Karolina's Twins (28 page)

“‘Yes, please, if I may.'

“‘Ach. I am so happy to be getting out of this Polish shithole and back to Berlin. Wait here.' She turned and walked inside, slamming the door.

“
They're sending Colonel Müller back to Germany,
I thought.
That's perfect. He can find a way to take our babies to Regensburg.

“He came to the door, fully decked out in his dress grays, braids hanging from his shoulder boards, and rows of medals sat above his breast pocket. He motioned for me to step back onto the sidewalk. ‘What are you doing here? Are you crazy? I told you not to come here anymore.'

“‘I need a favor.'

“‘From
me
?'

“I explained about the babies and our need to get them to Regensburg. ‘I think Karolina and I will be sent to a labor camp, but the two girls…'

“He shook his head. ‘Impossible. They won't survive.'

“‘That's why I need you to take them to Bavaria.'

“He laughed out loud. ‘And how am I supposed to do that? In ten days I'm driving my car to Berlin. Shall I just make a five-hundred-mile side trip to Regensburg? And perhaps you'd like to explain this whole scenario to Else. I'm sure she'd love to help. She loves Jewish babies.'

“‘You're our only hope.'

“‘Please. This conversation is going nowhere.'

“‘What are we supposed to do with the two little girls?'

“‘Put them on the train.'

“‘They'll die.'

“‘Yes, they will.'

“‘If you won't take them to Regensburg, help me drive them out to the Tarnowskis.'

“‘Herr farmer? Hmph. Herr farmer and Herr farmer's wife are long gone. They took off in the middle of the night long ago for parts unknown. I guess they were the smart ones.'

“Just then, I remembered Mr. Tarnowski telling me that they had a plan. And I could have gone with them. But that was water under the bridge. I stared directly at the colonel. ‘You have to find a way to help us. I know you are a good man. You're not one of them.'

“‘You're wrong. I am a colonel in the Wehrmacht. I have stayed alive knowing what I can do and what I can't. If what I've done with the network brings an end to the war, saves millions of lives, then the risk was justified. For these two little babies, whose odds of growing up are next to none, I'm sorry, little hitchhiker, but there's nothing I can do. Good night.' He turned, walked into the house and left me standing on the sidewalk.

“Muriel and Karolina were anxiously waiting for me when I returned, but when she saw my expression, Karolina started to cry.

“‘We'll figure something out,' I said.

“We debated going to work for the next few days, but although the Shop was closing, we were required to go. Major Fahlstein's recommendation could mean the difference between being sent to a work camp or being sent to Auschwitz. So, once again, I worked the day shift, Karolina worked the night shift and Muriel stayed with the twins.

“It was eerie at the Shop, just a handful of workers, most of them busy packing up supplies for transport north. The German overseers were gone. Only Major Fahlstein and two guards remained.

“Two days before the Shop was set to close, Major Fahlstein said, ‘There will not be a night shift today. If you know any of the night shift workers, go get them, we could use them now.'

“I walked back to the apartment. Karolina was playing with the babies and humming a lullaby. She shook her head. ‘I'm not going in. I'm going to spend my time with our babies. Every minute we have left.'

“‘But Major Fahlstein's recommendations—you don't want to be left off the list.'

“‘I don't care.'

“I nodded. Who could blame her? I returned to work. Major Fahlstein noted that Karolina was a no-show.

“After work that night we caucused again. I was out of ideas. I wished David were there; he'd always had a plan. I missed David.

“Finally, Karolina stood. ‘Let's make a run for it,' she said. ‘I think we can make our way to the country. There aren't that many Germans left. We'll find a family that will take us in and hide us till the war is over.'

“‘You're dreaming,' I said. ‘First of all, you'd never make the country; you'd be shot leaving the city. There are still guards here. Second, even if you could get to the country, where are you going to find a family that'll take in three Jewish women and two babies?'

“‘We'll have to take that chance. Maybe they'll just take in the babies. We'll keep walking until we find someone. What's our choice, Lena? Hand the babies over to the Nazis?'

