“For agreeing to go the dance with David. Friedrich is so shy that he wouldn’t have asked me in a million years. Would you do me a favor?”
“If I can.”
“Would you be my maid of honor? You’re about the only family I have, so—” Elena did not finish because Zoe wrapped her arms around her and gave her a tremendous hug, squeezing the breath out of her.
***
Friedrich hummed a song under his breath while he walked down the corridor of his office building, a huge smile on his face. He had placed a carnation in his lapel that morning. He paused and sniffed the flower as Joe, the new janitor, stopped his mopping to watch him, and shook his head. Friedrich greeted him with a nod and continued to hum when he entered his office.
“Good morning,” Friedrich greeted David, who was sitting with his feet propped up on the desk.
“Good morning?” David swung himself around, his feet hitting the floor with a thump. He cast a glance out of the window to the miserable weather, and then turned to Friedrich with a mock scowl. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Freddy?”
“The Nazis got me and have replaced me with a spy,” Friedrich joked as he took off his jacket.
“That’s pathetic. They would have replaced you with someone who told better jokes. So, you got some ‘you know’ finally, huh?” David grinned and returned to reading his file.
“Better than that, Mr. Harrison... Much, much better.”
“Nothing is better than ‘you know,’” David muttered. He peeked over the edge of his file, watching while Friedrich took off his hat and with a flourish sent it sailing towards the hat rack. It missed and fell in the rubbish bin. David burst out laughing.
Friedrich shrugged. Nothing could disrupt his good mood. “You’re going to a wedding, David.”
“Did Edna finally settle on a new date?” David asked, referring to their mail clerk, who had invited them to her wedding only to have it postponed due to the groom’s shattered nerves.
“Not that I know of.” Friedrich retrieved his hat, and then put his hand over David’s file. A huge grin stretched the muscles of his face as he delivered the greatest piece of news of his entire life. “She said yes.”
“Who said yes?” David asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Miss Elena Mannheim, soon to be Mrs. Friedrich Jacobs — a gorgeous, intelligent woman.”
David grinned. He got up and put his arm around Friedrich’s shoulders. “So you finally asked her. Good one, old boy!”
“She said yes, do you believe that?”
“No, but then I don’t understand women,” David replied. He ducked to avoid Friedrich’s playful punch. “So when is the big day?”
Friedrich settled in his chair, still smiling. “We haven’t discussed it, but I hope it’s soon.”
“Me, too. You’re too happy.” David was hit on the head by a balled-up piece of paper. “Are we going to do some work today, or daydream about the lovely Elena?”
“We have to work?”
“Yes, that’s what they pay us to do.” David shook his head. “Here are the photo files we received last night, remember? You go through this lot and I’ll go through these. For your information, we got another shipload yesterday we’ll have to start on after we finish this bunch.”
David handed him the files and the photographs from Immigration and they settled down to go through the thousands of names, crosschecking them against their wanted lists.
Friedrich stopped for a moment and glanced over at David. He had a question that needed to be answered. “David, would you be my best man?”
“Only if you pay me.” David grinned and got another crumpled ball of paper bounced off his head. “Yes, of course I’ll be your best man. Who else would organize your bucks’ night?”
They settled down to work once again and spent the next couple of hours looking at their respective lists. Friedrich scowled at the photo in his hand and checked it against the photograph those that Immigration had given them. The woman looking back at him had lighter hair than the one in the photograph from Immigration, but that would not be hard to change.
“I think I may have something,” he said. David got up from his desk and stood behind Friedrich, who handed him the information sheet on the woman in the photo. Friedrich read the reports and was sickened. He had read many reports that had made him sick to his stomach, but even he was shocked by what he was reading now.
“She worked at Bergen,” David said quietly.
“And Auschwitz...my God,” Friedrich whispered as his mind registered that the names of two of the most wanted war criminals were connected with the woman. “Dr. Kurt Gutzeit, Dr. Bruno Weber, and Dr. Josef Mengele...she assisted all of them.”
