The Silence (37 page)

‘Also true,’ Werthen averred.

‘So, found innocent, Frau Steinwitz would surely have come into Doktor Praetor’s sights at some time. Better then to end it in Switzerland than Austria.’

‘I don’t follow the reasoning,’ Berthe said.

But Werthen did. It was suddenly clear to him. ‘You mean because the Swiss banned capital punishment there a few years ago?’

‘Exactly,’ Gross said. ‘My reasoning was that it is preferable for Praetor to stand trial for murder in Switzerland than in Austria. That is why I told him the whereabouts of Frau Steinwitz. Of course I had no way of knowing if or when he would arrive. I was only certain that he would try to take her life.’

‘Unlike the gallant Herr Beer,’ Werthen said.

‘Beer played his role quite nicely, as did your Fräulein Metzinger,’ Gross said.

‘I still say you were playing God,’ Herr Meisner said to Gross.

Gross ignored this. ‘I have secured the best defense attorney in Switzerland for Doktor Praetor. A man well respected and well connected. I am also supplying the attorney with all our case notes on Frau Steinwitz so that he can plead extenuating circumstances and perhaps win a reduced sentence. It is better than facing the gallows here in Austria.’

At which point little Frieda emitted a burp of startling intensity.

Werthen looked from Gross to his daughter, and then to his wife. Were someone to harm them, who was to say what he would or would not do.

There are some things about which one would rather remain silent.

Two stonemasons were at work high up in the central spire of the Rathaus. They stood on a wooden platform over the huge clock and felt every vibration from the gears of the monumental timepiece. They had labored all morning carrying blocks of stone and mortar up the three hundred and thirty-one steps to the observation window, and they were now carefully laying stone upon stone to seal the opening.

‘Seems a shame,’ said one of the men, more loquacious than the other.

His companion made an unintelligible grunt at this comment.

‘I mean, what a view from way up here. Like you was king of all Vienna. Why would you ever want to go and block it up?’

The other stonemason, a much older and stooped man, gazed out at the vision of Lilliputian Vienna beneath him. He shook his head.

‘Lueger’s the mayor,’ the older man finally said. ‘He knows best.’