Michael Ridpath - Shadows of War

But Conrad knew he should guard against being complacent. There was still a chance that Van was correct, and that Theo had stabbed Millie, in which case there was also a chance, a good chance, that he might try to kill Conrad too. Conrad would just have to take that risk and keep his wits about him. Second-guessing the spies would never give Conrad the answers he needed; he had to speak to Theo face to face to do that. Only by knowing for sure whether Theo had killed his sister could he begin to make any sense of this damned war and his place in it.

Conrad slowed as he approached the Academy building and strolled past the gates, before turning abruptly and looking behind him. He didn’t think he was being followed, but he couldn’t really be certain. He hadn’t spotted any middle-aged men in raincoats and hats on his tail, but the place was buzzing with students on bicycles and he couldn’t keep track of all of them.

Theo would probably have some scheme planned to shake a tail. Perhaps another walk in the Botanical Gardens.

But this time Professor Hogendoorn led Conrad up a spiral staircase within the Academy building itself. ‘I thought this would be a good safe place for your conversation,’ said the professor as he opened a heavy door at the top of the stairs. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’

Conrad pushed open the door to reveal Theo waiting for him, standing alone in the middle of a large attic. A thin shaft of sunlight from one of the windows brushed his pale face.

He was unarmed, as far as Conrad could see.

‘Hello, Conrad,’ Theo said in English.

Conrad ignored the greeting. ‘Millie’s dead,’ he said in German.

‘I know,’ said Theo. ‘And I’m sorry for you.’

Conrad let the words hang there for a moment.

‘Did you kill her? Dutch intelligence thinks you killed her.’

‘That’s ridiculous!’ Theo said. ‘Why do they think that?’

‘Constance Scott-Dunton says she saw someone who looked like you walking away from where she found Millie’s body. And then a walker saw you coming out of the dunes wiping blood off your hands.’ Even as he said it, Conrad was reminded of van Gils’s line about Shakespeare. But he couldn’t just choose to agree with van Gils’s claim that Theo was innocent. He needed to know.

‘That’s crazy. You can’t believe that, surely? That I would kill Millie?’

‘Prove to me you didn’t.’

‘I didn’t leave my hotel until about nine when I went straight to Schiphol to fly back to Germany.’

‘So you never asked Millie to meet you in the dunes that morning?’

‘Who said I did?’

‘Constance.’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘Can you prove it?’

‘Of course I can’t prove it, Conrad! You have to take my word for it. There is too much going on now for you not to trust me. We’ve been through so much together, we can’t afford not to trust each other. Besides…’

‘Besides what?’

‘I could never kill Millie. I… I liked her. I liked her a lot.’

Conrad studied Theo. His friend. ‘All right. But tell me why.’

‘Why is she dead? I don’t know.’

‘Why were you seeing her? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to see her? Why did you allow her to be caught up in my father’s stupid schemes? Why did you use her? Why didn’t you look after her, for God’s sake?’

Theo put his finger to his lips, and it was only then that Conrad realized he had raised his voice.

‘I owe you an explanation,’ said Theo.

‘You certainly do.’

Theo pulled out a cigarette from his case and lit it. The tip glowed in the gloom. Then he told Conrad about how he and Millie had met in Switzerland in the spring, and how they had arranged to meet again in Scheveningen, using the same Danish intermediary as Theo had used with Conrad.

‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this?’ Conrad protested. ‘You saw me at the same time. Was it the same day?’

‘The day after. And I didn’t tell you because Millie asked me not to. She said you wouldn’t approve of what she and your father were doing. Knowing you, that didn’t surprise me.’

‘But didn’t you consider you were betraying me?’

‘I didn’t like doing what I was doing, but it wasn’t up to me. If the coup had gone ahead, then the new German government would have needed a channel to speak to the British government right away.’

‘Was there ever really going to be a coup? And what happened to that offensive you told me about? Germany and Holland should have been at war for a week by now.’

‘The offensive was called off. Bad weather. And so was the coup. Cowardice on the part of the generals.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ Conrad said.

‘I’m telling you the truth, Conrad,’ Theo said, weariness touching his voice. ‘You deserve that. Whether you believe me or not is entirely up to you.’

‘So what happened to Millie? Who killed her?’

‘I don’t know.’ Theo paused. ‘I had seen her that afternoon, in Scheveningen. It had come to my attention that it wasn’t only me that she was seeing in Holland. She also met a man called Otto Langebrück.’

‘Who is he?’

‘He’s a crony of Ribbentrop. Used to live in Paris. He’s clever and he’s a Nazi.’

‘Why was she seeing him?’

‘She, and her little friend Constance, were negotiating with Ribbentrop as well. Or in other words with Hitler.’

Conrad glared at Theo. He could feel the fury building up within him, and it was all he could do to prevent it from erupting. It wasn’t just Theo who was betraying him, it was his father, and for that matter Millie. They were all talking to Hitler’s regime. And it was his father’s fault. His father, the supposedly sophisticated ex-government minister, had been a fool — an utter, total, complete fool! ‘No wonder they didn’t want to tell me where they were going!’

‘If it makes any difference, I think it was Constance who was responsible for talking to Langebrück. Constance and Sir Henry Alston.’

‘But my father knew all about it, didn’t he?’ Conrad said.

Theo shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I assume so.’

Conrad’s mind was whirling. He wanted to slug Theo. And then he wanted to fly back to England and slug his father too. But this might be his only opportunity to speak to Theo about his sister’s death and he wanted to make the most of it.

‘Do you think Langebrück might have killed Millie? Or was it the Gestapo?’

‘Possibly,’ said Theo. ‘But I don’t know why they would. It could be the British secret service.’

‘That’s ridiculous!’ Conrad protested. ‘Why would they do that?’

‘I don’t know. To stop Lord Oakford’s discussions with the enemy?’

Theo was suggesting that his father was a traitor and that his own country would murder his sister. It was outrageous. But possibly true. It would explain why the secret service would manufacture a witness to place Theo in the sand dunes. Conrad was convinced now that van Gils was right to doubt their evidence. But that was about all Conrad was convinced of.

Theo could sense Conrad’s distress. ‘I repeat, I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I was fond of Millie, very fond of her.’ Theo swallowed. ‘I’m sorry I let her die; I don’t know how it happened. I’d like to know.’

‘The Dutch police think Constance killed her,’ said Conrad. ‘Or at least the man in charge of their investigation thinks so. Millie was stabbed with a knife taken from the kitchens of their hotel. He thinks Constance was the most likely person to have taken it.’

‘Have they arrested her?’

‘Oh, no. Dutch military intelligence sent her back to Britain. Remember they claimed you killed her, whatever the policeman in charge of the investigation thinks.’