Iron Gustav (71 page)

‘Thank you, Father. Now I'll slip home and get a few hours' sleep. I've still got a lot to do today.'

‘What have you got to do? Have you got to go back to your job, or can you take a holiday?'

‘My job – oh, Father! I suppose I can tell you. Irma knows nothing. I no longer have a job. They threw me out three days ago.'

‘Oh, no!' exclaimed the old man. ‘It never rains but it pours. You must be under pressure. Will you have to go on the dole again?'

‘I must see. I hope not.'

‘Shall I ask Sophie? Perhaps she can help. She's important in the clinic. I think the whole thing even belongs to her.'

‘No, better leave that, Father. I never did get back on good terms with Sophie.'

‘You're right. Relations are bad enough without having business dealings with them. Will you come back later and tell Mother? I don't want to do it myself. I don't have the necessary happy touch!'

‘I'll see, Father. Perhaps we'll leave it till tomorrow.' He hesitated. He didn't like to ask his father, but then did so anyway. ‘Father, have you heard again from Erich?'

The old man turned his big head slowly towards him, and said slowly, ‘From our Erich? Are you just asking or is something behind it?'

‘He was probably the reason the bank suddenly gave me notice.' And he briefly told his father about his encounter with his brother.

‘That's Erich,' nodded the old man. ‘He's done that. Jus' like him. No, I know nothing about him at first hand but I've seen him twice at the Zoo Station.'

‘So you know nothing either,' said Heinz, a bit disappointed.

‘Let the ole man have his say. At the Zoo Station with a top hat an'
binoculars, an' attaché case, round about three o'clock. That convey anythin'?'

‘He was wearing a top hat at our place and carrying an attaché case.'

‘An' binoculars,' insisted Hackendahl meaningfully.

‘I don't know.'

‘A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse,' said the old man a little scornfully. ‘What sorter trains leave the Zoo Station about three o'clock in the afternoon?'

‘I really don't know. There are so many.'

‘I mean goods trains, not trains with binoculars and top hats. Don't you twig?'

‘Oh, you mean—' exclaimed the son, really startled.

‘Yes, that's what I mean. About three o'clock you c'n go from there on to Karlshorst, Hoppegarten and Strausberg. I used to take plenty of racin' chaps there once, an' bettin' chaps too.'

At first the light thus thrown on his brother's connection with the banking house of Hoppe & Co. blinded Heinz. Then everything became clear. Did they say crazy? Correct – in so far as an obsessive is crazy. Reckless, unscrupulous betting! Ten or twenty per cent interest obviously made no difference in that case. Those scoundrels – cheating the poor.

‘You're right, Father, that's what it is,' he shouted and went to the door. ‘I must just …'

‘What must you just? It's only five o'clock.'

‘But, Father, early tomorrow morning we've got to rescue what we can of people's savings. This Hoppe – a cunning chap like that naturally wouldn't go there himself, so as not to be seen. What a swine! Poor people's savings!'

‘Yes, the savings of people who want their fifty per cent. You needn't waste much of yer sympathy on 'em.'

‘But it's all a cheat and a fraud – petroleum on Lüneburg Heath!'

‘Sit down, Heinz. Why you gettin' so worked up? They've sacked yer, an' you're out of it now.'

‘But Father, there must be—'

‘Well, what mus' there be? Justice an' law? An' administered by the pair of us, what? No, that's their business. What've we got police
an' judges an' public prosecutors for, if it ain't to keep a lookout? Where do you come in?'

‘No, Father. That's not right. You used not to think like that.'

The old man was silent for a little. Then he asked: ‘You seem in a howling rage with Erich. You're not upset 'cause they kicked you out, are you?'

‘I'm not …' began Heinz. He wanted to say ‘angry with Erich'. But he didn't say it. Because it wasn't true. Because he was furious with Erich. Because he hated Erich. Not only because of what had happened, but also because he felt that Erich was evil. Yes, Erich loved what was evil, loved it for its own sake. There will never be any progress with people like Erich around. But …

‘But, Father, I don't want to lay a charge just to get at Erich. Certainly not! I don't want revenge. I only want this fraud to stop.'

