35
‘Can we go for a walk like we used to?’ Hans suggested. ‘It will be easier to talk about the past walking side by side without anyone to overhear us.’
Nancy had anticipated his suggestion, but it was still frustrating. They’d just made small talk while they drank their coffees. She’d discovered he got married in 1974, had two children, a boy and a girl, and was now a grandfather to twins. He’d worked for a car manufacturer in the export office until the Wall came down, then he’d moved back to Berlin and started freelancing as a book translator until he’d officially retired 15 years ago. He skillfully deflected any attempt she made to turn the conversation around to 1964.
Why was he being so evasive? Nancy was even more intrigued now. She glanced across at the shrubbery. No sign of Olivia. ‘Yes, let’s walk by the lake,’ she said.
While Hans settled the bill, Nancy texted Olivia.
Going for a stroll
Her reply arrived just as Hans came back to the table.
Ok will follow at a distance.
‘Do you need to answer that?’ he asked.
She didn’t want to admit that Olivia was planning to stalk them. ‘No, it’s just my son updating me on his plans.’
Hans smiled. ‘Shall we go?’ She got up, picked up her shoulder bag and followed him onto the path.
‘This way, I think,’ he said, heading to the left.
They walked in silence for a few minutes while several joggers and a dog walker overtook them. Nancy glanced over her shoulder. There was no sign of Olivia. Either she’d lost them, or she was very good at hiding.
Hans must have noticed her looking around.
‘Is something bothering you?’
‘No, everything’s fine.’
Another text buzzed on Nancy’s phone. She glanced quickly at it.
Eyes on
Olivia had been reading too many thrillers. Nancy glanced around again. Still no sign of her. How could she possibly see them if Nancy couldn’t see her? Perhaps her eyesight was worse than she thought. Nancy made a mental note to book an optician’s appointment when she got home.
‘Life was a lot simpler without those,’ he said, nodding at her phone.
‘Yes. I’ll put it in my pocket so we’re not disturbed again. Let’s talk.’
‘I’m not sure where to start.’ He seemed on edge.
‘How about why you left without so much as a note?’ Nancy said, successfully keeping her voice calm.
‘That wasn’t my choice,’ he said. ‘But my story will sound extremely strange unless I tell you something else first.’
‘Go on then. Explain.’
‘Perhaps we could sit there?’ he said, indicating a bench facing the lake.
Nancy huffed. ‘I don’t care whether we sit or walk. I just want you to tell me what you need to. And then we can go back to our normal lives.’
He nodded. ‘I’m finding this difficult.’
‘I can see that.’
He sat down on the bench. Nancy reluctantly sat next to him. He held her hand. She liked the way it felt. She could be 20 again. If it wasn’t for all the wrinkles and liver spots, her inner voice helpfully pointed out.
‘I was a spy.’
Nancy laughed and pulled her hand away. Olivia had been right.
‘I’m not joking.’
‘I’m laughing because Olivia suggested you and Dieter were both spies, and I dismissed it out of hand. I thought it was fantastical, but clearly, I was wrong.’ So wrong. So much for thinking her judgement of people was always spot on.
‘Why did Olivia think that? We were so careful.’
‘We? So you were both spies?’
He looked uncomfortable.
Nancy filled the silence. ‘Ingrid accidentally dropped some papers on the pavement when she was leaving work with Olivia. Papers that she shouldn’t have been taking out of the building. Olivia put two and two together.’
Hans nodded. ‘Yes. Dieter was a spy also.’
Nancy slid away from him, disappointed. She wasn’t surprised, but she had hoped for a different explanation. She folded her arms and turned towards him so she could see his face properly. He didn’t look at her. ‘Who were you spying for?’
‘For our country. For East Germany. We needed to find out what the West Germans were doing, so Dieter was selected because he was the type of man who appealed to Ingrid.’
‘So it wasn’t a coincidence. He didn’t just make a pass at any German woman in Paris on the off chance they’d flash him a top secret document?’
‘No. We all had specific targets.’
‘And I was yours?’ But that didn’t make sense. Hans had moved into the flat beneath Olivia’s months before Nancy had arrived in Paris.
‘No. I was supposed to seduce Christa.’
‘Which is why you took her out to dinner so often.’
‘Yes. But she strung me along. I knew she wasn’t really interested in me - just the food. My heart wasn’t in it either, to be honest. And then you arrived.’
‘Are you seriously telling me that the East German equivalent of MI6 decided having an insider on Madame Dubois’s dungeon was more useful to them than someone who translated military secrets at NATO?’
‘No, but I liked you - a lot. My handler was talking about sending me back to Berlin as I’d been unsuccessful with Christa. That’s the conversation we were having when you saw us in the Louvre. I had to come up with an excuse to stay in Paris. I persuaded her that the information you had on Madame Dubois’s clients could be useful so that they would allow me to spend more time with you.’
‘So your insistence on seeing me every day and talking to me about how my day at the bookshop went was all so you could stay in Paris.’
‘No. Everything I told you was true. I genuinely enjoyed spending time with you, I cared about you, and I loved you.’ He looked across at her. ‘I think I still do.’
He reached out to hold her hand again. This was so ridiculous. Imagine explaining this to her sons, especially Nigel. He’d have her locked away in a secure unit before she knew it. She pulled her hand away again.
‘The day you spotted me trapped on the balcony. It wasn’t a coincidence that you were there then?’
‘No. I was watching who came and went from the bookshop. Then I saw you appear on the balcony with the cat, and I wondered what on earth was going on.’
‘And Ingrid and Dieter. Was their wedding a sham?’
