The Fragile Hour (17 page)

“
I’d like you and Margot to share this with me, Fru Sande. Perhaps you’d allow Anna to join us too.”

It
was an awkward moment for Greta. She had come through from her bedroom, having been listening with Anna to the BBC news bulletin while her daughter took it down in shorthand.

“
They’re both with me as it happens. We’ll need champagne glasses. I have some very fine ones in my sitting-room.” She played for time, giving the girls the chance to get right away from the radio, which had been turned off at his tap on the office door. “What are we celebrating, Major?”

He
could not reveal the main reason, but he gave her another. “My winning this bottle at cards last night. One of the players was getting low in funds, but as he wanted to stay in the game, he put up this bottle that he’d been hoarding. I scooped the jackpot and the champagne!”

“
It was your lucky night.” Greta led the way to her sitting-room. To her relief, Anna sat with a newspaper and Margot was knitting as if they had been there all the evening. Both looked up as she and Klaus entered. “Major Schultz has invited us to have a glass of champagne with him.”

Anna
helped her to take the glasses from a display cabinet. They had belonged to Greta’s grandmother and Anna saw they were the same as some that Aunt Rosa had kept for special occasions. It gave her particular pleasure to see the bubbles rise in her glass as it was filled. In her thoughts she disassociated Klaus from the champagne as she sipped it.

He
was very amiable and smiling, full of buoyant good humour. Sitting deep in the cushioned sofa as if he had installed himself for several hours, he had one long leg crossed over the other, his high, polished boots gleaming in the light. Margot was fuming inwardly that she had missed taking down all the news, but Klaus was totally unaware how unwelcome he was and did most of the talking. He did not single Anna out in the conversation, but every time she looked in his direction, his eyes were waiting for hers.

It
was his suggestion that they listen to some classical music, for he knew Greta had a large collection of gramophone records. Margot made the selection and placed the records in turn on Greta’s radiogram, which was an elegant piece of furniture that she had bought not long before the war. The radio itself was missing, having been surrendered when the Germans had confiscated all radios. They had not known she had hidden another.

The
evening ended at last. Margot came into Anna’s bedroom for a final chat.

“
What a tedious three hours!” she complained bitterly.

“
I felt more like breaking those records over his self-satisfied head instead of playing them. I wasn’t interested in anything he talked about.”

Anna
had washed her hair and was drying it with a threadbare towel, replacement household goods having vanished from the shops. “I always listen as a matter of course just in case anything of slightest importance comes up, but as usual with him, there was nothing. I’d like to know why he was in such good humour.”

“
That’s obvious. As you told me, he thinks he’s back in your good books.”

Anna
lowered the towel and flicked back her hair. “I don’t know. It seems to me he would take that as a matter of course.”

“
My grandmother would have been afraid you’d wear your brain out,” Margot said teasingly with a grin. “You’re always turning something over in your mind. I’m glad I haven’t got your job. You’re getting like Sherlock Holmes with your suppositions and clues. I wonder you didn’t examine that half-burnt paper with a magnifying glass!”

Anna
slept well that night. Afterwards she did not remember dreaming at all, but subconsciously her mind must have remained active, because when she awoke it was with a start that made her sit upright in bed. Her thoughts were entirely clear and she knew where the charred paper had come from. It was the corner of an underground news-sheet.

She
sprang out of bed and rushed to the carved box. Rubbing the scrap of paper between her finger and thumb, she realised that it had been the particular quality of it that had haunted her. How could she not have thought of that before? Klaus had had a news-sheet in his room, but had wanted none of the domestic staff to know it, otherwise he would simply have crumpled it up and tossed it into the wastepaper-bin, for it was nobody’s business what he read. Why did he take the trouble to burn it? She was still no nearer the solution.

At
mid-morning Anna was in the kitchen helping Cook, which she did at least two or three times a week, when Emil returned from an errand. He looked as grey as his hair as he opened the door from the staff hallway and stood there without entering.

“
The Germans have located the
Freedom
press!”

Cook
gave an unhappy moan, for she and all the rest of the staff read the news-sheet avidly whenever a copy came into their hands. One of the cleaners, a mop and bucket in her hand, shook her head in dismay. Anna was rigid with shock. She should have guessed! That was what Klaus had been planning! It was why he had been so cock-a-hoop yesterday evening. He had known the net was drawing tight around his quarry. And she had sat in the same room with him, drinking his looted champagne, while all the time he was gloating over his achievement.

“
Are you sure, Emil?” she demanded harshly, feeling terribly responsible for failing to decipher the clue that had been in her possession.

“
I saw the soldiers pouring into a house. A crowd soon gathered and, although we were kept back, the Germans wanted us to watch. They brought out bundles of tied up
Freedom
news-sheets and made a bonfire with broken up shelves, chairs, tables and a desk that they threw from an upper window. Even a baby’s high-chair was thrown into the flames. Major Schultz is in charge.”

