‘SO YOU REALLY haven’t made any progress at all,’ Helen said. The fact that her voice carried no hint of criticism somehow made the reproach harder to bear. ‘I’m sure it must be very frustrating, my dear.’
‘If I could just find out for sure that Angus is stranded in that house it would make a world of difference.’ Madden tried not to sound as though he was justifying his lack of success so far. ‘I rang the Chipping Norton police myself earlier this morning to see if they had any news of him, but they couldn’t help. But I managed to get the number of the Enstone bobby off them and I rang him too. He confirmed that the road to Great Tew was still unusable. Several people had tried it in their cars and come to grief in one way or another. He also told me there was a telephone pole down, which is why the phones aren’t working. But he was expecting a repair crew from Oxford to get there sometime today, which was good news.’
Helen’s silence at the other end of the line was unnerving.
‘I also asked him if he’d had any news from Great Tew, particularly anything to do with Mrs Lesage. He said he hadn’t but that he’d seen her car passing through Enstone three days ago on its way home.’
‘Was Angus with her?’ Helen came to life.
‘He doesn’t know. He was aware that she’d been away for a while and of course he hadn’t seen the car during that time. But he happened to be out on the road when it passed through and he waved to her chauffeur, who waved back. He spotted Mrs Lesage because she was on his side of the car. But he didn’t notice whether there was anyone in the back with her.’
Even as he recounted what he had learned Madden was aware there were things he wasn’t telling his wife; the disturbing thought that their old friend might all unknowing be on the trail of a dangerous killer lay unspoken at the back of his mind, but it would do no good to tell Helen that. It would only upset her.
‘And you couldn’t possibly drive up there yourself?’ Helen spoke after a pause, breaking into his thoughts.
‘My darling, I’ve just been explaining about the roads.’ Madden was growing desperate. ‘I don’t know how things are in Highfield, but it’s freezing in Oxford. The pavements are covered with ice. They haven’t been able to clear the road to Great Tew yet so all the snow that was on it must be frozen by now. I’m quite ready to try driving up there if you think it’s a good idea, though I’ll probably end up in a ditch myself. And if I get stranded and it turns out Angus isn’t at Mrs Lesage’s house after all but somewhere else, I won’t be in a position to do anything about it.’
Helen said nothing.
‘If I could just satisfy myself that he really is with her, then at least we’d know he was safe and sound.’
Madden paused again, hoping for some word of encouragement from his wife. Women were adept at this tactic, he thought bitterly. They knew how to let simple silence suggest there was something more that ought to be done—usually by some hapless male—even if they weren’t prepared to say what it was.
‘So for the time being I’m going to keep ringing her number in the hope that sooner or later it will answer. Until the road has been cleared there really is nothing else I can do.’
‘Of course not, dear.’ Helen’s tone was soothing. ‘I quite understand.’
Did she mean it, though? Madden knew there was no point in asking. He was going to have some stern words with Angus Sinclair when he finally caught up with him.
‘Are things as bad in Highfield?’ he asked tentatively. ‘Weather-wise, I mean?’
‘We’ve had lots of snow, and it’s starting to ice up. I’m not sure I’ll be able to make my rounds this afternoon, not to all of the farms.’ She hesitated. ‘Oh, and I’ve just remembered: Lucy’s threatening to come down to join you.’
‘She’s what?’ Madden was stunned. ‘Threatening . . . and what do you mean, join me?’
‘She says if necessary she’ll take a few days off from work. She’s very worried about Angus, you know. We both are. She said she was going to call you. Unless you find him soon she’ll probably turn up.’
It occurred to Madden that his women were ganging up on him.
‘Can’t you stop her?’ he pleaded.
‘My darling, we’re speaking about our daughter.’ Helen laughed. ‘When have we ever been able to stop her doing anything once she’s set her mind on it? I’ll have another word with her, but I doubt it will help.’
There being nothing more he could do for the moment other than call Julia Lesage’s number again—he found the line was still dead—Madden went downstairs to the lobby, where he came on Hans Probst in the process of shedding his overcoat and gloves prior to handing them over to the cloakroom attendant. The Berlin detective told him he’d just returned from a briefing at St Aldates police station called by Tom Morgan.
‘He had nothing to report as yet,’ he said after they had settled down in the lounge and ordered coffee. ‘But that is hardly surprising. He is still in the process of organizing a search for Voss. I think it was arranged mainly for the benefit of a detective who came down from London earlier today to join in the hunt: a young woman named Detective Sergeant Poole. I believe you know her.’
‘Billy Styles told me she was coming.’
‘She brought copies of those old photographs of Voss taken when he was detained by the Buenos Aires police twenty years ago.’ Probst frowned. ‘They were sent by radio teletype overnight via New York and I’m afraid the images are blurred. I wonder if anyone would recognize him now. I brought one of them to show you.’
He handed the print to Madden. A standard police snapshot, it bore the grainy image of a shaggy-haired young man who stared back at the camera without expression. Due to the lack of definition, his eyes appeared simply as two dark holes, lending a somewhat eerie impression to the otherwise blank visage.
‘Morgan is to have copies of this circulated to police stations in the area together with the name Beck. But it’s hard to imagine what else he can do at this stage. I don’t envy him his task.’
He put a hand to his head and massaged his temples. To Madden, his face seemed paler than before.
‘Are you feeling all right?’ he asked.
‘Oh, yes, thank you.’ The Berlin detective smiled wanly. ‘I didn’t sleep very well last night, but that’s nothing new. As one grows older, the memories come crowding back. It can make for a long night.’