“‘She's right,' Muriel said. ‘What are we supposed to do? If we board a train with the twins, they'll be taken from us on arrival. And you know what they'll do.' She walked over and put her arm around Karolina. ‘Don't you worry, honey. I'll go with you.'

“‘You're both nuts,' I said. ‘There's an excellent chance that we can all get assigned to a work camp. We can sew clothes and survive the war.'

“‘Not the babies.'

“I nodded. ‘Not the babies.' I walked over and joined them in a hug. ‘I must be as crazy as you two, but count me in.'”

 

T
HIRTY-TWO

“C
OLONEL KARL HEINZ MÜLLER
, decorated at the battle of Galicia in World War I, was assigned to Chrzanów in the Upper Silesia district in 1941,” Liam said. “He was transferred to Berlin in 1943, where he was stationed at the Bendlerstrasse and attached to General Friedrich Olbricht. While working there he was introduced to Oberstlieutenant Klaus von Stauffenberg. Both Olbricht and von Stauffenberg were members of the secret German Resistance.”

“Why do I know the name von Stauffenberg?” Catherine said.

“From the plot to kill Hitler in the bunker.”

“Right. The failed coup.”

“Müller himself was actually part of the German Resistance going back several years, but he became a serious conspirator with von Stauffenberg in 1944. He was present at the Wolfsschanze on July 20, 1944, when the bomb exploded and failed to kill Hitler. Von Stauffenberg was executed on July twenty-first. Müller was shot by a firing squad for high treason on August first.”

“So, there actually was a Colonel Müller who was a member of the German underground? Lena wasn't lying and she wasn't delusional.”

“Not as concerns Colonel Müller. Her story about the network is very believable. And about his aloofness when it came to helping Lena hide the babies. My research disclosed that while many of the German high command despised Hitler and his ambition, they were still German loyalists. They deplored Hitler's genocide, but they were the German elite. They liked the political structure and their social privileges. They enjoyed their status. Many of them were fascistic.

“Müller may have spearheaded underground resistance groups, and died trying to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi Party, but he was no Thomas Jefferson. He cut his teeth on authoritarianism.”

Catherine cleared the breakfast dishes. “It's good to have Lena's story corroborated. Thanks for the research.”

“But you still think she's holding back?”

Catherine nodded. “There's no doubt in my mind. There's a story beneath the surface here, I just don't know what it is. I don't know why, I just know that there's a part that's locked away, that we may never find out.”

Liam's cell phone buzzed. He saw the caller ID, raised his eyebrows and motioned for Catherine to come close.

“Liam Taggart … Hello, Arthur … This morning?… I don't know, I'll have to run it by Ms. Lockhart. Why don't I call you back in a while … Good-bye.”

Catherine stood with her hands on her hips. “Arthur Woodward? What the hell did he want?”

“He wants to meet with me later this morning.”

“Did he say why?”

“Nope.”

“Fascinating.”

“Do you want me to meet with him?”

“Sure. Why not?”

At eleven o'clock, Arthur and his personal assistant, Rico, arrived at Liam's one-room office. Liam stood at the door and shook Arthur's hand. “Can we leave the muscle outside?”

“Of course.” Arthur turned to Rico. “Why don't you wait in the car?”

Liam walked over to his credenza. “I'm brewing a pot. Can I offer you a cup?”

Arthur nodded. “Just black.”

“So, what brings you out today?”

“Are we off the record, Liam? Just you and me?”

Liam nodded.

Arthur took a sip of coffee. “Look, I'm not a bad guy, no matter what you may think. Maybe I'm overprotective of my mother, but she's eighty-nine and I'm her only relative. I've seen her go from a socialite, very involved in civic matters, serving on the boards of substantial charitable foundations, to a woman obsessed with finding two girls for which no evidence exists or has ever existed. Do you understand? She's Sir Galahad in search of the Holy Grail. The only thing on her mind is this Karolina matter.

