by Tom Gabbay
“Tell me something,” I said.
“What?”
“Does he look like Mickey Rooney to you?”
It really wasn’t a fair question, because the blood that was gushing out of the guy’s cheek was blurring any resemblance to the lovable movie star.
“His name is Engel,” Eva said slowly. “Walter Engel. They call him der Engel der Schwärzung. The Angel of Darkness.”
Lili was packing. At least, she was standing over two maids, telling them how to pack. Every hat, shoe, silk stocking, and sequin had to be checked, logged, and rechecked before it could be carefully placed in one of the five large trunks that would be making the return crossing to New York and then on to Hollywood. It didn’t help that neither of the ladies-in-waiting spoke a word of English, including the one I’d pushed past to get into the room. Lili was in fine form.
“Good God, darling! You look like hell!”
I caught a glimpse in the mirror and saw that she was right, I did look like hell. I felt like it, too.
“It’s been an interesting day,” I said.
“You’d better clean up and start packing. We leave first thing in the morning. I must be in New York by the twenty-second and this is the only hope.” She cast an impish look over her shoulder. “It’s been an interesting day for me, too.”
“I won’t be making the trip back,” I said.
That got her attention. She stopped in her tracks, gave me a look, then allowed a tight smile to form on her lips. “I see. Well, I should have guessed it, I suppose. You don’t deserve her, you know.”
“You can’t leave either, Lili,” I said. “Not yet anyway.”
“The hell I can’t.”
“You’ll have to wait for the next boat.”
The smile fell off her face. “Do you know who phoned me this afternoon, Jack? Von Sternberg, that’s who. He wants me to meet him for lunch in New York. He has a part—”
“It’s important, Lili…”
Her voice went up a notch. “—a part that every leading lady in Hollywood would give their firstborn child to play, and von Sternberg is going to offer it to me! Unless, that is, I stand him up for lunch! So you can see that this is rather important, too! Do what the hell you like, but I’ll be sailing for New York at ten o’clock tomorrow morning!”
She fixed me with a steely glare, daring me to speak.
“Why the hell did you come here, Lili? What was the point?”
“Don’t be stupid, Jack.”
“Want to know what I think?”
She frowned. “Do I have a choice?”
“I think you didn’t like what you saw in the future, so you decided to go off on some pathetic misty-eyed search for the past. And now that the future is looking a bit more promising, you’re ready to pack up and move on, leaving the one person who seems to mean something to you high and dry.”
I prepared for the worst, but it didn’t come. She stood there for a moment, staring at me, then she deflated and dropped onto the bed. She shook her head a couple of times, then fixed me with grim, plaintive eyes.
“You’re a bastard, Jack,” she said. “A real fucking honest-to-goodness bastard.”
The sea air reached down into my lungs and gave me a much-needed burst of energy. The sound of the waves rumbling in off the Atlantic made conversation superfluous, so we made our way up the beach without words. At one point Lili stopped and placed her hand on my shoulder while she removed her shoes, then she wandered into the surf, allowing the salt water to slide up under her bare feet. We’d slipped out of the hotel using the basement employees’ entrance, the same way I’d come in, then around the back of the tennis courts, and over to the shoreline. I think Lili was enjoying the intrigue.
We found Eva sitting in the sand by the car, which I’d pulled onto a deserted section of the beach about a mile up from the Palacio. She stood up when she saw us and a soft breeze blew through her hair. I liked the way she held it back off her face with one hand as we approached.
“Hello, Lili,” she said, a darting glance at me trying to discern the state of play.
“Hello, darling,” Lili said warmly, but with a nervous edge in her voice. “I hope you know what you’re doing with Mr. Teller here. He has something of a reputation, you know.”
“I’ll let you know if he lives up to it,” Eva laughed.
“I’d prefer to remain in the dark, thank you.”
Lili crossed her arms and looked off toward the western horizon, barely visible in the soft light of the waning moon. She could have been waiting for her close-up. I suppose Lili was always waiting for her close-up. After a wistful moment, just the sound of the surf crashing onto the beach, she sighed and turned back to us.
“All right,” she said. “Tell me how we’re going to save England.”
CHAPTER 22
I checked my watch as the duke’s Bentley pulled into the parking area behind the hotel. Eight o’clock sharp. They were right on time.
The limo rolled to a stop in front of the service entrance, where I was waiting with an umbrella, ready to shield the royal couple from the light rain that had been falling since midafternoon. I stepped forward, but the gray-uniformed driver was faster, jumping out from behind the wheel and popping his own umbrella as he took up a position beside the passenger door. He stood at attention, waiting for the black Austin sedan to park up a few feet behind the Bentley. Two men dressed in brown suits and matching fedoras exited, and, after a cursory glance around, gave the driver the all clear.
Espírito Santo was the first to emerge. He gave me a nod, then turned back to offer his hand to the duchess, who stepped onto the pavement looking like a crow in drag. She glanced my way—I wasn’t sure if she smiled or sneered—then the duke himself decamped, displaying his usual wrinkled brow. Judging by the odd look he gave me, he didn’t have the slightest idea who I was.
