Erlich’s face had turned red—partly out of anger, London wassure, but also out of frustration that the captain had stated the situationpretty accurately.
The captain’s expression suddenly changed to one of mock apology.
“But—oh, dear, I am being rather harsh, aren’t I?” he said. “I’mdreadfully sorry. Let’s both take a bit of a pause to cool our heads, shall we?Have you had breakfast?”
“No,” Erlich replied, looking a bit startled.
“Then come on over to our wonderful Habsburg Restaurant. We’llsit down and talk this over like civilized gentlemen, and I’m sure you’ll enjoythe rather sumptuous repast.”
The detective looked undecided for a moment. Then he noddedabruptly and said, “I shall accept your kind invitation.”
“Marvelous,” the captain said. “The restaurant is just up onedeck, in the bow of our ship. Please go ahead and I’ll join you there in amoment. We can talk about these matters further.”
Erlich looked back and forth from Captain Hays to London. Then heapparently decided that having accepted the invitation he should be agreeable.
“I look forward to your company and to any aid you can offer me,”Erlich said. Then he made a stiff bow and left the room.
As soon as the detective was out the door, the captain whisperedto London, “We need to take care of this ourselves. As promptly as possible.”
“I agree,” London replied.
In fact, she was relieved to hear the captain say so. Things hadgotten way out of hand.
“What do you want me to do?” London asked the captain.
“Go ashore and head right into town. Find Ms. Bolton, wherevershe is.”
Then he straightened his uniform and went out the door
London looked down at Sir Reggie, who had been watching theproceedings with interest.
“You heard the captain’s orders,” she said. “We’ve got work todo.”
She and Reggie left the captain’s office stateroom. They stoppedby London’s stateroom for her bag and a leash, then hurried up to the receptionarea. As they headed toward the gangway, London realized that she felt a littleuncertain about her mission.
She could only hope that her assumption was correct, and AudreyBolton hadn’t intentionally “given them the slip.”
Because for all London really knew, Audrey might actually be thekiller.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Hia hia hia ho
Hia hia hia ho
Hia hia ho …
The raucous yodeling chorus startled London as she and Sir Reggiestepped out onto the gangway. A group of men dressed in lederhosen andwomen in dirndls were clustered at the base of the gangway. They weresinging, yodeling, and some were also dancing. The same small oompahband was also there again, playing more cheerfully than ever.
After yesterday’s events, London had expected Bamberg to be moresubdued.
As she and her little dog walked down the gangway, she was evenmore surprised to spot Emil Waldmüller standing nearby listening to the band.Hadn’t the ship’s historian mocked this same group a day ago?
With an oddly melancholy smile on his face, Emil was tapping onefoot and mouthing the words of the song.
London focused on the words the group was singing, trying to makesense of the lyrics.
Ein esel wolte nicht nach hause gehen,
Nicht nach hause gehen.
Something to do with a donkey that won’t go home, shethought, wondering why that would ever appeal to Emil.
When she and Sir Reggie set foot on the shore, she made her wayover to Emil and spoke loudly enough to be heard over the music.
“I thought you didn’t like oompah music.”
Emil’s eyes widened with surprise. London seemed to have caughthim completely off guard.
“Eh? I—I do not like it at all,” he stammered. “I believe I madethat perfectly clear yesterday. Whatever gave you the idea that I feltdifferently?”
London smiled and thought, Well, maybe the fact that you’restanding here singing along.
But she decided not to say so aloud. Emil seemed rattled enoughby her arrival. She didn’t want to spoil his mood altogether—although judgingfrom his sudden frown, maybe she’d unintentionally done so already. And he wasn’ttapping his foot anymore.
Instead she said, “I’m surprised that things seem so festivetoday.”
“Surprised?” Emil said. “Why on earth would you be surprised?”
London crinkled her brow.
“Well, after what happened yesterday …” she began.
“Oh, yes, another murder,” Emil said. “It is why we are stayingan extra day here in Bamberg, is it not?”
London couldn’t imagine why he was talking about it so casually,almost as if he was barely aware of what had been going on. This wasn’t likehim at all. To the contrary, the Nachtmusik’s past delays in port hadpositively infuriated him.
Why is he acting this way? she wondered.
Emil continued with what struck London as an air of forcedhaughtiness.
“Well, you certainly would not expect a little thing like that toupset the festivities, would you? Especially when there is beer involved. Theseare Bavarians, after all.”
London guessed that he was right. The Hoffmann Fest seemed to befar too much of a tradition here in Bamberg to get canceled on account of a beercritic’s murder. She stood listening to the band, which seemed to be playingthe same tune over and over again.
“What is this song?” she asked Emil.
“I certainly would not know,” Emil said with a scoff.
London was baffled. A moment ago she’d caught him singing alongwith the music. Now he was pretending he didn’t even know it.
She listened again and picked out some more lyrics.
Da kam die esel liebe Veronika …
London did her best to translate in her head.
Then came a donkey, dear Veronica …
She mused aloud to Emil, “The song seems to be about twodonkeys—one that won’t go home, and another…”
Suddenly the lyrics came clearer to her.
“It’s about a lovesick donkey, isn’t it?” she said. “He’sstanding around waiting for a female donkey, ‘dear Veronica,’ to show up, andwhen she does, he winds up going away with her.”
Emil’s scowl deepened, and his face got red.
“As I said, I would not know,” he said gruffly. “Now if you willexcuse me, I have … eh, some business to attend to.”
He turned and made his way past the costumed
