The Alice Factor

by J. Robert Janes

  Some of the conversations held overtones of excitement and false laughter, but for the most part, the tenor of the place was subdued and earnest.

  Clearly they’d been given something to think about, and those with sense were a little in awe of it.

  Sitting at a table for five against the far wall, Irmgard looked like a beautiful butterfly with a broken wing, Dee Dee like a pillar of salt.

  Hagen started out. Guderian … Rosenberg, Goebbels and Himmler were there. Von Blomberg, Raeder, Goering and von Fritsch … Von Blomberg was worried, Goering happy. Raeder was explaining things to Canaris, who turned away to look across the floor at him.

  Momentarily he met the admiral’s gaze. There was nothing in it. Nothing.

  Yet he felt that gaze as he continued on to where the girls were seated.

  “Irmgard … Dee Dee … this is a surprise.”

  He kissed them both, felt how cold they were. “Who’s joining us?”

  “Don’t you know?” Apprehensively Irmgard glanced at Dee Dee, who blanched and dropped her gaze to the table.

  He shook his head. “Dieter, I guess. The note only said that I was to come to lunch here.”

  “But we thought …”

  Hagen sat down. Nervously Irmgard said to the head waiter, “Herr Reitmann, I demand to know who has invited us to lunch.”

  Reitmann had the experience of forty years and the wisdom to do as he’d been told. He snapped his fingers. The wine steward brought an ice cold bottle of Steinberger. A waiter brought their soup.

  “It is to be a little surprise, ja? Just the three of you and then—” he indicated the empty chairs “—perhaps the other guests will join you. Please enjoy your meal.”

  “Dee Dee, everything’s okay. Irmgard and I’ll make sure of that.”

  “And Dieter?” she asked. He could see the hurt in her lovely dark eyes. “We thought … ah, what the hell does it matter? I thought he wanted to see me. This—” she indicated the black velvet dress “—was to be for him.”

  “And this,” said Irmgard, “for you.”

  “You’re making me feel as if I’d stood the two of you up. Hey, come on, relax. Dieter must simply have been detained. You know how he is. He’s set this whole thing up as a surprise.”

  “Then who is the other chair for?” asked Irmgard anxiously.

  Hagen ignored the question. “Dee Dee, you look absolutely stunning in that dress.”

  Irmgard had done her hair with a wave down over the right side of her brow. The pale blue satin dress and silver neck chains suited. There was lipstick, too, and a touch of rouge.

  The waiter came. She shook her head, and he took her untouched soup away.

  Immaculate in a brand-new black uniform, Reinhard Heydrich joined them. As she stood suddenly, Dee Dee’s napkin fell into her soup and trailed across the edge of the tablecloth before falling to the floor. Irmgard found herself unable to speak.

  “Ladies, please … please be seated. It’s lovely to see you all together. Fräulein Schroeder …” He clicked his heels, bowed and kissed the back of her hand. “Fräulein Hunter …” The same. “And Herr Hagen. Richard, it’s so good to see you again. Please … please … you are my guests.”

  He gathered them in, was full of smiles and excuses. “Late as usual. You must forgive me. Richard, I hear you shook the Führer’s hand this morning. He was very impressed with you.”

  A waiter brought his soup, but Heydrich curtly waved it away. “I can’t stay. Please, I had intended to but …” He gestured expansively. “A sip of wine. At least I can share that with you.”

  Heydrich stripped Dee Dee naked with his eyes. He had about him a boldness that was offensive. “Dieter Karl has been called away, I gather. A pity, Fraulein Schroeder. He has much to miss.”

  He gave her a little smile and then, turning to Irmgard, said, “Your brother’s bound to go places, Fräulein Hunter. You should be very proud of him.”

  “Herr Heydrich …”

  She couldn’t say it. Hagen did. “Dee Dee wishes to leave the Reich, Herr Gruppenführer. A theater engagement in New York. One of Ibsen’s plays.”

  “But that is good news. Is there some problem, something I should know about?”

  Dee Dee found the will to look at him. “They have taken my passport and locked up my money.”

  “A mistake. I assure you. Come, come now. Please leave the matter in my good hands. There is nothing to worry about. Nothing. Those dolts … Sometimes one wonders, isn’t that so?”

