Philip Kerr - Prague Fatale

‘Because he said he had to tell someone. To get it off his chest.’

‘Well, he’s dead now and so is that promise, I think.’

‘I suppose so. But do you promise not to tell anyone that I spoke about this with you?’

‘Yes. I promise.’

Rosa nodded. And hesitantly, she gave voice to what Kuttner had told her.

‘He said he was in our Latvian provinces during the summer and that Germany had done terrible things there. That lots of people, thousands of people, had been killed for no other reason than that they were Jews. Old men, women and children. Whole villages full of defenceless people who had nothing to do with the war. He said that, at first, he carried out his orders and commanded the firing squads that murdered these people. But after a while, he’d had enough and refused to have anything more to do with these killings himself. Only this landed him in trouble with his superior officers.’ She shook her head. ‘It seemed unbelievable to me, but when he talked about it he started to cry and so I couldn’t help but believe him, at the time. I mean a man — especially an officer — he doesn’t cry for nothing, does he? But now, I don’t know. Do you really think it can be true what he told me, Commissar Gunther? About the killings?’

‘I’m afraid it’s true, Rosa. Every word of it. And not just in Latvia. It’s going on everywhere east of Berlin. For all I know it’s even going on here in Bohemia. But he was wrong about one thing. Within the SS and the SD, it’s an open secret what’s been going on in the eastern territories. And just to put your mind at rest, I’m almost certain it wasn’t his talking about this that got him killed, but something else.’

Rosa nodded gratefully. ‘Thank you, Commissar. I was worried about that.’

‘Tell me something. When Captain Kuttner intervened on your behalf, with General Henlein, you said the General swore at Albert.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Did he threaten him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you remember his exact words?’

‘Perhaps not exactly. As well as a lot of horrible words I don’t want to repeat, the General said something along the lines of “I’ll remember you, Kuttner, you worthless little coward.” And “I’ll make you pay for this, just see if I don’t.”’

‘Did anyone else hear that besides you, Rosa?’

‘Mister Kritzinger. General Heydrich. They must have heard it. And I suppose some of the others too, but I don’t remember their names. In their uniforms they all look the same to me.’

‘I have the same problem. And that’s partly why I took mine off. Sometimes, when I’m playing detective, it’s necessary to put myself apart from everyone else. But frankly I hope I never have to put the uniform on again.’

‘You’re beginning to sound a lot like Albert.’

‘I suppose that’s why I liked him.’

‘You’re a strange one, too, Commissar. For a policeman.’

‘I get a lot of that. Remember that wild kid they found walking around Nuremberg during the last century? The one who claimed he’d spent his early life alone in a darkened cell?’

‘Kaspar Hauser. Yes, I remember. He ended his days in Ansbach, didn’t he? Everyone knows that old story.’

‘The only difference between me and Kaspar is that I have a terrible feeling I’m going to end my days in a darkened cell. So, for that reason alone, it might be best if you made me a promise not to tell anyone that we’ve had this conversation.’

‘I promise.’

‘All right, you can run along now. I’m going to search Albert’s room.’

‘I thought you already did.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that the other two adjutants, Captains Kluckholn and Pomme, were here already when I came in to strip the bed. They’d emptied the drawers into some cardboard boxes and took them away.’

‘No, that was nothing to do with me. However, they probably wanted to collect Albert’s personal effects to send back home to his parents. The way your pals do when you catch the last bus home.’

‘Yes, I expect so.’

But Rosa Steffel didn’t sound any more convinced of this than I was.

On the way back to the Morning Room I found Kritzinger winding the long-case clock. I looked at it and checked my wristwatch but the butler was shaking his head.

‘I wouldn’t ever set your watch by this clock, sir,’ he said. ‘It’s running very slow.’

‘Is that well-known in the house?’ I was thinking of the approximate times that had been given to me in Heydrich’s study earlier on.

‘Generally, yes. The clock urgently needs to see a clock-maker.’

‘There must be plenty of those in Prague. This city’s got more clocks than Salvador Dali.’

‘You would think so, sir. But so far my own inquiries have revealed that all of them seem to be Jews.’

‘A Jew can’t fix a clock?’

‘Not in this house, sir.’

‘No, I suppose not. That was naive of me, wasn’t it? This is an interesting time we live in, wouldn’t you say? Even if it is always the wrong one.’

I glanced at the gold pocket watch in Kritzinger’s hand.

‘How about your watch, Herr Kritzinger? Can that be relied upon?’

‘Yes sir. It’s a Glashutte and belonged to my late father. He was a station master, on the railways in Posen. A good watch is essential for a railwayman in Prussia, if the trains are to run on time.’

‘And did he? Get the trains to run on time?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Me, I always thought it was the Leader who did that.’

Kritzinger regarded me with polite patience. ‘Was there something I could help you with, sir?’

‘According to that Glashutte of yours, Kritzinger, what time did the party in the library fold last night?’

‘The last gentlemen went up to bed just before two, sir.’

‘And they were?’

‘I believe it was General Henlein and Colonel Bohme.’

‘I believe General Henlein made himself a late-night snack out of Captain Kuttner. Is that right?’

‘I’m not sure what you mean, sir.’

‘Sure you do. The General cut the Captain off at the tops of his boots, didn’t he?’

‘I believe the General might have said something to the Captain, yes sir.’

‘Didn’t he threaten him?’

‘I wouldn’t like to say, sir.’

Kritzinger snapped the lid shut on the gold pocket watch and dropped the timepiece into his vest pocket. It was an impatient action, quite at odds with his general demeanour, which was always to be of service even when it was in the face of the provocation I offered, like asking him apparently frivolous or trivial questions that bordered on the impertinent or the unpatriotic.

‘I can understand that. Nobody likes a Petzer. Especially when the Petzer is the butler. In relation to their employers and perhaps their guests, too, good butlers are expected to behave like the three wise monkeys, right?’

Kritzinger’s head bowed almost imperceptibly. ‘That describes my position vis a vis my superiors, only up to a point, sir. As you suggest, I am obliged always to observe. But I never judge. One must always guard against such unnecessary distractions in service.’

‘Particularly now, I’d have thought. Working for General Heydrich.’

‘I really couldn’t say, sir.’

‘Herr Kritzinger? I respect you. And I wouldn’t ever try to bully a man who wears an Iron Cross ribbon in his lapel. The way I figure it, you probably won yours the same way I won mine: in hell. Fighting a real war against real soldiers who fought back, most of them. So you’ll know that I’m not likely to be a man who makes idle threats. But this is a murder inquiry, Kritzinger, and that means I’m supposed to behave like a very nosy fellow and take a peep between the pots on everyone’s window ledge. I don’t like doing it any more than you do, but I will do it even if I have to throw every fucking pot through your window. Now what did General Henlein say?’