‘You must be Herr Steininger,’ he said, pumping my hand. ‘Permit me to introduce myself. I am Karl Maria Weisthor, and I am delighted to have already had the pleasure of meeting your lovely wife.’ He spoke very formally, and with a Viennese accent. ‘In that at least you are a very fortunate man. Let us hope that I may be of service to you both before the evening has ended. Otto has told me of your missing daughter Emmeline, and of how the police and our good friend Rolf Vogelmann have been unable to find her. As I said to your wife, I am sure that the spirits of our ancient German ancestors will not desert us, and that they will tell us what has become of her, as they have told us of other things before.’

He turned and waved at the table. ‘Shall we be seated?’ he said. ‘Herr Steininger, you and your wife will sit on either side of me. Everyone will join hands, Herr Steininger. This will increase our conscious power. Try not to let go, no matter what you might see or hear, as it can cause the link to be broken. Do you both understand?’

We nodded and took our seats. When the rest of the company had sat down, I noticed that Himmler had contrived to be sitting next to Hildegard, to whom he was paying close attention. It struck me that I would tell it differently, and that it would amuse Heydrich and Nebe if I told them I spent the evening holding hands with Heinrich Himmler. Thinking about it then I almost laughed, and to cover my half-smile I turned away from Weisthor and found myself looking at a tall, urbane, Siegfried-type wearing evening dress, with the kind of warm, sensitive manner that comes only of bathing in dragon’s blood.

‘My name is Kindermann,’ he said sternly. ‘Dr Lanz Kindermann, at your service, Herr Steininger.’ He glanced down at my hand as if it had been a dirty dishcloth.

‘Not the famous psychotherapist?’ I said.

He smiled. ‘I doubt that you could call me famous,’ he said, but with some satisfaction all the same. ‘Nevertheless, I thank you for the compliment.’

‘And are you Austrian?’

‘Yes. Why do you ask?’

‘I like to know something about the men whose hands I hold,’ I offered, and grasped his own firmly.

‘In a moment,’ said Weisthor, ‘I shall ask our friend Otto to turn off the electric light. But first of all, I should like us all to close our eyes and to breathe deeply. The purpose of this is to relax. Only if we are relaxed will spirits feel comfortable enough to contact us and offer us the benefit of what they are able to see.