateau when the dinner invitation was issued to Hoeppner.’

  ‘You are suggesting that Frau von Helsingen was acting under duress, from her sister?’

  ‘I am suggesting that she was a willing participant in the plot to get her parents to safety, in defiance of the Reich.’

  Himmler stroked his chin. ‘You are aware that Colonel von Helsingen's father is one of the Fiihrer’s closest associates?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘And you wish me to tell him that she is a member of the Resistance?’

  ‘No, sir. I do not think that will be necessary. I believe sufficient pressure can be brought to bear upon her to cooperate fully with us, if you will give me permission to do so, without any publicity. She is not a very strong character.’

  Himmler surveyed him for several moments. ‘She is a handsome woman.’

  Weber refused to show any emotion. ‘Yes, sir, she is.’

  ‘And when she complains to her husband?’

  ‘I think she can be persuaded not to do that. The point is, sir, that this is an opportunity to prove her loyalty once and for all. It is not possible for Amalie de Gruchy to have so completely disappeared if she is, shall I say, on the loose. I believe she has found a place of concealment, which even our very complete searches have been unable to locate. Logic dictates that such a place will be within the area in which she was born and grew up. We know it is not in the chateau or the grounds. We have searched them from top to bottom a dozen times. But it has to be somewhere close. And if it is a childhood haunt of Amalie’s, it will also have been a childhood haunt of her sisters. Madeleine must know of it. If she is willing to assist us by telling us or showing us where this place is, then we can be sure of her loyalty. If she will not co-operate, or attempts to betray us … ’

  ‘You are asking her to deliver her own sister to us, for execution.’

  ‘I am asking her to deliver to justice a woman who has denounced her as a collaborator, who has committed at least one murder, and who is an active and dedicated enemy of the Reich. We are fighting a war, Herr General. In wars it is necessary to stand up and be counted, on one side or the other. Frau von Helsingen claims to have done that. Now is the moment she should be required to prove it.’

  Himmler considered him for several more moments. Then he nodded. ‘Very good, Colonel. You have permission to use Frau von Helsingen to assist you in the search for Amalie de Gruchy. But I strongly recommend that you prove all the points you have made.’

  ‘Friiulein Jonsson,’ said the clerk at the reception desk, ‘there is a gentleman to see you.’

  Joanna was carrying her skis on her shoulder, her boots in her right hand. Never had she felt more relaxed, a combination of local exhaustion and a complete lack of tension, which had slowly grown on her over the past month — since Oskar’s departure. But even his company, divorced from business, had been a pleasure in these delightful circumstances. Now it was coming to an end, but there were still two days left. And then … But she had determined not to think about ‘then’ until she was actually back in Berlin. She had not even allowed herself to wonder if Rachel had made good on her escape. But she must have. If she had been recaptured, Oskar, and thus she, would have known about it. But all that contentment could disappear with a single sentence. She turned to survey the hotel lounge. There was only one guest to be seen, a prosperous-looking man, seated and reading a newspaper.

  ‘That one?’ she asked.

  ‘No, no, Fraulein. Colonel Hoeppner is in the bar.’

  ‘Colonel Hoeppner? Oh, good lord! Will you look after this stuff for me, please, Hans?’

  ‘Of course, Fraulein.’ Hans knew who was paying for her stay, and who had spent a week with her over the New Year. As for this new situation, well, it might turn out to be interesting.

  ‘Thank you.’ Joanna strode into the bar, a place of soft lights and aromatic scents. ‘Franz! What are you doing in Munich?’

  ‘Visiting you.’ He embraced her, but as there were several other people in the room, contented himself with a kiss on the cheek.

  ‘No one is supposed to know I am here.’

  ‘My dear, everyone knows. Or at least, everyone at the Albert. When I telephoned to let you know I had leave and was told you were not in residence at the moment, I simply asked where you were and was told the Majestic in Munich. Schnaps? But of course, you prefer cognac.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Joanna accepted the glass and led the way to a table in the corner. ‘You know I am here as a guest of Oskars?’

  Franz sat beside her. ‘But he is not here at the moment. I checked.’

  ‘Nonetheless, we cannot be seen to be having an affair.’

  ‘But you can at least dine with me.’

  ‘I should think that will be all right.’

  ‘And if I were to drift along the passage at, say, midnight … ’

  She patted his hand. ‘You are incorrigible. Just let’s take it as far as dinner for the time being.’ She drained her glass. ‘Now I simply have to get upstairs and have a hot bath. I have been on the piste all day. Shall I meet you here at seven?’

  ‘That is three hours away.’

  ‘Am I not worth waiting for?’ She blew him a kiss. ‘Seven o’clock.’

  She went upstairs, turned on the bath water, and undressed. Franz really was becoming a problem, she thought. He seemed to have fallen in love with her, which was totally unexpected after their somewhat prickly relationship over the past year or so, when he had so obviously distrusted her. If he had now decided to trust her after all, that was very gratifying; he was an attractive man. But there was no way she could allow him to come between her and Oskar. Oskar was her reason for existing, at least until the war was over.

