‘Is that it?’ Appache said when the story was finished.

‘It seemed to mean something to us,’ Wilde said, annoyed by the colonel’s apparent disinterest, even ennui. ‘Of course it would help if we could find August Jaeger and bring him in for questioning. Also those men in the Kuhhaus at Grünegg . . .’

‘Goddamn it, Professor Wilde, just because they’re diehard Nazis doesn’t mean they’re hiding Hitler. If we arrested and interrogated every German and Austrian who still hankers after the good old days of Hitlerdom, we’d have to intern half the nation.’

It wasn’t worth arguing. Wilde was beginning to understand why Collingham and Harper had not bothered to brief the colonel in any detail.

Appache pushed a sheet of paper across the table. ‘These are the people you should be talking to. They actually knew – or perhaps know – the Führer. Their evidence is crucial. If they know where Hitler is, it’ll be your skill that gets the truth out of them. That’s what you’re here for.’ He directed the words at Wilde, then glanced at Heck. ‘And I know you have your own methods, Lieutenant. But be careful. A GI has gone on trial for killing a German civilian. I don’t want to see you in the dock. You do it the way Professor Wilde tells you. He may not have army rank, but on this mission he is your senior officer. Understand, son?’

Heck smiled, but didn’t bother to reply.

Wilde looked at the paper. It had two names on it: Hugo Blaschke, dentist; Erich Kempka, driver. Fair enough. He already had the names on his own, rather more extensive, list.

‘Dentist and driver,’ the colonel drawled. ‘You may think they’re a bit low level, but they sure as damn were close to Hitler – particularly his driver Kempka. He was there at the end. He was the man who was ordered to find fuel to burn the bodies of Mr and Mrs Hitler. He supposedly found the two hundred gallons of gasoline to douse them. As for the dentist, he’s the one who identified a piece of dental work found by the Soviets in the ashes outside the bunker as a bridge he had made for Hitler. They’ve been interviewed extensively, but we believe there’s more there to be learnt. God go with you, gentlemen. Keep me informed.’

And with that, he rose from his desk and they were dismissed.

Chapter 14

Hitler’s chauffeur, Erich Kempka, had been captured at Hintersee in Austria and had been moved around. Now, he was in a POW camp at Darmstadt, twenty-five miles south of Frankfurt, so Wilde and Heck hitched a ride on a USAF transport flight.

On landing at the airfield, a car was waiting for them and they were driven directly to the camp. They were still in the American zone and Wilde was shocked by the devastation he witnessed, far worse than the countryside and towns north of Munich. Almost the whole city of Darmstadt had been razed to the ground. Everywhere, women, children and men were scrabbling around the rubble and ashes, looking for food or coal and trying to find some sort of shelter. They were slow, ponderous and blank-eyed, like creatures from an old black-and-white Bela Lugosi movie.