The Serpent's Egg (32 page)

“That’s right, yes.”

“You beat him up.”

“That was nothing. We slapped him around a bit.”

The Medical Examiner found the scars on his face six months later, thought Neumann.

“Shortly after that you were found guilty of corruptly demanding money as a condition for signing a Marriage Authorization.”

Framzl’s eyes lit up. “That was a lie. I never demanded a pfennig for that.”

“But you refused to sign the Marriage Authorization?”

“I was attempting to uncover a subversive group. I was presented with an opportunity, a situation that could help to achieve my goal. I took it.”

“What are you saying?”

“The woman is a
Mischling
. They had pulled strings to get their Authorization, using one of my prime suspects, an actress called Libertas Schulze-Boysen. I took the opportunity to place an informer inside the subversive group. I explained all this to my accusers.”

“They didn’t believe you.”

Framzl clenched his fists. “What happened to me was a gross injustice. The boy, Noack lied. It was my word against his.” His voice rose a notch. “They chose to believe him.”

“Are you saying you didn’t demand money?”

“Haven’t you been listening to me? That was a malicious lie.” He was shouting, now. “Why would I jeopardize my whole future for a mere 500 Reichsmarks? It’s laughable.”

“You blame the priest for that malicious report?”

“Yes, I blame him. He fabricated that story to explain or excuse his own mistake.”

“Is that why you killed him?”

“When was he killed? I’ve been in here for the past eleven months.”

“Perhaps you arranged to have him killed.”

Framzl’s response was stunned silence, then, “As the Führer is my witness, the priest’s death has nothing to do with me.”

“I’m told you are a heavy smoker.”

“I was. There is no tobacco here.”

“Did you own a cigarette lighter?”

“No.”

“Have you ever owned a cigarette lighter?”

“No. What’s that got to do with the case?”

“Have you heard of a priest called Schlurr? Father Gunther Schlurr?”

Framzl shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

Chapter 89

May 1940

In Gestapo headquarters, a team of three was wading through the records for government employees. It was Saturday, May 4. They had completed the trawl through the main ministries and started on the minor state services. One man gave a yelp. “I have him, sir. I have a match.”

SS-Sturmführer Jürgen Traut swore under his breath. He had hoped for another trip to Kolonnenstrasss. He strode out of his office to check the man’s work. “What have you got?”

“The man we are looking for is an employee of the Reich Labor Service, the RAD. His name is Max-Christian Noack, sir.”

Jürgen picked up the telephone and rang Kommissar Neumann.

“We have him, Erhart. His name’s Max-Christian Noack.”

Neumann gasped. “We interviewed him. He’s the one who forged his Marriage Authorization. The priest married him in his church. Do you have an address?”

Jürgen nearly blurted it out. “Not yet. We’re checking that now.”

A man stepped into Traut’s office with a piece of paper. “I have it. It’s an apartment building in Kolonnenstrasss.”

#

Anna had a loaf of bread in the oven. The telephone rang. Max picked it up.

“Your fingerprints have been identified. Get out of there.” It was Walter Lehmann.

“How much time do we have?”

“None. Ten minutes, maybe. Leave immediately.”

“Thank you, W—”

Walter broke the call.

“Anna, we have to go.”

“Go where? When?”

“Right now. The Gestapo are on the way.”

“I can’t leave. I have bread in the oven.”

“Never mind the bread. Fetch your purse. We have to leave. Now.”

“Don’t we have time to pack?”

“No, Anna. I’m telling you, we have less than ten minutes.”

They reached the end of the street and turned the corner as the Gestapo arrived in two black cars. They ran.

Part 5

Chapter 90

May 1940

Greta’s apartment was within easy reach. They got there in 15 minutes. Max hammered on the door. Greta opened it and they piled inside.

“The Gestapo. They are in our apartment. We need a place to hide.”

Greta closed the door. She went to the window and checked the street outside.

“Did anyone see you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Very well, take a seat.”

Max and Anna sat on the sofa.

Greta said, “You can stay here for today. I’ll find you somewhere more secure after dark. In the meantime, stay away from the windows.”

Anna asked how Sophie was faring.

Greta said, “She’s well. She’s grown quite a bit since you saw her last.”

“How old is she now?”

“She was nine last month.”

Ule woke. Greta went to attend to him. Anna followed her.

When Ule was settled, Greta left the 2-year-old with Anna. She asked Max to explain what happened. He told her how he had dropped his cigarette lighter in the cemetery while helping Edmund and Bruno to bury the traitor. He didn’t mention Vigo’s name, as Anna was listening from the next room.

“Can you tell me which of them killed him?”

Greta blinked. “Go on with your story. Who warned you that the Gestapo was coming?”

“That was an old friend of my father’s from the last War. He’s with the Gestapo.”

“A helpful Gestapo man. His name?”

“I’d rather not say. I don’t want to get him into trouble.”

“He could be useful to the Orchestra, Max. Give me his name.”

Max hesitated. Frau Greta was a rock. She had been since he first met her. And he needed her help now more than ever. “His name’s Walter Lehmann.”

“Thank you, Max. I promise I won’t get him into trouble. Now, you’re going to have to get out of Germany. Where would you like to go?”

“We thought we might go to Brussels.”

