The Roses Underneath (42 page)

She reviewed her planned testimony in her head. Cooper suggested she stick to just the pertinent facts: stolen art found in villa, plot to infiltrate the Collecting Point to influence the restitution of those paintings, bribing an American officer and lying on the
Fragebogen
that had failed to be processed before offering Schneider the plum job. Anna felt uneasy about implicating any
Amis
in the wrongdoing, but she knew she would have to speak up if she was going to tell the truth.

“Frau Klein?” An American soldier with the crisp look of fresh laundry stood in the open door. “Please come with me. They are ready for you.” He held an arm out to usher her through the door and led the way down the long hallway. Anna could feel her stomach lurch upward, then downward, not sure of which direction to issue its protest. She could not help letting out a small gasp when the GI pushed open another, bigger door and she saw the panel of American officers sitting along a long table raised up on a pedestal. Their five heads turned toward her, expressionless and dull-eyed, before returning to the paperwork in front of them. Anna scanned the room. There was a small table with two chairs, both facing the panel. An MP
stood, legs splayed, in front of an open window at the corner of the room and a stenographer—an older woman with a tight blond bun and wrinkles like rivulets—sat in the other corner.

“Take a seat, Frau Klein,” the American head in the middle of the panel said. He wore thick glasses and a tired expression, both sitting on his face uncomfortably like a bad disguise. “We’ll get started shortly, just as soon as—” He stopped speaking when the door opened.

Anna turned, expecting to see Cooper, but instead found herself looking at Major Phillips, who strode toward the
Amis
without looking in her direction.

“Jim, so good to see you. Thanks for coming on short notice.” The middle one stood and extended a hand. “This won’t take long. Sorry for all the formality, but we need to get the book closed on this nonsense once and for all so we can get on with our lives.” He gestured to an empty chair at the end of the table. “Have a seat and we’ll get started.” He turned his face to Anna as Phillips lowered himself into the seat.

“Now, Frau Klein, let’s start with the basics. State your full name and present address for the record. I trust you have brought all your papers with you?” He looked at her, eyebrows raised with expectation.

Anna was unprepared for things proceeding without Cooper. She thought they would have sat at the table together, providing corroboration for each other’s stories, he helping her understand the strange way
Amis
talked when doing official business. Where was he this time?

“Frau Klein?” The American tapped his pencil.

“Yes, sir, I just want to ask, I thought Captain Cooper would be here as well?”

“We can start without him, I’m sure he won’t miss anything important.”

Phillips cleared his throat. “Actually, I’m also waiting on someone myself, but we can go ahead and get started. He should be here soon, and I need to get back to Frankfurt before lunch.”

All eyes turned to Anna and she felt the blood rise in her cheeks. She willed her voice to steady as she stated her particulars in reply to the middle one’s questions. As she spoke she scanned the other members of the panel. They were various incarnations of tired, gray men who seemed disinterested in her existence, much less her reason for being there.

The one on the right, a balding, thin man with a nearly square face, cleared his throat as he straightened his papers. He did not look at her when he spoke.

“Frau Klein, please state your case as clearly and succinctly as you can.”

Anna nodded and began recounting the events of the day when she and Cooper found the stash of art. She was unsure how much detail to go into without confusing the main points of her report. It was like trying to tell the plot of a novel—you always felt like you had to go back and explain things you left out. She began to sweat. Before she could get to the part about the missing Runge painting, the middle
Ami
held up a hand.

“Just a moment. You are telling me that you and Captain Cooper found this hidden stash of art in a basement in this abandoned villa. So it was taken to the Collecting Point, yes? What exactly is the problem? Please get to the point.”

“Sir, if you’ll let me continue, I will tell you the problem.” Anna controlled the irritation seeping into her voice.

The
Ami
on the right sighed. Phillips crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at Anna as if to dare her to go on.

“What I am saying is that by the time the art came to the Collecting Point, one of the pieces was missing. It was at about this time that Herr Ludwig Schneider was referred to us, to Captain Cooper, by Major Phillips for a position at the Collecting Point.”

“So?” a new
Ami
, the one on the left, spoke. “How do you know one of the pieces was missing? And what does Herr Schneider have to do with it?”

“I am getting to that, sir. I know one of the pieces was missing because I remember it from the villa. When the art arrived at the Collecting Point we saw right away that a particular painting was not among them. I know this for sure.” Now she was lying. The only reason she knew the Runge was missing was because Emil had stolen it after beating up Cooper in the middle of the night. She licked her lips. “And then the very same painting turned up in the possession of Major Phillips.”

“I fail to see how any of this ridiculous story is even provable,” Major Phillips snorted. “I don’t have any painting. I sent Schneider over to the CP because they needed qualified people. He’s a restorer and knowledgable about art. Doesn’t he deserve a job as much as you do, Frau Klein?”

Anna paused and considered her options. She decided to go all in before they could interrupt her again. “Herr Schneider is working with Konrad Schenk to bribe American officials in order to receive favorable treatment and gain access to the art at the Collecting Point and influence its restitution.
The art from the villa, which Herr Schneider claims is his, was stolen from Jewish collectors and gallery owners by him and the man you know as Herr Schenk. They should have turned it over to the Reichskulturkammer but they didn’t. They kept it for themselves. It’s all stolen. And Konrad Schenk is not really who he says he is anyway. His real name is Gerhart Heinrich. He was one of the most prolific art thieves in the Third Reich.” She had blurted out the whole story almost in one breath.

A smile appeared on the middle one’s face just before he let out a lengthy chuckle. “Well, Frau Klein, that’s quite a story. Why don’t you slow down and tell us how you intend to prove any of this. These are very serious charges. Are you aware of the consequences of making false accusations against an American officer?”

