But the small chastisement, whatever it had been, had created a violent rage. Ungovernable fury. And there had been some form of skewer lying to hand – perhaps meat skewers, the clerk was not too sure of the details. What he was sure of – what everyone living here was sure of – was that the boy had snatched the skewer up and driven it straight into Herr Stultz’s face.
‘The eyes,’ said Alice, almost to herself. ‘The boy stabbed Reinard Stultz’s eyes.’
Ah yes, it had been so, said the clerk. Shocking.
Fifteen minutes later Alice and Ilena had reached the house and requested admittance. Within half an hour they were driving back to the railway station, with Alraune.
‘No one questioned us,’ said Alice to the four people listening to her. ‘No one tried to stop us. We just walked into the house, and found him. He was in the kitchen, drinking soup that the girl had made for him. We simply said we were his mother’s family, come to take him away, and we took him.’
‘Did he know you?’ asked Lucy. ‘I mean – did he recognize you?’
‘Not immediately, I don’t think. Auschwitz was three years behind him, and he was still very young. But after a while he did recognize me, and he smiled and allowed me to hug him. But he was a detached child – there was always the feeling that he performed any act of affection purely because it was expected of him.’
‘You brought him back to England?’ said Francesca.
‘Yes. It was a circuitous route we took, Ilena and I – we wanted to be sure no one was following or watching. Perhaps we were both a little paranoid after the years in the camp. And I thought Alraune could live with us all, that we could be a family. He had two sisters who would love to have him, I said.’ She paused. There was no need to say that beneath everything she had been frightened of the child’s self-possession and his dark history. She had thought: This is a child apparently responsible for viciously blinding a man – a man who, according to the reports, had shown him only kindness.
‘Ilena stayed in England,’ she said. ‘By the time I was given the Ashwood contract she had qualified as a doctor, and she obtained a post in a hospital nearby. We were pleased to think of being so near to one another. And I was delighted with the Ashwood deal, which was for two films – interesting work and very profitable. The studios were hoping to rival Alfred Hitchcock’s productions – he had already made The Thirty Nine Steps and Rebecca, and he was only a couple of years away from Dial M for Murder – and the films in prospect were glossy murder mysteries, very typical of that era. Quite good screenplays though,’ said the lady who had known and worked with von Stroheim and Max Schreck, and sparred with Brigitte Helm and Dietrich. Despite herself Lucy smiled.
‘And the thought of living in England again after so long – it was another of those moments of extreme and intense happiness,’ said Alice. ‘I had money again – not a fortune, but enough to buy a house near to the studios. Ilena stayed with us often, and her family came to England regularly. We travelled a little – it was possible by that time. I took the children abroad for holidays.’
‘On Howard Hughes’ Stratoliner?’ said Lucy involuntarily.
‘Yes. How on earth did you know that?’
‘I found an old newsreel,’ said Lucy. ‘Pathé News.’
‘There were usually cameras around,’ agreed Alice. ‘But altogether it was beginning to be a good life again. Conrad was there, of course; he loved the idea of living in England: he thought he would be an English gentleman and he wanted to write music to rival Elgar and Vaughan Williams.’ She stopped again, and Lucy felt her heart bump with nervousness. We’re coming to it, she thought. We’re coming now to what really happened at Ashwood.
But it was Liam who leaned forward, and said, in a voice far more gentle than Lucy had heard him use before, ‘Baroness. We know that Edmund Fane’s father killed Conrad. But who killed Leo Dreyer?’