He had been in the business of intelligence too long to ignore the smell of smoke, no matter how faint. Even a whiff signaled fire somewhere or at least one that had been present. His trip to Wilhelm’s former school yesterday had netted him a couple of puzzling tidbits worth reflecting upon, but he had regrettably set Herr Bauer more firmly in the crosshairs of that pig, Louis Mueller. He had gone to the school to request a harmless look at Herr Claus’s employment file on the pretense of locating the address of the young man’s parents to arrange a surprise visit from them as a gift to their son at Christmas.

But unfortunately for Herr Bauer, Konrad’s request had opened the door for Louis Mueller to infer slyly that his recently hired instructor was up to something more than teaching math and track-and-field sports. Exactly what, he couldn’t say, but the general best be on guard. Since Mueller appeared a man suspicious by nature and his dislike for Herr Bauer blatantly obvious, Konrad would have disregarded his insinuations had he himself not had doubts of his own.

“On what grounds do you base your suspicions?” he’d asked, and Herr Mueller had unlocked the door of Claus Bauer’s cube of an office and without compunction riffled through his lesson planner until he came to the page he was looking for. It was missing. The man’s pink face blanched to the shade of boiled meat, undoubtedly thinking that General Konrad March would think he’d been blowing smoke up his anus.

“I—I swear that it was here,” he cried, without realizing that the missing page was more damning than what was written upon it. “Look, there’s a gap in the dates!”

“I see,” Konrad had said.

Some color was restored to the director’s face when a page was similarly discovered missing from the Sorbonne’s personnel director’s daily diary that Mueller claimed to have stated CB in place. “Do you not see the oddity of the coincidence, eh, Herr General?” he’d asked, a spark of triumph lighting his porcine eyes.

“Yes, I see,” said Konrad. “I ask that you keep this visit confidential between ourselves, understand?”

“Most certainly, Herr General,” Louis had said with a conspiratorial wink that almost earned a slap across one of his portly cheeks.

“And now perhaps you can tell me how you happened to come across the personal writings in the private diaries of your instructor and the Sorbonne’s personnel director?” Konrad had asked just to watch those cheeks blanch again.

At his dining room table, Konrad rang the table bell.

Hans appeared. “Mein General?”

“As a peace offering to Wilhelm, let’s have Herr Bauer stay for dinner tomorrow night after their tutoring session.”