Foreign Office type who had an envelope for a Three Kings agent might have been spooked off a meeting and subcontracted the job to a money-hungry girl from the Jockey Bar. Stranger things had happened.
‘But I have a question for you, angel. Why are you telling me all this?’
‘In case you didn’t know, Parsifal’s not exactly a common name around here.’ She bit her thumbnail. ‘Look, in spite of what I told you, about getting all that perfume, I’m not the most popular girl around town. There are a lot of people who don’t like me very much.’
‘Sounds like we have a lot in common, angel.’
She let that one go. She was too busy talking about herself. That was good, too. To me she looked like a more interesting subject than I was.
‘Oh, sure, I’m attractive to look at. I know that. And there are a lot of men who want me to give them what men usually want women to give them but, beyond a cigarette and a drink and a tip, and maybe the odd present or two, I don’t want anything from anyone. You should know that about me. Maybe you’ve worked that out already. You seem bright enough. But what I’m trying to say is that I don’t have many friends and certainly none that are possessed of what you might call wisdom and maturity. Otto – Otto Schulze – the Fritz who runs this place, I couldn’t tell him. I can’t tell him anything. He’d tell the Gestapo, for sure. Otto likes to keep in with the Gestapo. I’m almost certain he pays them off with information: Magda, too, I think. And you’ve met Frau Lippert. So there’s no one else, see? My mother is old and lives in Dresden. My brother is on active service. But frankly he wouldn’t know what to say or do. He’s my younger brother and he looks to me for advice. Butyou, Parsifal. You strike me as the type who always knows what to say or do. So, if you’re interested, there’s a part-time job going as my special counsel. It doesn’t pay very much but maybe you can think of me as someone who is in your debt.’
‘Suddenly I feel every one of my forty-three years,’ I said.
‘That’s not so old. Not these days. Just look around, Parsifal. Where are the young men? There aren’t any. Not in Berlin. I can’t remember the last time I spoke to someone less than thirty. Anyone my age is on active service or in a concentration camp. Youth is no longer wasted on the young because it’s wasted on the war instead.’ She winced. ‘Forget I said that. I shouldn’t have said that. They’re fighting for their country, aren’t they?’
‘They’re fighting for someone else’s country,’ I said. ‘That’s the problem.’
Arianne looked sly for a moment, as if she’d outsmarted me in a game of cards. ‘It’s not healthy putting your head under a falling axe, Parsifal. You could get into trouble.’
‘I don’t mind a little trouble, when it looks like you, angel.’
‘That’s what you say now. But you haven’t seen me throwing crockery.’
‘Volatile, huh?’
‘Like my boiling point was on the moon.’
‘Smart, too. I’m not sure I’m qualified to be your special counsel, Fräulein Tauber. I don’t know the boiling point on the moon from my own shoe-size.’
She glanced down at my feet. ‘I’ll bet you’re a forty-six, right?’
‘Mmm-hmm.’
‘Then, for a lot of liquids with higher vapour pressures, the boiling point and your shoe-size are probably the same.’
‘If that’s true then I’m impressed.’
‘Before the war I was a chemistry student.’
‘Why did you stop?’
‘Lack of money. Lack of opportunity. The Nazis like educated women almost as little as they like educated Jews. They prefer us to stay home polishing the hearth and stirring the pot.’
‘Not me.’
She tugged my wrist toward her and checked the time on my watch. ‘I have to go back to the cloakroom in a minute.’
‘I could wait but I might
‘But I have a question for you, angel. Why are you telling me all this?’
‘In case you didn’t know, Parsifal’s not exactly a common name around here.’ She bit her thumbnail. ‘Look, in spite of what I told you, about getting all that perfume, I’m not the most popular girl around town. There are a lot of people who don’t like me very much.’
‘Sounds like we have a lot in common, angel.’
She let that one go. She was too busy talking about herself. That was good, too. To me she looked like a more interesting subject than I was.
‘Oh, sure, I’m attractive to look at. I know that. And there are a lot of men who want me to give them what men usually want women to give them but, beyond a cigarette and a drink and a tip, and maybe the odd present or two, I don’t want anything from anyone. You should know that about me. Maybe you’ve worked that out already. You seem bright enough. But what I’m trying to say is that I don’t have many friends and certainly none that are possessed of what you might call wisdom and maturity. Otto – Otto Schulze – the Fritz who runs this place, I couldn’t tell him. I can’t tell him anything. He’d tell the Gestapo, for sure. Otto likes to keep in with the Gestapo. I’m almost certain he pays them off with information: Magda, too, I think. And you’ve met Frau Lippert. So there’s no one else, see? My mother is old and lives in Dresden. My brother is on active service. But frankly he wouldn’t know what to say or do. He’s my younger brother and he looks to me for advice. Butyou, Parsifal. You strike me as the type who always knows what to say or do. So, if you’re interested, there’s a part-time job going as my special counsel. It doesn’t pay very much but maybe you can think of me as someone who is in your debt.’
‘Suddenly I feel every one of my forty-three years,’ I said.
‘That’s not so old. Not these days. Just look around, Parsifal. Where are the young men? There aren’t any. Not in Berlin. I can’t remember the last time I spoke to someone less than thirty. Anyone my age is on active service or in a concentration camp. Youth is no longer wasted on the young because it’s wasted on the war instead.’ She winced. ‘Forget I said that. I shouldn’t have said that. They’re fighting for their country, aren’t they?’
‘They’re fighting for someone else’s country,’ I said. ‘That’s the problem.’
Arianne looked sly for a moment, as if she’d outsmarted me in a game of cards. ‘It’s not healthy putting your head under a falling axe, Parsifal. You could get into trouble.’
‘I don’t mind a little trouble, when it looks like you, angel.’
‘That’s what you say now. But you haven’t seen me throwing crockery.’
‘Volatile, huh?’
‘Like my boiling point was on the moon.’
‘Smart, too. I’m not sure I’m qualified to be your special counsel, Fräulein Tauber. I don’t know the boiling point on the moon from my own shoe-size.’
She glanced down at my feet. ‘I’ll bet you’re a forty-six, right?’
‘Mmm-hmm.’
‘Then, for a lot of liquids with higher vapour pressures, the boiling point and your shoe-size are probably the same.’
‘If that’s true then I’m impressed.’
‘Before the war I was a chemistry student.’
‘Why did you stop?’
‘Lack of money. Lack of opportunity. The Nazis like educated women almost as little as they like educated Jews. They prefer us to stay home polishing the hearth and stirring the pot.’
‘Not me.’
She tugged my wrist toward her and checked the time on my watch. ‘I have to go back to the cloakroom in a minute.’
‘I could wait but I might
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