Adriana and Allyson didn’t have time for such touristy distractions. They were on a mission, and the sooner things could be sorted out, the better.
Conflict raged in Allyson’s head. She was still unsettled about the incident with Evan. In Mexico, he’d saved her life, scooping her up from the wreckage of a car before the federales arrived. Now he was trying to kill her.
Adriana eyed the address she’d noted in her phone. It would only take them fifteen minutes to reach Klugen’s home. According to local time, it was still late in the afternoon. The train ride from Paris to Heidelberg had taken a little over five hours. Not bad. It still gave them time to find Klugen’s daughter and ask about the painting.
Fatigue was starting to creep in, but the two thieves could worry about that later. There’d be plenty of time to find a hotel and a room once they’d completed their inquiry.
Flags and banners hung across the street every few hundred feet, giving the impression that Heidelberg was a city in constant celebration. Citizens walked briskly along the sidewalks, hurrying to get to their favorite restaurants for supper or a local bierhaus for their daily afternoon drinks.
“Have you ever been here before?” Allyson asked as the train snaked its way through the streets and around a small town square.
Adriana nodded. “Once. A long time ago.”
Allyson waited for more, but when nothing came, she spoke up again. “There a story behind that?”
“Not really. I came here with a group from school. We were touring the area and only stayed two days.”
“How old were you?”
Adriana had to think about it for a second. “Seventeen, I think. I don’t remember much about it other than some of the oddities that stick out.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Tourist stuff. The castle. Points of interest.” She wondered why Allyson was getting so chatty all of a sudden. They’d virtually said nothing to each other on the train ride over, electing to instead get a few minutes of troubled sleep amid the noise of the railway.
Thankfully, the train slowed to a halt, its brakes screeching underneath. “This is our stop,” Adriana said.
She moved over to the doors and, when they opened, stepped down onto the street. The air was cooler than she expected, scented heavily by the forest’s leaves, bark, and pine. Even though fall was still a few weeks away, this part of the world already felt like it was in full swing. If there was one thing Adriana loved about the Germans, it was their passion for celebrating.
She made her way across a cobblestone section of street toward a restaurant overflowing with patrons. The smell of sausage, fresh baked pretzels, and onions wafted through the air and filled her nostrils. She was hungry and knew Allyson had to be too. Probably best if they get something in their stomachs before going to bother Emilia Klugen.
“We should eat before we visit this woman. She’s probably having dinner right now as well, and I’m starving.”
Allyson sighed with relief. “Good call. Any place around here that isn’t busy? Looks like everyone’s out to eat right now.”
Adriana pointed at a cart on the sidewalk a few blocks away. It was situated next to the main thoroughfare of old Heidelberg. “That will do.”
“A hot dog? Really? I was thinking of something a little more… you know, not a hot dog.”
Adriana snorted quietly. “It’s not a hot dog stand. They sell döners.”
“A what?”
“They’re good. You’ll see.”
She led the way over to the stand. It was operated by a man with a thick beard streaked with patches of gray. His matching hair was matted down with a Boston Red Sox baseball cap. He grinned at the two women as they approached. His teeth were a little crooked and covered with a yellow tint, evidence of years of smoking.
“You like chicken?” Adriana asked her partner.
“Sure.” Allyson answered with a nod. She eyed the contents of the cart suspiciously.
A spit with a huge rack of lamb and beef rotated next to an array of heating coils. Metal pots were filled with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and sauces of three varieties and colors.
“Two chicken döners, please,” Adriana said in English. Most of the döner stands she’d visited in the past were operated by Turks. Over the years, many Turkish immigrants had found their way across the German border in search of new opportunities. Thankfully, they brought their delicious form of street food with them.
The man quickly assembled the meals, stuffing the pita bread with hot, seasoned chicken, a creamy white sauce, and the onions, tomato, and lettuce. He wrapped them in a waxy paper and passed them across to the women. Adriana passed him a few bills and thanked him.
They found a place to sit on a nearby street bench and plopped down to enjoy their food.
“Mmm,” Allyson said after taking a huge bite out of her döner. She clearly didn’t mind speaking with her mouth full. “This is pretty good.”
Adriana nodded but finished her meal in silence. It felt like she was eating dinner with the devil, and at any moment, she could be stabbed in the back. It wasn’t a question of if, either.
When she’d finished off the pita bread, Adriana got up and went back over to the cart, ordered two bottles of water without bubbles, and returned to the bench. Allyson was just getting done with her döner, and she readily accepted the bottle Adriana offered.
“Thanks, I was getting pretty thirsty.”
“You’re welcome.” Adriana stared down the busy city street. Night was coming soon, which would make it harder to find their way around. They could still do it by streetlight, but she always felt like it was much easier to navigate strange places by daylight. “We need to get moving. There’s no telling when this woman goes to bed, and I’d rather not be out here in the dark trying to find her house.” She pointed in the direction she was staring. The reddish outline of the Heidelberg Castle stood against a backdrop of green beyond the tip of her finger. “I think it’s that way.”
“You don’t mean the castle, obviously.”
“No. But according to the map I looked up on my phone during our train ride, I’d guess it’s in that direction. We’ll cross the bridge and head up the hill. It looks like there are more houses sprinkled around the area on the edge of the forest outside the castle. That’s where Klugen’s house is.”
They walked along the street, side by side, but intentionally keeping a little space between them. The two were working together, true, but they weren’t friends. They passed through an area where it seemed everything was either a shop, a bar, or a restaurant, eventually arriving at an intersection where the buildings started to appear a little more residential.
After crossing the river, the two trudged up a steep hill through a sparse neighborhood. Cars lined the street, probably tourists there to see the castle, but soon the women were beyond the tightly parked cars and on a side street where there were even fewer houses.
They turned right about midway up the hill and found themselves on a dead-end street. Adriana double-checked the route to make sure they were going the correct way. According to the map on her phone, Klugen’s home would be straight ahead on the left. She took a mental note of the address numbers on the first two homes they passed. The next one, a two-story half-timber home, had the correct number on the mailbox.
“I guess that one’s it,” Adriana said, pointing at the home.
The structure looked like so many she’d seen on her travels in Germany, and Harry had been right about the age. It had to be at least three or four hundred years old. Yet the home still appeared to be in great shape. Things truly weren’t made like they used to be.