Chapters (38)
- Cover
- Also by Philip Kerr
- 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
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
“He said you’d say that. Hebel.”
“He did, huh?”
“He said that I should let him know if you didn’t want to help and then he could probably persuade you himself.”
“Did he say how?”
Maugham smiled. “Oh my, yes. You’re an interesting man, Walter. Or should I say Herr Gunther? Yes, you’ve had an interesting life. A career in the SS and the SD. Working for Dr. Goebbels, among others. You must tell me all about that sometime. It sounds quite fascinating. He said to tell you that if the French Sûreté were to find out that you’re living down here under a false identity, you’d lose your job and you’d be deported back to Berlin, immediately, where the Americans would almost certainly hang you. For what reason, he didn’t say. But I must admit it does sound serious.”
“Fuck you,” I said, and stood up. “Fuck you and your queer friend and your queer nephew.”
“Actually I think we’ll all be f-fucked unless we can work something out, Herr Gunther. Sit down. And let’s talk about this s-s-sensibly.” He nodded. “You know I’m right. So just calm down and think about what you’re saying.”
“Like I said before, Hebel is a false name, too. He could be deported.” I sat down and lit a cigarette. I smoked it, too, but mostly I wanted to jam it in the old man’s bloodshot eyeball.
“Perhaps. But he’s willing to take the risk. The question is, are you willing to take the same risk, Herr Gunther? You’ve got a good job. With the prospect of making a little extra money from me. Shall we say a five percent handling fee? Why screw that just to bring him down?”
“Believe me, if you knew the man like I do, you’d know the answer to that question.”
“Oh, I can believe it. The man is a snake. But, please, it doesn’t have to be like this, Herr Gunther. All you have to do is agree to be my agent in this matter and all of this unpleasantness will go away. We can be friends. Don’t you agree?”
“Is this him who’s blackmailing me now, or you, Mr. Maugham?”
“Come now. I’m merely repeating what Hebel told me.”
“Really? It strikes me that you’ve been on the end of blackmail often enough to know exactly how to apply a bit of pressure yourself.”
“Maybe I do. For which you have my apologies, sir. But I’m a desperate man. You can take that to the casino and buy chips with it.”