“The Vopos smashed up my guitar,” Walli explained.

“But now you have another, I see.”

Walli nodded. “But I’ve lost Karolin.”

“That was careless. She was a pretty girl.”

“We both lived in the East. She’s still there, but I escaped.”

“How?”

“I drove a van through the barrier.”

“That was you? I read about it in the newspapers. Hey, man, cool! But why didn’t you bring the chick?”

“She didn’t show up at the rendezvous.”

“Too bad. Want a drink?” Danni went behind the bar.

“Thanks. I’d like to go back for her, but I’m wanted for murder there now.”

Danni pumped two glasses of draft beer. “The Communists made a huge fuss about that. They’re calling you a violent criminal.”

They had also demanded Walli’s extradition. The government of West Germany had refused, saying that the guard had shot at a German citizen who merely wanted to go from one Berlin street to the next, and responsibility for his death lay with the unelected East German regime that illegally imprisoned its population.

In his head Walli did not believe that he had done wrong, but in his heart he could not get used to the idea that he had killed a man.

He said to Danni: “If I crossed the border they would arrest me.”

“Man, you’re fucked.”

“And I still don’t know why Karolin didn’t come.”

“And you can’t go back to ask her. Unless . . .”

Walli pricked up his ears. “Unless what?”

Danni hesitated. “Nothing.”

Walli put down his glass. He was not going to let a thing like that pass him by. “Come on, man—what?”

Danni said thoughtfully: “Of all the people in Berlin, I guess the one I could trust is a guy who killed an East German border guard.”

This was maddening. “What are you talking about?”

Danni made up his mind. “Oh, just something I heard.”

If it were just something he had heard, he would not be so secretive about it, Walli thought. “What did you hear?”

“There might be a way to go back without passing through a checkpoint.”

“How?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Walli was angered. Danni seemed to be toying with him. “Then why the fuck did you say it?”

“Take it easy, okay? I can’t tell you, but I could take you to see someone.”

“When?”

Danni thought for a minute, then answered the question with a question. “Are you willing to go back today? Like, now?”

Walli was scared, but he did not hesitate. “Yes. But why the rush?”

“So that you have no chance to tell anyone. They’re not exactly professional about security, but they’re not completely stupid either.”

He was talking about an organized group. It sounded promising. Walli got off his stool. “Can I leave my guitar here?”

“I’ll put it in the store.” Danni picked up the instrument in its case and locked it in a cupboard with several other instruments and some amplification gear. “Let’s go,” he said.

The club was just off the Ku’damm. Danni closed up and they walked to the nearest subway station. Danni noticed his limp. “You were shot in the leg, according to the newspapers.”