Suarez noticeably relaxed and moved into autopilot as she began reciting the story she had told many times before. “Gerald and Ronald Franklin were brothers. They were successful businessmen, as was my late husband. That’s how we first met. Gerald was married to a delightful girl called Emilia who I became very close to. We spent a great deal of time socialising at their house. The brothers died in the sixties and when Emilia died in 1970, I bought their house. My husband and I decided to knock it down, and we jointly designed El Negus.”

Vargas had heard enough and decided it was time to play his ace in the hole. “Señora Suarez, my colleague and I have just visited the pentagon room.”

The old lady appeared to jump out of the chair as she let out a piercing scream. Her entire body began to shake violently, and the scream evolved into a guttural howl.

The connecting door next to the wardrobe burst open and the night nurse ran into the room. As soon as she saw the two men standing close to Suarez, she became rooted to the spot. Vargas could see the sheer look of terror in her eyes.

“Señora, I am a chief inspector with the Buenos Aires Police Department. We are here to interview Señora Suarez. Please return to your room and stay there until we leave.”

The nurse nodded and slowly left the room. Suarez had stopped screaming and was now venomously glaring at Vargas, her body still shaking. He walked towards her and then leaned forwards, his face only a few inches from hers. “Tell us what you know about the Führer and his friends, Señora.”

Suarez’s right hand lashed out and Vargas was taken by surprise at the speed of her movement as she caught him around the temple. He reeled back and instinctively pulled away. His forehead stung with pain as one of her rings had drawn blood.

“Get out of my house. I have nothing more to say.”

He touched his head and felt the warm wetness of the blood.

Hembury stepped across to take a closer look. “It’s only a graze, Nic. Let’s get out of this madhouse. I think we’ve learned everything we can.”

Vargas nodded, and they both turned away from Suarez and walked towards the bedroom door. Hembury opened it to leave but suddenly Vargas stopped. He spun around and ran back towards the old lady in the chair, grabbing her right hand in a tight grip.

“Show me your ring, Señora Suarez.”

He stared at the thin gold band, broken up by three large diamonds. The ring hung limply on her shrivelled finger. Vargas slowly looked up at the wizened face of the old lady, now fixed with a mask of terror. At that moment, he knew he was looking into the eyes of Eva Braun.

Chapter Forty-Two

26 January 2012

El Calafate