  The moment passed. They spoke of Berlin, of the Reich. There was to be a reception that evening. He hoped they’d all be there.

  Heydrich glanced at his watch, then let his gaze settle on Irmgard. Hagen … could the girl be used? That was always the question one had to answer with the people one met. The girl was healthy, quite passable, and if the reports were true—and he was certain they were—in love with the salesman, though that little favor had yet to be returned.

  A girl in Antwerp interfered. A receptionist …

  “Your brother, Fräulein Hunter. Really, he should know better.”

  About what? About leaving Dee Dee in the lurch, about refusing to join Heydrich for lunch with Canaris looking on? About working for the Krupp, or about something else? Hagen wondered apprehensively.

  With a bow, a click of his heels and “Richard, I hope we’ll see you again soon,” he was gone from them.

  Irmgard could hardly find her voice. “I think I’m going to be sick. I feel as if his hands are on my body and I can do nothing about it. Nothing!”

  It was Dee Dee who said, “His shadow has passed over all of us.”

  Water poured off the rider’s hat, cape and cavalry boots. A little man, squat, straight-backed and watchful, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris gave the Arab mare a nudge and walked her down through the trees.

  Standing by the fountain, at the juncture of four paths in the Tiergarten, Hagen waited for him.

  It was 6:30 a.m. Steam issued from the horse’s nostrils.

  The man who had asked to meet with him at the reception last night was already a legend. At the age of fifty Canaris had seen more of the world, more of life than most men ever dreamed of. Fluent in French and English, he had learned Spanish in 1907 as a young midshipman aboard the Bremen in South American waters.

  Since then, what hadn’t he done? Where hadn’t he been? Torpedo boats, the cruiser Dresden as its first lieutenant and chief negotiator with the Glasgow, under whose guns the Dresden had been pounded and then scuttled.

  Interned by Chile on the island of Juan Fernando Quiriquina, he had made a daring and difficult escape across the Andes on foot, on horseback and then by boat down the Parana River, taking nearly eight months to reach Buenos Aires by Christmas 1915.

  Not satisfied to stay more than a few days, he had embarked on a Dutch steamer using a forged passport and posing as a Chilean widower. So good had his cover been, both the British passengers on board and then the military authorities in Plymouth had been completely fooled. Allowed to proceed to Rotterdam, he had easily entered Germany using his Chilean passport.

  Since then? Military intelligence in the Mediterranean, working under cover out of Spain, setting up bases and supply lines for submarines, then thirsting for command, a U-boat of his own. Other things. Lots of them.

  And now the Abwehr, the German military’s secret service.

  “Admiral, you wished to see me.”

  “You’re not riding. I was looking for a man on horseback.”

  Hagen’s laughing gray-blue eyes passed over him as he took hold of the mare’s bridle and began to rub her muzzle.

  “I’m afraid that’s what your associates in the SD and the Gestapo are thinking, Admiral. This way, we’ll have a few quiet moments to ourselves.”

  The sausages were excellent, the coffee superb. Canaris had chosen well. Set in the middle of the woods, beside a tiny man-made lake, the Jagdschloss Tiergarten’s timbered ceiling rose high above the stone firepl
ace, in which there was a welcome fire.

  “We staff it and own it, Herr Hagen. For us the hunting lodge is a bit of pleasure away from the cares and noise of the city. You need have no fears about Herr Heydrich. For him and his men, the Jagdschloss is verboten. In return, we leave such places as are his alone. It is, if you like, a sort of mutual understanding. We may speak freely. No one will hear us.”

  The admiral loved intrigue. No paperwork man, the two of them had much in common.

  “Then perhaps you’d tell me why you wanted to see me.”

  Canaris gave a fleeting smile. “I couldn’t help but notice you with the Gruppenführer-SS at Horcher’s. Herr Heydrich is a man who can seldom control his impulses with the opposite sex. My informants tell me that after the reception last night he paid the Fräulein Schroeder a little visit and stayed longer than usual. The Baron Dieter Karl Hunter was, I gather, not present.”

  “And his sister? She usually stays with Dee Dee.”

  Pleased by the salesman’s reaction, Canaris said apologetically, “My men can’t watch everyone. The Reich is really not my field of inquiry.”

