Shout in the Dark (19 page)

"
Frau Renata!"

The woman paused before obeying the
beckoning finger of authority. "
Signora
Renata," she corrected politely but
firmly.

In his mind Kessel undressed the woman and
liked what he saw. "Signora Renata," he said with a smile, "we need
to talk."

RENATA BASTIANI felt the grip of
fear.
Was this merely a
sexual advance, or had she been found out at last? Seeing her
husband clubbed to death by soldiers at the railway station had
been ordeal enough, but now she was terrified of losing her son.
Yet she was a fighter, or she would not have sought work -- the
only work available that enabled her to care for her son -- right
here in the lions' den.

"
The boy," said the officer in a composed voice. "I want you
to take down his trousers."

"
Keep away from him!
" Renata was amazed that in her fear she could
shout so loudly. This man was a pervert. "You bring me in here to
abuse a
four-year-old?
"
Such behavior was beyond her understanding.

She watched the German officer shake his
blond head. "Signora, please calm yourself. You know, and I know,
that you have a secret. Surely you do not deny that the boy is
Jewish?"

No more than a gasp passed Renata's
lips.

"
And you perhaps are Jewish, too? Ah yes, it is as I
thought. Well now, Signora Renata, I am left with no alternative
but to turn you and your son over to the Regina Coeli
authorities."

"
Oh, God, no!" Renata knew the Regina Coeli, the notorious
Roman prison where the Nazis kept Jews and other unwanted citizens
before shipping them by cattle truck to northern Europe. Some said
they were being used to fuel the Führer's furnaces. Regina Coeli,
the Queen of Heaven. What in the name of God had the world come
to?

The arrogant Nazi smiled. "Of course,
signora, such a move may not be necessary. But if it is, be sure
you will first tell us the names and addresses of anyone in your
family we may have missed."

Renata knew what to expect now. She could
not hide her Jewishness. This German devil definitely did
not
have his eye on her
son.

A smartly dressed soldier came hurrying up
the stairs, his boots echoing loudly on the marble. It was no use
appealing to him, a mere private, even if he were
simpatico
. The
man held some photographs. "Untersturmführer Bayer sends these,
sir. The monastery you visited today."

The officer snatched at them. "Ah yes, the
stupid monastery at Monte Sisto. I'm busy for the next hour. Put
the photographs on my desk, then find me the relic, soldier -- and
that's an order!"

But as the soldier bent down to pick up
the prints thrown angrily to the floor, the officer's mood suddenly
changed again. He smiled reassuringly at Renata. "Come, signora, I
have my quarters here. You will have to be good, very good indeed
-- if you want to save your boy."

The room seemed to be a study, with a door
at the far end leading to a smaller room with a steel bed. A long
ornamental dagger rested temptingly below a row of books on the
desk. The officer turned his back.

Renata moved forward to snatch the knife
and end her torment. She knew how to kill a man. The Gapist freedom
fighters had taught her how to deal with the Nazi invaders. A sharp
knife like this could cause a quick death -- or, with skill, a slow
one. She would be out of the building with little Bruno before the
alarm was raised, and away into the safety of the city. The
Sturmbannführer turned as she reached out her hand.

"
Come!" he said, his eyes bright with lust.

For nearly an hour, Renata feigned so much
pleasure that the officer told her, breathlessly, he was surprised
he could get so much enjoyment from a Jew. From the study, through
the gap in the partially open door, Renata caught a glimpse of
four-year-old Bruno watching with uncomprehending
terror.

While the German dressed, he explained he
had a most important letter to write, but for the sake of her son,
she must be sure to be available the next evening.

"
Come straight here after your other work. You have two
duties to attend to now. One to these buildings of the Third Reich,
and one to this Sturmbannführer of the Third Reich!"

The man began to straighten his jacket in
front of the full-length mirror. Renata watched through her tears
as the German threw back his head and laughed. "Tomorrow,
signora."

She turned away, nausea sweeping through
her body. One day she would end this man's evil existence. And she
would do it with a knife.

*

LETTER TO LUIGI CARDINAL MAGLIONE VATICAN
SECRETARY OF STATE

HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL

It has come to the attention of
the
SS
Sicherheitsdienst
in Rome that on Thursday 27 January an
unidentified member of the Vatican staff illegally took possession
of an ancient bronze head belonging to the newly formed Department
of Treasures and Antiquities of the Third Reich.

As senior officer investigating
this case, I must ask that the property is returned to my care
immediately. Complete confidentiality between us in this matter is
essential. I need hardly add that the Führer's proposals to move
the Vatican to Germany may well be influenced in Rome's favor by
the fullest co-operation of the Vatican with the German
powers.

MANFRED KESSEL,

STURMBANNFÜHRER-
SS
,
SS
SD
, ROME.

*

LETTER TO STURMBANNFÜHRER KESSEL

155 VIA TASSO, ROME

The appropriate members of the
Vatican Council have read your unexpected and abrupt communication.
I can give you an absolute assurance that no relic or item such as
the bronze head you describe has recently come into the possession
of the Vatican. His Holiness Pope Pius XII is, however, concerned
by the implications of your letter, which he sees as a serious
breach of etiquette.

The Vatican Council is unaware of the
Department you claim to represent. Baron Ernst Von Weizsäcker, the
German ambassador to the Holy See, has been informed, with a
request to investigate the existence of such a Department. He will
no doubt also be interested in the clear threat you have made. Your
senior officer has been informed and his Holiness trusts that
appropriate action will be taken.

