"Later," said Marlene. "We'll have our talk first." She was a little fearful of the outcome of the talk, but it was clearly necessary. Somehow or other, she had to make certain that her secretary would not chatter about what she had seen. "Don't you want to take it off, though?"
"I'd rather keep it on," said Erika quickly, and added, "until I go and wash the blood off."
"All right," said Marlene. "There's a pair of scissors in the top drawer behind you. Give me them, will you?"
Erika found them and brought them to her employer. Marlene stepped up on the chair and began to cut through the twine that she had tied to the hook.
Erika gazed up at her in openmouthed wonder. She had long realised that her employer was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, but she had never dreamed of seeing her like this, totally naked under a heavenly-looking long black rubber cape. She wished she could be naked, too, under h r own shimmery raincoat. She wished they could lie together on the bed, and fondle each other. She shivered a little as she thought of the whipping she would herself receive if she were to dare to express the wish-and she realised that she would not mind being whipped by so lovely a creature.
The man's body slumped heavily downwards as the twine was cut. He staggered and just prevented himself from falling. He moved his legs stiffly and painfully, and held out his thumbs as Marlene stepped down from the chair. She cut through the twine that bound them. He began to massage them gingerly. His eyes were half-shut and expressionless.
Marlene untied the stocking at the back of his head and took the panties from his mouth. "Now you can lie down."
He moved like an automaton to the side of the bed. He flopped forward on to his stomach.
"Now," said Marlene, putting an arm round her secretary's waist and leading her towards the living-room, "we can go and have a drink and a talk."
She released the girl's waist when they were inside the other room. "I'll get out of this cape and put some clothes on."
"Oh, please don't," said Erika at once. "Please keep it on. Stay as you are."
Marlene raised her eyes. "Of course-if you want. But why? I'm finished with whipping for tonight."
Do you only wear it for whipping, Fraulein Reitter?"
"Yes, of course."
"Because of blood splashing about?"
"Yes. Whyever else?"
Erika's face fell. "Oh, nothing. I only thought-" She wondered for a moment whether to say what she had thought. She decided she had better not-or, at least, not yet. "But please keep it on. It looks so wonderful on you."
Marlene raised her eyebrows again. "There's more in this than meets the eye. But, all right I'll keep it on if you want. You must tell me the real reason later on. It seems we have quite a lot to talk about tonight." She put her hand to her right shoulder and pulled the folds clear. They fell, with a quick swooshing sound, into their proper position around the right-hand side of her body. With some surprise she saw Erika catch her breath. She said nothing. She went to the bar- cabinet. "What would you like to drink? Whisky? Brandy? Kirsch? I think there's everything."
"A little brandy, please."
"Straight, or with soda?"
"Straight, please."
"All right. Do sit down and make yourself comfortable." She poured brandy into two balloon glasses and returned to the centre of the room. She gave one glass to Erika, who was still standing. "Do sit down." She sat down herself in a deep armchair. The folds of her cape fell open for an instant and revealed the whole length of her lovely legs. She covered them at once.
Erika sat in another deep chair facing her. She crossed her legs, smoothing the shimmery rubber of her raincoat over her knees.
"Zum Wohl," said Marlene, raising her glass.
"Zum Wohl, Fraulein Reitter," said Erika, and took a welcome drink from her glass. Though outwardly she seemed fairly calm and possessed, she was in a turmoil of emotions and sensations. To be sitting here with her lovely employer, who was quite naked under a maddenly exciting cape, she herself wearing a beautiful raincoat whose front was spattered with blood that she had herself made fly, to have the awesome knowledge that only a few feet away from her was a divan that was literally covered with whips and other fearful-looking things, to know that on the bed in the next room was a man who had been savagely flogged both by her employer and by herself, to remember that her employer's wardrobe contained several other exciting garments made of the rubber she loved-these were things that prevented her from feeling calm and possessed in her mind. She strove, however, to keep her outward appearance as collected as she could.
Marlene sipped her drink and regarded her secretary thoughtfully. To say the least, the situation was highly annoying-and possibly dangerous. She had always been very careful with her sadistic activities because, though Munich was a very large city, she was a well-known figure in it. The needs of her publishing company enabled her to make frequent business trips abroad, and she satisfied her sadistic appetites in foreign cities where she was unknown. In Munich she restrained herself as much as she could. It had been easier for her in the past few months because Carl Gunther had fallen helplessly into her clutches, and it was safe to give him a weekly whipping, even in Munich. The circumstances of his fall into her clutches, and her resultant total power over him, ensured that he would never open his mouth outside her flat about the things that happened to him in it. Her secretary-was another matter. She might well open her mouth wide about what she had seen this evening.
She put down her glass and held out a silver cigarette box. "German on the right, Virginian on left."
Erika took a Chesterfield. "Thank you, Fraulein Reitter."
Marlene held the lighter for her. "You said yon had a score to settle with him. I'm terribly interested. Do you want to tell me what it was?"
Erika nodded. "With pleasure." She took another drink. "He gave me a baby and then refused to do anything about it. I didn't expect him to marry me, or anything like that, but-"
"Good heavens!"
"What is it?"
"Nothing, now. I'll tell you later. Go on."
Erika moistened her lips. "Well, I did expect him to do something. Find out where I could get rid of it, for instance. But he refused to do anything. He said I should have it and give it to an orphanage."
"What did you do?"
"I had an abortion."
"Yes, I see." Marlene glanced at her sharply. "You said a moment ago-while you were whipping him-something about six months ago. I think I remember something. You asked me for a week off, didn't you, about six months ago?"
"Yes. It was to have the abortion. And he refused even to pay for it. So you see I had quite a score to settle with him."
"How very, very curious," said Marlene. "My own power over him is because of an abortion.' She had made up her mind. For some time she had been wondering whether to try to spin some plausible tale to her secretary, and hope for the best. Now she decided to tell her the whole truth-and still hope for the best. There would be a good deal more hope, however, since her secretary was not likely to have any sympathy for Gunther in anything concerning an abortion. "Do you remember a girl called Fuchs? Elise Fuchs. She was in the design department, too."
"Yes of course. She died, didn't she, some months ago?"
"She did."
"Peritonitis, wasn't it?
"No. She died of an infection that followed an abortion. It was given out as peritonitis-that is to say, the doctor signed the certificate to say it was peritonitis. But it wasn't."
"Do go on. How does Gunther come into it? Did he arrange it-the abortion, I mean?"
"He did it."
Erika stared. "He did it? He did the abortion? Himself? You can't mean it!"
"I do," said Marlene seriously. "He has some medical knowledge, you know. He started out to become a doctor, but threw it up after two years at the university. So he thought he could do an instrumental abortion himself. He did, in fact. He got rid of the baby. But he killed Elise Fuchs. You should thank your stars that he didn't do the same to you. I'm amazed that he didn't attempt it."