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

in connection with my work for the Reich. I also want a guarantee of anonymity with regards to this material.’

The major was busy making notes.

‘There is something else. I have a son, Friedrich. He worked for the Gestapo and is wanted by the British: they’re hunting him across Europe. I’ll only hand over the rest of the material if I can have an assurance in writing from the British that he is no longer wanted by them. I have also been involved in an escape route called the Kestrel Line, which they are also investigating. I want them to stop doing that.’

Barrow carried on writing and said he was sure he could sort that out. They discussed arrangements for handing over the rest of the films and the notebooks and for Steiner to receive his assurances.

‘I just hope I can trust you, Steiner.’

‘I guessed you’d say that, Major. I can offer you a war criminal as proof. Go to Bar 1860 on Sendlinger Platz at four o’clock this afternoon and you’ll find a man called Gustav Wagner waiting there. Look him up: you’ll find he’s wanted for war crimes in Poland and Hungary.’

Chapter 24

Austria and Italy, December 1945

GENEVA, WEDNESDAY

PRINCE EYES ONLY

CONFIRM MYRTLE CARTER & HAROLD HAMILTON CROSSED CHANNEL MONDAY. TRAIN CALAIS TO GARE DU NORD, PARIS. MOVEMENTS OVERNIGHT UNCLEAR BUT SPOTTED GARE DE LYON TUESDAY. TRAIN TO GENEVA WHERE THEY REMAIN. WILL ADVISE RE ONWARD JOURNEY. STOP.

BARTHOLOMEW, GENEVA

KLAGENFURT, THURSDAY

BARTHOLOMEW, GENEVA ONLY

ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF COMMUNICATION WEDNESDAY RE CARTER/HAMILTON. AWAIT ADVICE RE ONWARD MOVEMENTS. CAN BE CONTACTED THROUGH FIELD SECURITY SECTION VILLACH. STOP.

PRINCE

It was, in Prince’s opinion, a classic case of overkill.

As a non-military man, he’d not voiced his opinion at the time, but it seemed clear there’d been far too many men involved in the raid on the house just north of Sattendorf. Major Stewart was in charge, and he’d brought half a dozen of his Field Security Section along from Klagenfurt. They joined the dozen men from the FSS base in Villach plus a company of ninety New Zealanders from one of their infantry battalions. When you added in the Slovenian partisans who’d insisted on coming along, as well as Hanne and Prince, it was well over one hundred people.

And they found nothing.

The house was empty.

Major Stewart stomped around it muttering, ‘I see the birds have flown,’ and Prince had to explain the historical reference to Hanne.

‘May I make a suggestion, Major?’

Stewart glared at him, giving the impression he’d very much rather he didn’t. ‘If you must, Prince.’

‘I am a police officer, as is Hanne. We ought to treat this place like a crime scene. Now that we’ve established no one is here, having so many people tramping around the house will get in the way of our investigation.’

‘So what do you suggest?’

Prince suggested that a platoon of New Zealanders remain to guard the property and its perimeter, while he and Hanne would examine the house with the help of half a dozen men from the FSS. The others should search the grounds of the house and the woods and fields beyond it.

They spent the rest of that day and most of the following one combing through the house. It was evident that at least two people had been staying there and had probably left the day before the raid. There were no other clues.

Frau Egger was questioned, insisting she’d been hired as a cleaner and had never met anyone at the house. It was something she’d made up. She’d been trying to impress people, she said.

‘I wanted people to see me as more than a cleaner. Now the war’s over and I’m no longer a Blockleiter, I feel… humiliated.’

‘What about being approached by a man from Vienna, and your story that very important people stayed at the house?’

Frau Egger shrugged. ‘Who told you that?’

‘You seem to have been telling half the town. You also said there was an armed guard at the house.’

‘That’s nonsense, of course there wasn’t.’

‘I saw armed guards there.’ Hanne had moved closer to Frau Eggers, who looked nervous and picked up her handbag as if preparing to leave. Hanne made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere. ‘Either you start telling the truth or you’ll be charged with aiding a fugitive, and the only place you’ll be cleaning then is your prison cell!’

After a little weep, Frau Egger assured Hanne and Prince that she’d been forced into the job and she wanted them to understand she was as much a victim as the Jews claimed they were.

‘Two men stayed at the house: one of them had just one arm and was German, though I’ve no idea where he was from other than he wasn’t Bavarian – I’d recognise that accent. He never gave me his name. The other one was younger and he had that Viennese accent that sounds as if they’re giving you instructions. He even asked me if I had a daughter who’d want to come and work there, can you believe that?’

She stopped and had another weep. ‘You promise I’m not going to be arrested?’

‘I don’t know, Frau Egger, you’ve still not told us very much. What about the guards?’

‘Two of them, also Germans. What else can I say?’

‘Far more than you’ve done so far, if you want to stay out of trouble.’

Frau Egger dabbed her eyes with a crumpled handkerchief, which she then used to wipe her nose. ‘One day I heard the man with one arm call the younger one Friedrich: they didn’t realise I was in the next room. Just Friedrich, no other name. Is that good enough?’

‘What happened to them? How come the house was empty?’

‘You won’t find them, you know.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘All four of them left: the man with one arm, the younger one he called Friedrich and the two guards. One afternoon they told me they were leaving that night and I was to give the place a more thorough clean the next day and that I’d have to let myself in.