  Heydrich with Dee Dee? Canaris could be bluffing. “She needs a passport and permission to leave. I’d be grateful if you’d see what you could do.”

  “Would Zurich suit?”

  “Zurich? Y-yes, of course, although I told Herr Heydrich New York.”

  The surprise Zurich had created was also pleasing. “Then consider it done.”

  Needing time to think, the salesman reached for a last piece of toast. Had Heydrich already made a deal with him? Was such a thing even possible?

  “Dieter tells me you’d like to have your own mining company. To go back into the Congo would be a mistake. I, too, have malaria. It’s God’s curse on the wanderer.”

  Hagen set his knife aside. “Given the right incentives, I’d still be interested.”

  Canaris gave a slight nod. “How much would you need to set up such a company—assuming you’d be free to do so?”

  A waiter came to clear away. Hagen asked for more coffee. “Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling.”

  “All at once?” Mein Gott …

  “Staged, Admiral. Fifty thousand, then one hundred and then the rest. It’d be enough to get the ball rolling, assuming you were thinking of doing so. It’s not cheap, and there’s no sense in thinking it is. The Congo’s a very big place.”

  “Could you find another Mbuji-Mayi?”

  “Not without the sanction of La Forminière and the Belgian government.”

  “King Leopold, yes. I gather he’s opposed to your moving the Antwerp diamond stocks to London?”

  “Your informants are … what should I say, Admiral? Better than Herr Heydrich’s? Yes, I guess they are.”

  Canaris sat back to study him. “Would you leave what must be a very good position so easily, I wonder? You’ve high-placed friends in London, Herr Hagen. Let’s not discount them.”

  “They want me as a salesman, Admiral, not as someone at the top.”

  “But surely Sir Ernest Oppenheimer could find something more suitable for a man of your talents?”

  “Good salesmen are hard to find, Admiral. When they’re as successful as I’ve been, management likes to keep them selling.”

  Everything in the Baron Dieter Karl Hunter’s reports, and there had been several over the past three years, had told Canaris to proceed with caution.

  There had to be some other weakness. A woman? he wondered. Friends … Hagen’s feelings of loyalty to them.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t asked for a small retainer just to tide you over. Surely a man of the world such as yourself could use a little cash?”

  Hagen let his eyes drift away. Then he said what he knew he’d regret. “I happened on a blue diamond while in London, Admiral. It cost me far too much.”

  Canaris stifled the sudden surge of elation he felt. It was always a challenge to probe a man like Hagen.

  Giving the salesman a curt nod, he said, “I think we understand each other perfectly. I’m glad we’ve had this chance to meet. Yes, it’s been most fortuitous. We’ll talk again.”

  TO WINFIELD MRS LOIS ANNE INVERLIN COTTAGE BLACK DOWN HEATH PORTESHAM ROAD DORCHESTER ENGLAND

  FROM HAGEN RICHARD HOTEL ADLON BERLIN

  IT SEEMS A SHAME SCHEDULE SO UNCERTAIN STOP WILL OR WON’T COME STOP TRIP TO FINLAND NORWAY WILL NOT TAKE MORE THAN FIVE DAYS STOP CUTS IT FINE BUT HOPE YOU’LL UNDERSTAND STOP I’LL TRY TO TELL YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE STOP PARIS WILL BE DELIGHTFUL STOP WITH THAT BEHIND US LET’S HOPE FOR CHRISTMAS STOP WILL JOIN YOU SOON STOP LOVE HAGEN

  Decoded, the message would read:

  TO THE CARPENTER FROM ALICE

  BELIEVE INVASION AUSTRIA DISCUSSED 5 NOVEMBER HITLER AND GENERALS BERLIN / DIAMONDS A PRIORITY / HEYDRICH AND CANARIS HAVE MADE APPROACHES / SUSPECT HUNTER DIETER KARL ABWEHR AGENT / ALICE

  Outside the Central Station the broad thoroughfare of the De Keyserlei and the Meir cut a wide swath toward the port of Antwerp. Arlette waited to cross over. As always at closing time thousands of bicycles joined the streams of traffic.

  She’d been meaning to bring her bike from home but had put it off for so long, she wondered if she ever would.

  Oh, for sure it would save on the tram fare. But her father … Even now he would look at the bicycle and hope she’d come home to live.

