A Quiet Flame

Herzefelde shook his head. “Unfortunately, Berlin is not Germany. I don’t know how things are for Jews in this town, but in the south they can be pretty rough. Back home in Munich, there’s hardly a day passes when I don’t get some kind of death threat.” He swallowed some beer and nodded his appreciation. “As a matter of fact, that’s why I was speaking to Weiss. I’ve been thinking of moving here, with my family.”

“You mean, be a cop? Here in Berlin?”

Herzefelde smiled. “Weiss was similarly appalled. It looks like I’m going to have to consider my plan B. Something that’s got nothing to do with government.”

“I’ve been sort of looking around myself.”

“You? But you’re not a Jew, are you?”

“No. I’m SDP. Iron Front. A Weimar diehard who dislikes the Nazis.”

Herzefelde raised his glass and toasted me. “Then here’s to you, comrade.”

“So, do you have a plan B yet?”

“Thought I might go private.”

“Here in Berlin?”

“Sure. Why not? If the Nazis get in, I’ve a feeling there’s going to be a lot of missing-persons work.”

“Me, I’ve been offered a job at the Adlon Hotel. House detective.”

“Sounds nice.” He lit a cigarette. “Going to take it?”

“I thought I’d wait and see what happens in the election.”

“You want my advice?”

“Sure.”

“If you can, stay in the force. Jews, liberals, Communists are going to have need of friendly policemen like you.”

“I’ll bear it in mind.”

“You’ll be doing everyone a favor. God only knows what the police will be like if everyone in it is a lousy Nazi.”

“So. Why did you want to see me?”

“Weiss told me about this case you’ve been working on. The murder of Anita Schwarz. We had a similar case in Munich. You know Munich?”

“A little.”

“About three months ago, a fifteen-year-old girl turned up dead at the Schlosspark. Just about everything in her pants had been sliced out. The whole bag of love and life. A real neat job, too. Like a surgeon had done it. The dead girl’s name was Elizabeth Bremer and she went to the Gymnasium in Schwabing. Nice family, too. Her father works at the customs house, in Landsberger Strasse. Mother’s a librarian at some kind of Latin library on Maximilianeum. Weiss told me about your girl. That she was an amateur whore.” Herzefelde shook his head. “Elizabeth Bremer wasn’t anything like that. She was a good student with good prospects. Wanted to be a doctor. About the only thing you could hold against her was an older boyfriend. He was a skating teacher at the Prinzregenten Stadium. That’s how they met. Anyway, we hauled him over the coals for it but got nothing. He didn’t do it. He had a cast-iron alibi for the day of her death and that was that. According to him, they’d stopped seeing each other before she wound up dead. He’d been pretty broken up about it. The way he told it, she’d thrown him over for no good reason other than she caught him reading her diary. So he’d gone back home to Günzburg, to see his family and get over it.”

Herzefelde waited as an S-Bahn train passed overhead.

“We had a list of possible suspects,” he continued, after the train had gone. “Naturally, we checked them out, but with no luck. I thought the case had gone cold until Weiss told me about your murder victim.”

“I’d like to see that list,” I said. “That and the rest of the case file.”

“State law forbids me from using the mail to send my papers on the case,” said Herzefelde. “However, there’s nothing to stop you from coming to Munich to look them over. You could stay in my house.”

“That would be quite impossible,” I said. “I couldn’t stay in a Jew’s house.” I paused long enough to change the expression on Herzefelde’s handsome face. “Not unless he’d stayed in my house first.” I smiled. “Come on. Let’s go and get your bag from the Alex. You’re staying with me tonight.”

11 BUENOS AIRES, 1950

IT WAS LUNCHTIME, and the café at the Richmond Hotel was busy with hungry porteños. I went down to the basement, found an empty table, and set out a chessboard. I wasn’t looking for a game with anyone other than myself. That way I figured I stood a better chance of winning. Also I needed to clear my head of old Nazis and their war crimes for a while. They were starting to get me down.

I tried not to stare at her, but this was almost impossible. She was a stunningly beautiful girl. Eyes just naturally followed her around the room like cows trotting after a milkmaid. But mostly it was hard not to stare at her because she seemed to be staring at me. I didn’t flatter myself she actually wanted to meet me. I guessed I was old enough to be her father. There had to be some mistake. She was tall and slim, with a spectacular waterfall of black, curly hair. Her eyes were the shape and color of chocolate-covered almonds. She wore a tailored tweed jacket buttoned tight at the waist, and a matching long pencil skirt that made me wish I had a couple of sheets of paper. Her figure was all right if you liked them built like expensive thoroughbreds. I happened to like them built that way just fine.