“That’s a joke. You see, Germans do have a sense of humor. That they don’t is another misconception. Actually, Germany is home to the eighth largest Jewish community in the world.”
“How many Jews are there in Berlin?” Hallelujah asked pointedly.
“Maybe thirty thousand in Berlin and about a quarter of a million in Germany. We have some beautiful synagogues in Berlin,” Alexander said. “There’s the Neue or New Synagogue, on Oranienburger Strasse in Central Berlin. It was constructed in 1866 and left in ruins after Kristallnacht and the allied bombing of Berlin. It’s been restored and now is a liberal place of worship and a memorial and museum with a permanent exhibition tracing the history of the synagogue. We could get married on the top floor there. I think the rabbi would marry an interfaith couple.
“There are a lot of monuments you might be interested in seeing when we get to Berlin. There’s the Jewish museum and an outdoor Holocaust Memorial, near the Brandenburg Gate and the new American Embassy, called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which consists of two thousand seven hundred eleven slabs of gray concrete, some rising as high as thirteen feet. I think you’ll be surprised. We’ll fly your parents over.”
“I never agreed to live in Berlin.”
“Will you at least give it a chance? I think it would be a wonderful tribute if we raised our family in the Hirschfelds’ home. A new generation, out of the ashes.”
“I understand there is a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and sentiment in Berlin, and neo-Nazi groups throughout Germany.”
“We have many problems to confront, many issues to solve, and not all our people have learned from the past,” admitted Alexander. “But there is a rebirth of sorts in Berlin. We have a very active Jewish community. We could start by building a bridge.”
Hallelujah sighed. She supposed she could go to Berlin, see the house, test her comfort level in the city. If she felt the least bit threatened, then that would be a deal-breaker. Tipping the scales was the way she felt about Alexander, the way her heart expanded every time she looked at him. The way she couldn’t look away. The feeling that they belonged together, that this was a match made in heaven. As though he were a stolperstein, she had stumbled upon Alexander, the one man she was meant for. And together, they would find the right path.
She jumped into Alexander’s arms.
“Is that a Yes?” he asked hopefully.
Hallelujah laughed. “It’s a definite Yes.”
Alexander kissed his bride and hugged her.
“Well, we’ve already had our honeymoon. So I guess we need to fulfill our promise to Hannah. It won’t be easy. It might be dangerous.”
“Nothing worth doing is ever easy, and we’ll be doing it together.”
Chapter Twenty
Hallelujah
When they arrived at the airport in Berlin, Hallelujah crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes, and listened to the cacophony around her. Everything sounded guttural in German. It was a strange language.
“Nervous?” Alexander asked.
“A little. I feel like I’m going to be arrested by the Gestapo any minute.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re just not used to the German language.”
“I feel like I’m out of place, like I’m not wanted here.”
“You are wanted, by me.”
Hallelujah watched the guards patrol the perimeter of der Flughafen. Even the word “airport” sounded ominous in German.
“Where are we going now?”
“Home, to my place.”
“But the people who tried to kill you know where you live. It’s not safe. And we have the diamonds and all of Hannah’s documents. The banks aren’t open this time of night.”
“It’s safe enough. I have to warn you, though, I don’t know how much progress the contractors made since I left. It should be almost finished, but I can’t guarantee what the place looks like.”
“Why can’t we stay at a hotel? Then no one would know where we are. And we’d have time to figure out our next step.”
“That makes a lot of sense. If it would make you feel more comfortable, we can do that. I know just the place. The Hotel Adlon Kempinski. It’s a five-star luxury hotel on Unter den Linden—that means ‘under the linden.’ The linden are lime trees. It’s right in the heart of the city, where all the spies stayed during World War II, at least according to the novels I’ve read.”
“That’s comforting. Too bad I didn’t bring my trench coat.”
“You don’t need a trench coat to enjoy Berlin. And when I show you around, I think you’ll fall in love.”
She already had. But not with the city.
Alexander handed her out of the cab and checked them into the hotel. He asked the bellman to bring their luggage to the room, but he held on to the diamonds.
“Let’s have tea in the lobby lounge and bar. It’s a real treat. The owner has a passion for food. We could have coffee or tea, or champagne, or something sweet from the pâtisserie. The cakes and tarts are delicious. And we have to try the apple strudel with vanilla sauce.”
He led her to a seating arrangement by the iconic elephant fountain. “This hotel has quite a legendary history.”
When they were seated, Alexander read from the menu, translating to learn her preferences. He ordered in German.
Somehow when Alexander spoke the language it didn’t sound so threatening.
“Are you staying at the hotel?” the server asked.
“Yes, my wife and I just checked in. We’re in room 305. You can charge our room.”
“May I see your papers?”
Hallelujah’s brows shot up.
Alexander handed them his hotel receipt.
“Welcome to the Hotel Adlon Kempinski.” The server left to get their waters.
“Did that woman just ask us to show our papers to have a pastry?”
“It’s not what you think,” Alexander assured. “She just wanted confirmation of our room number so she can put the charge on our room. We’ll get settled after our snack, rest a bit, and then there’s an amazing Italian restaurant I want to take you to.”
