Michael Dobbs - Saboteurs

When Hedy discovered that Eddie was married, she was shocked, as if “the sky fell down on me.” 36She decided she never wanted to see him again. But he was very insistent, and they went out with each other for the next three months “because I loved him so and could not find the strength to leave.” As time went by, she decided it did not matter that he was married. She moved to New York, and Eddie insisted on introducing her to his wife. After he left for Europe, the two women became “very good friends as we both had the same heartache,” in Hedy’s phrase. Marie Kerling even encouraged Hedy to join her lover in Germany. Hedy also became friendly with many of Eddie’s friends from the Bund, including Helmut Leiner.

On Monday afternoon, Leiner appeared at Hedy’s grocery store, and said he had a “big surprise” for her. He persuaded her to come with him to Central Park, where Eddie was waiting. As Hedy and Eddie fell into each other’s arms, Leiner discreetly excused himself. Hedy was “dumbfounded” to see her lover. Her eyes told her that Eddie was there before her: the engaging smile, the slender physique, the twinkling look in his eye. But she found it difficult to accept “the fact that he was back.” It was like living a dream.

Initially, Kerling refused to tell Hedy how he got back from Germany, saying coyly, “Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies.” 37When she remarked that the only way he could have traveled across the Atlantic was by submarine, he smiled enigmatically. They talked for an hour, chatting about old friends as they walked hand in hand through the park. When Hedy finally said she had to get back to the grocery store on Second Avenue, Kerling invited her to join him and Leiner for dinner.

They met around nine at a German steakhouse near the Commodore Hotel. After a drink or two, Eddie began to open up, and soon he was telling Hedy about the submarine trip. He described how they had to man the bilges and pump water, just like in the old days aboard the Lekala. He also told the story of their landing in a rubber dinghy.

Speaking with his usual infectious enthusiasm, Kerling now proposed another adventure. He would buy a car and they would travel together to Cincinnati, Chicago, Florida. She was also enthusiastic about this idea, even though it would mean finding someone else to look after the grocery store. She would do almost anything to be with him.

They spent the rest of the evening in a Cuban nightclub, talking and drinking until well after midnight.

EDDIE KERLING woke up on Tuesday morning to read a small but alarming item in the New York Mirror gossip column. FBI agents, the newspaper reported, were “swarming through the Florida swamps because of stories that Nazi submarine crews in civilian clothes are at large in that state.” 1Kerling showed the item to Thiel. Having just arrived from Florida, the two saboteurs naturally assumed that someone must have heard about their landing.

“I think we had better forget the whole thing,” Kerling muttered.

That afternoon, he met Leiner at Pennsylvania Station. They took a train across the river to New Jersey to look for the Lutheran pastor whose name Kerling had written down in invisible ink on a handkerchief as a useful contact in America. The expedition proved futile—Father Emil Krepper was evidently out of town—and Kerling and Leiner returned to Manhattan without accomplishing anything.

They had dinner together at the Crossroads Inn on Times Square. Having arranged Kerling’s reunion with his mistress, Leiner agreed to act as the go-between to his wife. He called Marie Kerling from the restaurant, and suggested they get together later that evening, without telling her Eddie was in town. After some discussion about the best place to meet, they finally settled on Hedy Engemann’s grocery store around 9:15 p.m.

When they finished dinner, Kerling and Leiner went their separate ways. The plan was for Leiner to bring Marie to a restaurant on the corner of Lexington and Forty-eighth Street. Before he could see his wife, Kerling had one other engagement. He had promised to meet Thiel and one of Thiel’s old Bund friends for drinks in a bar on Forty-fourth Street. Around 10:30, he would excuse himself and join Marie at the Brook Restaurant, four blocks north.

The Engemann grocery store was located in the heart of Yorkville, at 1653 Second Avenue, beneath a modest awning advertising “Everything for the Table.” Marie had still not arrived when Leiner pulled up in a taxi, so he was able to spend a few moments conspiring with Hedy about the logistical arrangements for the evening, which were beginning to resemble a French farce, with multiple entries and exits of wives and lovers from adjoining bedrooms. They agreed that Hedy would pretend that she knew nothing about Eddie’s return.

When Marie finally showed up, Leiner joked that he had arranged a “blind date” for her. 2“But I don’t want to go on a blind date,” Marie complained. Leiner then took her aside and told her the “startling news” that her husband had returned from Germany and wanted to see her that very evening. She was so shocked she started to cry. She had so many questions: How had he come to the United States? Where was he living? What did he intend to do here? When was he going back? Leiner replied that Eddie would explain everything.

Marie could not believe that her husband was really back in New York. “You’re crazy,” she told Leiner. 3She talked to Hedy, who said she could not believe it either, even though she had seen Eddie twice the previous day. But Leiner insisted it was true, and promised to take them both to see Eddie immediately. Marie asked Hedy to come along. At first she was reluctant, but eventually she agreed—after changing into a more flattering dress.

Shortly after 10:30, they all climbed into a taxi, and headed down toward Forty-eighth Street, where they entered the Brook Restaurant. They found a private booth and ordered drinks. There was no sign of Eddie, but Leiner kept on saying he was not far away, and would certainly show up in the next few minutes.

They waited for half an hour, an hour, ninety minutes. Leiner was unable to explain what had happened. At midnight, a very irritated and very confused Marie announced she was going home.

TUESDAY WAS Herbie Haupt’s fifth day in Chicago. He had resumed what his mother called his usual “lively routine”: visiting friends, hanging out at bars and restaurants, and playing cards and dice. 4He spent the morning shopping for a snap-brim straw hat, and then took in a matinee performance of a new Marlene Dietrich movie, The Lady Is Willing, at the local cinema.

The future of the sabotage mission was unclear—it made him nervous just thinking about it—but he had made two important decisions about his own future. He wanted to make things up with his old girlfriend, Gerda Stuckmann, and he wanted to buy a new car.

Before leaving for Mexico, he had owned a 1941 Plymouth that was being used by his father for construction work and was beginning to look “quite shabby.” 5In the early evening, he went with his father to a local dealership to inspect late-model used cars.

A 1941 black six-cylinder Pontiac sports coupe caught his eye, with a sticker price of $1,045. Herbie agreed to put up $100 of the $410 down payment for the car; his father said he would withdraw the remaining $310 from his saving account. They would pay off the balance in monthly $50 installments. It would take a day or so to get the car properly registered, and to make arrangements with the finance company. Herbie asked the salesman to attach an American flag emblem to the car before delivery. 6

In the meantime, his mother had arranged a date for him with Gerda, a slim brunette with big brown eyes and a pretty face who had worked as a model and beautician. It was their first meeting since he rushed off to Mexico when she was five months pregnant. The baby had died mysteriously a few days after its birth. At least that was her story: there were also suspicions that she might have secretly given it away. 7