“Hello, Jack.” Santo greeted me warmly, then stepped back to allow the duchess to come forward. “May I present Mr. Jack Teller, Your Grace?”
“Yes, we’ve met. Very nice to see you again, Mr. Teller.” She extended a regal hand, which I took, but stopped short of kissing.
“My pleasure,” I said.
“You remember Jack Teller, Your Grace,” Santo said as Windsor himself stepped forward.
“Ah, yes, of course. Jack.” He nodded. “Good of you to arrange all this.”
“It’s Lili’s party, sir,” I said. “And I have to say that I’ve never seen her so nervous.” I knew that I couldn’t go wrong with flattery, and the duke proved me right, breaking into a wide, vain grin.
“Nonsense,” he protested. “Nothing to be nervous about. We’re all friends.”
Santo was eager to get me alone. He pulled me aside the first chance he got, over cocktails, while Lili was entertaining the royal couple with tall tales of Hollywood.
“I presume, Jack, that we’ll be able to discuss the matter which the duke and I raised with you the other evening,” he said in his silky voice. “You were somewhat ambiguous on the telephone.”
He was right, I had been vague, deliberately so. I wanted to make sure they turned up, but I didn’t want them to know what to expect once they got there. It kept me in the driver’s seat.
“The truth is,” I said, beginning the speech I’d been rehearsing all day, “that I talked to Lili about your proposal, and she’s nervous about getting mixed up in politics. As you can imagine, she’s very protective of her relationship with the president.” I let the disappointment sink in for a moment, then dangled the hook. “But I think we can get her to come around if we just take it slowly.”
“Yes, of course,” he said eagerly. “We must take it slowly.”
“Lili doesn’t expect me for dinner,” I said, and Santo didn’t bat an eye. He saw me as a useful go-between, but, ultimately, as an employee who wouldn’t be expected to get a seat at the table. Counting on the arrogance, I’d had Lili arrange for six courses to be served, which would take close t
o three hours. Enough time for me to go to the villa, have a good look around, and get back without being missed.
“Stay off the subject of war and peace and give her plenty of champagne,” I said. “I’ll turn up later, for a brandy, and we can work on her then.”
Santo smiled approvingly and patted me on the back. “A fine plan, Jack. Very well thought out.”
I hoped that he was right. Of course, the part of the plan that I hadn’t mentioned—the part that involved breaking into his villa and stealing top secret documents—that would be the tough part. I wasn’t especially worried about getting onto the grounds, or even into the duke and duchess’s apartment. I had enough breaking-and-entering experience under my belt to be confident on that score. It didn’t even concern me that there was bound to be some security minding the fort. My guess was that the guys in the Austin were the first string, and whoever was left behind would be thinking of it as a night off. They certainly wouldn’t be expecting a cat burglar. No, it was the second part of the plan that I was skeptical about. If the papers were there, I’d have a pretty good chance of finding them, but these were the documents that the duke had told Hitler would “shorten the war.” It was unlikely that he’d have them tucked away in his underwear drawer. I’d made that point when Eva proposed the idea, the previous evening on the beach. We’d all piled into the car to talk, me in the front seat, the two girls in back.
“I don’t mind the risk,” I’d said. “But it seems kind of pointless.
They’ll have those papers stashed away in some bank vault somewhere.”
“Where?” Eva responded. “Think about it. The duke and duchess are refugees—”
“Really, darling,” Lili interrupted. “Refugees?”
“They’re just as displaced as the people you see wandering the streets of the Alfama. They have no home, they don’t know where they’re going next, and they’re willing to trade everything for a future. Those documents—whatever they contain—are their future. I don’t think they’d trust anyone with them, certainly not a bank.”
It was hard to argue with the logic—and it was also futile. It was clear that if I didn’t go along, Eva intended to do the job herself. Besides, I didn’t have any better ideas.
Once we’d agreed on the plan, Lili headed back to the Palacio while Eva and I drove up the coast about thirty miles, where we found a desolate guesthouse that provided a couple of spartan rooms for a few escudos. Eva was quiet in the car, staring blankly out the window the entire time, and went straight to her room once we’d checked in.
As I lay there, alone on my musty pillow, an uneasy feeling came over me. I’d just agreed to steal secret documents that could help Germany win the war, and put them in Eva’s hands. What if she’d been stringing me along, after all? There was a corner of my mind that still held the images of the three men she’d killed—two of them shot in the back.
I was pretty sure that I’d fallen in love with Eva, and I thought maybe she felt something for me, too, but that didn’t necessarily rule out becoming victim number four. It was one thing to risk your life for love, even to die for it, quite another to play the chump. Anyway, why take a chance? I could sneak out early, drive back to the Palacio in order to set the plan in motion, and have the duke’s papers in hand before Eva could find her way back. Once I handed the documents over to the Brits, Eva would be in the clear, and we’d all live happily ever after.
Or something like that.
“I say, Jack…Hold on a moment, would you?”
I was halfway to the elevator when I heard the duke calling out. I spun around and saw that he was heading my way, his arm around the duchess.
