"And would any of these think the death of Geli Raubal would benefit Herr Hitler and the party?" Begg enquired, staring out at the construction in what had once been a rather pretty garden.
"Oh, all of them would probably say something like it." Hess nodded absently, looking about the room, its sparse furniture, rather as if he saw it for the first time. "But saying and doing are very different things. I can't see Rцhm, who thought Geli a bit of a doxy, or Strasser, who was the last one to want scandal, or Gцbbels, who is our chief propagandist, threatening either Hitler's career or the party's prospects by killing Geli. And Captain Goring has no interest in such things. Gцbbels might have made her an offer she couldn't refuse. Rцhm might have frightened her away. Strasser would have told her to keep her nose clean and not embarrass the Fьhrer."
"And this Herr Himmler?"
"He's a cold fish. He has Hitler's ear. He has wheedled his way into the Fьhrer's confidences in recent years. I thought he might have been behind that sniper's assassination attempt. They tried to kill me, you know. But I heard the rifle shot in time and flung myself flat. I still live in fear in case the sniper should try again-"
"You were telling us about Herr Himmler."
"Head of Hitler's personal bodyguard. Big rival of Rцhm, who runs the SA, our storm troopers. He did hate the relationship. But he, too, knows that the party is on the very brink of sweeping the country. As far as I know he is in Berlin. Why would he jeopardize his own career? You see, there are no real suspects within the party. This is the work of communists and their backers. Our self-interest would not be served by scandal."
"True," agreed Begg. "So you believe there was perhaps a political motive for her death. And what about a personal one?"
"You will have to ask others about that." Hess was suddenly very subdued.
Under Begg's clever prompting, Hess revealed all he knew of the Geli Raubal murder case.
Hitler was becoming increasingly jealous of Geli, who grew steadily bored with his prolonged absences from the flat. His political career took him farther and farther from Munich for longer periods. She, being a young, spirited woman, had wanted more gaiety in her life and eventually had asked her uncle Alf if he would pay for her to go to Vienna, where she had more friends and where she could get far better voice lessons than in Munich.
Hitler had objected to this. He had not wanted her to go to Vienna. He had not wanted her to leave their flat. He was becoming even more suspicious of her. He threatened and wheedled, and it seemed she calmed down. Then, on the morning he was due to leave for an important speaking tour, there was another row. "It was to involve some crucial secret meetings, for there are those in our party who do not believe Alf should be courting the rich at all. Yet without them, we are nothing." Hess paused, his voice taking on an increasingly retrospective tone.
"That same morning, Geli had found one of her pet canaries dead on the floor of its cage. She had become hysterical. She threatened Hitler. She said that if he did not let her go to Vienna she would kill herself. Then she threatened to spill the beans about 'everything.'"
"Everything?" Begg lifted an eyebrow.
Hess did not know what "everything" was, he said. But Sinclair recognized Begg's sudden alertness.
"Well, Hitler's car was to call for him early that morning, after breakfast. He could not cancel his engagements. But Geli demanded that he either stay with her or let her go to Vienna. Again Hitler refused. Even as he got into the car, Geli appeared on the balcony above. 'So you won't let me go to Vienna?' she had shouted.
"Hitler's reply had been a terse 'No.' Then the automobile had driven away."
Hours later Hitler was meeting his new backers. He stayed overnight at the Deutscherhof in Nuremberg. There were many witnesses. At eight-thirty the next morning, the housekeeper, Annie Winter, arrived at Prinzregensburgstrasse to begin work. The flat was silent. Frau Winter knocked several times, without getting a response.
Eventually she sent for her butler husband, to force it. They found
Geli.
"She appeared to have shot herself. Beside her lay the dead canary, spattered with her blood. She was shot in the heart."
Hitler's Walther 9.5 mm automatic pistol lay near her hand. She had been dead for some hours. Hess had been called. Eventually, he called the police.
"You have to be certain who you call, Sir Seaton. The Munich police have a decided anti-Nazi bias and would love to use something like this against the Fьhrer."
The police had soon decided Frдulein Raubal could not easily have shot herself at that angle and that she had probably been murdered. Nobody believed it was suicide.
"And it could not have been Alf, Sir Seaton, however it seems. Alf was miles away, in Nuremberg, when the crime occurred. You can see how easy it will be, perhaps, to prove he paid someone to kill her. But he loved Geli, Sir Seaton. He lived for her. He is too gentle. Too idealistic. I fear that if the case isn't cleared up rapidly, by one such as yourself, it will mean the end of Alf's career and, because he is our most important spokesman, the dissolution of the Nazi Party. Please stop this from happening, Sir Seaton. Please say you will help us!"
Begg's features were hidden from Hess and the astonished Sinclair as he spoke reassuringly.
"Of course I will, Mr. Hess. It's not the sort of problem one solves every day. And we do love a challenge-don't we, Taffy?"
The pathologist was taken aback. "If you say so, old boy."
Sometimes even Taffy Sinclair found his friend's game very hard to follow.
CHAPTER THREE
Begg's first stop after lunch was to the murder scene itself. Prinzregensburgstrasse was the smart area where "Fьhrer" Hitler now lived. On the way, Hess explained how the Winters had called him and he in turn had tried to telephone Hitler in Nuremberg. But Hitler had already left Nuremberg and was traveling to his next appointment. Apparently he was singing snatches of song, entertaining the other occupants of the car with jokes, impressions of people they had just met.
"Many people, Sir Seaton, have no idea what a marvelous entertainer Alf is. He used to keep us in fits of laughter on those long tours. He could impersonate anyone. Pompous innkeepers, party officials, intense old maids, famous politicians! He could have gone onstage as a comedian if he had not been chosen to lead his people."
Hess recollected the question. "Well, the hotel sent a boy after Herr Hitler's car, and when he got the message Alf almost collapsed. Everyone says it was completely unexpected. Indeed the first words from his lips, I understand, were 'Who has done this?' He had the car turned, his appointments canceled, telephoned me the first chance he got, and came back at once to Munich. It was my suggestion I next call the Munich Police Headquarters and he assented. And then I sent you a telegram. My staff arranged your tickets and so on."
"The police weren't suspicious concerning the time you waited before telephoning them?"
"I explained that I myself had been in a state of some shock after seeing poor Geli's body." He paused and then looked with a strange, new innocence into Begg's face. "I know I am a suspect, Sir Seaton, but I seek peace and security and pride from the Nazi Party, not violence. This is what most of us in Germany want. The thought of killing a mouse makes me sick. The thought of killing some poor, foolish creature who had been flattered and cajoled into waters well above her natural depth, that is abominable. You must not judge us all by those who 'goose-step' through the main streets of our towns with banners and bludgeons. Yet remember those poor lads were boys when they went to war, and what they saw in the trenches and learned to do in the trenches never left them, especially when they found they had no jobs…"