“
What of the people living there?”

“
I thought at first they had been warned in time and fled, but after a while, they were all brought out — Martin, the editor, Solveig, his wife, their two teenage sons and his brother-in-law, all of whom work there.”

“
The baby? Little Inga! What of her?”

“
I didn’t see her. The mother was sobbing.”

“
Oh, my God! Was she left inside? I must go there!” Anna threw off her apron and darted past him into the staff hallway. As she opened the street door, he caught and held it, not letting her out.

“
No,
fröken
! You mustn’t get involved!”

His
gaze was piercing, reminding her that she could be asking for her own death sentence if she allowed suspicion of any kind to fall on her, but she pulled free of him. “I have to make sure little Inga is safe!”

She
wrenched the door open and ran out. He let his arms flap once at his sides in exasperation and then he followed her. Both Cook and the cleaner went outside in their wake to watch them go, but Anna and Emil had had to stop only a few yards away. In silence, the two women joined them to watch as the little group Emil had already listed was driven past, seated in an open army truck under armed guard, together with ten more people, who, Anna guessed, were distributors of the news-sheet and had been rounded up. She recognised several of them, including the owner of the shop where she had twice met Rolf in the storeroom.

As
soon as they had gone past, watched by silent people all the way, Anna set off in the direction of the printer’s building where she had sometimes made a delivery of Margot’s transcripts. She saw it was in the process of being boarded up, Klaus still in charge of what was going on. He saluted her with a smile as she approached him.

“
I’m busy, Anna, but I’ll see you later.”

“
I can see there’s plenty going on,” she remarked easily, looking towards the building where the shop front was already half covered, hammering going on there and elsewhere. “The people you’ve arrested lived above the shop. Do you think their baby is still sleeping up there somewhere in spite of the noise?”

“
I don’t know anything about a baby.”

“
It’s a little girl. She is nine months old.”

“
You know the family?”

“
Only because printing was done here for the hotel, just as posters and leaflets were done for your Command. The baby wasn’t with her mother in the army truck when it went past the hotel, and a bystander told me what had happened here.”

“
Is that why you came?”

“
I’d be concerned for any child. May I go indoors and make sure she isn’t sleeping somewhere in spite of the noise?”

“
That’s unlikely.” Klaus smiled again. “You can go in if that will satisfy you, but don’t be long.” He turned to a sergeant. “Send a man in with Fröken Larsen.”

The
soldier, helmeted and with a rifle, clumped in after her. She passed the open door leading to the cellar where the secret press had been kept, but showed no interest. Upstairs there was devastation, drawers pulled out, contents scattered, the living-room almost devoid of furniture and the windows still open where it had been thrown out.

“
Bit of a mess, isn’t it?” the soldier remarked cheerfully. He had enjoyed looking at her legs all the way up the stairs. “What did you want to come in here for?”

“
A baby might have been left behind.”

“
There’s no baby here. It would be bawling its head off after all the commotion. Anyway, I think someone must have taken care of it. The wife here was in a real state. We had to drag her out, but just as she and the rest were being driven off, she shrieked out something to a woman with a baby. She wouldn’t have been allowed to keep it with her in any case, not where she’s going.”

He
did not elaborate, but Anna could guess the destination. Although she was relieved the baby appeared to be in safe hands, she still looked in every room on both the upper floors until they returned to the living-room again.

“
You’d better close those windows,” she advised. “You’re right,” he agreed with a grin. “I’ll only be sent back in again to do it.”

As
his back was turned, she picked up a family photograph that had slipped free of its frame and broken glass when it had fallen to the floor. She slid it into the pocket of her skirt and continued downstairs. Sooner or later she would hear who was taking care of Inga. The child might never be reunited with her parents, but at least she should have a family photograph to keep.

Chapter
Fifteen

After the arrests Anna felt herself to be in an intolerable position. She could not show where her loyalties lay by hostility towards Klaus and yet the sight of him sickened her. He was in a triumphant mood, making no secret of his satisfaction with himself and what he had achieved. In addition he seemed to think that his benevolence in allowing her into the printer’s house to look for the baby had further cemented his relationship with her.

“
I have to go away tomorrow for a couple of days, Anna,” he said on the fourth morning after the arrests. “So would you come to the cinema with me this evening?” Then, noticing that she appeared to hesitate, he added, “Remember, we are beginning again.”

It
was still daylight when they came out of the cinema and quite a lot of people were about, for the curfew had been extended with the long, bright days and short dusky nights that were the forerunners of the midnight sun in the far north.

Back
at the hotel Klaus suggested that they sit and talk for a while. “I’ll order coffee,” he said.

“
There’s nobody in the kitchen now,” Anna answered.