“The Angel of Death.” David pulled over a chair and sat down next to Friedrich. His hatred for the man known as the Angel of Death — Dr. Josef Mengele — was well known in the department, and especially to Friedrich. David had spent time in Germany searching for Mengele, who, through his hideous genetic experiments, was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews sent to Auschwitz. David had spoken to survivors of that horror camp and listened to countless tales about the man who had decided who lived and who died.
Friedrich recalled an interview David had had with one survivor, Hani Schick, a mother of twins who, together with her children, had been subjected to experiments by Mengele. She had told David of Mengele’s tortures and how her two children had died agonizing deaths.
Friedrich took a deep breath and put the file down. His earlier good humor had evaporated. “Where is Mengele?”
“Probably halfway to Argentina,” David replied, still reading the file. “Weber has been arrested and is awaiting trial.” He picked up the photograph and stared at the smiling, happy woman. “These men are animals, but you would think that a woman would have had more compassion,” he whispered. “What does the Immigration file say?”
Friedrich picked up the paper, his hand shaking a little at the realization that a member of the “medical team” from Auschwitz — the monsters who had taken the Hippocratic Oath and then butchered thousands — was apparently in Sydney. “According to the transportation papers, her name is Erika Wagner. Her photograph matches that of Greta Inga Strauss, assistant to Drs. Mengele, Gutzeit, and Weber. Mrs. Wagner is married to John Wagner and arrived here on January 10. I don’t have any information on him.”
David held the two photographs in his hand. “I want to find this bitch.”
Friedrich could only agree with all his heart.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Friedrich sat back in his chair and let out a discontented sigh. It had been a frustrating day, although neither he nor David was at all surprised that the address on the immigration papers had proven to be wrong. He had not thought that Greta Strauss would put down her correct details. Some of the criminals they were seeking had “kangaroos in the top paddock,” as David described them, meaning they were not very bright. This woman, though, was very smart, and from the eyewitness accounts, also very dangerous.
He and David had spent the afternoon looking for the address the department had listed for her, which had turned out to be nothing but a hole in the ground at a new building site. Neither man was very happy about their findings, and to add insult to injury, it was still raining. The very warm, muggy weather, the rain, and the wild goose chase had resulted in two cranky investigators.
Back at the office, the whirring overhead fan did nothing to alleviate Friedrich’s discomfort as the humidity sapped his energy and his willpower.
“Freddy, go home,” David said. He came into the office carrying another stack of files, letting them drop on his already messy desk.
“Do you think she’s still here?” Friedrich asked. He mopped sweat from his brow with his shirt sleeve.
“I don’t know, mate. I hope she is.” David sighed. He picked up the photograph of Greta and put it up on his notice board, then took two steps back to look at it. “
If she is, I want to make sure we don’t have any cock-ups or spying janitors to fuck things up.”
Friedrich looked up sharply at David’s swearing, but chose not to say anything about it, since they were both tired and irritable. “Why are you putting her picture up if we don’t want to alert the grapevine that we know that she’s here?”
David looked back at him sheepishly and took the photo down. “I’m getting old.”
“Aren’t we all,” Friedrich muttered. He took the photographs from David and put them in the file, which he placed in his briefcase. “I’m going home. I suggest you do too. Good night, David.”
“Night, mate,” David replied. “I’m looking forward to going home and relaxing with my girl.”
***
Friedrich closed the car door and ran up the path to the block of apartments. He put his briefcase on top of his head as protection against the rain that continued to pelt down. He opened the foyer door and rushed inside. He wiped his briefcase with his hand before bounding up the stairs.
He stopped at the landing and tried to smooth his rain-dampened hair with the palms of his hands, then took off his tie and shoved it into his briefcase. He checked himself again before going to Elena’s apartment and knocking. He frowned when he did not get a reply.
Zoe’s door opened and her head popped out. She grinned. “Hey, Friedrich, she’s over here.” She pulled the door open wide and held it for him.