‘Yes, but he had fallen in love with her. We weren’t meant to get romantically involved, but he did. When the wall came down in 89, he searched for her. She was divorced from another man by then. She forgave Dieter, and now they live happily in Bavaria.’
‘Sounds like a modern fairytale.’ Nancy felt like she was in some far-fetched spy film. ‘And the obscure Danish religion he belonged to?’
‘All a lie. The priest was another agent. The house was one of our safe houses. The marriage wasn’t legally binding. I didn’t enjoy that at all. I know I said on the day that I wasn’t feeling well, but it was because I was upset. I thought duping Ingrid was going too far. Ingrid had access to important documents. Dieter knew she brought them home if she was behind with her translations, but she always locked them away when he visited her flat. She refused to let Dieter stay overnight until they were married, so he never had a chance to view them. Once they were husband and wife and he moved in with her, he found out where she kept the key, and he could photograph them when she was asleep at night. So, you see, she never deliberately betrayed West Germany.’
‘She was heartbroken when you and Dieter disappeared.’ Nancy took a deep breath. ‘So was I.’
‘I am so very sorry. They must have suspected I was going to defect. I don’t know why. But I was walking to the bookshop that afternoon to meet you after work like we usually did, and I was suddenly grabbed by two men and bundled into a car. The next thing I remember was waking up in a cell in Berlin. They must have drugged me. They …. Well, let’s say they made life very unpleasant for me for a while. They let me go eventually.’
He looked tearful. Nancy reached out to touch his arm. He looked her in the eyes. ‘I would never have left you otherwise.’ He said. ‘Ever.’
‘Why did they think you were going to defect?’
‘Because that was my plan. I knew I couldn’t be with you otherwise. But I hadn’t told a soul at that stage, so I’ve still no idea how they knew.’
‘Oh, Hans,’ she said. She moved to kiss him, but he backed away. ‘There’s something else I need to tell you.’
Nancy stared at him. What else could there possibly be?
‘My name isn’t Hans. It’s Klaus. Klaus Heidrich.’
‘Well, it would be odd for a spy to use their own name,’ Nancy said, trying to process it all. ‘And it explains why the private detective couldn’t find anything about you.’
‘Private detective?’
‘I paid someone to research you, but they couldn’t find anything. Now I know why. You don’t look like a Klaus to me,’ she laughed.
‘What does a Klaus look like?’
‘I don’t know, but can I still call you Hans?’
‘I’d prefer Klaus. Hans has bad associations. Apart from with you, obviously.’
‘I’ll try,’ she said. They smiled at one another.
‘Any more revelations?’ Nancy asked.
‘No, that’s everything. You know all my secrets now. Shall we walk back to the café? I could do with a beer after all that,’ Klaus laughed.
‘You can buy me a red wine while you’re at it,’ she said.
‘It will be my pleasure. Do you forgive me?’
‘I need to think about it. But being loyal to your country isn’t a bad thing, I suppose.’
‘That sounds promising.’ He stood up and offered her his arm. She slipped her hand through the crook in his elbow and picked up her bag.
For a second, she thought he was going to bend over and kiss her, but a blood-curdling scream ruined the moment. They looked behind the bench to see where it had come from.
‘Hello, Olivia,’ Klaus said to the woman sprawled in the small ditch behind the bench.
‘I told you those Louboutins weren’t designed for spying,’ Nancy said as Olivia sat outside the cafe. Her injured ankle was resting on another chair while Nancy wrapped it with a crepe bandage kindly supplied by the waiter from the cafe’s first aid kit.
‘You know I can’t wear flat shoes after all this time in heels. My calf muscles are too short. Ooh.’ She winced.
‘Is that too tight?’ Nancy asked.
‘No, it will be fine. My foot doesn’t need a blood supply.’
Nancy started loosening the bandage slightly. ‘What I don’t understand is why you decided to leap down the bank.’
‘It was less of a leap and more of a step forward into nothingness, then my other foot slipped, and I made a rather graceless appearance behind you.’
‘Ruining a significant moment,’ Nancy said pointedly.
‘And ruining my Louboutins!’ Olivia waved the shoe with the broken heel in front of Nancy’s face. ‘I thought Hans was going to assault you, and you must have, too - you put your bag on your right shoulder.’
Nancy sighed. ‘I put it on my left shoulder.’
‘No, it was definitely your right.’
‘It couldn’t have been. I put my right hand through Hans’ arm. I always walk on his left.’
‘You sound like an old couple who’ve been together forever.’
Nancy smiled. ‘I don’t know about that, but we have the potential to be an old couple.’
Olivia raised an eyebrow. ‘Even though he lied to you about who he was?’
‘He had his reasons. I’m still trying to work out how I feel about those.’
‘Well, I’m sorry if I got in the way of geriatric love. But you know I get confused between right and left.’
‘Which is why you should have come up with another signal. If I hadn’t been so distracted by the prospect of meeting him, I would’ve thought of that as soon as you suggested it. It should’ve been something more obvious, such as me calling out for help.’
Klaus returned from the toilet. ‘Do you need help?’ He sounded concerned.
‘No,’ said Nancy. ‘I was … it doesn’t matter. What does matter is how we get Olivia back to the hotel.’
‘We could book an Uber?’ Olivia suggested.
‘Could we?’ Klaus didn’t sound sure. ‘I was thinking I would flag down a taxi.’
Olivia looked disgusted. ‘That’s so 1964. An Uber will be far more efficient. We can wait here until it arrives. But they won’t be able to drive through the barrier. You’ll have to help me walk the 300 metres to get to the main road.’
‘I have missed being bossed around by you,’ he chuckled.