Anna looked at Phillips who wore a bemused expression. She remembered his yelling at Cooper the day she overheard them from the bottom of the stairs. Then he had seemed like a man under pressure. Now he was a man in total control. He had them all in his pocket. He knew something she didn’t know.

The middle Ami looked at his watch. “Let me ask you again, Frau Klein. How can you prove that one of the paintings is missing, not to mention any of the other accusations you are making?”

A scraping sound announced the door opening, and Anna swung around hoping finally to see Cooper’s face. Instead, this time it was Konrad Schenk. He strode into the room, his hand extended toward Major Phillips, who stood and returned the greeting with a smile as if seeing an old school friend.

“I am sorry to have kept you all waiting, I hope it’s not an inconvenience,” Schenk said in clear English. He slid into the chair next to Phillips and faced Anna. “Frau Klein.” He cocked his head in her direction and then spoke in English. “Good morning, Frau Klein.”

The American spoke, loudly this time, as if to sound more insistent. “Frau Klein is just telling us about how you, Herr Schenk, are not really you, and that along with Ludwig Schneider, you are conspiring to steal from the United States Army just as you stole from the Nazis and the Jews, apparently. She claims you gave Major Phillips a painting in order to earn his support, and, was there anything else you wanted to add Frau Klein?”

Anna squared her shoulders and sat up. “And there’s a boy involved too. He was living at the villa and—”

“Oh, yes, a boy, living in an abandoned house,” Schenk interrupted. “You want to blame that on me too? Anything else you’d like to blame on me? Hunger? Bombings? Genocide? I mean, we’re all guilty now aren’t we?” He laughed and Anna was surprised to see the
Amis
join in, as if Schenk was the floor show at a dinner theater.

When the chuckling had dissipated, the middle one spoke again. “Let me ask you, Herr Schenk, do you know of a—what was the name—Gerhart Heinrich?”

“Of course I know him. He had a small gallery in Mainz. He was well-known in the business. But he’s passed away. He was rather on in years.”

“So would you say that people in Wiesbaden would know if you were Gerhart Heinrich?”

Schenk laughed. “It’s a joke, no? Everyone knew Heinrich. What a stupid idea.”

“Do you have any idea why Frau Klein would make such an accusation against you?”

Schenk turned the corners of his mouth downward and rocked his head from side to side to ponder the possibilities. He shrugged. “I can’t honestly say. I do know that Frau Klein has been asking around for travel papers for her husband, the good Doctor Thomas Klein of Thuringia. Perhaps she thinks implicating me in some imaginary scheme will get her in your good graces. She even asked me for assistance by trying to sell me a painting, which is, of course, in clear violation of your laws. I refused to help her, so perhaps this is her retribution. It’s possible her husband has abandoned her and her little girl—no doubt it’s a terrifying thought for a woman alone. She is desperate.” He paused and turned directly to the Americans, who seemed more interested now. “Her husband is a communist, you know. He was well known to have participated in an underground movement to overthrow the government. I can only assume her political convictions are similar. Rather than question my credentials, I would perhaps ask you why the United States Army would have a communist in their employ.” He smiled as the Americans shifted in their seats. The square-faced one cleared his throat. None of them looked at Schenk.

Anna reeled from the assault and tried to comprehend what she had just heard.
She, a communist? This was the second time he had made this insinuation. Had she walked into a trap? Had Emil lied to her? Had she jumped to conclusions, wanting to believe Emil’s story to explain everything that had happened? Had he really set her up instead, to face this moment?

“Frau Klein, answer the question,” the middle
Ami
barked. Now he was interested in her.

“I’m sorry?” Anna stammered.

“I said, are you a communist?”

“No, I am not. I was never a communist. I was never a Nazi either. I never…” she sputtered, angry now. How dare these men turn on her this way? “I am just a German, a mother, trying to rebuild my life. I came here to tell the truth and that is what I am doing. I stand by everything I said.”

“I’ll ask one more time. How do you intend to prove your story? It is your word against that of Major Phillips.”

“Captain Cooper will support my story. You should ask him. And why don’t you ask Major Phillips how the obtained the painting that he has in his office. The one his secretary is trying to get appraised for him,” Anna replied, but she knew she had already lost.

Phillips leaned forward. “Young lady, what paintings I do or do not have in my office is hardly any of your concern. I resent very strongly your implication that I am guilty of any wrongdoing. How dare you impugn my reputation? Who the hell do you think you are?” he snarled, spitting the words at her.

The American on the panel who had not yet spoken finally cleared his throat. “Frau Klein, we cannot accept your accusations based on nothing but your opinion. We require some kind of documentation about the painting, about Herr Schenk.
A photograph, an inventory, even a witness. Anything that will support the story you have told us. Unless you can produce some proof, I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do. All we know is that you and Captain Cooper have been running amok in the Collecting Point and we have to put a stop to that.”

Anna sank back in her chair. She was being ambushed. Cooper had thrown her to the wolves. Was he on their side, too? When the middle
Ami
spoke again she barely heard him over the rush of voices in her head.

“And under no circumstances can we have a communist among our civilian workforce. Frau Klein, is it your wish to be reunited with your husband in Thuringia? It can be arranged for you to return to him in the Russian sector. In fact, that is my recommendation. That would be preferable for all involved, would it not?”

“No, I do not wish to go back,” Anna said. “My husband is coming here to be with us. I have done nothing wrong. I am not a communist.” A bilious panic rose in her throat.
Damn that Cooper.

The square-faced
Ami
spoke. “Am I to understand that you are living here with your daughter?”