Rina laughed. “I think so.”

“Would you like more tea?”

“I’d love some more tea,” Rina said.

Anika picked up the teapot and disappeared into the kitchen.

Rina held in a laugh. “What a character!”

“She has a personality,” Decker said.

She came back several minutes later with scalding hot tea. “Ah, the steam, the aroma … only thing English do well is tea.” She poured three refills. “I try to think back that far, Mrs. Decker, to the time of the deaths. It was a very peculiar time.”

“How so?” Rina asked.

“All of Germany was imploding. Munich was no exception. The city was in terrible chaos, and the deaths made even more chaos. München held much militaristic presence, of uniforms and armies and parades. It was the birth home of the Nazis, yes, but they were not the only political party. There were many and every group has its own flag, its own identity. Every party is color coded. Brown for Nazis, the Social Democrats are green, Communists are red or black shirt with red bow ties. Then there are the royalists. The Bavarian monarchs were expelled by the Communists in 1918, but many relatives remained and dressed in old Bayerischen royal uniform for every parade on every occasion. There were always demonstrations in Konigsplatz … in every public square. I go to a school in Turkenstrasse—”

“My mother’s schule,” Rina said.

“Yes, your mother’s schule, too. Next door was the seat of the Nazi newspaper Volkischer Beobachter. We used to see the Brown Shirts goose-step. A few times Hitler, too. It was all part of the show. Looking back as an adult, I was very frightened, I think, because these groups used to come to the schule and talk. They ask about our parents—what they did, who they knew, what newspapers were at home. The newspapers in Europe are different than newspapers in America. They are political-party papers, so by asking about the newspapers, the groups know the parents’ party affiliation. So when the deaths happen, like your grandmother, Mrs. Decker, the talk is that maybe your Omah was on the wrong side politically.”

“Do you think her murder was political?”

“After the first one is found, everyone says that yes, it must be political. Everything in Munich was political. There were several other murders of young women that were political, one very famous—a farm girl named Amalie Sandmeyer who was murdered by the Fememord, a very secret right-wing group. Everyone is afraid of the Fememord.”

“Why was Amalie Sandmeyer murdered?” Decker asked. “Was she a spy?”

“On the contrary. She was a working girl and was too naive to realize what was happening. Weapons at the time were illegal in München. If you find weapons from World War One, to the police you must bring them. But all the groups have secret caches. Amalie found a secret cache of weapons, and like the dumb good girl she was, she reported it to authorities. The problem was she found a Nazi cache and the police had many members in the National Socialist German Workers Party. Everyone knew her murder was political.”