steered her to a collection of paintings depicting steel-jawed storm-troopers that was arranged in front of an artist who looked anything but the Aryan stereotype. I spoke quietly.
'Ever since leaving the Sahms' apartment, I've had the idea that we were being followed,' I said. She looked around carefully. There were a few people milling around, but none that seemed especially interested in the two of us.
'I doubt you'll spot him,' I said. 'Not if he's good.'
'Do you think it's the Gestapo?' she asked.
'They're not the only pack of dogs in this town,' I said, 'but I guess that's where the smart money is. They're aware of my interest in this case and I wouldn't put it past them to let me do some of their legwork.'
'Well, what are we going to do?' Her face looked anxious, but I grinned back at her.
'You know, I always think that there's nothing that's quite as much fun as trying to shake off a tail. Especially if it might turn out to be the Gestapo.'
Chapter 15
There were only two items in the morning mail, and both had been delivered by hand. Away from Gruber's inquisitive, hungry-cat stare, I opened them, and found that the smaller of the two envelopes contained a solitary square of cardboard that was a ticket for the day's Olympic track-and-field events. I turned it over, and on the back were written the initials 'M. S.' and '2 o'clock.' The larger envelope bore the seal of the Air Ministry and contained a transcript of calls that HaupthSndler and Jeschonnek had made and received on their respective telephones during Saturday, which, apart from the one I had made myself from HaupthSndler's apartment, was none. I threw the envelope and its contents into the waste-paper basket and sat down, wondering if Jeschonnek had already bought the necklace, and just what I would do if I was obliged to follow HaupthSndler to Tempelhof Airport that same evening. On the other hand, if HaupthSndler had already disposed of the necklace I couldn't imagine that he would have been waiting for the Monday evening flight to London just for the hell of it. It seemed more likely that the deal involved foreign currency, and that Jeschonnek had needed the time to raise the money. I made myself a coffee and waited for Inge to arrive.
I glanced out of the window and, seeing that the weather was dull, I smiled as I imagined her glee at the prospect of another shower of rain falling upon the Fuhrer's Olympiad. Except that now I was going to get wet too.
What had she called it? 'The most outrageous confidence-trick in the history of modern times.' I was searching in the cupboard for my old rubberized raincoat when she came through the door.
'God, I need a cigarette,' she said, tossing her handbag onto a chair and helping herself from the box on my desk. With some amusement she looked at my old coat and added, 'Are you planning to wear that thing?'
'Yes. FrSulein Muscles came through after all. There was a ticket for today's games in the mail. She wants me to meet her in the stadium at two.'
Inge looked out of the window. 'You're right,' she laughed, 'you'll need the coat. It's going to come down by the bucket.' She sat down and put her feet up on my desk. 'Well, I'll just stay here on my own, and mind the shop.'
'I'll be back by four o'clock at the latest,' I said. 'Then we have to go to the airport.'
She frowned. 'Oh yes, I was forgetting. HaupthSndler is planning to fly to London tonight. Forgive me if I sound naive, but exactly what are you going to do when you get there? Just walk up to him and whoever it is he's taking with him and ask them how much they got for the necklace? Maybe they'll just open their suitcases and let you take a look at all their cash, right there in the middle of Tempelhof.'
'Nothing in real life is ever all that tidy. There never are neat little clues that enable you to apprehend the crook with minutes to spare.'
'You sound almost sad about it,' she said.
'I had one ace in the hole which I thought would make things a bit easier.'
'And the hole fell in, is that it?'
'Something like that.'
The sound of footsteps in the outer office made me stop. There was a knock at the door, and a motorcyclist, a corporal in the National Socialist Flying Corps, came in bearing a large buff-coloured envelope of the same sort as the one I had consigned earlier to the waste-paper basket. The corporal clicked his heels and asked me if I was Herr Bernhard Gunther. I said that I was, took the envelope from the corporal's gauntleted hands and signed his receipt slip, after which he gave the Hitler Salute and walked smartly out again.
I opened the Air Ministry envelope. It contained several typewritten pages that made up the transcript of calls Jeschonnek and HaupthSndler had made the previous day. Of the two, Jeschonnek, the diamond dealer, had been the busier, speaking to various people regarding the illegal purchase of a large quantity of American dollars and British sterling.
'Bulls-eye,' I said, reading the transcript of the last of Jeschonnek's calls.
This had been to HaupthSndler, and of course it also showed up in the transcript of the other man's calls. It was the piece of evidence I had been hoping for: the evidence that turned theory into fact, establishing a definite link between Six's private secretary and the diamond dealer. Better than that, they discussed the time and place for a meeting.
'Well?' said Inge, unable to restrain her curiosity a moment longer.
I grinned at her. 'My ace in the hole. Someone just dug it out. There's a meet arranged between HaupthSndler and Jeschonnek at an address in Grnnewald tonight at five. Jeschonnek's going to be carrying a whole bagful of foreign currency.'
'That's a hell of an informant you have there,' she said, frowning. 'Who is it?
Hanussen the Clairvoyant?'
'My man is more of an impresario,' I said. 'He books the turns, and this time, anyway, I get to watch the show.'
'And he just happens to have a few friendly storm-troopers on the staff to show you to the right seat, is that it?'
'You won't like it.'
'If I start to scowl it will be heartburn, all right?'
I lit a cigarette. Mentally I tossed a coin and lost. I would tell it to her straight. 'You remember the dead man in the service-lift?'
'Like I just found out I had leprosy,' she said, shuddering visibly.
'Hermann Goering hired me to try and find him.' I paused, waiting for her comment, and then shrugged under her bemused stare. 'That's it,' I said. 'He agreed to put a tap on a couple of telephones Jeschonnek's and HaupthSndler's.' I picked up the transcript and waved it in front of her face.
'And this is the result. Amongst other things it means that I can now afford to tell his people where to find Von Greis.'
Inge said nothing. I took a long angry drag at my cigarette and then stubbed it out like I was hammering a lectern. 'Let me tell you something: you don't turn him down, not if you want to finish your cigarette with both lips.'
'No, I suppose not.'
'Believe me, he's not a client that I would have chosen. His idea of a retainer is a thug with a machine- pistol.'
'But why didn't you tell me about it, Bernie?'
'When Goering takes someone like me into his confidence, the table stakes are high. I thought it was safer for you that you didn't know. But now, well, I can't very well avoid it, can I?' Once again I brandished the transcript at her.
Inge shook her head.
'Of course you couldn't refuse him. I didn't mean to appear awkward, it's just that I was, well, a bit surprised. And thank you for wanting to protect me, Bernie. I'm just glad that you can tell someone about that poor man.'
'I'll do it right now,' I said.
Rienacker sounded tired and irritable when I called him.
