Major Payne was to point out later that without John de Coverley firing his gun at Oswald Ramskritt, the murder wouldn’t have taken place. In his not-so-humble opinion, the shooting incident in the library was cardinal to the whole affair.
Antonia agreed. She thought of it as a kind of a butterfly effect.
‘I am all right. I really am. It was a shock. It was quite awful, but I am – I am used to it. He’s done it before, it’s happened before, yes, but perhaps he’s getting worse. That’s the kind of thing he does when he is upset or rather when he gets drunk after he’s been upset by something. It’s happened before. He shows his true nature.’ She tried to smile. ‘Please don’t look so concerned. He cannot cope with crises.’
It was later that same night and Ella was talking to Doctor Klein, who had come to her room to see how she was. He insisted that she should have some brandy.
She wiped the tears from her eyes with a determined gesture. ‘When he gets upset, he needs a woman to take it out on. It has to be a woman. That’s his idea of a catharsis. I’ve reached the conclusion he hates women.’
‘I believe you are right,’ Doctor Klein said in his detached way.
‘It’s perhaps something to do with the fact he had a terrible childhood. Sometimes I am convinced he is possessed. Or else it’s some ineradicable psychological quirk. I am sure you can come up with the exact definition of what is wrong with him.’
‘I do not intend to come up with an exact definition.’
‘He is completely insensitive. I don’t suppose he would have been able to do what he did in the early 1980s if he had had normal human feelings,’ Ella said thoughtfully. ‘He wouldn’t have been able to do the job properly if he had been sensitive …’
‘What job? What did he do in the early 1980s?’
‘Oh. I thought you knew. Oswald used to work for the CIA. He was a spy. One of those “unofficial” ones. I am surprised he hasn’t told you anything about it. I thought he told you everything.’
‘I thought so too, but he hasn’t said a word about his spying work in Germany, no.’
‘You know he was in Germany then? So he must have told you?’
Doctor Klein shrugged. ‘He may have mentioned Germany, yes, though he never said what he did there.’
‘Perhaps he felt constrained by the fact you were a German?’
‘That is the likeliest explanation.’
‘Well, he was a Romeo spy.’
Doctor Klein slowly rose and walked towards the open window. He stood there, looking out. There was a full moon and, where it touched it, the sea resembled molten silver. It was very quiet …
‘A Romeo spy … I don’t think I have heard the term used before.’
His voice sounded odd – a little – weary?
Her cheek, the spot where Oswald had slapped her, was still throbbing. She thought it might be a little swollen. She had extremely sensitive skin.
‘Oswald used to work for the CIA. He was extremely good-looking as a young man. He was in his late twenties or early thirties at the time. Not unlike the young Robert Redford, if photos are anything to go by. Women found him irresistible, went mad over him. He was chosen for his good looks – alongside a number of other young American men. They were called ‘‘Romeos’’ or ‘‘Romeo spies’’. Because of the love element.’
‘I see.’
‘Of course love has very little to do with it … Oswald’s credentials were impeccable. His father was a fundraiser for the Republican party. His patriotism was never in question. He adored Ronald Reagan. Still does.’
‘What was his Berlin mission about?’
‘It involved seducing German girls who worked across the wall in the Soviet sector – as well as keeping a “stable” of fillies living in the free sector of the city. The latter he groomed for the purpose of entrapping Soviet officials and getting state or military secrets out of them. The girls were also trained to put out incorrect, misleading information, which they made sure the Soviet enemy would receive, accept as true, act on and blunder. I may have got some of the details wrong, mind, but this is the gist of it. Oswald’s front, or cover, was a restaurant in West Berlin, the so-called “free sector”.’
‘Did Oswald tell you about it in person or do you have other sources of information?’ Doctor Klein turned back and resumed his seat opposite her.
‘Oswald told me. He was drunk when he did. Not as drunk as tonight but enough to start showing off.’ She gave a twisted smile. ‘Benevolently inebriated, if one can put it like that. He enjoys talking about his conquests. He likes boasting, as I am sure you have noticed.’
‘I have noticed, yes.’
She started telling him about the last German girl Oswald had seduced before returning to the US. The girl’s name was Gabriele Hansen and she had a sister called Freddie. The Hansen sisters. That was one of the most shocking stories she had ever heard, Ella said. She still found it incredible that anyone could do a thing like that.
