The men nodded.
“Yes. Yes, he was,” said Ulli Bader.
“He knew all about the press, then, and your publication?”
“Yes.”
Maisie shook her head and folded her arms, looking away from the two men. Then she brought her attention back to them. “And he gave you money to continue your work?”
Again the two men looked at each other.
“He gave us money, but not when we were seen in the café,” said Bader. “No, he passed it on before that, as he was instructed.”
“As he was instructed?”
“Yes,” said Bader. “Well, perhaps ‘requested’ would be a better word. I mean, he was quite genuine in his offer of a job, but he was also bringing us funds from another source.”
“What other source?” Maisie was beginning to feel uneasy in the confined space. She knew, intuitively, that her presence in Munich was about to become more complicated.
“I don’t know his name,” said Bader. “But he has a printing company in England, and some overseas, I think. And they’re not small—big concerns.”
A feeling of dread washed over Maisie. She shifted her gaze from one man to the other. “Do you know a woman named Elaine Otterburn?”
“Just tell her the whole bloody story, Ulli—you might as well. It doesn’t do any good dropping in a bit here and a bit there and giving us your life story into the bargain. Just tell her—and if she gets caught, well, we’ll keep on with our work until they come to get us.”
“I won’t get caught anywhere, Mr. Schmidt. I just want to know what I’m dealing with.” Maisie looked from Schmidt to Bader. “Now just go on and tell me everything.”
“All right,” said Bader. “The money came from Elaine’s father—well, to tell the truth, it was her mother. Her father knows nothing, but her mother would do anything for her, so she asked her for money. Anyway, her mother sent the money. Leon brought it to Elaine, acting as the postman as a favor to her mother. I know Elaine was not on good terms with her family—that’s her business. She used another address for their letters. I think they were sent poste restante or via friend; Elaine didn’t want her parents to know where she lived. But money was different. You can’t just send cash to a post office to be collected by the recipient, but it was safe if Elaine knew where Leon was staying, so she could collect the money.”
Maisie frowned. “Enlighten me, if you will—how did you all know each other? How did you know Elaine, and how did she get involved with the Voice of Freedom?”
“A mutual friend.” Bader looked away as he spoke. “We have other supporters of the Voice. And Elaine mixed in all sorts of circles—she had a way of finding out many things, so she knew about us, and we’d all met. And when she learned we were about to be raided, she came to our aid.”
“Then what? How did you all manage to escape?”
“Elaine came to the shop to let us know we’d been betrayed—possibly by a neighbor; you never know who’s watching, and who wants to cover their own back. They all want to curry favor with the Nazis. She’d learned the news through a man she knew, an officer in the SS. She thought we would have time, but Anton tried to save the press and Klaus. It was Klaus who told us to use the old escape route—I’m not sure, but it had been there for years; probably used by smugglers ages ago, I would imagine. So we went in. It was terrifying. There was no air, we were treading all over each other, and it’s a wonder no one heard us. Leon is old and could hardly reach up to the footholds. Then the worst happened—Leon slipped and broke his ankle and wrist. We all managed to escape—except Klaus.”
“And where is Leon—my father—now?”
“At a safe house. Someone we know who has a motor car took him, and he’s been moved a couple of times since. It’s best if he’s taken by different people each time, so if anyone’s picked up, they know as little as possible. And it’s hard to move a lame elderly man. Although he seemed robust for his age, the injuries caught up with him, and he became infirm. In fact, he’s quite ill. Now he wants to go home.”
“I want to see him, and I want to make arrangements to get him out of Munich.” Maisie stood up, as if to underline her intentions with action. “Do you know where Elaine Otterburn is?”
The men looked at each other as if each thought the other might know. “Probably still living in the same place with the other women, I would have thought,” said Bader. “Elaine is always wherever she needs to be—that’s one thing you can count on.”