Chapters (50)
- Praise
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- Teaser chapter
“Nothing,” I said. “You know, Frau Warzok, not everyone who was in the SS is as warm and cuddly as I am. Some of these old comrades don’t like questions, even from people like me. What you’re asking me to do could be dangerous.”
“I appreciate that,” she said. “We’ll make it worth your while. I have some money left. And my fiancé is a rich lawyer.”
“Is there any other kind? In the future I’ve an idea that everyone will be a lawyer. They’ll have to be.” I lit another cigarette. “A case like this, it might take a bit of money at that. Expenses. Talking money.”
“Talking money?”
“A lot of people won’t say or do anything until they see a picture of Europa and her bull.” I took out a banknote and showed her the picture I was talking about. “This picture.”
“I suppose that includes you.”
“Me, I’m coin-operated, like everything and everyone else these days. Lawyers included. I get ten marks a day plus expenses. No receipts. Your accountant won’t like that but it can’t be helped. Buying information isn’t like buying stationery. I get something in advance. That’s for your inconvenience. You see, I might draw a blank and it always inconveniences a client when he finds himself paying for nothing very much.”
“How does two hundred in advance sound?”
“Two hundreds are better than one.”
“And a substantial bonus if you find any evidence that Friedrich is alive or dead.”
“How substantial?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t given it much thought.”
“Might be a good idea if you did. I work better that way. How much would it be worth to you if I did find something out? If you could marry, for example.”
“I’d pay five thousand marks, Herr Gunther.”
“Have you thought of offering that much to the cardinal?” I asked.
“You mean like a bribe?”
“No, not like a bribe, Frau Warzok. I mean a bribe, pure and simple. Five thousand marks buys an awful lot of rosaries. Hell, that’s how the Borgias made their fortune. Everyone knows that.”
Frau Warzok seemed shocked. “The Church is not like that anymore,” she said.
“No?”
“I couldn’t,” she said. “Marriage is a sacrament that is indissoluble.”
I shrugged. “If you say so. Do you have a photograph of your husband?”