Doctor Klein sat monumentally still. He looked enormous in his old-fashioned double-breasted dinner jacket, stiff collar and black tie. He brought to mind Watts’ picture of the Minotaur, Ella thought. Outside, the moon had intensified its glow and it was as light as day.
‘Oswald had marked Gabriele down as a suitable target because her sister worked for one of the big Soviet officials in East Germany while Gabriele herself lived in Free Berlin. The two girls were very close. They exchanged letters and spoke on the phone. They hadn’t seen each other for several years. It was very hard for Freddie to visit her sister in Free Berlin but she had managed it somehow. Perhaps she and her Soviet boss were having an affair, I don’t know. Freddie was very pretty. Both girls were very pretty. Very fair. Beautiful blue eyes.’
‘I expect Oswald showed you photographs?’
‘Yes … I also saw the home movie, which Oswald shot on the day Freddie arrived, commemorating the occasion, so to speak … The three of them met at his restaurant where they had dinner …’ Ella’s voice tailed off.
There was a pause. Doctor Klein leant back in his chair. He brought his fingertips together and urged her to continue.
‘I am not sure I want to,’ Ella whispered. ‘I get upset only thinking about it.’
It was good for her to talk. It was therapeutic. Doctor Klein spoke in reassuring tones. It would take her mind off what happened tonight. ‘Tell me about the home movie. I am interested in stories about Germany. I still have relatives who live there. Berlin is a fascinating city. I remember a dancing club. I remember the linden trees. A little on the lonely side. That was a song I remember. Do forgive me. I am getting soft and sentimental. Tell me what happens exactly in the home movie.’
She shut her eyes. ‘It’s after closing time. Oswald’s restaurant is empty. A festive candle-lit table. Silver and fine porcelain. The windows are bespattered with rain. Oswald is dressed in a white dinner jacket and crimson cummerbund. He looks very dashing. He is holding the camera in his right hand. He is waving – it is his reflection in a tall gilded mirror we see. There is Gabriele in a long, pale green dress –’
‘You have very good visual memory.’
‘Freddie looks preoccupied but she smiles bravely. She is painfully thin and pale, cheaply dressed. Gabriele has put her arm around her sister’s shoulders. They are about to sit down to dinner. The camera swirls. Close ups of the girls’ faces. Although Freddie looks haggard, she is prettier than her sister. She has brought a “socialist” chess set, as a present to her sister.’
‘Ach, yes.’ Doctor Klein nodded reminiscently. ‘I know exactly the kind of chessboard you mean. I used to have a socialist chessboard. They were very funny. They were not meant to be funny. I gave one such set to my sister. That was a long time ago.’
‘They set it up and laugh at the unusual-looking pieces. Freddie has a little scar above the right eye. It is in the shape of a horseshoe. Oswald asks about it and she explains that she got it when a boy threw a stone at her. She says she must be very lucky. She could have been killed! She takes a sip of wine, then another. The scar is oddly becoming –’ Ella broke off. For some reason she shivered. Something – she couldn’t say what – brought an icy chill to her bones and a tingle to the hairs on the nape of her neck.
‘What is the matter, Ella?’
‘I don’t know. Someone walking on my grave.’
‘Would you like me to shut the window?’ Doctor Klein sounded concerned.
‘Yes, please. Just for a moment I imagined that – I don’t know what I imagined. No, it’s nothing. I feel light-headed – a little giddy – a little sick –’
‘I do apologise, Ella. I am keeping you up. You have had a terrible experience. You should go to bed. I must leave you alone –’
‘No, don’t go yet. I haven’t finished. Where was I? Oh yes. The home movie. Freddie picks up and eats a sausage. She laughs. She looks happy and excited. She bares her teeth in a mock snarl. She displays a strong set of teeth. She says she likes to fight with her teeth. She laughs again. Gabriele says she used to be covered in bites when they were children. Freddie starts singing a song – Wenn Der Sommer Wiede Einzieht – is there such a song?’
‘I believe there is. I congratulate you on your superb memory.’
‘Freddie remembers how she danced with a sailor once, at some club, and how he then tried to seduce her … The two girls get quite silly … They hug and kiss and laugh … Oswald laughs with them … They sing and they dance with Oswald … He puts his arms round them … He kisses them … The camera swirls … Blackout … Well, that’s the end of the film. It only lasts about seven or eight minutes.’
