“Yes, we think so,” Muller said.
“We?”
“The less you know, the safer you are,” he said. And immediately knew that was nonsense. If they were caught, it wouldn’t matter how much or how little Gisella knew. They would both die, very slowly and very hard, at the hands of someone like Peis.
“I knew the other one was, I don’t know, a confirmation of the first.”
“What other one?” he asked.
“There were two messages.” He looked down at her, saw her scalp where she parted her hair, looked down to see her breast half flattened against his abdomen.
He didn’t want to talk about messages. He just wanted to be where he was, with her naked against him, feeling her heart beat against his chest.
“Ach, Gott!” he said, and then, “I don’t know about a second message.
And I have to know.”
“”Bubchen wants to paddle Gisella’s canoe again, “‘ she quoted, so solemnly that he chuckled.
“What’s it mean?” he asked. “How do you know it’s for you? What does it mean, about a canoe? Bubchen?” She was silent for a moment.
“Why did you have to laugh?” she asked.
“Sometimes I’m an asshole,” he said.
“I was older than Eric,” she said.
“And you called him Bubchen’?” She nodded her head ayes” against his chest.
“And the canoe? What’s that mean?” She told him about the picnic on the bank of the Lahn River the day before Eric Fulmar had disappeared from Marburg.
Surprising himself, he lowered his head and kissed her hair.
“It’s humiliating, having to tell you,” Gisella said.
“Why?” he said. “You were forced to be with him.”
“Not that much, ” Gisella said.
“You fell in love with him?” he asked.
“Something like that was impossible,” she said.
“Are you still in love with him?” he asked, with a valiant effort to sound dispassionate.
Gisella pushed herself off him and looked down at him.
“Would you believe me if I told you no’?” “Yes ” he said “Then no. “‘ “I’m glad,” he said.
She threw herself into his arms again.
“What the hell is it all about?” she asked plaintively.
“It’s one of two things, I think,” he said. “He–they–either want something from your father, or they want to get him, maybe both of you, out of Germany.”
“I have been asking Father to come up with some connection with Eric,” Gisella said. “But he simply doesn’t remember him.”
“I’ll have to have a go at that,” he said.
“With my father?”
“Yes.”
“He pretends he doesn’t know about Peis,” Gisella said. “I don’t know how he’d react if you showed up at the house.”
“We’re going to have to find out,” he said.
“I suppose,” she said.
They lapsed into silence.
Two minutes later, Muller said, You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
“That’s an elaborate compliment,” Gisella said. “When men pay elaborate compliments, they generally want something.” He felt his face flush.
“Does that mean you want to make love?” Gisella asked.
“It didn’t,” he said, taken back, hurt. “But yes, I do,” he added defiantly.
“Good,” she said, pushing herself erect and looking down at him again.
“I was afraid you would go to sleep on me.” She saw the look on his face.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I am. I’ve never… been successful… with women.”
“You are with this one,” Gisella said, and took his hand. “See?
Feel?” IZ Burqwreg Marburg an der Lahn, Aermany 1000 Hours 18 January No one really knew how old Burgweg was. Presumably, it had been there before the fortress was built. The guidebooks said the fortress had been built “circa A. D.900 {? ) around an earlier watchtower.” The road itself, paved with cobblestones, was steep. And covered as it was now with a thin layer of snow over ice, it was slippery. The rear end of Muller’s Opel Admiral slewed from side to side, frequently bouncing against the curb on the down side of the hill. Several times it almost scraped the buildings that were flush with the side of the road.
The numbering ran from the top downward. They were almost at the gate in the fortress itself when Muller carefully bounced the right wheels of the car over the granite curb and brought the Admiral to a stop.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171