‘Could you be referring to the Schultheiss Brewery?’ said Rahn.
‘She thinks that it must be, although it doesn’t seem like a place where lots of people go. Some of the barrels are old and have holes in them. She can see out of one of them. No, my dear, it wouldn’t be very good for holding beer, I quite agree.’
Hildegard whispered something that I failed to hear.
‘Courage, dear lady,’ Rahn said. ‘Courage.’ Then more loudly: ‘Who was it that killed you, Emmeline? And can you tell us why?’
Weisthor groaned deeply. ‘She doesn’t know their names, but she thinks that it was for the Blood Mystery. How did you find out about that, Emmeline? That’s one of the many thousands of things you learn about when you die, I see. They killed her like they kill their animals, and then her blood was mixed with the wine and the bread. She thinks that it must have been for religious rites, but not the sort she had ever seen before.’
‘Emmeline,’ said a voice which I thought must be Himmler’s. ‘Was it the Jews who murdered you? Was it Jews who used your blood?’
Another long silence.
‘She doesn’t know,’ said Weisthor. ‘They didn’t say who or what they were. They didn’t look like any of the pictures she’s seen of Jews. What’s that, my dear? She says that it might have been but she doesn’t want to get anyone into trouble, no matter what they did to her. She says that if it was the Jews then they were just bad Jews, and that not all Jews would have approved of such a thing. She doesn’t want to say any more about that. She just wants someone to go and get her out of that dirty barrel. Yes, I’m sure someone will organize it, Emmeline. Don’t worry.’
‘Tell her that I shall personally see to it that it happens tonight,’ said Himmler. ‘The child has my own word on that.’
‘What’s that you said? All right. Emmeline says to thank you for trying to help her. And she says to tell mother and father that she loves them very much indeed, but not to worry about her now. Nothing can bring her back. You should both get on with your lives and put what has happened behind you. Try and be happy. Emmeline has to go now.’
‘Goodbye, Emmeline,’ sobbed Hildegard.
‘Goodbye,’ I said.
Once again there was silence, but for the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. I was glad of the darkness because it hid my face, which must have shown my anger, and afforded me an opportunity to breathe my way back to a semblance of quiet sadness and resignation. If it hadn’t been for the two or three minutes that elapsed from the end of Weisthor’s performance and the raising of the lights, I think that I would have shot them all where they sat: Weisthor, Rahn, Vogelmann, Lange — shit, I’d have murdered the whole dirty lot of them just for the sheer satisfaction of it. I’d have made them take the barrel in their mouths and blown the backs of their heads on to each other’s faces. An extra nostril for Himmler. A third eye-socket for Kindermann.
I was still breathing heavily when the lights went up again, but this was easily mistaken for grief. Hildegard’s face was shiny with tears, which provoked Himmler to put his arm around her. Catching my eye he nodded grimly.
Weisthor was the last to get to his feet. He swayed for a moment as if he would fall, and Rahn took hold of him by the elbow. Weisthor smiled, and patted his friend’s hand gratefully.
‘I can see by your face, my dear lady, that your daughter came through.’
She nodded. ‘I want to thank you, Herr Weisthor. Thank you so much for helping us.’ She sniffed loudly and found her handkerchief.
‘Karl, you were excellent tonight,’ said Himmler. ‘Quite remarkable.’ There was a murmur of assent from the rest of the table, myself included. Himmler was still shaking his head in wonder. ‘Quite, quite remarkable,’ he repeated. ‘You may all rest assured that I shall contact the proper authorities myself, and order that a squad of police be sent immediately to search the Schultheiss Brewery for the unfortunate child’s body.’ Himmler was staring at me now, and I nodded dumbly in response to what he was saying.
‘But I don’t doubt for a minute that they will find her there. I have every confidence that what we have just heard was the child speaking to Karl in order that both your minds may now be put at rest. I think that the best thing for you to do now would be to go home and wait to hear from the police.’
‘Yes, of course,’ I said and, walking round the table, I took Hildegard by the hand and led her away from the Reichsfuhrer’s embrace. Then we shook hands with the assembled company, accepted their condolences and allowed Rahn to escort us to the door.
‘What can one say?’ he said with great gravitas. ‘Naturally I am very sorry that Emmeline has passed on to the other side, but as the Reichsfuhrer himself said, it’s a blessing that now you can know for sure.’
‘Yes,’ Hildegard sniffed. ‘It’s best to know, I think.’
Rahn narrowed his eyes and looked slightly pained as he grasped me by the forearm.
‘I think it’s also best if for obvious reasons you were to say nothing of this evening’s events to the police if they should come to say that they have indeed found her. I’m afraid that they might make things very awkward for you if you seemed to know that she had been found before they did themselves. As I’m sure you will appreciate, the police aren’t very enlightened when it comes to understanding this sort of thing, and might ask you all sorts of difficult questions.’ He shrugged. ‘I mean, we all have questions concerning what comes to us from the other side. It is indeed an enigma to everyone, and one to which we have very few answers at this stage.’
‘Yes, I can see how the police might prove to be awkward,’ I said. ‘You may depend on me to say nothing of what transpired this evening. My wife as well.’
‘Herr Steininger, I knew you would understand.’ He opened the front door. ‘Please don’t hesitate to contact us again if at some stage you would wish to contact your daughter. But I should leave it for a while. It doesn’t do to summon spirit too regularly.’
We said goodbye again, and walked back to the car.
‘Get me away from here, Bernie,’ she hissed as I opened the door for her. By the time I had started the engine she was crying again, only this time it was with shock and horror.
‘I can’t believe people could be so — so evil,’ she sobbed.
‘I’m sorry you had to go through that,’ I said. ‘Really I am. I’d have given anything for you to have avoided it, but it was the only way.’
I drove to the end of the street and on to Bismarkplatz, a quiet intersection of suburban streets with a small patch of grass in the middle. It was only now that I realized how close we were to Frau Lange’s house in Herbertstrasse. I spotted Korsch’s car, and pulled up behind it.
‘Bernie? Do you think that the police will find her there?’
‘Yes, I think they will.’
‘But how could he fake it and know where she is? How could he know those things about her? Her love of dancing?’
‘Because he, or one of those others, put her there. Probably they spoke to Emmeline and asked her a few questions before they killed her. Just for the sake of authenticity.’
She blew her nose, and then looked up. ‘Why have we stopped?’
‘Because I’m going back there to take a look around. See if I can find out what their ugly little game is. The car parked in front of us is driven by one of my men. His name is Korsch, and he’s going to drive you home.’
She nodded. ‘Please be careful, Bernie,’ she said breathlessly, her head dropping forwards on to her chest.
‘Are you all right, Hildegard?’
She fumbled for the door-handle. ‘I think I’m going to be sick.’ She fell sideways towards the pavement, vomiting into the gutter and down her sleeve as she broke her fall with her hand. I jumped out of the car and ran round to the passenger door to help her, but Korsch was there before me, supporting her by the shoulders until she could draw breath again.