“In her den, the room where my father and I watched basketball games, where he read at night and listened to his music, she's got maps of Europe spread out all over the place. There must be twenty history books on the war in Poland. My father never read a single one of them. They're all hers. There are dozens of printouts of Polish train schedules from the 1940s. Seriously? I mean, what the hell? It's all she cares about. She's trapped in a lost decade. Whatever you think my motives are, I'm only concerned about my mother. I have no interest in seeing your wife go to jail in some misguided effort to protect the attorney-client privilege. I'm willing to call the whole thing off.”

“In exchange for what?”

“Not much, really. I'm not asking Catherine to withdraw. Let her do her thing. Let her charge her fees, make her money. I understand she's got a small office and my mother is a big-time client for her. I get it. No problem.”

Liam stood. “Well, thank you very much, Arthur. I'll tell Catherine you're dismissing your petition.”

Arthur held up his finger. “Not quite so fast. I said I wouldn't stop Catherine from representing my mother. But only under certain conditions. Just between you and me, right? I want to know exactly what's going on, what she's telling Catherine and what they're going to do. I want to be kept in the loop. That way I can make sure that nothing bad is going to happen to her. You get me? I only care about my mother. You don't even have to tell my mother or Catherine that we made this arrangement. Just let me know, from time to time, what's going on. What has she done, what has she learned. That's all. And I'll take your word for it. We don't even need to put it in writing.”

“You didn't really expect me to accept that offer, did you, Arthur? I mean, you didn't drive all the way over here with Gonzo to make that stupid offer. Go behind my wife's back and violate the attorney-client privilege? What's really on your mind?”

Arthur chuckled. “You're a tough guy, Liam. But okay. I'll tell you what worries me. I think someone in the old country is trying to run a number on my mother. Rip her off. There's something going on back there in Poland or Germany. I mean, why would she all of a sudden pick this up now at age eighty-nine? She could have searched for Karolina's babies for sixty years. Now all of a sudden she's compelled to find them? When they're probably dead, if they ever existed?”

“I suppose she'd say it's none of your business.”

“She probably would. But I'm not going to let some con artist in Poland grab all my father's money. Ain't gonna happen. Look, you're the great investigator. Have you found any evidence that Karolina Neuman ever lived or died? What proof did you uncover in all your sleuthing that someone named Karolina Neuman ever gave birth to any children? Did you come across any birth certificates? Any little Neumans? You know, if you had them and showed them to the judge, this case would be over.”

“I can't tell you anything about my work in this case. You know that.”

Arthur nodded. “Okay, so you answered my question. Just what I figured. Let me tell you, I'm a man of considerable means. I can get things done. As you may have imagined, I've had my people researching this Karolina and they've all come up with nothing. Nothing at all. So if all my money can't produce a shred of evidence, then the evidence doesn't exist. And that's a fact. So here's the deal: you keep me in the loop, provide me with a day-by-day rundown on what my mother's doing and who she's talking to and I'll back off. Otherwise, I'll crush you and your wife like a bug. Depend on it.”

“Oh, stop with childish threats.”

Arthur stood. “Thanks for the coffee, Liam. Think about what I said. You want to keep your wife out of jail? Play ball. Let me know by Sunday night, give me the thumbs-up and we'll all be BFFs. Otherwise?…” He stamped his foot on the floor like he was crushing out a cigarette.

“Gosh, I thought we were already BFFs. I guess I'll just have to unfriend you. Get the fuck out of my office.”

Arthur stopped at the door. “Think about it, funny man. It's your wife.”

 

T
HIRTY-THREE

“H
E SOUNDS DESPERATE TO
me,” Catherine said, holding her phone to her ear and rocking back in her desk chair. “I still can't figure out why he's so passionate about stopping Lena from finding these girls.”

“It's the inheritance. What else could it be? I'm sure he believes that she changed her will to cut him out of part of her estate and share it with Karolina's daughters, if they're still alive, or if not, then maybe their descendants. If Lena can't find the twins, then it all goes to Arthur.”

“It makes sense. Lena's due here in a few minutes. I have one more day before the hearing to learn the whole story. Lena and I are on a parallel course. In her story, she has one more day to figure out how to save the babies, and I have one more day to figure out how to stay out of jail. I'll talk to you later.”