  But there remained the Secret. Franz had the knowledge to destroy her relationship with Oskar … To destroy her, in fact. Would he ever use it? He was, above all else, a gentleman. But spurned lovers often found it difficult to remain gentlemen. She tested the water, switched off the taps, and there was a gentle rap on the door.

  ‘Shit!’ she muttered, pulled on her dressing gown, and walked across the bedroom. ‘Who is it?’

  ‘1 have a pound for you, Friiulein,’ said the man’s voice.

  Joanna stared at the door, less in alarm than annoyance. That James should be chasing her here, when she was on holiday … Then it occurred to her that it must be something very big for him to do so. She unlocked the door, stepped back, and was again surprised. The man entering the room looked less like a British agent than anyone she had ever known — even Schmitt, the homosexual pimp, who had acted as a messenger boy for the SIS had had a somewhat sinister air. This man merely looked middle-aged and prosperous, carried a briefcase, and made her think of a travelling salesman. He even raised his hat.

  ‘Fraulein Jonsson?’

  It was the man sitting in the lobby! ‘You are from Pound?’

  ‘Indeed.’ Carefully he closed the door.
‘I have come at a bad time.’

  ‘Is there a good time when my bath water is getting cold? And you have come to me here? Don’t you realize how dangerous it is?’

  ‘How so?’ He laid his briefcase on the settee. ‘No one save you knows who I represent, and you are never going to betray me. When I finish my business here, I am simply going to walk away, and no one here will ever see me again.’

  ‘And of course, you found me by asking at the Albert. Boy, am I going to have a word with them.’

  ‘I have been trying to contact you since before Christmas, Fraulein Jonsson.’

  Joanna pointed. ‘Fesster!’

  ‘Exactly. But you have proved an extremely difficult woman to get hold of.’

  ‘That is because I do not expect to be got hold of, except in cases of extreme emergency. So tell me what it is, and beat it. Like I said, my water’s getting cold.’

  ‘Would you not like to pour yourself a drink?’

  ‘As bad as that, is it? Can I get you anything?’

  ‘I will have the same as you.’

  ‘Shows taste.’ She turned to the table, on which there was a selection of bottles and glasses, and heard a movement behind her. Instantly her instincts reacted, but Fesster had moved with amazing speed and Joanna soon found herself on the floor, her brain a dull mass of pain, but still capable of working. She had been coshed. As the pain was dull rather than sharp she reckoned it had been a small sandbag, but she was, for the moment, utterly at his mercy so she kept her eyes shut.

  She smelled his aftershave as he knelt beside her, and a moment later he touched her. Predictably, although there were several pulses available, he opted to open her dressing gown and hold her breast to make sure of her heartbeat.

  ‘What a beauty,’ he remarked ‘It is a tragedy.’

  The fingers released her, the scent moved away. Now she heard a faint rasping sound, and again recognized it immediately; he was screwing a silencer into the muzzle of an automatic pistol. She had only seconds to live. Her brain was not as clear as she would have liked, but the rest of her was unharmed.

  She moved with all the speed to which she had been trained. Even with her eyes shut she knew exactly where she was in relation to the settee, on which he had placed his bag. He would be standing immediately in front of it as he prepared the pistol. Now she swivelled on her backside, swinging with both legs together, opening her eyes as she did so. Her flailing ankles stuck him on the calf and knocked him over, to sprawl across the settee. He recovered quickly and even squeezed the trigger, but did not take the time to aim, and the bullet smacked into the ceiling. Then Joanna was astride him, kneeling across his thighs, chopping down with her right hand to strike his arm a paralysing blow, which caused him to drop the gun. Instantly she seized it and leapt away from him, turning to face him, the pistol levelled.

  Fesster sat up. ‘I was warned you were dangerous.’

  ‘And you did not heed the warning. How did you get hold of our password?’

  ‘I am employed by your organization.’

  ‘To do what, exactly?’

  ‘My business is executive action. I would have thought that was obvious.’

  Joanna lowered the gun. ‘You were sent by Pound to murder me? Was there a reason?’

  ‘I am not given reasons.’

  ‘You bastard.’ Joanna backed away from him, again pointing the gun at him, and with her free hand poured herself a glass of cognac. ‘Do you wish one?’

  ‘That would be very acceptable.’

  ‘Don’t move until I tell you to.’ Joanna poured another glass and placed it on the table beside the settee. Then she backed away again. ‘AH right.’

  Cautiously, Fesster took the glass. ‘What happens now?’

  Joanna appeared to consider this. ‘Well, you understand that I cannot just let you go. Because you’ll just try again, right?’

  ‘You mean to turn me over to the police?’

  ‘Well, you see, I can’t do that either, because they might just be able to persuade you to tell them who I am.’

  ‘Well, then, we are at an impasse, are we not?’

  ‘Not quite. Why don’t you finish your drink?’ Fesster looked at his glass as if surprised to find he was still holding it, then raised it to his lips. As he did so Joanna shot him in the chest, and once again before he hit the floor.

