The Roses Underneath (37 page)

The sound of a revving engine speeding up the drive startled her back to reality. She wadded the newspaper around the money and shoved it back into the wardrobe. At the top of the stairs, she hunkered down and peered at the front door from behind the balustrade. Scanning her surroundings for anything that could be used as a weapon, she tried to quiet her breathing.
Don’t be ridiculous,
she thought
. You are here on official business. There’s no reason to be afraid.
She pulled herself upright and began to descend the stairs. She gripped the railing hard and went slowly, waiting for the next sound.
This kind of thing never happens to people who stay put in the typing pool.

The car pulled to a stop in front, probably next to where she had parked the jeep. She waited for the door to open but nothing happened. After several moments of silence she heard the footsteps crunch toward the side of the house toward the basement door. Anna took the stairs two at a time and ran toward the entry foyer. Peeking out the small window next to the door, she saw the other car, another jeep, parked at an angle in front of hers, blocking an easy escape. Steadying herself, she pulled the door open and walked calmly toward the jeep, her eyes focused on the driver’s seat as if it were the last lifeboat on the Titanic.

“Well, Frau Klein,” a voice sang. Anna didn’t recognize it, and for an instant she realized that she had held out a small hope that the visitor might be Cooper. But it wasn’t. She stopped and turned.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Corporal Miller said. Anna’s brain took a moment to place him, but his pancake face and sneer quickly reminded her of their ride to the supply store. He walked around from the side of the house, gun in hand and cigarette hanging from his lips.

“Corporal. You scared me.” Anna tried to blanket her fear, patting her chest in mock surprise and putting on a strained smile. She waited for his next move, but he just stood there, daring her to misstep.

“I was just leaving,” she volunteered, taking several steps toward the jeep. She was close enough now to put a hand on it, which helped steady her weak knees. “I’m afraid I’m in a hurry.”

Miller snorted. “I’ll say. What are you doing out here anyway? All alone.”

“Just checking up on something for the Captain. He wanted to be sure the property had been secured.” She could not think of anything else to say. “Everything looks good to me, so I’ll be going.” She turned to get into the jeep but Miller pulled her arm toward him. She stifled a gasp and forced herself to look him in the eye.

“You ain’t got no business here,” he snorted. “You stole that jeep. You’re not here for Cooper. He’s counting pencil shipments out in Erbenheim. You think I’m stupid?” He tugged on her arm, pulling her closer.

Anna resisted the urge to answer truthfully. She stayed quiet and waited for the next volley.

Miller took a drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke into her hair. “Look, I know why you’re here. There was a lot of good stuff out here, I know, I saw it. You’re not the first one to think that way. But I’ll tell you what. I’ll overlook the fact that I saw you out here, trespassing on U.S. government property, driving a stolen jeep. You’re in a heap of trouble already. But I’ll do you this favor, and you can just owe me, okay? I’ll think of some way you can repay me and I’ll let you know.” He smiled, pleased with the plan he had worked out. His eyes slid from her face downwards and pulled on her arm again so that she was pressed against him. For a moment they stood in the twisted embrace, face to face, eyes locked. With his free hand Miller began to grab at her pants, digging into her pockets and tossing out the medicines. He groped along her legs and back up under her blouse, his hands clawing and grabbing her breasts and along her shoulder. She heard the fabric of her blouse tear under her arm. Anna tensed and tried to shift her weight so she could kick him but he held her arm tight enough to keep her off balance. Finally she got enough traction to lean her shoulder into him as hard as she could. He stepped back and let go of her arm.

“Don’t you touch me,” she spat. Her voice was an angry growl. “Don’t you ever touch me again.
”

Miller raised his hands in mock innocence. “Hey, doll, don’t flatter yourself. I was just making sure you didn’t take something that didn’t belong to you. Besides all that.” He kicked at the medical supplies he had pulled from her pockets. He laughed. “Just for that, I should have you arrested.” He threw his cigarette at her. “In fact, I still might.”

Anna backed up without taking her eyes off him.

“You could do that,” she said. “But I don’t know what I might tell people about all the things I
did
find here.” She rubbed her arm and looked up to the bedroom window.

Miller lit another cigarette and inhaled, squinting through the smoke.

“Just get the hell out of here,” he said as he waved her away. “Stupid
Kraut
.”

Anna climbed into the jeep and stomped on the starter. She backed up and then stopped to put the car into first gear. Miller stepped next to the driver’s side and pushed his head next to hers.

“But you do still owe me,” he said.

She turned to look him in the eye. “Actually, I think we are even, Corporal,” she said. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

As she stepped on the gas and released the clutch, she turned the jeep down the long drive. As the dust cloud separated her from the American, she could feel the adrenaline leave her body, like water from a sieve. She felt every bump on the dirt lane, each one asking, “Why didn’t you just take the money?” She could imagine the smile on Miller’s face as he reached inside the wardrobe and found the reward she was sure he had come for. His payoff for selling Cooper up the river, for helping Schneider get his job, for spying on her.
Greed, betrayal, power.
Same old song, just in a different language.

Anna pulled the jeep into the parking spot outside the sprawling supply barracks. She had waved her papers and batted her eyes at the guard and succeeded in getting into the airfield. The exchange with Miller had thrown her off and she felt lightheaded. Her empty stomach could not absorb the anxiety. She leaned back against the seat and rubbed her temples with the flat of her hand, considering which of the barracks she should try first. The barracks to the right seemed as good as any. She went inside and was relieved to recognize the gum-chewing receptionist at her post. Anna was sweating through her blouse and her hair had come loose from its clip. She felt like a castaway wandering from the wilderness.

