Viola Finch looked very much like her avian namesake. She was small and plump in stature, with a tiny, pinched mouth and a conical beak of a nose. She dressed immaculately in colorful plumage and perched on her chair just outside Bellows’ office waiting for the master to beckon her. If anyone could have adapted to caged living with a loving mate, it would have been Viola Finch.
Viola hopped lightly as she brought Bellows his cup of Twining’s English Tea with just a smidgen of cream and one sugar. Bellows mumbled thank you without looking up and Miss Finch immediately forgave his thoughtlessness and retreated without saying a word. He looked haggard and she blamed it all on that parasitic character from the clerical section. Viola Finch was a patient young woman and felt certain that at some point Addison Bellows would appreciate how intensely loyal she was to him.
CHAPTER NINE:
Berlin – After The War
AFTER HER MEETING with Addison Bellows, Helga concluded that while he could be a useful tool, he could not be counted on if the situation with this Scatcherd character required desperate measures. Bellows was smart and clever, even loyal to a degree, but he would play it safe and never get his hands dirty.
Even more impotent than the archivist was her husband but Helga was reluctant to go to him now as the mere mention of the photographs would surely dredge up painful memories. And if he demanded to see the photographs? Well, that had to be avoided for as long as possible. Augustus needed to be on guard should anyone confront him with meddling questions about their past in Berlin but Helga did not believe that point had arrived.
Augustus Dumont had pretty much retreated from society in the last year, performing only those perfunctory business and social duties that demanded his attention. Among his family, only Lucy noticed that he was receding into a shell-like existence and made it a point to take frequent walks with him around the estate. She would also sit with him in his library where they would sip tea and quietly read, seated in their high back Queen Anne chairs positioned so that they could glance up at each other.
In truth, his years in Berlin serving in the Office of the Military Governor had never been forgotten by Augustus Dumont. He had arrived in Berlin in the Summer of 1945 with the contingent of British and American troops who formed the quadripartite coalition, along with France and Russia, that would share in the management of the defeated and decimated German nation.
Berlin was a blighted city at the time and the euphemistically named “temporary economy” was in reality a black market that thrived with the complicity of many Germans and even the venality of some soldiers from all four countries. One of the epicenters of this illicit economy was the Tiergarten, a large park near the skeletal remains of what was once the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Tor.
Everything from chocolates and cigarettes to watches and cameras could be purchased at the Tiergarten and then sold on the black market at enormous profits. It was reported that some American soldiers were sending home much more money each month than they were paid to serve their country.
Some Germans, not all of them Nazi collaborators or even sympathizers, were flush with cash and lived quite well during the occupation. Some neighbors suggested that Helga’s father, who ran a small factory near the park, was quite active in the black market but nothing was ever proved. It was during this period that the teenage Helga learned from her father to seize whatever you could in life before others grabbed it first.
In addition to the black market, the U.S. Army had to contend with the problem of fraternization. Gen. Eisenhower had issued an edict prohibiting liaisons with German women, but enforcement became increasingly lax and eventually the regulation was ignored altogether. During this period, the rate of venereal disease skyrocketed and caused serious morale problems for officers. After a hero’s welcome just months earlier, the suffering German people started to view the Americans as just as despicable as their Russian counterparts.
Lt. Dumont saw all of this corruption and degradation in his position on the military governor’s staff. He was initially skeptical of rumors that some senior officers were, at the very least, compliant with black market trafficking. Then, he came into the possession of hard evidence that such accusations were more than speculation.
Dumont was a highly moral and religious man who, if he had displayed any lapse in judgment, it was with Helga Brunner. When they had been introduced, he had been charmed by her vivacity and self-confidence, two qualities he certainly lacked. She seemed almost blasé when he described his family back in Virginia, as if their wealth and social standing were of no consequence to her. It would be much later that he concluded that her indifference had been a very effective ruse.
Then, there had been what he came to believe was a moment of moral laxness for which he considered himself solely responsible, but which was in reality a well-planned seduction on Helga’s part that had led a few months later to a secret marriage. The fact that their son had been born “premature” was a convenient explanation that Augustus wondered about but did not challenge. He had done the honorable thing.
When inspectors from the war office descended on Berlin to investigate American soldier involvement in black market activities, they had a reliable informant in Augustus Dumont who was eager to expiate his own sins. He fed information to the inspectors which led to congressional investigations and the removal of several senior staff. As his reward, his cooperation was never revealed and his secret marriage to Helga and the birth of their child, fraternization taken to the extreme some would say, were overlooked. When August Dumont returned home to Virginia, he resumed his role in the Dumont family orbit but his quid pro quo deal with Army investigators left a bitter taste that never washed away. It was a Faustian bargain that he would be burdened with the rest of his life.
ALWAYS GARRULOUS AND engaging in society, Helga was a stern taskmaster when alone with her diminutive husband. She did go to him in the library but held back any mention of the photographs. Instead, she announced that she would be going up to New York to do some shopping.
When Augustus asked in his most deferential tone if she would be taking Lucy with her, she snapped at him with an imperious “no”. In one sense, he was relieved that he would not be deprived of his beloved daughter. Barrington rarely came to him and it was always a stiff and formal conversation when he did so. When Helga went to New York alone, Augustus was certain that she had other pursuits than shopping. He was not naïve and saw into things for which he rarely got credit because of his laconic nature. It had been his habit for years to let uncomfortable situations go unchallenged and today was no exception.
CHAPTER TEN:
Saloon Wisdom
PUDGE MCFADDEN’S COOK never came back to work, and Woody fell into his role as the Irishman’s factotum as if it had been planned all along. It occurred to Woody that Pudge might think that he was Irish and that it was the reason he befriended him. He didn’t think it would matter that he was born Woodrow Braun and that Meacham was his stepfather’s name so he decided to let it go.
After a few days, Woody felt comfortable behind the bar and even received a grudging acknowledgement from Nigel Longstaffe as the little man, like clockwork, shuffled into Pudge’s before noon and settled onto his stool in the corner of the bar.
“I can’t make out what he says, Pudge,” Woody said with some exasperation in referring to Longstaffe’s mumbled greeting the day before. Woody was pulling down chairs and stools as Pudge swept the floor in advance of opening.