‘I’d love to work in a foreign country. So far it’s been France, Bohemia and the Ukraine. And I didn’t much like the Ukraine. And I certainly didn’t like the work.’
Hildebrandt remained silent.
‘Neither did Captain Kuttner,’ I said. ‘Did you know that?’
‘No.’
‘Yes. He told me that himself. It bothered him. A lot. Made him feel disgusting.’
‘There’s no doubt that it’s difficult work,’ said Hildebrandt. ‘Not everyone is suitable for this kind of duty. However, there’s no shame in that, I think. No shame for you anyway, Commissar.’
‘Thank you, sir. I’ll try to bear that in mind.’
I had about thirty minutes before my next appointment in the Morning Room so I went upstairs to search Kuttner’s room. I wanted to do this without anyone else looking over my shoulder just in case I found something interesting that I had to show Ploetz or Heydrich or whoever else took it upon themselves to scrutinize my work.
But Kuttner’s bed had already been stripped. The sheets and blankets lay in a heap on the floor. The window had been opened wider than before and the room was full of the scent of freshly cut grass. The gardener at Jungfern-Breschan was forever tending the lawns. Outside the window the motorized lawnmowers were already at work.
Seated on the end of Kuttner’s bed was a girl of about twenty-five. She had blond hair and a handkerchief in her hand and was wearing a sleeveless grey pinafore and a regulation SS black dress – the one with the big floppy collar trimmed with white piping. She was an SS Helferin: a helper and, in this case, a maid.
I watched her silently from the doorway for several minutes. And not noticing me she didn’t move except, now and then, to press the handkerchief to her nose as if she had a head cold. Finally my curiosity could no longer be contained and, clearing my throat, I advanced into the dead man’s room.
Abruptly the Helper stood up and looked the other way – at least she did until I caught hold of her arm.
‘I’m sorry, sir,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean any harm coming in here. Mister Kritzinger sent me to strip the bed and I was just overcome for a moment, at the thought of that poor man being murdered.’
She was older than I had first supposed and not particularly good-looking – too thin and highly strung for my taste. Her skin was clear as tissue paper and you could see the little blue veins at the side of her forehead like the maker’s mark on good porcelain. The mouth was wider and sadder than it ought to have been perhaps, but it was her big eyes I was really interested in because they were red and full of tears.
‘I’m Commissar Gunther.’
‘Yes sir. I know who you are. I saw you when you arrived here, yesterday.’
She gave a little curtsy.
‘I’m investigating Captain Kuttner’s murder.’
She nodded. She knew that, too.
‘Did you know him?’
‘Not really, sir. We talked a few times. He was kind to me.’
‘What did you talk about?’
‘Nothing really, sir. Nothing important. It was just incidental talk, you might say. Idle conversation about nothing very much.’
‘It’s all right. I’m not going to tell anyone. I’m just trying to get the handle on what kind of a fellow he was. Maybe when I’ve done that I’ll have a better grip on why someone killed him.’ I pointed at the bed where she’d been sitting. ‘Can we sit down and talk? Just for a minute.’
‘All right.’
She sat down and I sat beside her.
‘Albert was a very sweet, gentle man. Well, he was more of a boy, really. Such a handsome boy. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt him. Let alone kill him. He was thoughtful and considerate, and very sensitive.’
‘You liked him then.’
‘Oh, yes. Much more than some of these other officers. He was different.’
‘He certainly was.’
Thinking I might have sounded insincere, I added, ‘I liked him, too.’ Even as I said this I realized for the first time since hearing about Kuttner’s death that I really had liked him. Probably it was mostly the fact we had both shared a terrible experience in the East; but more than that, I had also liked his wit and candour, which bordered on the indiscreet.
To that extent at least Kuttner reminded me of me, and I wondered if I had started to take his murder a little more personally than seemed appropriate.
‘Go on.’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t want to get in any trouble.’
‘I can promise you that you won’t. But if there’s anything you know that sheds any light on what happened here last night then I think I need to know about it, don’t you? General Heydrich is very determined that I find out who murdered the Captain. And the only way that is going to happen is if I persuade people like you to have confidence enough in me to tell the truth.’
‘All right, sir.’
‘Good. What’s your name?’
‘Steffel. Rosa Steffel.’
‘Well, Rosa, why don’t you tell me what happened?’
‘Last night,’ she said, ‘when all of the officers started to go to bed, he insisted on helping me collect up the glasses, even though I could see he was dead tired.’
‘That was kind of him,’ I said. ‘What time was that?’