Madden hesitated. He wasn’t sure what to say.
‘I was plagued by them myself when I came back from the First War,’ he said, after a pause. ‘Haunted, I should say. I tried to keep them out of my mind, but they kept returning in dreams. I was in a bad way. It was Helen who showed me how to deal with them. She told me not to try to block them. “We have to remember before we can forget,” she said, and she was right.’ He glanced at the other man. ‘Are you married?’ he asked.
‘I was. Margarethe died during the war.’ Probst lowered his eyes. ‘After I resigned from the police we went to live in Hamburg, which was where she was from. I had difficulty finding a job. I was no friend of the Nazis, as you know, and in the end I was reduced to giving private lessons. I taught English, of all things, to those who wished to learn the language, a choice of profession that in the end proved to be ironic, if that’s the right word.’
He sat with eyes downcast.
‘What are you telling me?’ Madden felt a chill.
‘In July of 1943 the British and Americans bombed Hamburg for seven days and nights. They created what is now called a firestorm. Forty-two thousand people were killed. I was away from the city at the time. When I returned I found that not only my wife but my daughter, Elise, too had been killed. She was sixteen at the time. I never found their bodies.’
Madden stared at him.
‘Hans, I’m so sorry.’ It was the first time he had used the other’s given name.
‘What I cannot forgive myself is not being there when they needed me most. I had gone to Berlin to attend to some business; it was a small matter of no great importance. But I wanted a break, you see, and the chance to look up some old friends. If I’d been at home where I ought to have been I might have reacted a little quicker when the sirens went off; I might have got them to safety somehow. Nothing can ever change that.’
Madden searched his mind for something to say.
‘Was Elise your only child?’ he asked.
‘No, we had a son called Ulrich. He was conscripted of course. There was no escaping that. He died on the Russian front, like so many others.’
He looked up to meet Madden’s gaze.
‘I don’t know how much you know about that campaign. Our troops behaved atrociously. Millions died, and I’m speaking of the civilian population as a whole, not just Jews. I only heard the full story later from those who came back and then I had to wonder what part my son might have played in the killing. He was raised to be a decent human being, but war does terrible things to even the best people.’
Lost for words, Madden could only keep silent.
‘So the memories keep returning,’ Probst said, ‘and although your wife was very wise to say what she did, I must tell you that there are some things one cannot forget, pain that even time cannot heal, and if they return to us at night in the shape of dreams perhaps we should be grateful. To think of them in the light of day, to see the lost faces again, is near to unbearable.’
He put a hand to his brow.
‘But enough of that. Let us speak of other things. Have you any news of Angus? Do we know yet where he is?’
Madden repeated what he had told Helen a short time before.
‘I’ll keep ringing this lady in the hopes that the line will have been repaired and I’m also hoping that if Angus is there he might call me. By now he may know that I’m here in Oxford. A message to that effect has been given to a friend of Mrs Lesage’s who was set on reaching the house on foot. Due to the state of the road I may not be able to rescue Angus right away, but it would set my mind at rest to know he’s there. What are your plans for the rest of the day?’
Probst ran his hands through his thinning hair.
‘I was thinking of paying a visit to the Ashmolean Museum. It’s just across the road, I am told.’
‘Well, for heaven’s sake watch your footing if you do,’ Madden cautioned him. ‘I had a look outside earlier. The pavements are a death trap. I hope you didn’t walk back from St Aldates.’
‘Inspector Morgan kindly provided me with a car and a driver. But I shall take your advice about the pavements.’ Probst hesitated. ‘Would you care to accompany me?’ he asked, with a trace of his earlier formality.
‘I’d like to, but unfortunately I’m chained to the hotel at the moment. Quite apart from wanting to be here if Angus rings, it seems my daughter is thinking of coming down from London to help in the search. I’m expecting a call from her and I have to try and put her off. There’s really nothing she can do to help. She and Angus are very close. They’re as thick as thieves.’
‘I’m sorry?’ Probst’s brow furrowed.
‘It’s a saying.’ Madden smiled.
‘Thick as thieves . . .’ The Berlin detective tested the words. ‘It has an agreeable ring to it.’
‘The trouble is I don’t know what I’m going to say to her. I don’t want to tell her about this man Angus was after who may turn out to be Voss. It’ll only upset her, and she’s bound to tell her mother. I was hoping to keep it from both of them until we know he’s safe.’
‘Surely your daughter will do as you say,’ Probst said solemnly and was taken aback when Madden burst out laughing.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t help myself.’
The Berlin detective cocked an eye at him. ‘Would I be intruding if I asked you to tell me a little more about her?’
‘Oh, no . . . not at all. She’s . . .’
Madden was struck by a sudden pang as he recalled what the other had just told him about his loss. He wished now he hadn’t brought up the subject.
‘It’s all right, John.’ Probst laid a gentle hand on his arm. It seemed he had read Madden’s mind and by using his first name seemed to confirm the sense of intimacy that had sprung up quickly between them. ‘Describe her, if you would. I should like to see her through a father’s eyes.’
Madden took a deep breath.
‘Then I would have to say she’s beautiful, and that’s not just a father speaking.’ He had needed a second to compose himself. ‘But also quite unpredictable, and utterly unmanageable.’
‘Ah!’
‘In fact, I might as well admit that I never know what she’s going to do next. I can only hold my breath and hope.’
‘Yes, of course . . . I understand.’ Probst’s gaze had grown misty. ‘And naturally you adore her.’
Madden’s laugh came as a relief to them both.
‘Is it that obvious?’ he said.