“I’m here to see Corporal Bender,” she announced, trying to pre-empt any questions. “It’s urgent.” She held up her papers.

The woman smacked the chewing gum between her teeth and surveyed the papers, then Anna’s face. She paused.

“An urgent supply matter?” she said, with dripping sarcasm.

Anna nodded.

The
Ami
shook her head. “Okay then, sign here and here.” She pushed the ledger at Anna, who signed her name as illegibly as she could manage, which was easy, given her shaking hands. The woman pointed her down the hall and Anna nodded her thanks before walking away as quickly as she could.
Please, please be here
, she thought.

Inside the supply room, Bender sat with his head over a large inventory book, chewing on a pencil. He looked pleased to see her.

“Anna Klein. You did come to see me again.” He straightened and held out a hand.

Anna smiled and shook his hand. She felt stupid and sure that she had made a mistake coming here.

Bender’s face darkened. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been gone with the wind. Have seat.” He walked around the counter and placed a stool next to her. “What can I do for you?”

Anna exhaled and tried to formulate a reasonable answer.

“I need to speak to Captain Cooper.”

Bender nodded. “I figured.” He picked up the receiver of the big black phone on his desk, dialed some numbers and instructed the person who answered to send Cooper over immediately.

“He’ll be in here in a few minutes. Poor guy, he’s busy dealing with supplies inventory out at the hangar.” He smiled. “So what’s going on?”

Anna shifted uncomfortably and pulled her bag to her chest. “I’m in some trouble and I need help.”

Bender grinned. “Hmmm.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “No, not like that. I am, at this moment, supposed to be sitting in the typing pool at the Collecting Point. I have been missing since lunchtime.”

“You don’t look missing to me,” Bender said.

“I spent the afternoon sneaking around a secured property outside of town. And, well, I took a jeep to get there,” Anna said.

Bender let a slow smile spread over his face. “I’m sorry, say again? You stole a jeep?”

Anna nodded. “Borrowed, really. But now I don’t know how to return it. I know I’ll lose my job. But I don’t want to be arrested, too.”

“What on earth possessed you to take a jeep?”

“I had to.” Anna straightened. “I was trapped in that damn typing pool and I knew something was wrong. With the boy—that’s another story. And I was right, he had run away from the camp, and so I decided to go out to where we found him to see if he was there, but he wasn’t. And then I got caught and now I don’t know what to do next. So I came here.” She slumped back down, elbows on the counter,
head in her hands.

Bender rubbed his for
ehead. “I gotta say, you and Cooper make quite the pair. This sounds just like some crap he’d pull.” He shook his head. “You people just have to break the rules, don’t you?”

Anna looked at him. “I was never like this before. I was a good German.”

“Well, you see where that got you,” Bender snorted and stood. “Sit tight. Cooper will be here soon.”

Anna said nothing as Bender walked around the counter and began sorting stacks of papers. They were silent as Anna ran over the events in her mind.

When Cooper arrived ten minutes later, Anna was surprised at how glad she was to see him. He smiled, but his face was drawn and his skin was sallow and gray, as if he had been deflated.

“How are you?” he asked.
Amis
always had to know how you were.

“I am all right,” she replied. “And you? You look terrible, if I may say so.”

Cooper pulled up a stool and sat down. “You may. Now tell me what’s going on. How the hell did you get here?”

“How much time do you have?” Anna said.

“For you, I’ve got all day,” Cooper said. “Now, go ahead.”

She didn’t get very far into the story before Cooper jumped in. “Major Phillips? You took a call from Phillips?”

He leaned in close and lowered his voice. Anna could smell coffee on his breath. “And you’re telling me that the Runge,
our Runge
is somehow in Frankfurt in Major Phillips’ office?”

Anna pursed her lips and nodded slowly. “
And
, he wants it appraised. Just that painting, nothing else.
And
, someone’s removed the gallery label.”

“The Runge was taken that night when I was out at the villa, remember?” he said rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sure of it now because it hasn’t turned up on the inventory list of the stash, not that it’s been officially catalogued and all.”

“Maybe Phillips was the one that took it,” Anna said.

“Yeah, not likely. I think I’d know if I
was getting the crap kicked out of me by my own superior. Anyway, Phillips is not the breaking-and-entering type. He’s more the lying down and napping type.”

“The painting could have landed on the black market. He could have bought it. Maybe it was a bribe. Or he confiscated it,” Anna said.

“We don’t even know who took the painting in the first place.”

“Maybe it was Schenk,” Anna said. “Or his friends. He’s not the breaking-and-entering type either, but he seems like he has friends who are.”

“Why do you say that? It could have been anyone.”

“Because, like I told you, Schenk told me yesterday that by trying to sell him that landscape I showed him our hand. As if to say he knows for sure we have the art from the basement. And remember how Schneider asked how I knew about the Gallerie Breuer when I brought it up that first day? If they knew about the art in the villa and the Runge, then that would have raised alarms for them. The painting you gave me came from the stash, so now they know for sure we have what was at the villa.”

“But we had already marked the repository when Schneider came here. He must have known we had the art then.”

“No, you hadn’t done it yet, remember? Someone took the Runge the next night when you were there. That means only you and I for sure saw the Runge in the villa, as part of that repository. It was never registered because it never made it to the Collecting Point with the rest of the pieces. And you didn’t mention what happened that night to anyone, did you?”

Cooper bit his lip. “Nope.”

“Did you report the stash or not?”

Cooper looked sheepish. “I didn’t at first. I told you, I wanted to buy some time. It was about three or four days after.”

“Your report isn’t in the file. Or I should say there’s no record of it having been received.
Who did you report it to?”