  ‘My dear girl,’ Oskar said, holding Joanna against him. ‘My dear, dear girl. You are trembling.’

  ‘Do you realize that I have never killed anyone before? But that man … ’ She shuddered, and it was not all play-acting.

  ‘Silly girl,’ Oskar said. ‘You shot several people in the battle in the cave, remember? Including one of my men, who lost his head. Not to mention Liane de Gruchy.’

  ‘That was different. It was a battle. But to have a man, in my own bedroom, telling me that he is going to kill me … ’ Oskar half-forced her into a chair as the blood-stained settee was covered in a dust cloth. It was the next morning, and Joanna was fully dressed. Oskar, on the other hand, had travelled overnight from Berlin after receiving her telephone call, and was both dishevelled and unshaven. ‘I wish you to tell me exactly what happened. That police inspector was incoherent. As for the hotel staff, they all seem to be hysterical. The only sensible person I have spoken to is Hoeppner. What is he doing here, anyway?’

  ‘I have no idea. He was here when I returned from the ski slopes yesterday. He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. He invited me to have dinner with him, and 1 accepted. And then this happened.’

  ‘I am still waiting to find out what did happen.’

  ‘I was drawing a bath when there was a knock on the door. I opened it and this man came in.’

  ‘You let a strange man into your bedroom?'

  ‘He said he had a message from you.’

  ‘He used my name?’ Weber stroked his chin. ‘The inspector said he had been drinking.’

  ‘Well, perhaps he had. But I gave him a drink.’

  ‘Why? Did he ask for one?’

  ‘I always give people drinks. It is my nature.’

  ‘Then he said he was going to kill you. Did he give a reason?’

  ‘I didn’t give him time. When he drew the gun I took it away from him. And when he came at me again, I shot him.’

  ‘You took the gun away, just like that? Where did you learn such skills?’

  ‘I think he thought I was just a frightened woman. He was careless. What are we going to do?’

  ‘The business will have to be investigated. It is important to find out where he came from, who sent him, and how he knew of our relationship. But … ’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Of course, he did not know of our relationship. He was sent after you. The British have discovered you are working for me.’

  ‘Oh, really, Oskar, how can they have done that? And if they had, would they not merely have waited for me to return to England, and then arrested me there?’

  ‘Those are questions the man would have answered, if he were alive. It is a pity you are so accurate’ He ruffled her hair. ‘I am not blaming you. It must have been a terrifying experience. But as of now you will be under twenty-four-hour protection.’

  ‘I’m sure that isn’t necessary.’

  ‘And I shall issue you with a gun. Now, get your things together. You are coming back to Berlin with me.’

  ‘To be placed in a glass bubble?’

  ‘We have a job to do. Something that will interest you. Now hurry.’

  Joanna went into the bathroom and peered at herself in the mirror. She looked absolutely normal, facially. But her hands still trembled. This had nothing to do with having shot Fesster; he had been a nasty little man, and, however it had actually happened, it had been self-defence. Had she not killed him he would undoubtedly have come after her again. Nor had it anything to do with the trauma of the night, when her privacy had been invaded by the hotel staff and the local police. That had been Weber’s decision, when she had first telephon
ed to tell him what had happened. Nor was it because of poor Franz’s helpless expression as he had hovered in the background, desperate to get involved, but unable to risk it, as a so-called casual acquaintance. And he, too, had clearly been wondering about the whos and the whys of the situation.

  Wondering! Someone in the SIS had issued a contract for her to be killed. She could not believe James would have done that. How could he possibly suspect her of being a traitor, especially after the way she had risked so much to rescue his Rachel? But suppose Rachel had not yet arrived home. Or suppose she was not going to get home at all. She might be quite certain that, had she been re-arrested, Oskar would have told her about it. But suppose she was just dead in a ditch somewhere? An attractive, single woman, walking across France, possibly hitching rides where she could … She would be a perfect subject for rape and murder. But Rachel, alive or dead, had nothing to do with her relations with the SIS. So it had to be because of her refusal to return to England instead of continuing to Germany back in December. The bastards had determined that she meant to abandon them for good. Therefore, if they had decided on her execution as a traitor, once they realized that Fesster had failed, they would send someone else. At the very best they would be waiting for her when the war was over.

  The situation simply had to be sorted out as quickly as possible. But how was she going to do that if she was going to have a bodyguard foisted upon her, and if, as seemed certain, Oskar was not going to allow her to return to England? She packed up her toiletries and returned to the bedroom.

  ‘So what is this big job?'

  Oskar grinned. ‘Something I have wanted to do for years. You will enjoy it.'

  Madeleine von Helsingen lovingly changed her baby’s nappy. She allowed no one else, not even Hilda, to touch the child. Especially not Hilda. Her so-called friends — they were friends of the Helsingen family, and felt obliged to call and admire the baby and exchange gossip, but she knew that none of them really liked her — kept showing critical amazement that she was not employing a nanny, at least to do the dirty work. But in the absence of Frederick, Helen was all she had, the only alleviation from her dreadful loneliness. Hilda was hovering. Hilda always hovered, but this morning she was breathless.