To Catch a King - Jack Higgins

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had to follow him into the shellfire too.’

      ‘Now that, I like,’ Schellenberg said. ‘That tells me more about the man than anything.’

      ‘Walter, in this matter the Führer is hopelessly wasting his time. Here is a man who renounced a throne rather than betray the woman he loved. Do you really imagine that such a man could betray his country?’

      At Estoril, in the pink stucco villa above the sea, the Duchess of Windsor sat beside the swimming pool. She was reading Wuthering Heights, one of her favourite novels, and was so absorbed in the action that she was not immediately aware that the Duke had emerged from the house on to the terrace and was standing beside her.

      She glanced up and removed her sunglasses. ‘Why, David, you startled me.’

      ‘What are you reading?’

       ‘Wuthering Heights.’

      ‘Good God, that Bronte woman again. How many times is that?’

      ‘It’s like an old friend. Extremely comforting in times of travail.’ He sat down in the deckchair opposite and she reached for the glass jug on the tray. ‘Lemonade?’

      ‘I could do with something a little stiffer, but why not?’

      ‘Nonsense, David, you know you never drink before seven o’clock. What’s happened?’

      She reached across the table and took his hand. He forced a smile. ‘You always know, don’t you, Wallis? I’ve had a telegram from Winston. He’s finally found me a job. Governor of the Bahamas. Nicely tucked away three thousand miles from the action.’

      ‘Will you take it?’

      ‘I’ll have to. I won’t have them push us into a bottom drawer. It must be the two of us together. Man and wife with the same position. They don’t seem to be willing to offer us that in England. So, the Bahamas it is.’

      ‘My dear David,’ she said. ‘There’s a war on and I’m sure the question of my position doesn’t loom very large on the agenda.’

      ‘But it does with me, Wallis, don’t you see? I can never alter on that score.’ He shrugged. ‘It hurts a little, that’s all, that they can’t find anything of more importance for me to do.’

      He got up and walked to the terrace and stood there gazing out to sea. As she watched him, the sense of waste was so overwhelming that she had to fight to hold back the tears.

      4

      Schellenberg was back in his office within half an hour. As he was taking off his coat Frau Huber entered. She was considerably agitated.

      ‘We’ve been looking for you everywhere. You didn’t give any indication of where you’d gone. General Heydrich is very angry.’

      Schellenberg said calmly, ‘I thought he knew every move I made before I did. Where is he now?’

      ‘With Reichsführer Himmler. I phoned through the moment you came in. They’re waiting for you.’

      She was trembling a little for she liked Schellenberg more than she dared to admit; for some strange reason admired the fact that nothing seemed to matter to him.

      ‘Calm yourself, Ilse.’ He kissed her gently on the mouth. ‘I’ll manage. Not just because I’m cleverer than they are, which I am, but because I don’t take it seriously. I’ll be back for coffee within the hour, you’ll see.’

      When he was ushered into the ornate office on the first floor at Prinz Albrechtstrasse, he found Himmler seated behind a large desk, a stack of files in front of him, a surprisingly nondescript figure in a grey tweed suit. The face behind the silver pince-nez was cold and impersonal, and it was difficult to imagine what went on behind those expressionless eyes. In many ways he was a strangely timid man who could be kind to his subordinates, loved animals and was devoted to his children and yet a monster, responsible for almost all of the terror and repression which the Reich visited on its victims.

      Heydrich was standing by the window and he turned, his face angry. ‘Where on earth have you been, Walter?’

      Before Schellenberg could reply, one of the several telephones rang. Himmler answered it, then said, ‘I’m not to be disturbed now,’ and replaced the receiver.

      He removed his pince-nez and rubbed a finger between his eyes, an habitual gesture. ‘So, General, your conversation in the Tiergarten with the Herr Admiral Canaris was interesting?’

      ‘So that’s where you’ve been?’ Heydrich said. ‘Playing cat and mouse with that old fool again? I gave you a certain task, Walter, as you well know.’

      ‘Which I was following through.’

      Himmler said, ‘The Windsor affair, I presume? You may talk freely. General Heydrich and I are as one in this matter.’

      ‘Very well,’ Schellenberg said. ‘I made out a report of my meeting with Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop as you suggested.’

      ‘Yes, I’ve already received it,’ Heydrich said impatiently.

      ‘Then I worked my way through the Windsor file to form an opinion in the matter.’

      ‘And?’

      ‘It was not enough,’ Schellenberg said. ‘It occurred to me that it would be a good idea to sound Admiral Canaris on his view. I happen to know that most Thursday afternoons he goes riding, so I went to the Tiergarten and found him there.’

      ‘You had no authority to do such a thing,’ Heydrich exploded.

      Himmler stilled him with a wave of the hand. ‘What was your primary reason for doing this?’

      Schellenberg took his time in replying, playing it very carefully indeed. ‘A difficult question, Reichsführer. A matter of some delicacy.’

      ‘My dear Schellenberg, I respect your tact in this matter, but within the walls of this office there is nothing you cannot say. Not only because I am your Reichsführer, but also because we are all three men of the SS. Members of a common brotherhood.’

      ‘Come on, Walter,’ Heydrich said. ‘Speak out.’

      ‘Very well. I suspected that Reichsminister von Ribbentrop had not been entirely honest with me. It seemed logical that he would have approached the Abwehr first and yet he made no mention of the fact.’

      ‘I see.’ Himmler’s voice was very soft now and he smiled in a strangely satisfied way. ‘And had he?’

      ‘I’m afraid so, Reichsführer.’

      ‘The rotten little bastard,’ Heydrich said.

      ‘Leave it, Reinhard. Another nail in his coffin. But continue, Schellenberg. What did the admiral have to say?’

      Schellenberg told them, holding nothing back for there was no need to do so. Himmler made occasional notes on a memo pad. Finally, he put down his pen.

      ‘So – the Herr Admiral sees no good in this affair?’

      ‘So it would seem.’

      ‘And you?’

      There was a silence as they both waited for his reply and Schellenberg knew that he was on dangerous ground now. Choosing his words with care, he said calmly, ‘Herr von Ribbentrop made it clear that the whole business was to be carried through at the Führer’s express command. He has even provided me with the necessary written authority. The Reichsführer must see that I cannot possibly question an order from the Führer himself. My personal opinion doesn’t enter into the matter.’

      Heydrich turned away abruptly to conceal his smile, but Himmler was positively glowing with approval. ‘I could not have put it better myself. He carries the burden for all of us. The destiny of Germany rides on his shoulders.’

      Schellenberg

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