“
Then you show me where the coffee is kept and I’ll make it.” Playfully he caught her hand again to set off in the direction of the kitchen, but Anna held back. There would be trouble from both Greta and Cook if she allowed him to cross the threshold of that last sanctum of the hotel.

“
No, wait! Put a couple of logs on the embers in the
peisestue
and I’ll bring the coffee to you.”

To
her relief he did as she said. When she brought the tray of coffee into the room, flames were dancing along the birch logs in the high-canopied corner fireplace. Only one shaded lamp had been switched on, creating a seductive atmosphere. He took the tray from her and set it on a low table.

“
That’s most welcome,” he said appreciatively.

They
drank the coffee sitting side by side in comfortable chairs. Klaus talked of his home in Berlin where he grew up, his parents and his sisters, all three of whom were married, his admiration for Hitler and his hopes for the future, which included marriage and children. In between he attempted to bring her out about her family and early life.

Although
Anna appeared relaxed, she was keenly alert, convinced he was trying to spot any flaw in whatever she said. Fortunately she had been so steeped in her fictional background during her training that nothing he asked caused her any worry. It was after midnight when they left the room together and he saw her to the foot of the stairs. There he rested his hand on the newel post and made no attempt to touch her as they said good night.

“
You know Anna,” he said, “I never thought I’d need a second chance in my life, but you’ve given it to me when I needed it most.”

He
watched her go up the stairs, absorbing the sight of her unconsciously sensuous grace.

In
the morning, after Klaus had departed and the rest of the officers had gone on duty, Greta came in search of Anna, who was sorting the hotel chits for reimbursement from the army office.

“
There you are, Anna!” Greta exclaimed. “Bring those chits to the office if they’re ready. There’s something I want to discuss with you.”

“
I’ve just finished them,” Anna said when she put the chits down on the office desk. “That’s everything up to date.”

Greta
nodded and waited until Anna was seated before she spoke. “This may seem an odd question, but did you have a snack in the kitchen before you went to bed last night?”

“
No. Major Schultz wanted coffee and I made just enough for two cups for him and one for myself. Did I use too much coffee?”

“
The amount you took was missed, because Edith has started marking the level of it, but that’s not important. What about the three previous nights?”

Anna
frowned very seriously. “I have never taken any food other than what I’ve been given.”

“
I was sure of it and I hated having to ask you,” Greta said on a sigh, sitting back in her chair, “but I’ve had to question all the staff, including the part-timers. Edith has got it into her head that food is being pilfered. Do you think Major Schultz might have helped himself?”

“
No, because after I went upstairs, he followed almost immediately and I heard his door shut after him. What is missing?”

“
According to Edith, bread and cheese each time, two slices of beef left from the dining-room, some cold cooked potatoes, and also the dried apple rings in a jar have dwindled. It’s so little in all, but not in times like these.”

“
When has this food been disappearing?”

“
Edith isn’t sure what time it happens. She doesn’t always notice something is missing until she goes to use it. Her fear is that larger amounts might be taken next time and I share her anxiety, because, if the officers thought they weren’t getting their full rations, I could be forced out of here and a German catering staff moved in to take over.” Greta shook her head gravely. “I’m well aware that I’m hanging on here by the skin of my teeth and any kind of trouble on the domestic side would finish me.”

“
Yet you take the risks that you do. Having me here, for example.”

“
That’s little enough, in my opinion. I wouldn’t be able to survive this Nazi presence under my roof if I didn’t exorcise it by helping the Resistance in the only way open to me. Margot feels the same.”

That
night, Anna sat on the bed in Margot’s room as they discussed the mystery.

“
I’ve been thinking,” Anna said. “Do you suppose that someone on the staff is pregnant and can’t resist taking a bite to eat when nobody is around?”

Margot,
brushing her hair before the mirror, paused to look across at her. “Well, it’s not you and it’s definitely not me. Who does that leave?”

They
counted up. There were five possible and two unlikely.

“
That doesn’t help much, does it?” Anna concluded, rising to her feet. “We can’t solve anything tonight. It’s my morning as trainee assistant to Edith again tomorrow and so I hope nothing has been pilfered in the meantime.”

“
Good luck!” Margot said with a laugh. “She was like a lioness deprived of her young today.”

Fortunately,
when Anna went into the kitchen to take up her work, Edith was in an amiable mood.

“
Nothing more has gone,” she announced cheerfully. “Whoever had a few moments of weakness has now overcome them. We all know what it means to be hungry.”

It
was typical of her charitable nature that the matter was closed as far as she was concerned. But by early evening she was in a fury again. The rifling of a bag of oats had escaped her notice earlier, but it had come to light when she noticed a few oats scattered on one of her spotless shelves. Margot, who was in the kitchen at the time, put the pregnancy theory to her. The woman’s reaction was to look hurt.

