Hitler's Angel

Hitler's Angel Read Free Page B

Book: Hitler's Angel Read Free
Author: Kris Rusch
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Hitchcock Presents, I guess.’
    ‘So you only study technique. You do not practice it.’
    She reaches to her left and pushes a button on the tape recorder. The faint whirring hum that has accompanied their conversation – a hum he hadn’t been aware of until now – stops. ‘I don’t even study technique, really. I’m more interested in cases. I first read about Demmelmayer when I was a little girl. I have always wanted to meet you, to write my book on Demmelmayer. The definitive book. But I wanted it to read like a murder mystery. But the dissertation has to come first.’
    ‘So you see me as a real life Sherlock Holmes?’
    ‘I’m afraid so.’ Colour touches her cheeks, adding to her healthy appearance. ‘Silly, huh?’
    ‘And if I turn out to be less than brilliant, you will still write this book?’
    The surprise runs from her eyes to her hands. Her eyes widen, then her mouth opens and her hands nervously clutch her denim-clad knees. ‘You would like me to write about you? I thought I could only write about Demmelmayer, but you’re right. A biography would be even better.’
    ‘No,’ he says, the idea of recounting his life every afternoon until his death making his throat dry. ‘Stick to your cases. But feature this one as a counterpoint to Demmelmayer.’
    ‘They don’t even sound similar.’ The girl’s frown is back, a feature of her concentration. She would make a terrible criminal. He can read her even in the growing darkness. ‘At least in Demmelmayer, you had a body.’
    ‘At heart, Demmelmayer was a simple case. Too many suspects, but no nuances. I had to eliminate possible killers, track motives, use any evidence I could find. In reality, though, Demmelmayer was no more than a domestic homicide. The case became famous because Gustav Demmelmayer was famous.’
    ‘Adolf Hitler is famous,’ she says .
    ‘Now he is infamous, ’Fritz says. ‘Then, no one had heard of him outside of Germany. Certainly not Americans.’
    He tries to say the word without contempt. But she doesn’t seem to notice. She has pushed a button on the tape recorder again. She tried to be circumspect but he saw the movement .
    So she is intrigued again. Good. That makes his job easier.Although he must still explain the obvious to her, why he thinks this case a counterpoint to Demmelmayer .
    He says, ‘The Raubal case is full of nuance, and everything about it is hidden. Everything. But it fits into your hypothesis. No one else would have finished this case. You will want it for your dissertation. Then you can decide later if you still want to write your book.’
    He stands, knowing she won’t be able to see the hole in his chair in the darkness. ‘I would like a beer. Would you?’
    ‘Yes, one,’ she says. ‘And when I am done, I will have to go.’
    ‘We won’t finish tonight,’ he says .
    ‘I don’t mind.’ With the rush of words, he can almost feel her growing heart rate, the prickle under the skin, the excitement of the challenge. He remembers the feeling. He had felt it, underneath his anger, that morning in Prinzregentenplaz .

FOUR
    F ritz’s fists clenched so hard, his short-cropped nails dug into his palms. But he kept his face impassive. He didn’t want the sergeant to see his frustration.
    Adolf Hitler was a national figure with terrifying connections. His party, the National Socialist German Workers Party, had grown in popularity during the last few years. Its representation in the Reichstag had grown from 12 to 107 seats just the year before, and there was talk on the streets of Munich that Hitler himself would run for Chancellor in 1932. No wonder the Chief Inspector had looked at Fritz so oddly when he mentioned Prinzregentenplaz; just the week before they had been discussing how a man could go from being an impoverished enemy of the state to an influential politician who lived in one of Munich’s most coveted neighborhoods.
    ‘They say he is backed by the Kaiser’s son, August

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