Chapter 42
L izzie raised her chin as she saw Heinrich in the doorway. This was her worst nightmare. It hadn’t occurred to her it would be him, but now that he was here; it seemed strangely inevitable.
Their fates had been entwined since early in her mission, and he sought her out soon after she arrived in St. Malo. Their entanglement had now come full circle, and she dreaded what he was about to do.
His complexion was ashen as he strode into the room, the shock at seeing her clear on his face.
‘Get out,’ he snapped at the soldiers. ‘Not another word of this goes beyond this room.’
They scurried out of the drawing room, closing the door behind them like naughty schoolboys.
‘Explain yourself!’ he said, his deep voice emerging as a menacing command. He cleared his throat and ran one unsteady hand through his golden hair.
‘There’s nothing to explain,’ Lizzie said, summoning a weak smile as her insides turned to water. ‘You talked so eloquently about Jersey that when a fisherman offered to let me take a trip with him, I accepted.’
Heinrich lit a cigarette, and she saw how rattled he was to find her like this. His hand shook slightly, and he drew on his cigarette like a dying man taking his last drink.
The nicotine must have calmed his nerves briefly, and he sat down on a nearby chair and stared at her, his eyes unwavering as he searched her face.
‘You’d better tell me the truth. I’m not a fool, although admittedly you have certainly played me for one.’
Bitterness laced his tone as Lizzie returned his stare but remained silent.
‘I’m waiting,’ he said. His words were crisp and sliced through the air like a sharp sword.
‘That’s the truth, Heinrich. I wanted to visit Jersey, and it didn’t seem like a big decision.
You even said you would bring me yourself.
’ Lizzie’s voice was calm even though she trembled inwardly.
Heinrich was an SS officer. One word from him and she would be executed.
He might even do it himself if she didn’t appeal to the side of him that was smitten with her.
Lizzie searched for the right words to coax him out of his righteous anger. ‘Now we are here together in such serendipitous circumstances, will you show me around like you were going to?’
It was a long shot, but anything she could do to distract him from whatever his next move would be was worth a try.
‘Such a shame. I loved the name Rose, but now you have poisoned it for me forever.’
It hit Lizzie that he seemed almost close to tears. Had he somehow convinced himself that he was genuinely in love with her?
He stood and released a long sigh. ‘You lying whore. You humiliated me with your entrapment, pretending you cared for me, and all the while you were a dirty spy. Aren’t you?’
Lizzie shook her head, panic rising in her chest and threatening to choke her. His eyes shone with unmasked fury now. Hell hath no fury … The revelation of her deception had attacked his monumental ego.
‘What is your real name and who sent you?’ he said.
His voice was low and threatening as he stubbed out his cigarette violently in a pottery dish Lizzie had crafted at school.
‘You have made me very angry, Rose or whatever your name is.’ He spat out the words.
‘Do you know what happens to those who make me very angry?’
Lizzie stared at him, her heart hammering like a loud gong.
‘But Heinrich, please listen to me. I am telling you the absolute truth,’ she pleaded, tilting her head to one side, appealing to him with all her feminine wiles.
He paused and looked deep into her green eyes, and she saw he wanted to believe her, but the second passed and he shook his head.
‘Scheming bitch. Enemy of the Reich. Who sent you?’ he demanded, his voice booming.
‘No one sent me, I told you.’
‘You leave me no choice. If you don’t respond to words, we will have to do this the hard way.’
Lizzie gulped as she watched him wield his big hand towards her face.
Smack!
The sound rang out in the silent room, and she winced, her eyes closing in an act of self-protection as he landed the blow on the delicate skin of her cheek.
Lizzie bit her lip and made no sound. She wouldn’t give a bully the satisfaction of hearing her scream.
Warily, she opened her eyes only to see his fist take aim at her face again, and another wallop hit the same cheek.
Her skin throbbed, and her eyes stung, but still she made no sound, which infuriated him even more.
Her hands were bound, so she couldn’t touch her face even if she wanted to, but she was determined not to show weakness.
‘No woman of decent pedigree would react like this,’ he said, circling the room, contemplating the next swoop on his prey.
Lizzie realised she had made an error in her stubbornness to show her pain and fear.
Of course, he would respond better to feminine weakness.
When he had seen her as a damsel in distress, recuperating and needing his protection, he could not resist her.
That was what had drawn him to her from the beginning.
Changing tack, she threw herself on his mercy.
‘If you meant to hurt me, you have achieved your aim. My face will be black for a week with the strength of your blows.’ Lizzie raised her battered face and looked at him, blood dripping from a cut and her eye already turning an angry shade of red.
He had the grace to look ashamed for a second, as if he only just realised what he had done and his temper had taken over, but his regret didn’t last. ‘You won’t fool me again, lady, whoever you are. An Adler may be deceived once because of his good nature, but not twice.’
Lizzie was grateful her hands were tied behind her back, and he couldn’t see her tremble.
She had a sense that she couldn’t win. If she was tough, it would only provoke him to make a show of breaking her spirit, and if she played the weak female who begged for his mercy, it reminded him of his gullible infatuation.
She sat on the chair, unmoving and unspeaking, not knowing what to do.
‘I wanted you so badly,’ he said, his voice cracking as he turned and walked towards the window, running his hand through his hair again.
‘It’s been years since I desired a woman like I wanted you.
’ He muttered the words to himself in a kind of shocked daze, clearly appalled at his own lack of awareness where she was concerned.
He poured himself a drink from her father’s crystal whisky decanter that had been in the family for generations, and the bile rose in Lizzie’s throat as she watched the simple act that violated the sanctity of Seagrove.
If her father could see this deranged SS officer helping himself to a drink from his precious decanter, she imagined even he would lose his temper.
Lizzie turned over thoughts in her mind trying to figure out how she could handle him so she could escape. Knowing she would die if she didn’t find a way out was surprisingly calming, and a cool clarity took over as if something greater than her fear guided her.
Heinrich knocked back the glass of whisky in one shot and then poured another. The liquid glowed as he swirled the glass in his hand and stared at her, seeming to contemplate what to do to her next.
‘The Gestapo will want a crack at you,’ he snarled. ‘But first let me see what you can tell me, Rose. After all, we are friends, are we not? That’s what you led me to think. We even kissed on our romantic sunset cruise.’
‘That was a lovely evening, Heinrich. We could do it again if you want,’ Lizzie said, summoning all her strength. ‘Would you like that?’ she added, brazen in her art of seduction, hoping the whisky had weakened his resolve to punish her.
‘You truly are shameless, aren’t you?’ he said, staring at her, a look of grudging admiration in his eyes. ‘I knew there was something special about you. I just didn’t realise you were a traitor.’
Heinrich paced the room again, swirling his glass around as he moved. There was a tap at the door, and he barked, ‘What is it?’
Lizzie heard a soldier ask if he could be of service. Perhaps the Major would like to eat.
Heinrich hissed something under his breath and then shouted a command to leave him alone and not bother him again.
Suddenly, a realisation dawned on Lizzie.
The depth of his humiliation was such that he would tell no one how she had fooled him.
That was why he banished the soldiers and sought to deal with her himself.
This was good news because the likelihood of him calling the Gestapo, who would surely torture her, was slim.
He would fear that under duress she would reveal their connection and how he had courted her.
He swigged the contents of another glass of whisky and banged the glass on the tabletop. Then he strode towards the door, turning briefly as he reached it. ‘Don’t try anything stupid. I will be back to deal with you shortly. If you so much as move an inch, you will be punished.’
And with that he slammed the door behind him, leaving Lizzie strapped to her wooden chair frantically searching for a way out.