As soon as he stepped through the doorway, he was greeted by Eva and Earl, who were seated at the table playing chess. Elena came out of the kitchen with a smile, going over to him and giving him a hug and a chaste kiss.
“Congratulations, Friedrich!” Eva and Earl both said. Turning his attention back to the board, Earl moved one of his pawns.
“Thank you,” Friedrich said shyly. He was even more surprised when Zoe hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“I’m very happy for both of you,” Zoe whispered. She turned away from him to give Elena a hug.
“Are you free tomorrow for dinner?” Eva asked.
Elena looked at Friedrich, who shrugged. “Yep, we’re free. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
They bade farewell to their friends and left the apartment hand-in-hand, Friedrich forcing himself not to grin like a fool at the sharp but wonderful feel of the diamond engagement ring that was pressing into his palm.
***
Zoe closed the door and went back into the kitchen. She brought three cups, and gave Earl and Eva a cup of tea before taking hers over to her workspace. She placed both hands on the cup, looked at her work on the art table, and grinned.
“She’s not painting you again, is she?” Earl asked while he took a sip of tea, glancing up at the grinning Zoe.
“I hope not,” Eva replied. “Zoe, what are you painting?”
“Something for the bedroom,” Zoe replied.
“A nice landscape?” Earl asked. He looked at the chessboard, then back up at Eva with a scowl.
“Yeah, a mountain with valleys and peaks,” Zoe replied. Eva coughed and spilled the tea all over the chessboard, causing Zoe to clap a hand over her mouth.
“Hey, are you all right?” Earl came around the table to pat Eva on the back.
“Oh, yeah.” Eva rose to get a towel from the kitchen. She came back out and put her arms around Zoe’s shoulders. Zoe leaned back into her. Eva pulled Zoe’s hair back from her face and whispered in her ear.
Zoe’s hands went very still while she listened. A bright blush started creeping up her neck and face. Eva gave her a peck on the cheek before rejoining Earl at the chessboard.
Earl continued to watch Zoe while Eva wiped the spilled tea off the board.
Zoe headed for the balcony door, opened it, and stepped outside into the cool evening air, leaning on the wet railing and letting the light rain fall on her for a few moments.
“Is Zoe okay?” Earl asked. “She looks a bit flushed.”
“Yes,” Eva replied. She glanced outside at the balcony, and gave Zoe a wink. Despite the cool shower she had just subjected herself to, Zoe remained flushed and flustered. And that was all Eva’s fault.
***
Elena closed the door to her apartment and turned to find Friedrich smiling at her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up into his brown eyes.
“I have been floating all day today,” she said. She leaned up and gave him a kiss, mindful of his glasses. “Did you tell David?”
“Yep, sure did. I asked him to be my best man.”
“Oh, that’s nice! Eva and Zoe are going to be there for me.” Elena took his jacket and briefcase and laid them down on a low table. Taking his hand, she led him to the sofa and they sat down next to each other. “Did you have a good day?”
Friedrich’s smile turned rueful. “I’m not sure what a good day is supposed to be like at our office. We lose someone and it’s a bad day; we find someone and it’s still a bad day.”
“Catching them to face justice is good, isn’t it?”
Friedrich nodded. “Yes, it’s good. But for every one of these people we catch, more escape and go free.”
“Like rats,” Elena said quietly.
“Yeah. Today, I think we may have caught one in our net—an assistant to Dr. Josef Mengele.”
“Who is Dr. Mengele?”
Friedrich sighed. “I’m so glad you don’t know. He performed medical experiments on Jews at Auschwitz. He would decide people’s fates as they came in on those trains. I’ve read one report that said he put up a chalk mark on a bunk, and any child not reaching that mark was sent to the gas chambers.” He took a deep breath and put his arm around Elena’s shoulders, holding her tightly.