“
I hope anyone pregnant on the staff would feel able to ask me for a little extra. I’d have found something. It’s the thieving I can’t abide. Anyway,” she added firmly, “women in that state don’t usually knock back brandy. I had a bottle in the cupboard I’ve always saved for a medical emergency, such as an air raid, and that’s been swigged too. I have it well hidden now.”

When
Margot repeated the conversation to Anna, she added, “If anyone had a taste for brandy, you’d think Edith’s bottle would have been sampled long ago.”

Anna
agreed. “You said once I was like Sherlock Holmes, but this is a problem someone else will have to solve.”

More
pilfering was reported the next day at noon. Margot was on her way to tell Anna, who was taking a turn at mending the linen, when a visitor called in at the hotel.

“
There’s somebody waiting to see you, Anna,” she said. “I showed him into the
peisestue
.”

“
Who is it?” Anna asked, puzzled that anyone should come to see her.

“
It’s Nils Olsen, the collaborator who won the ski-jumping contest a few weeks ago. How do you know him?”

Anna
was alarmed. Something very important must have come up for Nils to seek her out here. Neither Margot nor her mother knew anything about him, for she had always kept to her false background as she had been instructed. “I had one dance with him at that party I went to with Klaus.” She stuck her needle back into a pin-cushion. “I never expected him to turn up here.”

“
You are having trouble,” Margot commented with amusement, having seen how bewildered Anna was by this unexpected call. “German officers fancying you like mad and now, worst of all, a Quisling too.”

“
You shouldn’t jump to conclusions!” Anna gave back sharply before she could stop herself.

“
Oh, sorry,” Margot said quickly. “Is he really a patriot?”

“
I’ve no idea,” Anna bluffed, trying to cover her slip of the tongue. It had sprung from a deep-rooted loyalty always to defend Nils against criticism, but it was a sharp lesson on how easy it was to be caught off guard. “Your telling me I had a visitor made me nervous.”

“
It was my fault. I should have said he’s tall and dishy without a whiff of the Gestapo about him.” Margot tilted her head with a smile. “Anyway, if he is a patriot, enjoy the visit.”

Anna
closed the door of the
peisestue
behind her as soon as she entered. Nils was standing by the window and his pleasure at seeing her suffused his face as he crossed the room.

“
What are you doing here?” she demanded anxiously.

“
Seeing you.” He swept her into his arms and kissed her hard, but her eyes remained open and she stepped back as soon as he released her.

“
Do you mean this is purely a social call?” she demanded incredulously.

He
laughed at her concern, catching her hands in his and pulling her towards him. “Don’t look so worried! It’s all above board with the Germans. Aren’t we lucky?”

“
No!” She was angry. “You were mad to do this! You could be jeopardising your role and mine.”

“
If either of us should be arrested, do you mean? Forget it! You and I are coming through this war together with a whole new future waiting for us.”

“
But the war isn’t won yet. I’ve enough on my hands with Klaus Schultz breathing down my neck. He won’t be pleased if he hears that you were here.”

“
It’s all right. I told Hauptman Bauer and another officer staying here that I had a spare programme of the 1936 Olympics that I thought would interest you.” His eyes danced. “I added that you wanted to see the name of an old friend in it who had taken part. Fortunately they didn’t ask to see it, because even my own was lost when my home was burnt down in the Molde air raid.”

“
And what if either of those two men ask me to show it to them?”

He
looked surprised that she was making an issue of it. “Tell them that you felt you couldn’t accept it. What’s the matter? It’s not like you to get upset and I can see you are.”

She
put her hand to her forehead as if to thrust away her anger. “I didn’t mean to fly off the handle. I’m glad to see you. I always am, but life is so complicated at the moment.”

“
Can you tell me about it?” he asked sympathetically. She looked into his eyes. “I want to tell you, Nils. You won’t like what I’m going to say.”

“
As long as you don’t say you’re walking out on me, I can cope with anything else.” The joking tone he had adopted faded away as he saw the anguish on her face. “What’s happened?”

“
Let’s sit down,” she said.

He
sat opposite her, leaning forward with his arms across his knees. “So tell me,” he said uncompromisingly, his gaze fixed on her.

He
listened without a word as she told him how she had first met Karl in London, and that subsequent meetings had drawn them together without their realising it, until the time they knew themselves to be in love with each other. “If it hadn’t been for Karl getting me away in the mountains as he did,” she concluded, “I’d be in a concentration camp or, at worst, dead.”

“
I should never have let you go off alone in that valley!” Nils clenched his hands in self-reproach.

“
You had no choice.”

“
But to think you might have been killed in that forest! You’re grateful to Karl for getting you through it and that’s understandable, but what you feel for him is no more than that.”

“
But it is.”