'Then make it something noble,' she said. 'Do something better. Something selfless and unmercenary. I'm sure you can think of a noble thing you could do. For Eric, perhaps.'
'I don't know. Where's the profit in doing something selfless and unmercenary?'
'Oh, I can tell you,' she said. 'If you've got the time and patience to listen. And the willingness to make a change in your life.'
I knew she was talking about religion. It wasn't one of my favorite topics of conversation, especially with her. 'No, but maybe there is something I could do,' I said, quickly changing the subject. 'Something sort of noble. At least, it's as noble an idea as I'm capable of thinking up without a couple of drinks inside me.'
'Then let's hear it,' she said. 'I'm in the mood to be impressed by you.'
'My dear girl, you are always in the mood to be impressed by me,' I said. 'Which I am unable to account for. You look at me and you seem to think I can do no wrong. I can and I do.' I paused for a moment and then added: 'Tell me, do you really think I look a lot like Eric?'
She nodded. 'You know you do, Bernie.'
'And there was just his mother, right?'
'Yes. Just his mother.'
'And she didn't know he was in a wheelchair?'
'She knew he'd been badly injured,' she said. 'But that's all. Nothing more specific.'
'Then answer me this,' I said. 'Do you think I could pass for him? In Vienna. With his family lawyers.'
She looked me square in the face and thought about that for a moment and then started to nod. 'That's a great idea,' she said. 'As far as I know, he hasn't been back to Vienna in twenty years. People can change a lot in twenty years.'
'Especially the last twenty years,' I said, wiggling my fingers. 'I used to be the church organist. Where's his passport?'
'It's a brilliant idea,' she said enthusiastically.
'It's not very noble,' I said.
'But it's practical. And maybe in this particular situation, practical is better than noble. I'd never have thought of something like that.'
Engelbertina stood up and opened a bureau from which she removed a manila envelope. She handed me the envelope.
I opened it and took out a passport. I checked the date and the photograph. The passport was still valid. I studied the photograph critically. Then I handed it to her. She looked at the picture and then ran her fingers through my hair as if checking out the amount of gray there and wondering if perhaps it was too much. 'Of course, we'd have to change your hairstyle,' she said. 'You're older than Eric. The funny thing is, though, you don't look much older. But, yes, you could pass for him.' She bounced a little on the edge of my bed. 'Why don't we ask him what he thinks?'
'No,' I said. 'Let's wait awhile. Let's wait until this evening. Right now he's probably too upset to think clearly about anything very much.'
TWENTY-SEVEN
'It's a crazy idea,' said Eric Gruen, when I had finished describing my suggestion to him. 'The craziest idea I ever heard of.'
'Why?' I asked. 'You say you've never met the family lawyer. He doesn't know you're in a wheelchair. I show him your passport, and he sees an older, thicker version of the person in the photograph. I sign the papers. You get your estate. What could be simpler? Just as long as there's no one who really remembers you.'
'My mother was a very difficult woman,' said Gruen. 'With very few friends. It wasn't just me with whom she had a problem. Even my father couldn't stand her. She didn't even go to his funeral. No, there's just the lawyer. But look here, they know I'm a doctor. Suppose they ask you a medical question?'
'I'm collecting an inheritance,' I said. 'Not applying for a job at a hospital.'
'True.' Gruen inspected the contents of his pipe. 'All the same, there's something about it that I don't like. It feels dishonest.'
Engelbertina adjusted the rug over his legs. 'Bernie's right, Eric. What could be simpler?'
Gruen looked up at Henkell and handed him his passport. Henkell had yet to offer an opinion on my scheme. 'What do you think, Heinrich?'
Henkell studied the photograph for a long moment. 'I don't think there's any doubt that Bernie could easily pass for an older version of you, Eric,' he said. 'And there's no doubt that the money would be useful for our research. Major Jacobs is being difficult about buying that electron microscope we asked him for. He says we'll have to wait until the spring of next year, when his department will get some new budgets.'
'I'd forgotten that,' said Gruen. 'You're right. The money would be very useful, wouldn't it? My mother's money could easily underwrite our work.' He laughed bitterly. 'My God, she'd hate that.'
'I have spent quite a bit of my own money, Eric,' Henkell said. 'Not that I mind a bit. You know that. I'll do whatever it takes to isolate this vaccine. But Jacobs is becoming a nuisance. If we had access to some new funds, we could afford to get rid of him and the Amis. It would make this an exclusively German scientific effort. Just like it was before.'
'If Bernie did go in my place it really would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it?' he said. 'I'm really not up to going myself. You were right about that.'
'The question is,' said Henkell, 'whether you're up to doing this yourself, Bernie. You're only just back to full health. And you say you find yourself tiring very easily.'
'I'm all right,' I said, dusting off his concern. 'I'll be fine.'
In many ways staying at Henkell's house had suited me very well. I was putting on some weight. Even my chess game had improved thanks to Gruen's helpful hints. On the face of it, I couldn't have been more comfortable if I had been a bug in the mane of the Emperor Caligula's favorite horse. But I was keen to go to Vienna. One reason was that I had gone over the blank sheets of paper I had taken from Major Jacob's pad and found the outline of an address in Vienna. Horlgasse, 42. Apartment 3. Ninth District. Curiously, this was the same address I had been given for Britta Warzok. But another reason was Engelbertina.
'Then I agree,' said Gruen, puffing some life back into his pipe. 'I agree, but I have one or two conditions. And these cannot be set aside. The first condition, Bernie, is that you should be paid. My family is rich and I will be forever in your debt, so it ought to be a decent amount. I think twenty thousand Austrian schillings would be a suitable sum for performing such a valuable service.'
I started to protest that it was too much, but Gruen shook his head. 'I won't hear any objections. If you won't agree to my fee, then I won't agree to your going.'
I shrugged. 'If you insist,' I said.
'And not just your fee but all your expenses,' he added. 'You ought to stay in the kind of hotel I'd stay in myself, now that I'm rich.'
I nodded, hardly inclined to argue with such largesse.
'My third condition is more delicate,' he said. 'I think you probably remember me telling you that I left a girl in trouble, in Vienna. It's a bit late, I know, but I should like to make amends. Her child. My child, must be twenty-one years old by now. I'd like to give them both some money. Only I'd rather they didn't know it was from me. So I'd like you to go and see them as if you were a private detective retained by a client who prefers to remain anonymous. Something like that, anyway. I'm sure you know the form, Bernie.'
'Suppose they're dead,' I said.
'If they're dead, they're dead. I have an address. You could check it out for me.'
'I'll get Jacobs to help with the relevant papers,' Henkell said. 'You'll need an Allied Forces Permit to pass through the British, French, and American zones. And a Gray Pass to go through the Russian zone of occupation. How will you get there?'
'I prefer to go by train,' I said. 'I'll attract less attention that way.'
'There's a travel agency I use at the main station in Munich,' said Henkell. 'I'll get them to buy you a ticket. When will you go?'
'How soon can Jacobs get those travel documents?'