Elena put her head on Friedrich’s shoulder. She shook her head sadly at yet another brutality against the Jews, and shuddered at the thought of children being killed on one man’s whim. “Have they caught him?”
“No,” Friedrich said, a muscle working in his jaw as he suppressed some powerful emotion. “He’s probably off to Argentina or Brazil. That’s where a lot of Nazis fled, you know, because those countries are fascist friendly; they’re sympathetic to Hitler.” He sounded bitter.
“Your family died in Auschwitz. You don’t think...” Elena did not want to say the words aloud because it pained her to think of Friedrich’s family in that butcher’s hands.
Friedrich nodded. “My sisters died at Auschwitz. I wish you could have met them. You would have liked them. They were fun. They were very beautiful girls, with dark hair and grey eyes. I got my mother’s brown eyes, but they looked like Papa. Heidi was a little older than Viveka.” He smiled.
“Heidi and Viveka—they are beautiful names. How old were they?”
“Fifteen,” Friedrich said, his voice breaking into the hush that had fallen between them.
Elena gasped at the realization that Friedrich’s sisters might have been part of Mengele’s experiments. There were silent tears trailing down his cheeks. She brushed them away and said, “I’m so sorry, Friedrich.” She kissed him and held on to him. “Do you know where this assistant is? Are you going to catch him?”
“It’s a woman, a cold-blooded Nazi butcher,” Friedrich said bitterly.
“I’m sure you and David will catch this monster...won’t you?”
“At lunch time I went down to the synagogue and prayed. I made a promise that I would do everything I can to catch her and send her to Nuremberg.”
“I know you’ll catch her,” Elena said with conviction. She wanted to believe that good people did win out in the end, and that was how things worked. “Do you know where she lives?”
“Nope. She gave a false address. We wasted a couple of hours tracking down an address that ended up being a hole at a construction site. Maybe something will turn up on Monday.”
“You never know how these things will turn out, sweetheart.”
“Hmm. Do you want to snuggle a bit?” Friedrich asked. He got his answer when Elena put her head back down on his
shoulder.
***
Greta looked out the window and sighed. She felt as though she was a prisoner even though there were no bars on the window. Her dreams of starting a new life had evaporated as soon as she had arrived in Sydney. The promise of freedom was a lie. Australia was on the other side of the world, but even here they were searching for former members of the Nazi party. No matter how far she fled, she could not escape pursuit. Word of her arrival had reached the authorities. How that news got to them was a mystery, one that she was determined to uncover.
A few well-placed calls to those who sympathized with the Third Reich’s cause allowed Greta to stay one step ahead of the authorities. The best solution would be to find a way out of Sydney, but she had unfinished business. Eva was here. She was determined to win her back, and then she would leave.
Randolph Wierner was a tall, broad shouldered, young man with blond hair and the bluest eyes Greta had ever seen. A true Aryan, she had thought when she met him. He had been her contact as soon as she left the ship and had helped her with the necessary paperwork.
She knew him as Randolph but suspected that was not his real name. She really did not care one way or the other, as long as he kept her true identity a secret. The encounter with Eva was a mixed blessing. She was not sure why she had gone to the Interpreter Service. Randolph had told her it was a stupid move, but she was sure there had been divine intervention at work.
Greta turned to face Randolph, who was standing in the lounge of her new house. “Do they know I’m here?”
“No. I’ve gone through their files and your name does appear, but it’s in the finalized section. They think you’re dead.”
“I think this is where I say, ‘The news of my death is greatly appreciated!’” She laughed at the idiocy of the War Crimes investigator’s office. “I thought you said they were thorough.”
“They usually are. They caught Muller and Rhimes.” Randolph sounded dismissive.
Greta rolled her eyes. She had finally been briefed about what had happened and wondered how a man like Rhimes, whom she had thought intelligent, could allow Muller, who must have been out of his mind, to entertain the thought of going after Eva because she was a lesbian. Stupid men!
Where Shadows Linger (Intertwined Souls Series Book 2) Page 42