Gruppenführer's Mistress (The Girl from Berlin 2) by Ellie Midwood

Author:Ellie Midwood [Midwood, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Published: 2015-10-09T04:00:00+00:00

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It was a beautiful Monday morning, and I just laid out all the marked and filed correspondence on Gruppenführer Kaltenbrunner’s table, when he walked in and stopped in the middle of the room, looking past by my shoulder.

“Good morning, Herr Gruppenführer.” I smiled at my new boss.

“What’s that?” He nodded at something behind my back.

I turned around and saw several potted flowers on the windowsill that I brought here last Friday while he was at the Reich Chancellery meeting with Reichsführer. After I had seen firsthand how much the new Chief of the RSHA was smoking, I thought that opening the window every time he would leave the room was a subject that needed no discussion, but while the windows would be closed, the flowers would at least somehow filter the air.

“That is called flowers, Herr Gruppenführer. Orchids, to be exact.”

His brow slightly furrowed.

“And what are they doing in my office?”

“I brought them.”

He looked even more confused now.

“Why?”

“Well, you smoke too much, and the plants are known for consuming carbon monoxide and producing oxygen from it. So this is mostly a health issue.”

He finally smiled at me.

“So you brought me flowers so I wouldn’t die of lung cancer in the next five years?”

“Basically… yes. You can say that.”

“Well, that’s very sweet of you, Frau Friedmann. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Herr Gruppenführer.” He was still standing in the middle of the room looking at me, so I decided to ask for the further instructions. “Would you like me to make you coffee first, or you prefer to start with the mail?”

“Coffee would be nice.”

“Coming right up.”

I made him coffee just the way he liked it: with cream, a lot of sugar, and not too hot, because Dr. Kaltenbrunner liked drinking it fast and in one shot. He was looking through his correspondence when I placed on the table a little tray with coffee and several biscuits which Magda had made. By now I figured that whatever he would put in his mouth instead of another cigarette was a good thing, so I started sneaking in different snacks for him in the course of the day. Busy with work, he wouldn’t normally even notice my little tricks.

I was already leaving back to my working place, when Dr. Kaltenbrunner called out my name.

“Frau Friedmann!”

“Yes, Herr Gruppenführer?”

“You didn’t sort these letters.”

He lifted up one with the marking “Top Secret” on the envelope.

“I’m not allowed to touch those.”

“Who told you?”

“Georg did.”

“Is he the Chief of the RSHA?”

“No, but… I thought it was your order.”

Dr. Kaltenbrunner shook his head.

“You’re my personal secretary, and I don’t have secrets from you. From now on, sort them out for me, please. You won’t believe how much nonsense there is amongst those letters, and I don’t have time to deal with it.”

“Could you be more specific about what you consider nonsense, Herr Gruppenführer, so in the future I know how to sort them out?”

“Why don’t we open them together so you know what I mean?”

He motioned me to come closer, and I walked up to him, taking a place behind his shoulder while he opened the first envelope.

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