Philip Kerr - Prague Fatale

‘Possibly to embarrass all of you.’

‘In which case I wonder that you can write off the Czechs as possible culprits quite so quickly, Commissar. Perhaps you’ve forgotten how fond the Three Kings were of teasing the local Gestapo. One of them even left a provocative and embarrassing message in poor Fleischer’s coat pocket. And it strikes me that this is just the sort of stunt they might pull. Especially now, when their organization is under threat. If I were you I’d be trying to examine the backgrounds of the house staff in closer detail. They may be in the SS but some of them have a German-Czech background. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that throws up something that wasn’t found when they were checked the first time.’

‘General von Eberstein’s got a point, sir,’ said Kahlo. ‘It could be them thumbing their noses at us. Just like before. And nothing would give those bastards more pleasure than to have us chasing our own tails.’

I grinned. ‘That’s what it feels like, doesn’t it?’

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Kahlo. ‘Krautwickel. I thought that was it after the potato soup. That had real bacon in it. And real potatoes, too. But this is even better. I haven’t had Krautwickel since the war started. If this keeps up, sir, I might just have to kill someone myself just so that we keep this investigation going for a good while longer.’

‘That’s as good a motive for murder as any I’ve heard today,’ I said. ‘I may even have to put you down on my list of suspects after that remark.’

We were in the Dining Room, but with Heydrich and Ploetz and some Gestapo officers away in pursuit of Vaclav Moravek, there were fewer of us for lunch at the Lower Castle than there had been for dinner. At my direction, Kahlo and I were seated at the opposite end of the table from everyone else; not because I disliked their company — which of course I did — but mostly because I wanted to avoid discussing the case with any of them. Besides, I hoped that our position at the table would set us apart and help to remind the cauliflower that a murder investigation was being conducted. Doubtless that suited Doctor Jury very well, and probably General Hildebrandt too, who, following their interviews, now regarded me as they would have regarded a large and verminous dog.

Another reason I wanted to sit apart from the SS cauliflower was to give me a chance to get to know Kurt Kahlo, who to my surprise I liked more than I had ever expected to like anyone at Heydrich’s house.

‘Why do they call Mannheim the chequerboard?’

‘Because it’s the most regularly built city in Germany, that’s why. The city centre is divided into one hundred and thirty-six neat squares and the blocks of houses are only distinguished by letters and numerals. My dad used to live at K4. He was a factory foreman at Daimler but he got hit hard by the inflation. Me and my brother had to go to work to help supplement the family income and so that we could stay on at school, if that doesn’t sound like a contradiction.’

‘You married?’

‘Five years, to Eva. She works at a local hotel.’

‘Which one?’

‘The Park.’

‘Any good?’

‘Too pricey for me.’

‘I was in the hotel business for a while. I was the house bull at the Adlon.’

‘Nice.’

‘How does Eva like the hotel business?’

‘She likes it. The guests can be a bit much sometimes. Especially the English, at least when they were still coming to Germany. They used to try it on a bit, and give themselves airs, you know?’

‘Sounds a lot like this place.’

‘Yeah.’ Kahlo looked sideways at the cauliflower. ‘How’d you come to know General Heydrich?’

‘The way you know a dangerous dog. Most of the time I just cross the road or walk the other way when I see him coming. But sometimes he corners me and I have to humour him or end up badly bitten. Really, I’m like one of those four animals on his way to the town of Bremen. A donkey, probably. And like the donkey I’d just like to live without an owner and become a musician.’

‘What instrument do you play?’

‘Nothing, of course. Whoever heard of a donkey that could play a musical instrument? But I seem to be in the robbers’ house, all the same; just like in the story.’

Kahlo grinned. ‘It’s not what you’d call a relaxing place, is it? Some of these bastards would frighten Himmler himself.’ He shook his head. ‘I almost feel sorry for Captain Kuttner.’

‘Almost?’

‘I met him, remember?’

‘What did you think of him?’

Kahlo shrugged. ‘Hardly matters now, does it? He’s dead.’

‘If you think that’s going to save you from telling everything to your barber, you’re wrong.’

‘All right. I thought he was an arrogant little prick. Like all these fucking adjutants, he thought he was more than just his master’s voice. He turned up at Kripo headquarters here in Prague a few days ago demanding this and that and as soon as possible. My boss, Willy Abendschoen, had to deal with him and that meant to some extent I did, too. A right little cunt he was.’

‘A few days ago?’

‘Monday. Heydrich wanted a report on something.’

‘Specifically?’

‘OTA transmission intercepts. OTA is the codeword for all the intercepts.’

‘You mean radio broadcasts to the British, by the Czechos.’

‘No, no. That’s what made this interesting. The Czechos were receiving broadcasts, and what’s more, from somewhere in the Fatherland. Intelligence tip-offs. Abendschoen reckoned that the Czechos were sending the information on, to Benes, in London, so that he could boost his standing with Churchill and the Tommy intelligence community.’

‘A Czech spy in Germany.’

Kahlo shook his head. ‘No, a German spy in Germany. As I’m sure you know, there’s nothing worse than that. I’m not entirely privy to all of this, you understand, sir; it goes well above my pay grade. But here in Prague the word on the cobbles is that there’s a high-level traitor in Berlin who’s behind the OTA transmissions; who’s been feeding the Czechos with top-grade information about Reich policy on a number of things. Heydrich wanted everything we had on OTA so that he could hand it all over to a special search group he’s setting up inside the SD. The Traitor X Group it’s called, or VXG, for short.

Catching Moravek, the third of the Three Kings, is just half the game. You catch him then you stand a better chance of identifying traitor X.’

‘Yes, I see. I think I’m going to need to know more about Kuttner’s movements in the days leading up to his death.’

‘Very good, sir. But right now all I’ve got are his movements in the hours leading up to his death.’

‘Let’s hear them.’

We sat back in our chairs as the SS waiters cleared away. Kahlo found his notebook and flicked through several pages until a wet thumb found his place. He was about to read when the waiters returned with dessert. Kahlo’s eyes were out on stalks.

‘That’s Mish-Mash,’ he said, groaning with anticipated pleasure. ‘With real cherry-sauce.’

I tasted the sauce. ‘Actually, it’s cranberry,’ I said.

‘No,’ he breathed.

‘I’ll eat while you talk.’

Kahlo looked at his shredded pancake pudding, licked his lips and hesitated. ‘You won’t finish all that sauce, will you, sir?’

‘No, of course not. Now, let’s hear it.’

Reluctantly, Kahlo started to read out his notes.

‘Yesterday lunchtime you know about because you were here. According to Elisabeth Schreck, Heydrich’s secretary, at three p.m. Kuttner made a couple of telephone calls. One to Carl Maria Strasse — sorry, sir, that’s Kripo HQ — and one to the Pecek Palace: Gestapo HQ. At around four, you saw him again, sir, on the road to the Upper Castle. At five he spent an hour in General Heydrich’s office. I don’t yet know what that was about. Then he went to his room: Kritzinger saw him go through the door. At eight o’clock there were drinks in the library and then all of you listened to the Leader’s speech on the radio. Fleischer’s telephone call from Gestapo headquarters was put through just after nine, and that’s when you saw Kuttner outside, having an argument with Captain Kluckholn. Do you know what that was about, sir?’