She came forward at last and tentatively sat down on the bench seat by the table, keeping her distance from Wilde at a couple of feet, her hands crossed in her lap, meekly like a supplicant. ‘I’m sorry, it is true. I should not have lied to you. I said confession in church later that day because I am not accustomed to telling lies, sir.’

‘So you do know about Schellenberg. Regular visitor was he?’

‘I believe he came here quite often as a child, for the holidays in summer and winter, but I only knew him as an adult, when he came less frequently – once or twice before the war, and then once last year.’

‘The last time he came, was he alone?’

‘No, there were other men with him.’

‘Anyone you recognised?’

She shook her head. ‘All I can tell you is that they were SS officers. Six of them.’

‘And they came to see August Jaeger?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m interested in another man, Standartenführer Julius Boden. Do you know him?’

‘I know the name, of course. Everyone does. His home is not more than forty kilometres from here by road, perhaps half that hiking. It is called Schwarzenkirche, a very pretty village. People say it will become the next Kitzbühel.’

‘You remember what you said about lying? I was born a Catholic, like you, and I’m pretty sure it’s a mortal sin here in Austria, just as it was in America.’

She closed her eyes and nodded her head. ‘I have met him. He came here a few times because he was – is, I suppose – good friends with August.’

‘Was he with Schellenberg’s little SS group?’

Again she hesitated.

‘Well?’

She nodded. ‘Yes, he was with them. But, sir, can I not ask you what this is all about?’

‘You tell me, Frau Jaeger, what do you think it’s about?’

She met his eyes. ‘You asked me to be honest with you, so perhaps you will extend me the same courtesy.’

‘Try me.’

‘I think you are looking for Hitler. Everyone in the village thinks that. No one has been talking about anything else since you came before.’

‘Carry on.’

‘You think Uncle August knows where he is, don’t you?’

‘From what I’m told, he’d be the best man to find a secure hideout up here, so yes, in that case I think he might know where Hitler’s secreted himself. Why else would your husband’s uncle have been talking to Boden and the other SS men in 1944?’

‘But we hate Hitler, here. No one would do anything to help that filthy man. He was the Antichrist.’

‘Are you sure about that? Your neighbours down in Grünegg still sing the Nazi anthem.’