“Italian food? In Germany?”
“Oh, yes. There are several wonderful Italian restaurants that are so authentic you’d think you are in Italy. Il Punto and Bocca Di Bacco. You will be very surprised. I’ve been wanting to take someone there, a date, for instance, but I haven’t had a chance, not since Sigrid. I take out most of my meals from the KaDeWe, the Kaufhaus Des Westens, near the Kurfürstendamm boulevard. There’s a gourmet food hall on the sixth floor. It is the biggest and best department store in Germany, sort of like Harrods. It has cheeses, chocolate, about four hundred kinds of bread, and every kind of food you could ever imagine.”
“You eat dinner at a department store?”
“It gets lonely sometimes, eating alone.”
Hallelujah put a hand on Alexander’s.
“But now that I have you…”
Hallelujah smiled.
Alexander’s voice raised in excitement. “We can take the hop-on, hop-off bus around the city. There are so many things I want to show you. And strolling down the Unter den Linden at night is so romantic. We’ll pass by many landmarks. You can still see remnants of the Wall. As a matter of fact, you can see evidence of the Wall everywhere, either pieces of the Wall or double rows of bricks on the street or pavement, which indicate where the Wall was at one time.”
“How about Gestapo Headquarters?”
Alexander frowned. “Yes, that is also a tourist attraction now. It’s called Topographie des Terrors, and it’s at the site of the former Gestapo and SS Headquarters. It details crimes at the excavated torture cells. And there’s an original section of the Berlin Wall on view that used to run just behind the building. I’d prefer we not see that until you’ve had a chance to appreciate the beauty of Berlin, though.”
A siren sounded outside the hotel. Berlin hadn’t changed the song of its sirens since the Second World Wa
r. Hallelujah folded her arms. She was afraid she was going to be rounded up.
She knew Alexander could read her thoughts. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you? In your mind, we’re all guilty until proven innocent. Won’t you at least give the city a chance?”
Hallelujah didn’t answer. Then she narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice, affecting a German accent. “We have ways of making you talk.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Tell me, do you plan to spend the rest of your life in Berlin? I think I have the right to know.”
“No, eventually I want to go back home. And the time to go may be sooner than you think. We’re a big player in the hedge fund space, but it’s been a rough year. There’s a lot of uncertainty. Some clients are pulling back because of fees. Pension funds are pulling out, and there’s been a reassessment. Money is moving into ETFs. Our revenues missed their estimates. We’re not exactly outperforming internationally, but I really love what I do.”
“And I love what I do.”
“But you can write soap operas from anywhere in the world. And you need to write your novel now that you have your high-concept idea.”
“True, but I came for a short vacation. I never imagined it would turn into a lifetime.”
Alexander turned to face her.
“But that’s what I’m asking for, Hallelujah, a lifetime.”
He pulled her close.
“Okay. I promise to give you and your city a chance.”
“There’s a great panoramic view from the Berlin TV Tower. And we’re right around the corner from the Neo-Classical Brandenburg Gate, one of the few remaining historic city gates. It’s the city’s most famous landmark. Did you know more than seventy percent of Berlin was destroyed during the war?”
“I didn’t know that.”
“And, oh, I want to take you to the Tiergarten. We call it the Green Lung of Berlin. It was once a royal hunting estate, and it’s now a park. Berlin is one of Europe’s greenest capital cities. The Tiergarten was totally reforested after people cut down every tree to burn for firewood at the end of the war.”
Alexander was a walking, talking advertisement for the city. It was hard not to get caught up in his contagious enthusiasm.
“It all sounds very exciting, except for the fact that when we get back to your house, we’ll be sitting targets.”
“I’d almost forgotten,” said Alexander, checking his coat pocket for the package of diamonds.
“Too bad you’re not carrying a gun in that pocket. I can’t wait until the bank opens tomorrow and you can unload those stones. I’ll sleep a little easier.”
Talking of sleeping, Hallelujah noticed that Alexander had reserved only one room. He’d been so used to the two of them sleeping together onboard the ship that it must have slipped his mind. They hadn’t actually consummated their marriage, their fake marriage. But anything could happen tonight.
Chapter Twenty-One
Julian Hoffman
“You’re where?”
“I’ve been detained at the airport in Stockholm. But it’s all a big misunderstanding. I’ll be back in Berlin soon. It was the girl’s fault. She told the police I was carrying a bomb. And once they found out I wasn’t, those two had already gotten away.”
Julian gripped his cell phone and tried to gain control of his temper. He wasn’t known for his patience.
“So you lost them again?”
“The last I saw, they were approaching the security line. I have no idea where they were flying to.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re not in charge of this operation. If there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s incompetence. I checked the flights, and they have already landed in Berlin, but they could be anywhere. Berlin is a big city.”
“I’ll check Stone’s house when I get back.”
“I already have someone watching the house. Don’t you think I’d know if they were there?”
“Did you check the hotels?”