‘All right, bring a charge, but give Erich a hint. We've had enough with Eva.'

‘I can't do that, Father. If I warned Erich he'd warn the others. Then people's deposits would be utterly lost.'

‘You c'n wait till the last moment. Then he won't have time.'

‘Father, I can't. I oughtn't to.'

‘Yes, you can. What's it matter? What used to be decent don't exist now. Why stop 'em, I often say. It won't change anythin', Heinz. Let him go, our Erich!'

‘Things will change!'

‘How? I don't see it happening. Things only get worse 'n' worse. An' I'm sick of it all, Bubi. The way she stood there in the dock – Eva, I mean – didn't look at me once but only at that pimp, an' I had to tell the judge about me own child, an' he asked me in front of everyone if she'd ever pinched anythin' before an' when had she started with men and whether she was much of a liar, an' I kept on thinkin' – there's me daughter and she won't look at me … Well, that's my contribution to the German nation … No, Heinz, we can't have it all over again, an' this time with Erich … No, my boy. We can't, neither me nor your mother.'

‘Well, so long, Father,' said Heinz after a while. ‘I'll do as you say. Even though it's certainly not right.'

‘Lor, Heinz, if you can tell me what
is
right …'

No, it wasn't right, Heinz was convinced of it. He had been sitting in Alexanderplatz police headquarters, watching the unsympathetic and indecisive faces of its officials, on which he could read the suspicion that they were dealing with a dismissed and vengeful employee.

Berlin was in chaos. So many obvious, quite blatant crimes were committed. Officials were overworked and exhausted, and they were also frustrated because they were so often hindered from taking action against an obvious crime – for political or personal reasons, or connections. There were other banks than the tiny local Hoppe & Co.; there were big firms like Barmat, like Kutisker, as a result of which many an official had already been forced to leave banking.

No, they were not very willing to intervene merely on the hearsay of a dismissed employee. All right, they would look into the matter, make enquiries … They had his address.

‘It'll be too late then,' said the young man. ‘Is there anyone else I can see here?'

‘You're in a terrible hurry,' they laughed. ‘All right, come along.' And they put him into the waiting room of one of the big beasts, a much-feared bully boy. They gave the register clerk his file and then they left him. ‘He'll soon get bored,' they said.

There Heinz Hackendahl sat and waited, thinking about his brother Erich, which made him so determined. And all of a sudden he knew that he hated him as he hated no other person on earth. His father, the old man whose children had not given him much happiness, wished to shield his son and that was understandable. But the son here in the police station was not understandable – indeed he did not understand himself. He was sitting there because of his brother, but once he had attained his object and they wished to proceed against Erich, then he intended to run to the telephone and warn him. (He had the telephone number in his pocket on a slip of paper.) He wanted to warn him, not because he thought his brother would mend his ways, but out of a frail pity, himself persuaded at heart that Erich would continue to do evil.

He had to make a decision. The issue was whether one had the courage to do damage to oneself, to act entirely after one's own heart. No one was asking him, no one would help him. It was entirely up to him. Oh, if only it had been someone unimportant,
like Hoppe, for instance, and not precisely his own brother! And he recalled how quick and bright Erich had once been – how very much he had once admired and loved him.

Perhaps, he thought, only what has been extremely loved can be extremely hated. And he would once more have liked to evade a decision, and sneak away. There were excuses enough – Irma would be wondering where he had got to and … But then all hope of this was over; a door opened and Heinz was ushered into an office. (But he would keep quiet about Erich and telephone him afterwards.)

‘Ah,' said the stout man, having read over the brief statement already on his desk. ‘And now tell me about it again, in your own words.'

Heinz did so, repeating what had already been taken down, and no more.

‘Is that all?'

Heinz nodded vigorously.

‘Something's missing,' said the red-faced man. ‘And you know very well that something's missing.'

Heinz behaved as if he did not understand.

