Roz Fox - A Secret To Tell You

“Could you cut to the chase? I don’t want to hear the details.”

“All right. You want it straight, Quinn, here it is. Within days, things on the front heated up and I received notice to return to Marseilles. I sent Heinz a note requesting what I feared would be our last clandestine meeting. To my astonishment and extreme joy, he begged me to help him defect.”

“What?”

She smiled at Quinn’s yelp. “Yes. I knew it was so we could be together always. But it was more than that. Many times he’d confided to me that he was worried about the decisions Hitler was making. Not surprising, as there were whispers about the atrocities taking place. Defecting wasn’t as uncommon as you might think,” she said.

Quinn continued to gape. “Well, that puts a more positive spin on this tale than I expected. So what happened? Did you help him? You obviously weren’t together always.”

“Are you always so impatient? I’m reconstructing what happened long ago. You’ll have to bear with me and let me explain at my own pace.”

“Okay. More brandy? If you don’t mind, I’m going to freshen my drink.”

Norma shook her head. “There’s still a lot left to tell, Quinn.” He heard her take a deep breath. “I mistakenly assumed it would be merely a matter of notifying my contact. Kestrel, uh, Tony. I thought safe passage to America would be arranged for Heinz overnight.”

Quinn tipped three fingers of brandy into his snifter and recapped the bottle. “I can’t believe you worked for the government and had such unrealistic expectations,” he said wryly. “Nothing happens in government overnight.”

Her shoulders relaxed a bit. “Did I mention that I was naive? Well, I was. I sent my report, but heard nothing. Days passed, and I had two messages requesting I return to Marseilles. I started to panic, thinking my note had gone astray. Despite the danger that it might fall into the wrong hands, I sent another. Like you, Heinz understood such requests took time. He was fully prepared to continue a long-distance relationship.” She held up the packet of letters.

“For a month we corresponded secretly and I hid his letters in the lining of my travel satchel, even though they were just the silly things lovers would write—not one sentence of political import. But all at once, again in the middle of the night, two agents I’d never seen in my life—one American, one French—appeared by my bed. I was ordered to pack everything, and I had no idea why. We left by car. For hours I was grilled. I was expected to divulge every intimate detail of my relationship with Heinz.”

“You must’ve been terrified,” Quinn said, just a bit grudgingly.

“Frightened, but not stupid. In those days no one trusted casually. I never breathed a word about our falling in love. I certainly didn’t mention his letters to a soul. I prayed fervently that the men wouldn’t search my suitcase. I made it seem as if Heinz and I had forged a loose friendship, which was the only reason he’d contacted me about his defection. I also pointed out that I knew the risk to everyone.”

“What happened to Colonel von Weisenbach?” Quinn asked intently.

Tears rimmed Norma’s reddened eyelids. Her lips trembled and her words were shaky. “My driver finally stopped. Where, I didn’t dare ask. To this day, I have no idea. At a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Tony was there, although I still didn’t know him by name. The other men left. Kestrel said he’d arrange, or maybe he said he had arranged for Heinz to come over to our side. He said it was a delicate operation and he needed me to play a part. I never questioned his decision, although I sensed his urgency, and his uneasiness. Kestrel told me I should get word to Heinz to meet us in three weeks on Saturday two hours before dawn. He wrote down some coordinates for me to pass on to Heinz.”

She tried several times to say something else. Her lips moved, but no words emerged.

“Here, you need more brandy.” Quinn carried her almost empty glass to the bar and added one generous splash, then a second. Returning, he stood over her, urging her to swallow. Quinn knelt and covered the cold fingers that still clutched the old letters. “It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out something bad happened, Gram. I have no desire to hear details that are so painful for you. Let’s leave the story here.”

“No,” she insisted, thrusting her brandy snifter back at Quinn. “Let me muddle on…. I have to get this all out.”

“As you wish.” Nodding, he got to his feet and placed her glass on the square coffee table within easy reach, then went to sit across from her again.

“That Friday before the transfer was a bleak, rainy day. At two the next morning, Kestrel collected me and we drove off. He didn’t turn on the car’s lights. I suppose I should’ve been more concerned, especially as the weather got worse. But my spirits were soaring. This was the day Heinz and I had waited for. I admit to being a bit surprised when we drove a mile, stopped and picked up two taciturn Frenchmen whose silence unnerved me. They didn’t wear uniforms and they didn’t speak, even between themselves. I didn’t understand why we needed anyone else along. But I’d learned not to question my superiors.”

She reached for the brandy and before she returned the glass to the table, Quinn had slid to the edge of his seat again. His gaze clung to his grandmother’s face.

“We arrived at the site of the transfer. The fog was dense, and it’d begun to rain, as well, but as far as I could tell, we were at some sort of abandoned railyard. I remember stumbling over slick railroad ties, and my nervousness increased when lightning struck a rusty rail. It danced along the steel for about fifty yards and lit up the area. I saw a man emerge from a black caboose and my heart nearly stopped until I recognized Heinz. He was dressed in a black watch-cap, bulky black sweater and black slacks. Seeing him, I was distracted for a moment as we closed the distance between us.”

She grew agitated, almost dropping the letters. As Quinn lunged for them, she waved him off. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve relived what happened next. Two rattletrap cars bore down on us from opposite directions. I was blinded by one set of lights. I saw Heinz throw up an arm to cover his eyes. A man jumped from each car. There were shouts. I heard running. Then…shots. I tried to run toward Heinz but someone held me back. I struggled. Heinz’s knees buckled slowly, and as he fell I saw blood spurt from his chest. When he brought his hand up, I saw it gush through his fingers. A bullet zinged past my ear. I screamed, but I was blinded by another bright light.” She shuddered, and paused to take a drink of brandy.

“Kestrel said later it was a camera flash. I was so numbed by panic and shock, I lost all track of what was going on around me. Kestrel said he grabbed the camera, smashed it, tore out the film. He forced me to run, saying the men who’d ridden with us would bury Heinz and take care of the men in the two cars. For what seemed like a lifetime, Kestrel hauled me in and out among empty rail cars. Every so often, he cautioned me to quit crying or we’d be caught and killed. I have no idea how far we ran—until we reached a cave. Or maybe an old mine shaft. We hid there all day. I was cold, wet and muddy. And when I tried asking what’d gone wrong, I was ordered to sleep. The most he ever told me was that someone had gotten wind of our plans. I assumed it was the Germans.”

Falling silent, Norma sorted through the letters. She took out a green passport folder, opened it and two snapshots fell into her lap. As she stared at first one, then the second, her eyes glossed with tears and she touched the dried rose to her lips.