“That’s my next step. They can’t get away. Get on a plane and come to my office as soon as you land. We need to find these amateur renegades.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alexander
Alexander paused on the pavement outside the entrance to his house while he watched the cab pull away.
“Come,” he said to Hallelujah. “Look down, and you can see the stumble stones.”
Hallelujah knelt down on the pavement and waved her hand reverently over each of the plaques, touching them one by one—Julian, Ana, Hannah, and Aaron Hirschfeld.
“They’re beautiful,” she whispered.
“Yes. This is where it all started and ended.”
“It’s like they’re still with us. This is their resting place. They’re back home.”
They carried their luggage down the walkway. Alexander put down his rollerbag, unlocked the door, and swept Hallelujah into his arms.
“What are you doing?”
“Carrying my bride across the threshold.”
“I’m not really your bride.”
“Not yet, but this is the first time you’ve seen my house, and I want to do things properly.”
Hallelujah put her arms around Alexander’s neck, and he deposited her gently in the foyer and looked at her expectantly.
“Well, what do you think?”
Hallelujah walked into the huge space.
“Alexander, it’s amazing. I guess they’ve finished construction. Wow, I didn’t expect it to be so grand. It’s lovely. The skylight and the windows… There’s so much light.”
Alexander smiled. “I’m glad you like it. I tried to maintain the original style. I had a decorator in to update the bathrooms and reconfigure some spaces.”
“It’s just like Hannah described. I wish we could bring her here. This was the home she was born in and lived in, until—”
“Yes, until. But let’s don’t dwell on the past. We have our whole future ahead of us. Let me show you around on the first floor and upstairs.”
“Is it safe? I mean, don’t the people following you know where you live?”
“Yes, but I’m not going to let anyone chase us from our home.”
Our home. Hallelujah rolled the words around in her mind. “You sound very sure of yourself.”
“I’ve had a top-of-the-line security system installed. And I’ve reported the break-in to the police, so they’ll be on the alert. I don’t think the same people will try to break in again.”
“I disagree. For a fortune in diamonds, I think they would do anything.”
Alexander held her hand, and they walked around the first floor, with Hallelujah making a fuss over each room.
“You have a ballroom! Imagine that! What a fabulous place to entertain.”
“I don’t really have an occasion to use it, but it was so beautiful I didn’t want to change it.”
“And the kitchen is so spacious and modern. I’m not the world’s greatest cook, but I could learn to cook in a kitchen like this. Why didn’t you tell me you live in a mansion? And this library—it’s wonderful.”
He led her up the winding marble staircase. She had a good feeling about this place. She might be able to live here.
The master suite was magnificent.
“This house is like something out of a fairy tale. It feels like it was built for a princess.”
“It was. Hannah was her father’s little princess.”
He led her down a long hallway. “And this is the nursery.”
Hallelujah blushed. “I think you might be getting ahead of yourself.”
“I don’t think so. I like to be prepared. You have to have a plan. There’s plenty of room for visitors, and there’s an office on the other side of the master suite with a view of the Spree River. It was going to be my office, but you can write there. I’ll be fine in the library. And I’m saving the best for last—the conservatory on the top floor. It has the most lovely view.”
“You’ve thought of eve
rything.”
“I need to go to the bank, and there’s another errand I have to run. So take your time unpacking and getting settled. The housekeeper stocked the kitchen and changed the sheets in our bedroom.”
Hallelujah sighed. “Our bedroom?”
“Yes, I hope you will get used to the idea and love the place as much as I do. You will love the closet. It’s cavernous, with plenty of room for your things. I know women love big closets.” She could appreciate Alexander’s positive take on that.
“I won’t be long. You can set up your computer in the office if you’d like to work on your scripts or start your novel. There’s a spare key on the table in the hallway downstairs. But don’t go out without me. When I get back, we’ll go to dinner.”
“Thank you.” Hallelujah carried her laptop into the spacious office. On the way, she passed the bedroom. Last night she and Alexander had been too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep on the hotel bed. But she knew that one night, soon, she and Alexander were finally going to make love. And she could hardly wait.
She heard his footsteps on the stairs and the door as it closed, so she got to work on the next episode of As the Planet Spins and started an outline for her novel.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alexander
Alexander retrieved the large diamond from a pouch in his pocket and placed it on the glass countertop. His plan to return to the jewelry store that had conducted the appraisal was risky, but it was the only way to force the Gruppen out of hiding.
“This is magnificent,” the jeweler exclaimed. “As I recall, this is one of the diamonds I appraised for you earlier, the Hirschfeld cut.” He examined it under his jeweler’s loupe.
“Yes, it is. And I need to find the perfect platinum setting for an engagement ring.”
“Your fiancée is a very lucky woman.” He measured the stone. “This stone is six carats. And it’s flawless.”
“I think I’m the lucky one.”
“Look around and see if you see something you like. We have some lovely settings that will fit this stone. Or we can have one designed.”
“No, I’d rather not wait.” Alexander walked around the counter and picked out a platinum antique setting. “Would this work?”
Stumble Stones Page 14