“What’s the offer, Herr Akerson?” Karl-Heinz asked, exasperated. “Just give me the figure in sterling or dollars.”
Karl-Heinz looked up as Nadja brought in the coffee tray and then returned to her desk near the entrance.
“Are you crazy? It’s a fucking Matisse. You saw it with your own eyes.”
Karl-Heinz lit a cigarette and blew smoke into the room.
“I know it’s a fast sale, but can’t this Spaniard do better than that?”
There was a long pause as he listened to Akerson complain about the timing of the sale and how, with a few more weeks, he could maybe get a better offer.
“So he’s offering the same price for both paintings?”
Karl-Heinz took a drag on his cigarette.
“That doesn’t make sense, Akerson.”
Karl-Heinz wrote the figure on a pad on his desk.
“Okay, we’ll accept the offer. Where does he want it sent?”
He wrote down a name and an address.
“The buyer must first send the funds to our bank in Switzerland. I will give you the details this afternoon. Good day, Mr Akerson.”
Karl-Heinz put the phone down and stubbed out his cigarette. He was about to light another one when he heard the door to the front office open. Two men came in and stopped in front of Nadja’s desk. Even though they were in plain clothes, they had the unmistakable look of police officers.
“Can I help you?” Nadja asked.
“We’re here to see Dr Kramer.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I will see them, Nadja,” Karl-Heinz motioned for the two men to come in and returned to his desk.
“How can I help you, gentlemen?”
“I am Detective Carlstrom and this is Detective Norden,” the taller one said. “We are with the Stockholm Police Department.”
If they were expecting Karl-Heinz to be nervous about their visit, he was determined to disappoint them.
“Yes?” Karl-Heinz asked, a hint of impatience in his voice.
The two policemen glanced at each other.
“This is personal business, sir,” Norden said. “Do you want to go somewhere else to discuss it?”
“No, here is fine. Please sit down.”
The detectives sat down, looking about warily.
“It concerns your cleaning lady, Hanne Gabor.”
“Yes. What has she done?”
The question caught the detectives off guard. Finally, Carlstrom answered.
“She’s disappeared.”
“Disappeared? That’s not possible.”
Carlstrom looked at Norden.
“I’m afraid so, sir.”
In the Consular Services office, Bridget hung up the phone and looked at Peter, who was busy with The Daily Telegraph crossword.
“That was Anders Berger. They’re going to publish the piece about H in tomorrow’s paper.”
“Very good. Does he mention a high-ranking German officer in his article?” Peter asked.
“Yes, he does.”
“I really don’t know what else we can do, Bridget. Bernie said there was no evidence Hanne was still at the Kramer’s.”
“She’ll turn up,” Bridget said with a confident air. “Someone will spot her in town or at the airfield. There’s no way the Gestapo can take her out of the country now.”
“I’m afraid they can,” Peter said gloomily. “They can easily put her on a boat and in a few hours, she’ll be in Germany. If they suspect her of compromising Kramer’s traffic in secret documents, they’ll try to get her out of the country to interrogate her.”
“Have you talked to Joanna? She knows everything there is to know about the German Legation here in the city.”
“That’s a good idea.”
It was getting dark as Joanna spread the Stockholm city map out on the Ansell kitchen table. Vincent, Elsa, Peter, and Bridget crowded in around her.
“You say that the last place Hanne was seen was at number 2, Hovslagargatan,” Joanna said. “That’s the legation address, but Dr Kramer is Luftwaffe, so he could have hidden her away at the German Air Attaché’s office at 99 Karlavägen. That’s over here.”
Joanna ran her finger over the map.
“What about the old Abwehr office at 27 Nybrogatan?” Peter asked.
“They don’t own the building, it’s just an office on one floor. Not an easy place to hide someone,” Joanna said.
“If they kidnapped her, then she’s going to be drugged. She could be hidden anywhere,” Bridget said.
“I doubt you can hide a drugged woman in a tourist office or anywhere else where there are Swedish employees coming and going,” Elsa said.
“Elsa’s right,” Vincent said. “It would create a serious diplomatic incident. It’s not worth it. They must have moved her somewhere out of town, somewhere remote.”
“I believe they have a retreat for their office staff down near Norvik, south of here,” Joanna said. “I’ve seen articles in Der Deutschen in Schweden magazine. From the photographs, it’s a large house, a pretty place on the water. In the summer, the legation puts on parties there.”
“It’s probably closed up this time of year,” Bridget said.
Peter tapped his hand on the table, thinking hard.
“I would think that Norvik or Nynäshamn on the coast would be the perfect place for an illegal operation,” Peter said. “A fast boat from Danzig could pick up Hanne within a day of sailing.”
“Hanne could already be in Germany,” Elsa said in tears. “This is terrible.”
“I think we need to go down there and take a look,” Vincent said. “If it’s locked up for the winter, then we can eliminate it quickly enough.”
“What do you think, Peter?” Bridget asked.
“Vincent is right. It’s only an hour away by car.”