It took me the whole next day to find my way back to the city. I got away from the house on the beach as fast as I could and walked in the direction I assumed would lead me to the highway. But the road wound around and, in the dark, I became lost. I fell asleep on the porch of a deserted house, huddled in my coat like a blanket. I woke up after 9 A.M., exhausted, cold, and started on foot again, finally catching a ride from a worker on a farm truck, who said he could take me all the way to Southampton.
“You look like you could use a coffee, pal.”
I grabbed that coffee in a café on Main Street, as well as some breakfast. Then I waited for the next train at the station. It was a Saturday, and this time of year, they only ran every couple of hours. It was a cattle car, chugging to a stop at every town on eastern Long Island, and I didn’t get back to the city until four in the afternoon.
I wasn’t sure what to do with what I had seen the night before.
I reminded myself over and over that only a couple of hours ago I’d seen Willi and Trudi Bauer make contact with a party from a German submarine on American soil. And that a secret cargo was unloaded, possibly weapons.
The best plan, I decided, was to try to reach Latimer. But it was a Saturday; I tried his office in D.C. from the phone outside my apartment, but no one picked up. I guess the Department of Immigrant Affairs didn’t work weekends. I also tried the main switchboard at the State Department but the weekend operator said she had no idea how to raise him. “There are over two thousand employees at the State Department,” she said, to my frustration. I thought about going back to the New York City police. But I already had the sense where that would lead. Nowhere. And now, I’d be raving about some German submarine that had come ashore, and have to explain everything all over again: The Bauers. How I figured the time and date out. My own past. I’d look as suspicious as they would. That no, I didn’t know what was in the beer kegs they’d dragged ashore, how could I? Or how crucial it all was. They could well be explosives. But I gave it till Monday. Till I got my film developed. I prayed a couple of days wouldn’t matter much. The fact was, Germany and the United States weren’t even at war, so there should be time. Latimer seemed my best bet.
When I woke there was an envelope for me. I didn’t get much mail these days. My bills were paid in cash. This one was light blue. It didn’t take much effort to figure out who sent it.
My name and address were in large, basic cursive with a crayoned heart on it and the return read Emma Mossman.
I opened it, my heart filling up a bit. It was a card. Hand-drawn on drawing paper. Mountains with white peaks and a blue river and bright green fields. Two stick-figure persons, one pint-sized with blond, curly hair, Emma; the other tall, smiling, with an arrow pointing to it saying Daddy. And with what looked like a Saint Bernard.
They were holding hands.
I miss you, Daddy, the card read in bright red print. It brought tears to my eyes. It had been over two weeks since I’d seen her. “I miss you too, peach,” I said.
I looked at the mountains and river and the Saint Bernard and figured it was Switzerland.
Then I turned the card over and saw Emma had written: Aunt Trudi helped me make this.
A chill ran through me. It was almost like a message. Like they were digging their clutches deeper into her and letting me know. Especially with what I had witnessed last night. I was on the outside, not even able to see my daughter, and they were drawing with her, playing with her, spending time with her. Were they telling me, We have her? You’d better be aware. You’d better stay out of our business.
She’s ours.
I had a date with Noelle that next day. Sunday. It was a cold but pretty day in New York. Bundled up, we went for an afternoon walk in Central Park. Though it was December and the wind was biting us in the face, the sun was shining and it felt warm. Noelle had on her wool coat and a green beret. She latched on to my arm and made me feel whole again, walking around with the time bomb I was carrying inside that I was keeping from her.
It helped put the past day and night behind me.
We bought some bread crumbs at a stand and fed the ducks swimming in Central Park’s pond.
“You seem distracted, Charles,” she said.
“No, I’m fine,” I lied. “Here…” I kneeled down and handed her some crumbs. “I am.”
“Good.” She smiled and squeezed my arm. “I want you all to myself, Charles Mossman, and your mind to be completely with me.”
“Tell me how your thesis is going,” I asked.
But she was right, of course. I was distracted. I was quiet and insular and focused on what I was keeping from her, what I had witnessed the previous night, and barely lived through, that I dared not share. Reminding myself that it wasn’t some crazy dream I had made up, but something real. Chillingly real. And happening. Now.
“C’mon, let’s get a bite to eat,” I said.
We went to a little brasserie in the Drake Hotel. They had a café there, with dark wood walls and low-hanging brass lamps. I thought Noelle would feel at home. We each ordered a beer. I figured I deserved one after the previous night, and took a pretty deep swig.
It was the first time I’d seen her since the night we’d slept together, and I wanted to tell her how much it had meant to me.
“Charles, there is something bothering you, I can see. If perhaps you wish that we hadn’t done what we did the other night … I understand. It was only—”
“No, that’s not it.” I cut her off. “In fact, it’s the opposite. The other night was swell. The best thing to happen to me in a couple of years. It’s just—” Maybe it was best that I did tell her. As much as I wanted to keep her out of this part of my life, it was hard to simply put it aside. It was Noelle, after all, who was the one who had introduced me to Latimer. So she was a part of it.
“Look, something happened yesterday.…” I sucked in a breath. “It’s nothing to do with us.”
She covered my hand with hers and gave me a look of concern. “Emma?”
“No. No. Emma’s fine.” Reflexively, I glanced at my watch and took note of the time. It was a little after 3 P.M. Here goes … “You remember I said I’d found a book locked away in the Bauers’ closet? That had previously been on the coffee table.”
“Yes.”
“And it had some writing in it. Words and numbers circled and underlined…”
She nodded. “Yes. You told me of this.”
I was just about to tell her how I came to the conclusion that it was a time and date, when I heard a commotion coming from the bar. People were crowded around a radio, the bartender tuning it in. He raised the volume so everyone around could hear. They were shouting with anger, shaking their heads with what looked like dismay.
“Something’s happened.” I grabbed Noelle by the hand. “C’mon…”
“Charles, finish, please…”
“No. Someone’s making an announcement. We should hear.” I pulled her up to the bar, pushing our way in close. A man slammed his fist onto the bar in rage. “Those bastards…” A woman in a purple suit shook her head with tears in her eyes. “My God…”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
There was a news flash. Everyone leaned in close to catch the scratchy report, which sounded like it was coming from a long ways away. There was suddenly also a lot of noise outside, cars honking, police whistles blowing.
“The Japs just sneak-attacked Pearl Harbor,” the bartender said. “Lots of ships lost and people killed.”
“My God!”
I turned to Noelle and a whitened cast came over her face. Like, Here it is all over again. Within a day, we’d be at war. Not with the Germans as I’d hoped for and everyone expected, but with the Japanese.
“Dozens of the most powerful ships and carriers lie broken and in flames in Honolulu Bay…,” the newscaster intoned.
In the restaurant, the crowd grew solemn. The bartender lined up glasses on the bar. He poured a shot of whiskey in all. “Here’s to our boys,” he said, raising his glass.
We all raised them. “To our boys!” we all shouted.
Even I gulped down a shot. People started singing “God Bless America.”
This changed everything for me.
I knew I had to get to Latimer fast. That with what I’d seen, the Germans infiltrating our shore, bringing something in that I knew was meant for harm, things were only going to get worse. A lot worse.
“I know what this is,” Noelle said, looking at me. “I’ve already lived through it once, and now here too.”
I put my arm around her. “But this time you’re not alone.”
She didn’t answer. Just gave me a brief smile and kissed me.
By the following afternoon, America and the kingdom of Japan were at war.