All My Love, Detrick (39 page)

But
, her father, her kind and loving father, remained a prisoner in a horrendous concentration camp. The Nazis could very well be torturing him right now. The nausea she’d been feeling for the last several weeks since she realized she was pregnant flooded through her. Swallowing hard, she tried without success to avoid vomiting, but in the end she knelt over the toilet with Detrick holding her hair.

After she emptied her stomach, he helped her back to the bed, where she sat down with him beside her.

“I’m terrified, Detrick. I want to beg you not to go, but I can’t. Oh, Detrick. Oh, dear God.” She wept and wept. The tears filled her face and dripped down onto the sheets. Watching her, his heart broke into as many pieces as the glass he’d shattered during their wedding ceremony.

“Leah, what can I do? I must save your father if I can. We could never be happy and enjoy our child if we let him die there.”

She nodded, her hands covering her face.

He gently pried her fingers away from her cheeks and lifted her chin so that their eyes met.

His eyes, as blue and deep as the ocean, looked into hers with serious intent. “I love you, Leah. I want you to tell me that you know that I love you.”

“I know, Detrick. I know.”

“I’ve left a letter on the desk. Beside the envelope, you will find a good sum of money. I took a few
reichsmarks
with me to bribe the guards at Bergen-Belsen; otherwise, that is everything I have. Wait several days. If I do not return, then open the letter and read it.

“Detrick…I love you.”

They kissed. He held her tightly, so tightly that she stopped breathing for a moment. When her breath resumed, she inhaled the sweet, fragrant peppermint. Tears filled her eyes, threatening to spill over her face. Then he released her. He smiled, and she felt the emptiness begin when she saw that familiar blond hair fall over his left eye as he walked out of the hotel room.

151

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

Detrick raced the car at top speed until he reached his destination. As he received approval from the guard, he entered the barbed-wire fence and drove directly to the main building. On either side of him, Detrick saw broken men wearing gray striped uniforms, their eyes vacant as if they were already dead. Since it was Sunday, the odds that the officials at Ravensbrook had already contacted Konrad were slim. Sometime tomorrow, the telephone call to Konrad would be made, and Detrick’s actions uncovered. But, if all went according to plan, he and Jacob would be well across the border by then.

Behind a large steel door stood the
guard he would have to convince to release Jacob into his custody. Once again, as he did for Leah, Detrick steeled himself and entered the office building.

“Heil Hitler.” A perky
blonde with wavy hair, like an American sex symbol, sat at the desk smiling a white-toothed smile, clearly attracted to the young officer. “How can I help you?”

Detrick assumed his most charming grin. “I have a letter here from my superior,
Oberfuhrer Klausen. He is giving a bicycle race in honor of the Fuehrer next week. I have been sent to retrieve a mechanic who is known to be a wizard with bicycles. Oberfuhrer Klausen wants to keep him on hand throughout the race in case any of the machinery breaks down.”

“That’s a fine idea. What’s the prisoner’s name?”

Detrick opened the paper and pretended to read the name “Jacob Abdenstern…from Berlin?”

“Any idea when he might have arrived here?”

“Quite recently I believe.”

She took the paper from Detrick’s hand. “I will have to get approval to release him. It may take several hours.”

“Must you? I am in a terrible hurry. Can you just send for him, and later, give the letter to your superior officer? I’m sure there won’t be a problem.”

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think I should.”

“What’s your name?”

“
Lydia and yours?”

“I’m Detrick. Lydia, perhaps if you would help me, I could drive this prisoner back to Berlin, and then, once I’ve delivered him, I would like to come back here and take you to dinner as thanks for your cooperation. You see, my promotion is involved.”

“Oh, I understand. But, I don’t know, Detrick. I don’t want to get into trouble.”

“You won’t…a girl as pretty as you? What kind of boss could stay mad at you for very long? I know I couldn’t.”

She smiled.

“Come on, please, help me get this promotion. I promise you a lovely evening in exchange,
Fraulein.” Detrick could not believe the words that came from his own mouth.

“Oh, very well.”
She lifted the telephone receiver. “Send the prisoner Jacob Abdenstern to the main office immediately.”

When Jacob walked into the room and saw Detrick, joy came over him, the likes of which he’d never known before.

“Get in the car, Jew.” He turned to the girl. “Goodbye, Lydia and thank you. I will be in contact with you in the next few days. And we’ll have that dinner.”

She nodded watching as Detrick’s hair fell over his eye.

Detrick grabbed Jacob’s arm and forced him into the back seat. Then jumping into the front, he turned the key in the ignition, forcing the auto to spring to life.

Jacob breathed a sigh of relief as Detrick waved to the guard who opened the gate, allowing them to pass through the door and out of Bergen-Belsen.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Have you found Leah?”

“Yes, she is in Switzerland awaiting our return.”

“Praise God.”