MONSIGNOR GIOVANNI BATTISTA MONTINI

VATICAN SOSTITUTO SECRETARY OF STATE

*

Twelve hours after an ashen faced Kessel
received this reply, he was killed by a Gapist bomb thrown at a
group of soldiers outside the Gestapo block in the Via Tasso, and
thus saved from the imminent interview with his
Oberstgruppenführer
for abusing military authority. The
Communist resistance were still able to fight the
fascists.

Untersturmführer
Helmut Bayer was also spared a military inquiry
for, on hearing of his Sturmbannführer's sudden death, he rolled up
the offending film and placed it at the back of his locker. Perhaps
the world would pass him by. When he had made a set of prints of
his delicious Monika he would destroy the negatives -- if there was
no more talk of an inquiry. As with so many of life's intentions,
he was the first to admit that this one was likely to be quickly
forgotten. And after the war, if he returned to the rubble of Köln,
and if the seductive Monika Schulte agreed to become the
respectable Monika Bayer, he would probably still have the film
somewhere in his possession.

RENATA BASTIANI was waiting in the
Sturmbannführer
's room
for the officer to arrive, so she could act out her loathsome
duties. For the last three sessions, the guards had allowed her to
leave Bruno in the room below. While the German had taken his
pleasure each night, she watched and planned, desperate to make
good her promise to end the man's life.

When the explosion from the Gapist bomb
shook the windows, and she could clearly see the reason for the
commotion in the narrow street outside, she snatched a bundle of
papers from the table. Sturmbannführer Kessel had been busy with
his writing over the last few days. Perhaps these pages contained
information of value to her anti-fascist friends. She bitterly
regretted not being the one to end the man's life. It would have
been justice for the disgusting assaults on her body.

She collected Bruno and slipped through
the confusion caused by the bomb, away from the Via Tasso and into
the unlit Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano. In the distance, gunfire
from the coast lit the night sky in bright flashes. For a moment
she paused to watch. The British and the Americans were somewhere
over there, getting ready for their advance on Rome. That is where
she would go. There might be safety for a young widow with the
liberators.

SERGEANT JACK Gilroy had seen enough of
the British army for the day. He pulled his collar high against the
cold as he made his way into the wreckage of the coastal town for a
night out with a few mates. There was talk of a push forward to
Rome any day now. On the edge of town he came to a bar he
already knew well. In spite of
the building suffering extensive shell damage, the owner continued
to trade. Gilroy and his fellow soldiers were already singing. All
they lacked were wine and women.

By the boarded window he spotted a sad
figure in black occupying a single seat in the darkened bar. An
attractive dark-haired woman, she had obviously drunk too much and
was surely in need of money -- and comfort. Sergeant Gilroy
reckoned he could help her by paying for services rendered. He told
his friends to count him out of their plans.

Later that evening he walked with the
woman to her makeshift apartment in a gutted building. She told him
to be quiet so as not to wake the boy sleeping on the mat in the
corner. On an old blanket on the bare floor, Sergeant Gilroy shared
a bottle of cheap brandy with her and had his money's
worth.

THE NEXT MORNING, Renata Bastiani woke to
stare in horror at the old blanket. Bruno was still asleep on his
mat. She crawled over to him and ran her fingers through his hair.
Memories of the British soldier were vague but vivid. The room
smelt of sweat and stale cigarette smoke. The air froze her body,
but she was too sickened by what had happened to use the blanket
for warmth. Men were disgusting, wanting only one thing. Perhaps it
was not too late to change her ways. From now on, she would live
her life with no sex and no drink. She would raise Bruno with
love.

In April the doctor examined her and told
her she was pregnant.

Chapter
16

Monte Sisto

"
COME AND READ this sign on the wall." Laura's voice made a
welcome interruption.

Shutting the terror of the past from his
mind, Marco walked over to join her. "What does it say?"

"
The bodies from the massacre were removed in nineteen
forty-six." She flapped some large flies away. "I know where they
took the Jews for burial. There's a memorial for them in Rome. It's
solid concrete. No one could get inside to look. I don't know what
happened to the Christian monks. If the relic isn't here, maybe
Canon Levi hid it where the monks are buried."

Marco nodded. "I can get Father Josef
looking into what happened to the bodies. There must be church
records."

Laura sounded furious. "You're not still
keeping in touch with that old priest! Does he ... have you ...
told him about us?"

"
I don't know what you mean," said Marco. "What's my work
for Father Josef got to do with you?"

"
You don't understand," protested Laura. "It's obvious the
tragedy at Monte Sisto hasn't affected you."

Marco put his arm on her shoulder. "I've
no first hand experience of what the Nazis did. Have
you?"

Laura stood with her head resting in her
hands. She pushed his arm away. Suddenly she wiped her eyes with
her sleeve, and her eyes seemed to blaze with anger. "Eight
thousand Jews died in Italy in the war. Six million Jews died all
over Europe -- killed by madmen in the Third Reich. How would you
feel, Marco, if they'd killed
your
family?"

Marco shook his head. "You sound as though
you lost yours."

"
Do I?" Laura sat down heavily on the dry grass, choking on
her tears. "You know
nothing
about me, Marco. Nothing at all. I'll tell you why I want
to be here. My family died at this monastery. Aunts, uncles -- I
never knew any of them. It was my grandfather who took the relic
back to Rome.
Canon Angelo was my father!
"

Chapter
17

Via Nazionale

KESSEL
FELT EXHILARATED. After spending the morning in the central
library, sorting through fragmented records of the German military
stationed in Rome, he'd unearthed the names of several soldiers who
had been part of a Schutzstaffel regiment, including his father,
Manfred Kessel. Young Karl's father, Rüdi, had always said a
photographer would have accompanied an expedition to recover
valuables, and one man on the list filled the bill exactly.
Untersturmführer Helmut Bayer, a photographer stationed in Rome
between 1943 and 1944 with the SS SD.