He looked at the limp body of the dead guard again and noted that under the army greatcoat he was wearing rough civilian clothes. His instinct had been correct; this had not been an official roadblock. For a few moments he looked down into the man’s face. The lips were peeled back, revealing broken and blackened teeth. Wilde couldn’t help thinking he looked like a beached shark. He reached into the dead man’s pockets and found an identity card and other papers with the name Hans Brunner. Also an address in a town which meant nothing to him. He took the papers and walked back towards the Buick. Sunny was a few metres from the car, kneeling on the roadway with the two Luftwafffe officers close by. There was no sign of Klara or Offenbach. Wilde quickened his pace. He looked in the car and was relieved to see Klara still there, crouching in the back seat and very much alive. He smiled at her.

‘Stay there.’

Klara was shaking. ‘What’s happening, Tom?’

‘The bad men – but we’re all right now. Hush. Just wait a moment for me.’

He smiled again and closed the car door.

Ten yards to the rear, Sunny was still on her knees and he could tell that she was weeping. Then Wilde saw why. Before her lay the motionless figure of Anton Offenbach.

The Luftwaffe major bent down and gently took hold of Sunny’s arm.

‘Frau Somerfeld, you have to go. Anyone could come at any time.’

‘I can’t leave him.’

‘Dear lady, Herr Offenbach is dead. Please leave this to us now. You must go, straight away, or we will not be able to help you.’

She was kissing Offenbach’s deathly white cheeks. Her tears were falling into his hair, merging with the rain.

The major pulled her to her feet while his junior officer attended to Offenbach’s body.

‘Go, dear lady, or you will put us all in danger.’

Wilde understood the urgency. He took hold of her other arm and together they dragged her back towards the Buick. She emitted a wail of animal grief, but did nothing to stop them pushing her into her seat and closing the door after her.

‘Get out of here, Sable,’ the major said. ‘As fast as you can. And say nothing.’

‘What will you do?’

‘Don’t worry. As far as the world is concerned, we just walked into this.’

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Jim Vanderberg and Romy Dietrich stayed up long into the night, discussing what to do next. The chances were that the Gestapo must know she was here, but that did not mean they would act on the information. His apartment was always watched but he was hopeful that the secret police would not storm into the home of an American diplomat – at least not while some sort of tenuous peace persisted between their countries.