End of Spies, Alex Gerlis [important of reading books txt] 📗

her: you never know, someone might have asked questions about me – that kind of thing happened all the time. Fortunately that need never arose. Since the end of the war, the foolish woman has been devastated: she comes into the shop and tells me how terrible everything is, and I take some pleasure in no longer allowing her the discount I felt obliged to give her during the war. I tell her times are hard – she understands that.’

Hanne nodded politely and wondered how she could explain that she needed to leave soon without appearing rude. Frau Winkler was clearly unable to help: she just wanted to talk.

‘Frau Winkler, maybe I—’

‘Hang on, my dear, please… You asked me if I’ve been aware of anything since the war ended, and that’s what I’m coming to. You see, in the middle of September, Frau Egger came into the shop and was in a far better mood than she had been for a while. She was very upbeat and chose a fine pair of leather gloves for the winter and didn’t even ask for a discount. She told me she had a job – a very important one, she said, a reward for her loyalty to the Reich. She said she’d been approached by a man from Vienna who’d heard she was a good Nazi and a Blockleiter and that her sons had been in the Waffen SS. He told her he’d bought a house overlooking the Ossiacher See, which is a lake about five miles north-east of the town – you may have seen it. He wanted Frau Egger to work there as a housekeeper, going in to clean every day and doing the cooking when people stayed there. She found it hard to contain herself: she said very important people stay at the house, though usually only for a day or two. She also said there was an armed guard there. She said she’d been sworn to secrecy but knew she could trust me: she was beside herself with excitement. It had quite clouded her judgement.’

‘Did she give any names?’

‘No.’

‘And the man from Vienna?’

‘No name either; she just said he was a gentleman and very important.’

‘And where exactly is the house?’

‘All she said was that it was near Sattendorf, on the north side of the lake. I didn’t think much of it at the time, not least because Frau Egger is prone to exaggeration and likes to make herself appear important. But when you asked me if I’d come across anything suspicious, I recalled what she’d told me. What do you think?’

Hanne said nothing as she tried to work out what she thought. There was no question in her mind that this could be important, but she wondered how far she could trust Frau Winkler. The alternative, she decided, was to return to Hauptplatz and put it in the hands of Captain Hart and his men, but she wasn’t sure about that either.

‘You say Frau Egger goes to clean the house every day?’

Frau Winkler nodded. ‘Apart from Sundays.’

‘Of course. And how does she get there?’

‘By bus – I see her every morning around eight o’clock waiting at the stop by St Nicholas’s church.’

‘Which bus does she take?’

‘I can’t remember the number – they’ve all changed since the buses started again – but it’s the Bodensdorf service. It starts on Hauptplatz, crosses the river, then stops outside the church, as I say, before heading through the town and along the north side of the lake. It stops at Annenheim, Sattendorf and Deutschberg before Bodensdorf, if that helps you: Klaus and I used to enjoy that trip, it was a lovely outing…’

Hanne leaned forward and took the old woman’s hand. She said she hoped she’d understand if she asked her not to utter a word about this to anyone.

Frau Winkler nodded with the eagerness of a child let in on a secret.

‘Can you tell me how I can identify Frau Egger?’

Frau Winkler described someone of medium height who always wore a dark brown coat and a black beret. It could have been any woman in the town in their sixties.

‘Is there anywhere I could see her, perhaps?’

‘She returns from the house in the middle of the afternoon and goes straight to the bakery across the road from here. There’s usually quite a queue when they reopen at four o’clock, and she’s invariably in it, pushing her way to the front.’

Hanne asked if Frau Winkler could walk past the bakery later on in the afternoon and approach Frau Egger so Hanne could identify her. ‘Perhaps stop and speak with her – maybe put your hand on her shoulder?’

Frau Winkler said that would be no problem. In fact she’d buy some bread while she was at it. ‘You make yourself comfortable: you’ll have a good view from here.’

Hanne left Frau Winkler’s just after four thirty, after watching her hold what appeared to be a friendly conversation with Frau Egger in the queue, placing one hand on her shoulder as they parted. She held it there for slightly longer than Hanne would have liked, but it didn’t seem to bother Frau Egger, and when Frau Winkler glanced up at the window, Frau Egger didn’t notice.

She walked back through the town to Hauptplatz, pausing on the Draubrücke to watch the Drava flow urgently beneath it on its long journey east from Italy. She was mesmerised as the water changed colour and speed by the second, and by the trees arranged like small forests on both banks, encroaching into the river itself.

She felt satisfied as she continued walking, pleased that she’d got somewhere and relieved that she didn’t have to involve the FSS at this stage. Once she was certain about the house, she’d tell Captain Hart. Until then, she was on her own. It felt safer that way. She couldn’t wait to tell Richard.

She’d been so taken with the river and so busy thinking through her plan for the next day, she didn’t spot either