Hedda by Peter Haden

Author:Peter Haden [Haden, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Published: 2023-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Hedda and Werner spent most evenings together and always weekends, either in one apartment or the other. They often dined out in some of the better, smaller restaurants, usually with a good band and a small dance floor – venues favoured by the military and made safe with armed guards. The cosy nights in developed into a competition of cooking skills, usually declared a draw, whilst they listened to the wireless. As a Gestapo officer, it was perfectly in order for Werner to listen to Radio Londres or the BBC. The latter, Hedda particularly enjoyed. By mid-November, Werner’s shoulder was healing well, and he was back to light duties.

She knew that one of his chief responsibilities was the identification of French nationals, particularly of the Jewish faith, for deportation by rail to work within German factories supporting the Fatherland’s war machine. He had not said as much, but she sensed that he found the work distasteful. It was as if his sense of honour and devotion to duty were in conflict.

Hedda also thought a lot about Tadzio. She had no idea whether he was still alive. There had been no news for months. Surely London would have sent word if they had heard anything…? Much as she had loved him at the time, she had begun to think of him more and more like someone from her past life. At the beginning of December, after a night out of intimate dining and dancing, then a glass of cognac in her apartment, she took Werner to her bed. He was an accomplished lover – but so he should have been, she reflected happily afterwards, if there had been only an element of truth in his reputation amongst the ladies at the embassy.

Her greatest fear was the flight home to Munich for Christmas. She had no idea whether she would be met at the airfield or by whom. Werner would leave the aircraft with her and had offered to arrange transport to her home if necessary. Then the seventeen-seater tri-motor Junkers Ju 52 would fly on to Berlin.

With her heart beating heavily and from her briefing photographs back in London, Hedda recognised Herr Hoffmann standing with a small group of people in front of the terminal. She had resolved to rush up to him and, with a quick embrace, whisper into his ear that she was Anneliese, adding, ‘For God’s sake, pretend that I’m your daughter.’

She need not have worried. As they walked across the grass, the roar of the tri-motor’s engines as it taxied to take off again drowned out any chance of a conversation being overheard. Herr Hoffmann ran towards her, both arms extended for an embrace. Instead, he spoke frantically into her ear.

Werner waited for a moment, then as the aircraft took off, he introduced himself with a correct bow, his heels clicking together, even though he was in uniform and by rights should have offered a salute. He turned to Hedda. ‘I’ll let you settle in with your family, then perhaps I may telephone you after a few days.

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