Vargas and Hembury left through the front, now unguarded, entrance and walked around to the rear of the house where they’d left their hire car. On the way back to the hotel, Vargas gave Hembury a literal translation of the Braun interview, including the veiled threat at the end.

“Nic, she is a total piece of work. Every history book in the world says she committed suicide in 1945 and yet here we are, over sixty-five years later, having our lives threatened by her. Do you think we might face problems with the authorities here over the shooting of the guard?”

“I can’t imagine she would let the police anywhere near that place. I suspect our friend Javier will never be heard of again.”

Javier’s dead body was lying in the corner of the room when Nurse Flores returned. She tried somehow to ignore its presence while she slowly moved Eva Braun in her wheelchair into the spare room. She was shaking with fear but was far too scared to ask her employer any questions

“Señora Suarez, you must be extremely tired. You need to sleep and recover your strength.”

Braun was clearly exhausted, but she knew she had one more task to carry out before she could rest.

“Liliana, you must promise me you will never speak of this incident to anyone outside this house. Everything will be taken care of in the next few hours. I will ensure you receive a generous bonus this month.”

The night nurse nodded. “Of course, Señora. You know you can rely on my discretion and loyalty. Do you require anything else from me?”

“Yes, I need you to fetch my mobile phone from my dressing table.”

Chapter Forty-Three

23 June 1981

San Francisco

By 1981, the Franklin Pharmaceutical Corporation was almost thirty-five years old and had broken into the elite group of the top-ten pharma companies in the world. Richard Franklin was now its CEO, having taken over the role from his Uncle Ronald, who’d moved to the post of chairman. Richard was the same age as the company and, in recent years, his insatiable drive and energy had been at the heart of the corporation’s rapid expansion across the globe. He’d opened offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Istanbul, Cape Town and Cairo and the Franklin Corporation had become a star player on Wall Street, as investors rode on the back of their continued global expansion and ever-rising profits. He’d carefully followed the key elements of Bormann’s plan and recruited senior management figures who were either covert Nazi sympathisers or direct descendants of his father’s contemporaries.