Shaeffer shrugged. “Why didn’t you tell me where his wife was? People like to keep a little something back. Question of trust, maybe. He know anything?”
“No, he hasn’t seen him either. Nobody has. Nobody since Tully. But you’re not interested in him.”
Shaeffer looked down, smoothing out the sheet. “Look, let’s smoke a little pipe here. Since you’ve got your nose under the tent. I could use the help.”
“Doing what?”
“What you’ve been doing. We still have to find him. I’m out of commission. You’re not.”
“No thanks to you. Let’s start with Tully and see how we do.”
“They were friends at Kransberg. Well, friends. Brandt spoke English and Tully liked to listen. Late-night stuff. Brandt was the moody type. Depressed. How everything had gone wrong. You know, booze talk.”
“Tully told you this?”
“Well, it’s possible the rooms were bugged. So we could hear what the guests had to say.”
“Nice.”
“The Nazis put the taps in. We just took them over when we moved in.”
“Some difference.”
“I don’t think you understand how it is there. The scientists are bargaining. They want to make sure there’s work, some deal to get them out. So they don’t give everything all at once. A little at a time, to keep us interested. They check with von Braun before they tell us anything. I don’t blame them-they’re just looking out for number one. But we’ve got to know. Not just what’s on paper-what’s up here.” He tapped his temple.
“All right, so they’re pals.”
“And Brandt waltzes out of there and Tully drives him and no one tells us. So that by the time we do hear about it, he’s Mr. Innocent and Brandt’s gone and still nobody’s making the right connection.”
“Which is?”
“They think it’s a fuckup. Brandt cons Tully into giving him a pass. Just a nice guy.”
“And you don’t think so?”
“I don’t believe in the Easter Bunny either. I checked. The guy’s an operator. You know he was selling releases to Germans?”
“I heard.”
“A real piece of work. Twice sometimes-that’s how it came out. But they couldn’t prove it. His word against theirs. A bunch of Germans squealing. Who’s got time to investigate that? But Brandt- that’s something else. I get interested. And here’s the thing-it was Tully’s idea, skipping out. So I figure he’s up to his old tricks.”
“Tully’sidea?”
“Nobody thinks to check the taps,” Shaeffer said. “We only make transcripts when the guests are talking science. The rest of the time, our guys are reading a comic or taking a leak or something. So I get the monitor for that night and ask him what they were talking about. Nothing, he says, personal stuff. Like what? Nothing, Tully just told him they’d found his wife. Nothing,” he said sarcastically.
“But they hadn’t.”
“No. But I didn’t know that then. What I knew was that Tully’d got himself a paying customer. The one thing Brandt wanted. So I figure they negotiate a little private business. Brandt never made any noises about leaving before. He doesn’t clear it with von Braun-he just goes. Tully even drives him out. So when I hear that, I blow some whistles to yank Tully in, but by that time he’s gone too.”
“To Berlin. Why?”
“Payday, probably. They didn’t have money at Kransberg. I figured Brandt got the cash from his wife.”
“But he never found her.”
“Then Tully had one pissed-off German on his hands.” “No,” Jake said, shaking his head, thinking. “They didn’t meet up again in Berlin. Why would Tully want to do that if he’d lied about the wife?”
“Well, I didn’t know he had. See? I told you we could use you.” He leaned back, turning it over. “But he came.”
“Anything in the taps about friends in Berlin? Tully know anybody here?”
Shaeffer glanced up at him. “He knew Emil Brandt.”
“You trying to say Emil killed him?”
“I’m trying to say I don’t care. I just want him back. Tully’s not important.”
“He was important enough to shoot.”
“Him? Maybe he just got in the way,” Shaeffer said irritably, adjusting his bandage.
“Maybe,” Jake said. Like a girl taking pictures. “Be useful to know.”
“Not anymore,” Shaeffer said, wincing now, distracted by the bandage. “All I know is, he was going to lead me to Brandt and he didn’t.” He looked up. “Glad to hear about the wife, though. That’s something. At least the bastard didn’t get paid.”
“No, he got paid.” Jake looked again out the window, another jolt. With Russian money.
“Yeah, I guess,” Shaeffer said, meaning the bullet. “What is it?” he said, following Jake’s stare.
“Nothing. Just thinking.” Move her. He picked up his cap. “I’d better go. You want the nurse for that?” He nodded at the bandage.
“Just thinking, huh?” Shaeffer said, studying him. Then his face hardened, back in the poster. “Don’t think too much. I want him back. I don’t care what he did.”
“If he did.”
“You just find him,” he said evenly, then smiled. “Christ, the wife. We could make a good team, the two of us.”
Jake shook his head. “People get shot around you.” He looked out the window again. “What if the Russians already have him?”
“Then I’d want to know that too. Where.”