“Change into the civilian clothes that are under the seat. Then look for a small paper bag. Inside the sack, you’ll find a hunk of bread and some cheese. There is also a canteen filled with water. I’m sure you’re hungry.”

“Yes, very, but now, even more than I am hungry, I am happy.”
And, he was filled with gratitude to be alive, but a nagging guilt fluttered like a bumblebee in the back of his mind. Jacob could not forget the face of Benny, the young boy who lay starving beside him in Bergen-Belsen, or the memory of the Mueller family and how distraught Ebner had been when he’d last seen him, or even the bitter old Hungarian who’d accused him of thinking himself superior. And, the rabbi, what of the rabbi? What would become of them? Try as he might, he could not push the images of them from his mind.

Detrick, in his haste, had forgotten to include a hat, and when he saw Jacob’s hair had been shaved, it concerned him for a moment.
But, once Jacob had exchanged the uniform for a simple shirt and slacks, he looked no different from any other German father accompanying his son.

As they drove in silence for a while, Jacob seemed lost in thought, gazing out the window.

“You should not have come back for me. You and Leah were safe and together. You know I wanted that.”

“I had to. You have been my real father, ever since that day so long ago when you fixed my bicycle.”

“I remember. You were little and scared.”

“And you rescued me.”

Jacob smiled with the memory. “And now, you rescue me.”

For several
minutes, they both fell silent as they recalled that fateful day so many years ago.

“Jacob? I have something to tell you.”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to be a grandfather.”

Tears fell from Jacob's eyes, and he wiped them with the back of his hand. He was so overcome that he could not speak.

152

Berlin

A
fflicted with a two-day hangover, Konrad felt as if an elf played drums inside of his head. He’d slept most of the day on Saturday and finally awakened late Sunday afternoon. The gathering on Friday night had given him the opportunity to meet and mingle with more important party members than he’d originally anticipated, and therefore, he’d deemed it a success.

Konrad slowly sipped on a glass of water. Perhaps a good meal would diminish this powerful headache. Rather than eat alone, he telephoned a friend and invited him to a local restaurant. They
arranged to meet for an early dinner. Then, still feeling under the weather, Konrad regulated the water in the shower to a tepid lukewarm. As the rain-like mist sprinkled over his head, Konrad felt self-satisfied as he considered just how far he might advance due to this weekend's newly acquired connections. He quivered with the possibilities. The future would see him as a high-ranking officer, not only filthy rich, but admired and respected…a dream realized.

The tiny two letter word “if” is often the most important word in the human vocabulary.

If the water had not been running, if his mind had not been so preoccupied, if he had felt better, Konrad would surely have heard the phone ringing. But, as fate would have it, he missed the call from Ravensbrook, and by the time they tried to telephone again, he’d already left for dinner.

153

On the road to Switzerland

O
nly a few miles left to the Swiss border. A bead of sweat formed on Jacob’s brow. Soon they would cross into Switzerland, into safety. Detrick glanced over to see Jacob studying him.

“You have been my dearest friend.
My true son.”

Detrick reached over and squeezed Jacob’s hand. “We’ll make it through this. And someday, when the baby is older, we’ll tell the child all about what we did today.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. No matter what happens, Detrick, I’ve always loved you.”

“I know that, Papa.
And, I have loved you, too.

They pulled behind a short line of cars at the border patrol station. Jacob smiled reassuringly, but Detrick saw his hand trembling as they waited.

154

Berlin

T
he heavy black telephone rang out as Konrad turned the key in the door. He rushed to pick it up.

“
Oberfuhrer Konrad Klausen?”

“That’s correct.”

“This is Gruppenfuhrer Hauptman. I am sorry to bother you at home on a Sunday, but my superior insisted that I telephone to make sure all had gone well for you.”

I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“With the Jewess. Feel free to keep her as long as you need to. We just wanted to check in and get an estimated time when you plan to return the prisoner.”

Confused, Konrad listened but could not make sense of the call.

“Excuse me, please; it’s been a rather long weekend. I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Explain?”

“On Friday night, you sent a driver to retrieve a particular prisoner. The Jewess, one Leah Abdenstern, whom
you’d selected to play piano at your luncheon. Do you recall now?”

Leah Abdenstern…
Detrick… The puzzle pieces began to fit together. What had Detrick done? The headache Konrad had almost defeated had returned with a vengeance. Detrick had now put them both at risk again. If Konrad tried to protect Detrick this time, he might lose his position, or worse. But, before he was willing to lay his friend's head on the block, he had to make sure beyond a doubt that Detrick had committed the crime.

“I’m sorry, someone is at my door. Let me get back to you.”

For a moment Konrad racked his brain, he could not remember where he’d sent Jacob. Then it came to him. He lit a cigarette and called Bergen-Belsen.

155

The Swiss-German border

J
ust a single auto ahead of them in line, then Jacob and Detrick would be free. Detrick gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. They glanced at each other…knowing…and they waited.