When she went out again, the three of us started to sing. It was one of the few SS songs I didn’t mind at all, since it couldn’t have had less to do with the SS or even fighting a war. And, for a moment, I forgot where I was and whom I was with.

“On the heath there grows a little flower

And its name is Erika.

A hundred thousand little bees

Swarm around Erika

Because her heart is full of sweetness

And her flowery dress gives off a tender scent

On the heath there grows a little flower

And its name is Erika.”

We sang all three verses, and by the end we were in such a jolly mood that Heydrich told Bettina to fetch us some brandy. A few minutes later we were toasting the fall of France, and then Heydrich was explaining the real reason for my presence in his office. He handed me a file, waited for me to open it, and said:

“You recognize the name on the file, of course.”

I nodded. “Erich Mielke. What about him?”

“You saved his life, and then he and an accomplice murdered two policemen. And then his arrest was bungled by the Jew in charge of the investigation.”

“You mean Kriminal-Polizeirat Heller,” I said. “Yes, I remember him. Wasn’t it Heller who successfully investigated the murder of that young SA fellow in the Beussellkeitz? The one who was stabbed to death by some communist thugs. What was his name? Herbert Norkus?”

“Thank you for the history lesson, Gunther,” said Heydrich patiently. “None of us is likely to forget Herbert Norkus.”

This was hardly surprising, as the murder of Norkus had been the subject of the very first Nazi propaganda movie, about the Hitler Youth. I hadn’t seen the movie myself, but I thought it unlikely that Heller’s part had even made it into the script. All the same, I thought it best not to push this detail any further with Heydrich.

“You’ll be glad to know that Foreign Intelligence has managed to keep track of Mielke since you and Heller allowed him to slip through your fingers,” he said. “Walter, why don’t you bring the chief inspector up to date with what we have on him now.”