‘What else did they talk about? Did Oswald tell you?’
‘Freddie got a bit drunk and became voluble. She said she hated her Soviet job. She hated her Soviet masters. She was terrified of the Stasi. She also said how much she wanted to be with her sister, how much she’d like to live in the “West”, though she couldn’t quite see how that could happen. Oswald told her that that wasn’t as impossible as she seemed to think …’
‘He raised her hopes …’
‘He gave her presents – a brand new handbag, a cashmere sweater, a warm winter coat, bars of Swiss chocolate, Nivea soap and some nylons … Apparently poor Freddie started crying … She insisted on kissing his hand, which pleased him … He then overheard Gabriele and Freddie talk about him … My boyfriend is rich and he likes you very much. He can get you out. You can trust him. Look at this gold bracelet he gave me. And these earrings – do you know how much they cost? He can do anything.’
‘He didn’t suggest he might be able to smuggle her sister out of the East sector into Free Berlin, did he?’
‘That’s exactly what he suggested.’
‘But couldn’t Freddie simply have stayed on, given that she was already in West Berlin?’
‘She couldn’t. There was an old friend of their late father who was in a hospice in East Berlin. Onkel Wolf. She couldn’t leave him. Onkel Wolf was an old man and mortally ill. He wasn’t expected to last long. She had promised to go back. It had to be done at some later date. Oswald said it was tricky but not impossible. He promised her a new identity and protection in case the Stasi sent a hitman after her. There was only one thing he wanted Freddie to do in return. One very tiny thing. So tiny it was hardly worth mentioning. There was a particular file, which he wanted Freddie to leave on a bus in East Berlin.’
‘It does sound tiny, yes.’
‘It was a bus chiefly used by Soviet officials – to which she had access. The file contained information concerning US military plans. Seemingly accurate but in fact entirely bogus. Freddie agreed. She did as instructed and the operation was a success. Then Oswald asked her to do it again, only this time she had to leave the file in the lobby of a hotel which catered for Soviet officials. Then she was asked to do it a third time … Oswald told her she would be able to join her sister soon, very soon. He assured her that everything was in place. She was to wait for instructions. But these particular instructions never came.’
‘He lied to her …’
‘He’d never had any intention of reuniting Freddie with her sister. Meanwhile, Gabriele had discovered she was pregnant. Oswald told her they’d get married and then they would go and live in America – or in South Africa. One day Gabriele arrived at Oswald’s restaurant and found the place closed. She was told the restaurant was under new management. No one knew where Oswald was. He was not in his flat. She became frantic. She went to the police. She was in floods of tears. She sat and waited. She seemed convinced something terrible had happened to him. Eventually she was told that Oswald had left Germany and gone back to the US. Then she had another shock –’
‘Yes?’
‘She learnt that her sister Freddie had been arrested by the Stasi, tried for spying and summarily executed. Gabriele had a miscarriage.’ Ella’s voice shook. ‘Soon after she committed suicide. She poisoned herself. She took cyanide.’
‘Cyanide? Very fast and very efficient,’ Doctor Klein said. ‘You choke, then you die. You know the two deaths to be an established fact?’
‘Oswald told me they were. I don’t think he lied about that. He said he had seen a photo of Gabriele’s dead body. It was his bosses who informed him. His bosses knew the exact sequence of events. His bosses knew everything. He said he’d only been doing his job. He said he couldn’t very well have foreseen that Freddie would be caught, but that was the kind of thing that sometimes happened. He had told her to be careful.’
‘Wasn’t he sorry for the baby?’
‘He said he was but he didn’t sound it. He said Gabriele should have taken precautions. He said Gabriele had got pregnant on purpose. She had done her best to “get” him. She had been manipulative and deceitful. He had never been in love with her. He didn’t believe the baby had been his anyway. Gabriele had had other boyfriends. They had both been rather stupid girls, he said. Mentally undeveloped. He called them “featherbrains”. They were “trashy”. He’d found them and their lives incomprehensible, alien.’
‘But he regards his Berlin mission as a success?’
‘Oh yes. He said it had given him a great sense of achievement. His bosses had been extremely happy with him. He was generously rewarded for his efforts … After his return to the US, he prospered. He invested his money wisely and made a fortune, which he managed to double, treble and quadruple when he got married. He made a good marriage. He married an heiress.’
There was a pause.