  Richard had liked her parents. He’d been so good with them. Yet he was a stranger to them, an outsider, older than she and an American. Perhaps most of all they had feared he might take her to America to live.

  Richard was not just a superb dancer as Lev had said. He was fabulous! They’d gone to the Kursaal, then to the big ballroom at the Imperial where she’d worn the blue diamond pendant. He’d treated her parents to dinner. They’d watched the two of them dance. Light as a feather and so close, so dreamy …

  Then the roulette wheels and baccarat, her mother’s eyes wide with alarm, her father’s appreciative.

  The traffic stopped. The streams of pedestrians converged, she out in front a little. Off to her right something moved, but it was only a street photographer clutching his camera and hovering on the fringes of life. For five francs they would take your photograph, then contact you later with the picture. It was a hard way to make a living and not the best kind of people did it.

  The girl reached the curb and began to window-shop. She hesitated over shoes, thought about a pair of gloves, or was it a new handbag?

  For the longest time she looked at men’s sweaters. Twice she almost turned to glance over a shoulder. Once she turned suddenly away.

  She began to walk more quickly. Berlin had said to be careful. The girl was not to suspect a thing.

  Jake Van Eyk went on ahead of her and took two other shots. One he sold. The girl passed by. A creature of habit. The same route every night. Some women never learn.

  At a nod from Karl Christian Damas, he caught the bitch as she was gazing up toward the cathedral’s tower. Light not too bad. God in her eyes, or was it forgiveness?

  “Hey, you buy it, my pretty one? For you, three francs, ja?”

  His voice, the angular look of him as he grew out of nowhere to confront her made her shy away. Grinning, leering, a cigarette dangling, he came at her. An older man … a lecher … “No! I cannot. Now please, let me past!”

  “Your name?”

  She colored quickly. “I don’t want it!”

  “Address? Hey, I can blow this one up for your boyfriend.”

  He took another. He embarrassed the hell out of her, and when she ran for a passing tramcar, she didn’t look back. Even so, Damas followed her.

  It would be good to talk to her, good to get to know her, but he’d wait for that.

  By the time she had reached the Grote Markt next the cathedral, she’d settled down.

  Berlin would be pleased.

  Part Two

  Winter 1938 – Summer 1939

  The little fishes of the sear />
  They sent an answer back to me

  Six

  ONLY THE SOUND OF slowly unfolding paper, crisp and dry on the warm, still air, came to Arlette in the grayness of the vault at Dillingham’s.

  Alone, well after hours, she opened the paper more fully, then caught and held her breath.

  The diamonds were a soft rose color—glassies, fancies, Top Cape and Cape—tinted stones of gem quality with excellent clarity even in the rough; fancies because, in the trade, that was what the dealers usually called them.

  Against the stark white of the paper, the stones were absolutely exquisite.

  Some were modified octahedra—they were not perfect crystals, not exactly the double, four-sided pyramids that had grown base to base. Others were of the more complex dodecahedral form whose twelve sides tended to have curved edges so that the crystals were rounded.

  With the industrial stones such shapes as the dodecahedron would be used for bearings, the tiniest ones in watches, but with gems like these, ah no, they were far too valuable, and wouldn’t it be a crime to wear such things to dust?

  Matched as to color, the stones varied in weight from 0.48 of a carat to 3.74 carats, and there were eighteen of them, more than enough for a necklace, the product of years of patient acquisition.

  Taking up the tweezers, she placed the smallest of the diamonds in the left-hand pan of the precision balance. As always, the weights given by the bourse were exact. Each time de Heer Wunsch went to the sights at the Beurs voor Diamanthandel or any of the other Antwerp bourses, it was the same. Though the stones had been weighed, they must be weighed again before logging the packet into the contents of the vault. The only change in routine was that now, after some practice, he trusted her to do the job.

  He would pick her up later and sign the logbook to witness what she’d entered; she hoped he’d not be late. The continued crisis over Austria had agitated everyone. It was only understandable that he should have wished to meet with the rest of the Committee.

  Things had not gone well in Brussels with King Leopold and his government, nor had they in London apparently. Though still supposedly a secret, the fate of the Antwerp diamond stocks had so permeated the office and shops, one couldn’t help but worry.