"Don't be silly," he said. "Sorry for what?"
"I'm supposed to be at mass," she said. "Confession and then mass. That's what I told Isabela. Mother really sent me here."
"Why?"
"Humberto called Mother very late last night. Cletus arrives here this afternoon. Mother thought you'd want to know, and she didn't want to use the telephone."
I don't suppose it's very likely Cletus has the combination to his father's safe, but I'm grasping for straws.
"Yes, of course."
He leaned down and kissed her, very chastely, on the forehead.
"I'd better put some clothes on," he said. "Dora is an hour late. She's liable to walk in any second."
She nodded.
"You want to make some coffee? I won't be a minute."
She nodded again, and smiled.
He walked back to his bedroom and began to take clothing from his closet. He sensed he was not alone, and turned.
Alicia was standing in the bedroom door.
"Do you think they're going to try to kill Cletus, too?" she asked.
Probably. And this time they may succeed. Coming back here was insanity.
"I don't think so, sweetheart," he said. "And Cletus can take care of himself."
"They will, you know they will," Alicia said, and he heard her voice starting to break. And then she ran into his arms again.
"He'll be all right, baby," Peter said, stroking her hair, hoping he sounded far more confident than he felt.
"I've been thinking," Alicia said. "About Brazil."
"That's just not possible, sweetheart," Peter said. "We've talked about that."
They had talked about it in her mother's apartment immediately after the murder of el Coronel Jorge Guillermo Frade. She wept then, too. It was the second time he had seen her weep. The first time was the afternoon at Estancia Santo Catalina, when she became a woman and told him she was weeping with happiness.
In her mother's apartment she wept with grief over the loss of el Coronel Frade. Understandably. For most of her life he had filled the role of father for her. But that wasn't the only reason she wept. The primary cause of her misery was that Hans-Peter von Wachtstein, whom she loved, was a German, a German officer, and she could see nothing in their future but grief and misery and probably death.
She announced through her tears that the only hope they had was for him to desert, to cross the border into Brazil, and turn himself in. Brazil would treat him as a prisoner of war. Though this would separate them for now, he would live through the war; and after the war, they would be together.
He knew then that Alicia, who was as hardheaded as her mother, would not be satisfied with a "Sorry, that's just not possible" answer. He had to tell her why it was not possible for him to desert. Not everything, of course, not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But some truths, and some major omissions.
He told her that he had been charged by his father with salvaging a portion of what was already becoming the ashes and rubble of Germany, so that the people who lived on the von Wachtstein estates in Pomerania would have enough to rebuild their lives once the war was over.
He told her that it was a matter of honor for his father and himself to do so; that they had an obligation, as von Wachtsteins, to do what they could for the several thousand people who depended on the von Wachtsteins to care for them, as von Wachtsteins had cared for their people for centuries.
He told her that he had brought a large amount of money with himin U.S. dollars, Swiss francs, and English poundswhen he came to Argentina.
He told her that Cletus Frade had asked his father's help in investing the money secretly, and that el Coronel Frade and his brother-in-law, Humberto Valdez Duarte, the banker, were helping him not only in that, but also in moving more money out of Germany through Spain and Switzerland into Argentina, and that he simply could not abandon the project.
He told her that if he deserted, his father would almost certainly be arrested and placed in a concentration camp.
He did not tell her that if it came to the attention of the Sicherheitsdienst of the SS that he and his father had been hiding money outside Germany, they would both be tried by a Nazi court, all the family lands and other property would be confiscated, and they would both be executed.
He did not tell her that Humberto Valdez Duarte had come to him as soon as he could after the murder of el Coronel Frade to tell him there was a major problem regarding the financial transactions: el Coronel Frade held all the records for these in the safe at Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo. Unless they could get into the safe before it was opened by officials of the Argentine government, the transactions would come to light... and the records would be turned over to the Germans by German sympathizers.
He also did not tell heror Humberto Valdez Duartethat there was another document in el Coronel Frade's safe, a letter from Generalleutnant von Wachtstein to his son. Nor did he tell them that if this letter came to light, Generalleutnant von Wachtstein would be put to death by garroting, unless he died first of torture during the SS interrogation.
Schloss Wachtstein
Pomern
Hansel
I have just learned that you have reached Argentina safely, and thus it is time for this letter.
The greatest violation of the code of chivalry by which I, and you, and your brothers, and so many of the von Wachtsteins before us have tried to live is of course regicide. I want you to know that before I decided that honor demands that I contribute what I can to such a course of action that I considered all of the ramifications, both spiritual and worldly, and that I am at peace with my decision.
A soldier's duty is first to his God, then to his honor, and then to his country. The Allies in recent weeks have accused the German state of the commission of atrocities on such a scale as to defy description. I must tell you that information has come to me that has convinced me that the accusations are not only based on fact, but are actually worse than alleged.
The officer corps has failed its duty to Germany, not so much on the field of battle, but in pandering to the Austrian Corporal and his cohorts. In exchange for privilege and "honors," the officer corps, myself included, has closed its eyes to the obscene violations of the Rules of Land Warfare, the Code of Honor, and indeed most of God's Ten Commandments that have gone on. I accept my share of the responsibility for this shameful behavior.
We both know the war is lost. When it is finally over, the Allies will, with right, demand a terrible retribution from Germany.
I see it as my duty as a soldier and a German to take whatever action is necessary to hasten the end of the war by the only possible means now available, eliminating the present head of the government. The soldiers who will die now, in battle, or in Russian prisoner-of-war camps will be as much victims of the officer corps' failure to act as are the people the Nazis are slaughtering in concentration camps.
I put it to you, Hansel, that your allegiance should be no longer to the Luftwaffe, or the German State, but to Germany, and to the family, and to the people who have lived on our lands for so long.
In this connection, your first duty is to survive the war. Under no circumstances are you to return to Germany for any purpose until the war is over. Find now some place where you can hide safely if you are ordered to return.
Your second duty is to transfer the family funds from Switzerland to Argentina as quickly as possible. You have by now made contact with our friend in Argentina, and he will probably be able to be of help. In any event, make sure the funds are in some safe place. It would be better if they could be wisely invested, but the primary concern is to have them someplace where they will be safe from the Sicherheitsdienst until the war is over.