LITMIR.BIZ

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papers?’ asked Löwenherz.

      ‘Alas, we carry none except a Wehrpass, but you may phone my office if you are worried.’

      ‘I am not worried,’ said Löwenherz.

      ‘Excellent.’ He gestured towards the entrance. ‘We’ll talk as we walk,’ he suggested. ‘You’ll perhaps feel more comfortable in the open air.’ He put on his trilby hat and stepped out into the sunshine. The three men walked down the long gravel drive, their shadows sharply drawn on the path by the warm sun. When he realized that Löwenherz had no intention of speaking first, the man said, ‘There has been a theft of some documents, Herr Oberleutnant.’ He paused but still nothing came from Löwenherz. ‘Some secret documents,’ he added. ‘We are in no doubt about the identity of the thief.’

      ‘I am sure,’ said Löwenherz, ‘that you have not come here to boast to me of your success.’

      ‘Precisely,’ said the man in civilian clothes. ‘We should value your frankness and aid.’

      ‘You will in any case be treated to the former,’ said Löwenherz. ‘As to the latter, until you are more forthcoming who knows what it might entail?’

      ‘Dear comrade Löwenherz,’ said Starkhof. ‘You must be patient with an old man. Secret documents have been stolen and they must be recovered.’

      ‘This is the Medical Centre, Herr Doktor,’ interrupted Blessing.

      ‘They were stolen from this building,’ Starkhof explained to Löwenherz. ‘We know the thief but lack the …’

      ‘Corpus delicti,’ supplied Löwenherz.

      ‘Precisely,’ said Starkhof. He turned to his colleague, ‘The corpus delicti, Blessing, that’s what you must find.’

      They stood on the road between the farm-like headquarters buildings. Everywhere was quiet, for the true working day of this night-fighter station had not yet begun. A lorry rattled noisily through the main gate loaded with oil drums. Outside the Pay Section a line of men had formed and assumed the relaxed attitudes with which Servicemen accept inevitable delay. From the Medical Centre two orderlies were bringing chairs and piling them together in the sunshine, while from inside came the sound of buckets and mops and tuneless singing.

      Starkhof said, ‘The thief first misappropriated the documents. It was later that he stole them.’

      ‘If that means that someone hid them behind a cupboard and went back for them later, why not say so more clearly?’

      Eagerly Blessing said, ‘The papers were secreted behind a cupboard and the thief did return later. How did you know that?’

      ‘Deduction,’ said Löwenherz. ‘And I’ll tell you another deduction too.’

      ‘If you …’

      ‘Comrade Untersturmführer Blessing’ – the old man interrupted them. He raised a finger at Blessing. ‘My witness, I believe.’ He smiled; Blessing nodded.

      The old man said, ‘My dear Löwenherz. We should both be most interested in your deduction.’

      Löwenherz said, ‘You knew where the documents were, and yet did not retrieve them. Then you hoped to catch the thief taking them to some other place …’

      ‘Or other party,’ nodded Starkhof. ‘Excellent, Oberleutnant.’

      ‘You do not have the documents therefore you did not catch the thief in …’ Löwenherz paused.

      ‘You were about to say flagrante delicto, my good friend. Do say it.’ In a quick aside to Blessing the old man added, ‘Red-handed, my dear Blessing.’ Blessing smiled.

      It was difficult to be sure whether the man was trying to make a fool of Löwenherz or of Blessing. When Löwenherz walked forward again the others kept by his side.

      Löwenherz said, ‘Since Blessing pointed out the Medical Centre to you, I deduce that you have not seen it before. So it was’ – Löwenherz feigned difficulty with the SS rank and pronounced it in a precise and ponderous manner – ‘Untersturmführer Blessing who set a trap for the thief but was outwitted.’

      ‘Sunt lacrimae rerum,’ said the man to Blessing. ‘Tears are a part of life, as I said to Blessing at the time.’ Blessing scowled.

      ‘Is it someone on my Staffel?’ said Löwenherz.

      ‘There you go again,’ said Starkhof. ‘Straight to the heart of the problem. Yes, it’s someone on your Staffel.’

      ‘Unteroffizier Himmel,’ supplied Blessing.

      ‘Young Himmel,’ said Löwenherz. ‘Why, that’s impossible. I’d stake my life on Himmel.’

      ‘Is that your considered opinion, Herr Oberleutnant?’ asked Blessing weightily. They walked in silence for a moment, then Starkhof said, ‘Of course not, the Herr Oberleutnant was speaking merely as a comrade in arms. Such sentiments nobly become front-line soldiers.’

      ‘Would you stake your life on this thief Himmel?’ persisted Blessing.

      ‘My dear Blessing,’ said Starkhof. ‘The Oberleutnant often does exactly that. For isn’t Himmel one of his most experienced pilots and thus essential to the safety of the whole Staffel?’

      ‘Young Himmel is a fine pilot, hard-working and loyal,’ said Löwenherz.

      Blessing said, ‘You went to breakfast at a few minutes to ten?’

      Löwenherz said, ‘I spoke with you.’ He said it quickly and defensively, and was angry at himself.

      ‘And you gave Himmel your dog?’

      ‘Himmel took my dog to the dispersal.’

      ‘Did Himmel often walk your dog?’ asked Blessing. He smiled at Löwenherz and filled the simple question with complex innuendo.

      ‘The dog chooses carefully the people with whom it will walk,’ said Löwenherz.

      ‘Himmel was one of the chosen people?’ said Blessing.

      ‘You seem better provided with malice than with evidence,’ said Löwenherz. ‘Perhaps it’s merely that Himmel is easier to apprehend than the real thief who seems to have eluded you so effortlessly when the crime was committed.’

      ‘Dear comrade Löwenherz,’ said Starkhof wearily. ‘You are not the judge in this case and, even if you were, it is not Blessing who would be on trial. We have asked your assistance merely to recover the documents which we believe – with excellent reason – Himmel stole from the Medical Centre.’

      ‘How can I help?’

      ‘Thank you, Herr Oberleutnant. That is what I was hoping that you would say.’

      ‘Earlier,’ added Blessing.

      ‘Blessing,’ sighed the older man, ‘there are times when I believe that making witnesses hostile is your sole creative endeavour.’ He turned again to Löwenherz. ‘Last night Unteroffizier Himmel had this document in his bedside locker. This morning when Blessing arrived at his billet to arrest him he was not there. Neither was the document. The only person he met this morning was you …’

      ‘What do you suspect Himmel did?’

      ‘There are many possibilities: he might have learned it by heart and then destroyed it; he might have buried it so that he could return to retrieve it; or he might have handed it to an accomplice.’

      ‘You don’t seriously think Himmel is a spy?’

      Starkhof shrugged.

      Löwenherz said, ‘How did he gain access to this document?’

      ‘By accident, we think. He was due for a routine medical check on the fourteenth of the month. Eighteen NCOs attended the Medical Section that morning. Himmel

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