The car pulled up outside a town house in better condition than the other homes. “Maud’s daughter seems to be more affluent than her neighbors,” Fitz remarked.

Dave explained. “Walli’s father owns a television factory in West Berlin. Somehow he manages to run it from here. I guess it still makes money.”

They went into the house. The family introduced themselves. Walli’s parents were Werner and Carla, a handsome man and a plain woman with strong features. Walli’s sister, Lili, was nineteen and attractive, and did not look like Walli at all. Dave was intrigued to meet Karolin, who had long fair hair parted in the center and forming curtains either side of her face. With her was Alice, the inspiration for the song, a shy four-year-old with a black ribbon in her hair for mourning. Karolin’s husband, Odo, was a little older, about thirty. He had fashionably long hair but wore a clerical collar.

Dave explained why they had missed the funeral. They mixed languages, though the Germans spoke English better than the English spoke German. Dave sensed that the family’s attitude to Fitz was equivocal. It was understandable: he had after all been harsh to Maud, and her daughter might think it was too late to make amends. However, it was also too late to remonstrate, and no one spoke of the fifty-year estrangement.

A dozen friends and neighbors who had attended the funeral were having coffee and snacks served by Carla and Lili. Dave talked to Karolin about guitars. It turned out she and Lili were underground stars. They were not allowed to make records, because their songs were about freedom, but people made tape recordings of their performances and loaned them to one another. It was a bit like samizdat publishing in the Soviet Union. They discussed cassette tapes, a new format, more convenient though with poor sound quality. Dave offered to send Karolin some cassettes and a deck, but she said they would only be stolen by the secret police.

Dave had assumed Karolin must be a hard-hearted woman, to break off her relationship with Walli and marry Odo, but to his surprise he liked her. She seemed kind and smart. She spoke of Walli with great affection and wanted to know all about his life.

Dave told her how he and Walli had quarreled. She was distressed by the story. “It’s not like him,” she said. “Walli was never the type to fool around. Girls used to fall for him all the time, and he could have had a different one every weekend, but he never did.”

Dave shrugged. “He’s changed.”

“What about your former fiancée? What’s her name?”

“Ursula, but everyone calls her Beep. To be honest, it’s not surprising that she should be unfaithful. She’s kind of wild. It’s part of what makes her so attractive.”

“I think you still have feelings for her.”

“I was crazy about her.” Dave gave an evasive answer because he did not know how he felt now. He was angry with Beep, enraged by her betrayal, but if she wanted to come back to him he was not sure what he would do.