“So sorry to trouble you, Jack, but my wife isn’t feeling terribly well. She won’t be able to stay for dinner, after all. Would you mind very much seeing her to the car?”
“No…no…I…sure, of course I will.” I turned to the duchess. “I’m sorry you’re not—”
“A migraine,” she said woefully. “I get them quite frequently, I’m afraid.”
“Come on very suddenly,” her husband added. “Bloody awful.”
The duchess turned to her husband. “I’m so sorry to ruin the dinner party, darling. And Lili’s gone to such an effort.”
“You mustn’t worry about that.” The duke took her hand and held it in both of his. “What you must do is lie down in a dark room with a hot compress over your forehead. And take two aspirin, no more. I’ll explain to Lili.”
She smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, darling. I feel dreadful upsetting everyone’s evening.”
“Nonsense! You haven’t upset anyone’s evening. Has she, Jack?”
I smiled and concurred, but of course it wasn’t true. She’d just put a serious dent in mine.
The duchess’s headache seemed to subside as soon as I pulled the elevator doors closed. She raised her head and didn’t just look at me—she eyed me like a vulture sizing up a piece of red meat sprawled out across the road.
“You know, Jack,” she said. “You don’t need to stand on ceremony with me. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t.”
“All right.” I smiled, hoping we could leave it at that.
The lift moved slowly past the fourth floor on its way down to the basement. We were using the service elevator, as we had on the way up, so the royals could come and go unseen.
“Why hasn’t Lili absolutely devoured you?” she chirped. “I really don’t know how she could resist. In fact, my imagination is running quite out of control at this very moment.”
I was more than a bit dumbstruck, which the duchess seemed to enjoy. She displayed an inverted smile, her dark red lips curling down at the corners of her mouth, her eyes narrowing until they disappeared entirely. She leaned forward slightly.
“Am I shocking you?”
“Isn’t that the idea?”
She laughed, almost a giggle. “I could do a lot worse.”
“I can imagine,” I said.
“Can you, Jack?”
I tugged at the lever and we came to an abrupt stop. The duchess just stood there, a wicked smile locked onto her face, waiting to see what I was going to do. I stepped forward to pull the doors open, but she still didn’t move. She didn’t even blink. Finally, she let forth a forlorn sigh and reached into the small handbag she’d been clutching under her arm.
“Imagination is fine, up to a point,” she said. “But we have to live a little, too. Don’t you think?” She extended her hand and there, in the center of her palm, was a small, brass door key.
“Take it,” she ordered.
CHAPTER 23
I slammed my hand down hard on the steering wheel. Damn! But I couldn’t help laughing at the same time. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about how to get inside the villa. The problem was what I’d have to do to get back out again!
The thought of being “devoured” by the Duchess of Windsor was enough to turn my stomach in several different directions at the same time. I could skip the whole thing, of course, which was tempting, but there wouldn’t be another chance like this. No, I’d have to go ahead with it. Maybe I could fend the lady off and find a few minutes alone to look around. Not likely, though, I had to admit. She’d have her claws in me the minute I walked through the door and she wouldn’t let go until…Well, I didn’t want to think about it.
I guess the duchess never really got the Shanghai whorehouse out of her system, and the duke, it seemed, just wasn’t up to the task. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me, with that limp hand…
I tried to recall a similar circumstance, with an equally unappealing female, who I’d managed to perform for. None came to mind. Not even Betty Hooper of Louisville, Kentucky, measured up, although I’d been so tanked up that night that it would be impossible to say for sure just how low I’d sunk.
Hell, I’d just have to grit my teeth and use my imagination. I turned the engine over and was about to slip into gear when I sensed a movement behind me—somebody tucked do
wn below the backseat, lying on the floor. I froze. The .38 was in the glove compartment, three feet away…
Go easy, I thought, no sudden movements.
Slowly lifting my right hand off the gear stick, I extended it out across the darkness, revving the engine slightly to drown out the noise as I took hold of the latch, twisted it around, and let the door fall open with a soft click. Grasping the handle of the gun, I slipped my finger around the trigger, took a deep breath, swung around sharply, and pointed the gun at the stowaway…
“Jesus Christ!” I yelled. “I almost shot you!”
Eva pulled herself up into a sitting position. “Yes, I noticed that.”
“What the hell are you doing back there?!”
“Coming with you.” She climbed over the seat and settled into the front.
“How did you get here?!”
“By donkey!” she shot back, shutting me up. “Why did you leave me stranded?”
“Well…I…”
She scowled. “What happened to you and me against the world?”
“Nothing…”
“Then why did you abandon me?”
I shrugged. “I feel better doing this on my own.”
“Two of us have a better chance of finding something.”
“Yeah, well…it’s dangerous,” I said, unable to come up with anything better. She just laughed.
“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, Jack, but I’m not exactly helpless.” I felt a bit foolish and decided to change tack.
“It’s good that you’re here, anyway. We’ve got a kind of a…well, a situation.”
“What kind of a kind of situation?”
“The duchess went back to the villa. Claimed she had a headache.”
“I see. That is awkward.”
“More awkward than you think.” I produced the key. “She gave this to me.”