#

Adam arrived home after dark. He and Greta had an argument about the best course of action. Anna listened behind a closed door. She caught only a few snatches, but she gathered that Adam wanted the Communists to provide shelter for the fugitives since they were the ones that had caused the problem in the first place. Frau Greta wouldn’t hear of it. She had a better idea.

They bundled Anna and Max into the back of Adam’s battered old car. Frau Greta told them to lie down on the seat. She used two blankets to cover them. The last thing she said to them was, “Keep your heads down. And good luck.”

Adam started the car. Anna came close to panic hiding in the dark under a blanket. And she hated the feeling of helplessness that came with being transported she knew not where. After a 20-minute journey, the car stopped. Adam came around the back and removed the blankets. “You can come out now.”

Anna looked around. She recognized the mansion where she’d had her wedding reception, the home of Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen.

The maid, Pauletta, opened the door. She showed them into the study and went to fetch her mistress. Adam went with her.

Anna was having difficulty catching her breath. Perhaps that was from being driven at speed through the streets of Berlin under a blanket. Or it could have been the shock of what had happened. She’d had to leave everything. Her clothes, her wedding dress, her mother’s willow pattern crockery, their radio, their records, the gramophone, her books, all her wedding presents, her photographs. Everything.

Her shoes!

All she had in the world now was the clothes she was wearing and the contents of her handbag – a few Reichsmarks, a handful of change, a stick of lipstick, her identity card and their two ration books.

Her job was gone. Max’s job was gone. And they would have to leave the country.

Max sat on the sofa beside her. He looked pale and breathless, too.

He held her hand. “How are you feeling, Anna?”

“I’m confused.” She stared into his eyes. “Did we really have to leave everything and run away?”

“We had no choice. I’m wanted for a murder I didn’t commit. If the Gestapo find us…”

She was suddenly terrified. “What will become of us, Max? How will we live?”

“We’ll start a new life in Belgium.”

“But how?”

He put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t worry, my darling, Libertas can work miracles.”

Dressed in a flowing housecoat and right on cue, Libertas made a grand entrance. Adam followed here into the study. “I hear you’re in trouble. Welcome to my home.” She pulled up a Queen Anne chair and perched on its edge facing Anna. “First, have you eaten? Are you hungry?”

“We have eaten, thank you.”

“All right. Pauletta will make up a bed for you. Pauletta, give them the blue room.”

Anna followed Libertas’s gaze to the door where Pauletta was standing. The maid bobbed and scurried off.

“You have your identity cards with you?”

Anna opened her handbag and pulled out her papers.

Max said, “I have my Dieter Marten cards and passport.”

Libertas looked pleased. “Splendid. You can travel as Frau and Herr Marten. Adam, will you talk to Peter Riese about papers for Anna?”

“Leave that to me,” said Adam. He shook their hands. “We’ll get you out as soon as we can. You’ll be safe here in the meantime. Good luck to you both. Look us up after the War.”

Adam left. Libertas opened her drinks cabinet and poured out two glasses of schnapps. She handed one to Max.

“I’m sorry, Frau Schulze-Boysen, I had to leave your book behind in the apartment,” said Max.

“Don’t worry about it. I never liked the book, myself. Marx is so boring.” She handed the second glass of schnapps to Anna.

Anna wrinkled her nose. “Schnapps makes me sick, Frau. Do you have any white wine?”

“You’ve had a severe shock, young lady. Hold your nose and swallow it.”

Anna did as she was told. The sensation of warmth flowing down and through her body was not unpleasant. Then she heard Adam’s car start up and drive away. The sound was like an anchor chain being lifted –
their last link to Frau Greta was gone. 

Pauletta led them up the stairs to their room.

Anna could see immediately why it was called the blue room. Everything was blue, from the wallpaper to the curtains and the carpet. Even the covers on the four-poster bed were white with blue flowers. The overall effect was calming, if a little too much for her taste.

They got undressed. Pauletta had left one of Libertas’s nightdresses on the bed. It was a little flamboyant for Anna’s taste, but she put it on and they climbed into bed. Max moved close and they clung together under the cool covers. Persistent memories of her recent encounter with Jürgen flashed into her mind then, sending her close to panic, but she buried them with contempt under the weight of her love for Max. As she melted in his arms, she remembered another something that they had left behind in the bedside locker in the apartment.

Chapter 91

May 1940

Anna woke up in the morning with a headache. She had realized in the middle of the night that she would probably never see her friends again. Or her mother and father. She went looking for Libertas and asked permission to use the telephone.

“I’m sorry, Anna, but the Gestapo is almost certainly listening to all our telephone conversations. You mustn’t use it. It’s far too risky.”

“Could you ring my parents and tell them I’m safe? You could ask them to pass a message to my friend, Ebba.”

“I’ll do that for you as soon as you’re out of the country. You must ring me from Brussels and tell me you’re safe. I’ll pass on your messages then.”

It was better than nothing.

Anna spent an hour experimenting at Libertas’s makeup desk. When Max saw what she’d done, he stared at her open-mouthed. Anna laughed at the expression on his face. “Close your mouth, husband, you’ll catch flies.”

Apart from mealtimes, when they joined Libertas and Harro downstairs, they spent most of their time in the blue room. Max said it was like a second honeymoon, but Anna thought it felt more like a prison sentence. She was impatient to move on, to place some distance between the Gestapo and themselves.