She was naked, and beautiful. And like white stone.
“You bitch!”
She couldn’t answer then because his arms pressed the breath out of her, but she started to fight. It was crazy. He got her across the room, feeling the clawing of her nails, seeing her eyes, and he never knew it was fear.
When he woke the lights were still on. He got up, kicked his clothes out of the way, and turned the switch.
She lay still in the dim light from the night sky, eyes closed, but she didn’t seem stone any more. He lay down again, just touching her, hearing her breath. Then she moved.
“Jesso,” she said.
He could feel her heat as she turned.
“Jesso. Again.”
Chapter Thirteen
There was nothing for Jesso to do until ten because nobody had come down yet. He sat in a little room facing the lawn that went down to the wall by the street and waited. Then he heard Kator. He came downstairs and Jesso stopped him in the hall.
“Made your arrangements, Kator?”
“Good morning, Jesso. Yes, I have.”
“So when do we settle?”
Kator raised his eyebrows for a moment, but Jesso didn’t see it.
“I made the arrangements yesterday,” he said, and walked across the hall to the dining room. Jesso followed. “And there should be results today.”
He sat down and watched Hofer dish up the breakfast. Jesso had coffee.
“What arrangements?” Jesso asked.
Kator finished chewing, sipped chocolate.
“The-our buyer has been informed. The next move is his.”
“When?”
“Jesso, I have not seen anyone, nor has the mail been brought in.”
Jesso had to watch him finish his breakfast. Then Kator rang for the mail. There was quite a pile of it. Kator found the telegram quickly.
“The answer,” he said.
He put it down so Jesso could see it, but except for a date and an address, the text made no sense to Jesso. Kator looked active now He had pulled out a cigar but laid it down by the silver pot containing the chocolate and talked in his hard, even way.
“My request for a meeting has been granted. The only difficulty is the time.”
“The sooner, the better, Kator.”
“Of course. We will be in Munich tomorrow.” Kator paused, picked up his cigar, and rolled it between his fingers. If this guy was nervous, Jesso couldn’t tell.
“It will have to be done in this manner. You take the afternoon train to Munich. It will get you there in the forenoon. I myself have a previous appointment elsewhere, so I won’t go with you. I will fly to Munich early tomorrow and meet you at the hotel. From there we will meet our contact together and begin negotiations sometime that afternoon.”
There was nothing wrong with it. If there was, it could only be a senseless and stupid stall, and Kator wasn’t going to be that stupid.
“I’ll go,” Jesso. Said. He was trying to remember whether he had any ammunition for the revolver in his overcoat upstairs.
“Very good.” Kator gathered his mail and stood up. “It will be the time to tell the truth, Jesso.” He left for his study.
Jesso went upstairs to make sure about that revolver.
It was eleven o’clock then and Renette came out of her shower. She held her hair up with both hands while the maid rubbed her with a large towel. Then the phone rang. It was a short conversation, and after Renette hung up she put on her underthings, slippers, and the heavy brocade. When she walked into Kator’s study she looked awake and clean. She stopped by the desk and nodded.
“Well?” said Kator.
She shrugged and reached for a cigarette on the desk.
“You look awake, Renette, but you don’t act it.”
“I’m fine, Johannes.” She smoked.
He got up and walked to the empty fireplace. The big hood with gargoyles and Atlases made Kator look very squat, like a bulldog.
“You look as beautiful as ever,” he said. There was an edge to his voice. “Only a little wasted.”
She laughed. “Wasted!” she said, and then she laughed again.
“May I point out you haven’t told me a thing?”
Renette inhaled, blew the smoke out slowly. She cocked her head to watch it. “You are too anxious, Johannes.”
“You mean you have learned nothing?”
“Give me time, Johannes.”
“It seems to me-”
“I thought you weren’t interested in my methods.”
“How much time do you need?”
“Don’t be obscene.”
Kator kept still then. She didn’t often use that tone of voice. He took a series of military steps across the room, sat behind his desk, gave his instructions. It was more familiar ground now.
“Jesso will go to Munich this afternoon, by train. Tomorrow I will meet him there. That gives you from now until about three o’clock.”
“You flatter me, Johannes.”
“I know you well, Renette.”
She ignored the remark and looked out to the garden. She knew he was puzzled by her attitude, unable to predict what she would do next. Yesterday he would have known. Until yesterday, she would have said, “Of course, Johannes, if you say so.” She might have said it with a shrug, but she would have done it. Now she said:
“Of course, Johannes, but it wouldn’t be good enough. I’ll go with him. I’ll have from now on, all day, and all night. I’ll get ready.”
She came in without knocking, the way he had done it the night before.
“Jesso.”
He was cleaning the gun, but after she opened the door the motion became mechanical.
“Good morning, Jesso.”
“Good morning. How’s yours?”
“Fine, Jesso. It’s a good morning.” She sat down next to him on the bed. She didn’t peck a kiss or hold his neck. She just sat and smiled as if she enjoyed it.
“Something on your mind?” He still held the gun but he didn’t know it.
“I’m going with you.”
“Where?”
“Johannes says you’re taking a trip. I don’t care where.”
“To Munich.”
“That takes all night.”
“Why? You want to get raped?”