‘You're screening someone,' said the bully boy in a friendly way. ‘You want to protect someone.' He smiled. ‘You see, when you've sat here as long as I have you can sniff things out. There's no magic about it. And in your case the missing link is how you came to pick on racing bets.'

‘I just thought it likely,' said Heinz, embarrassed.

‘Naturally, you just thought so!' said the stout man getting up. ‘Good morning, my dear young man, and don't come here again. We haven't yet found out how to make omelettes without breaking eggs and you won't find out either. The world stinks like a big dung heap and if everybody tries to segregate his own little stench then we'll never get rid of the smell … We'll catch this Hoppe all right; I know who he is. A clerk who ran away with what was in the till. But what interests me is your own private pile of stench. However, as I said, we've enough on hand without you, and if you're satisfied with being a coward and not a man, good luck to you. After all it's your own affair.'

Each hard word stabbed Heinz to the heart. The red-faced man
had sat down again and was reading his files, and seemed to be under the impression that his battered visitor was long departed.

‘Detective Inspector!' said Heinz in a low voice.

‘What is it? Haven't you gone?'

‘Detective Inspector!'

The man so addressed looked in his files, read, and heard nothing.

‘Detective Inspector!' said Heinz louder.

‘What do you want? Haven't you gone yet? You're asking for trouble, my lad!'

‘Detective Inspector!'

‘All right. Fire away. But on target, otherwise it's not worth listening to you.'

And Heinz fired away …

‘That's still no good!' said the Detective Inspector, when Heinz finished. ‘A top hat, an attaché case and binoculars are not sufficient. All respect for your brotherly love, but that's no proof either.'

He grumbled and muttered to himself, then asked: ‘You wanted to ring him up, didn't you? Wanted to warn him? Let me have his number!'

Heinz did so.

‘Good!' said the Detective Inspector. ‘Now you shall see what charming people we are here. You can use my telephone and ring up your brother, and you can tell him – well, tell him that in, say, half an hour the
CID will be calling on his friend Hoppe, and if you like you can give him a hint about the bets – just as if you were standing in a nice quiet telephone booth.'

There is something odd about the human heart. Now it was offered him, and the police were allowing him to do so, Heinz wanted on no account to ring his brother. Indeed, he shrank back from the proffered telephone, afraid of hearing Erich's voice.

‘Well, what's the matter, young man? Squeamish again? Or do you think I'm trying to take you in? Not at all. I'll be quite frank with you. My men are already at Hoppe's; and should there be a warning from your brother now – of course too late – then we'd have some evidence.'

Yes, things never changed – having taken one decision you were
urged to another unavoidably; it looked as if he had, against his father's wish, hopelessly betrayed his brother. But that he himself should act as decoy, that his voice should bait the trap – no, a thousand times no. ‘It seems a pretty dirty thing to do,' he said desperately.

‘Dirty! I should say so,' growled the bully boy. ‘So are all half-measures, you're right there. What's bad is bad and half-measures won't cure it. The best thing you can do now is to go home and get something to eat – you're looking quite green. No, you needn't phone – d'you think I needed you for that sort of joke? I only wanted to see what kind of chap you were. Well, goodbye. There's still hope of your becoming a man one of these days. Goodbye, I'm busy, I'm not a teacher!'

But perhaps he was after all – this bulldog.

Yes, young Heinz Hackendahl had much on his plate at this time. But whatever he did, the growling voice of the fat man with the red face echoed in his ears. Not only could he not forget it, but it made him stronger.

And very soon the hour came when Heinz had to tell his young wife that all was up with the job at Hoppe & Co. – had to, for the newspaper headlines would have given it away in any case, announcing as they did that hundreds of small depositors had been cheated out of their savings. Petroleum and Totalisator. Clergymen Who Seek Exorbitant Interest. Hoppe's Evil Star. And so on. Therefore he had to tell her. And although he did not have to tell her about his part in the breakdown, he did so, because that voice was still ringing in his ear.

‘I had to do it, Irma. Immediately I saw Erich, I had to.'