“Do they know?” Alex said. “About the break?”
Erich nodded. “It’s only because of the truck we got away. Rudi’s cousin. Usually they catch you. In one of the villages. The police track you down. German police. Our own people. Sometimes you can get to a bigger town, it’s easier to blend in, but you still have to get through the roadblocks. That’s the Russians. The whole area, all the towns, are blocked off. So they always get you.” Talking partly to himself.
“Well, not here. You’re safe now,” Irene said. She cocked her head to the door. “Except for Frau Schmidt.” Trying to make a joke, but Erich looked up, alert again.
“They’ll come here. I can’t stay here.”
“Don’t be silly. Where would you go? I’ll get Sasha to help—”
“Who’s Sasha?”
“A friend.”
“A Russian friend?”
“Yes,” she said, turning her head, embarrassed.
“He’d turn me in. They have to. It’s a rule with them.”
“They know you’re in Berlin?” Alex said.
“I don’t know. Rudi’s cousin left us in Lichtenberg. If they trace the truck, they’ll know we got that far. So maybe yes. Then it’s the first place they’ll look. Here.”
“I’m Frau Gerhardt, not von Bernuth, so how would they know?”
“They’ll know,” Erich said, irrational now. “They know these things. And then they’ll take you for helping me. Make you work. In the slime. No boots. That’s how they get sick.”
“What slime? Erich—”
But he was standing up. “No. They’ll come. Both of us. I have to hide.”
“All right,” Irene said, humoring him. “But first something to eat. There’s some soup. Let me warm it up for you. If they come, Frau Schmidt will sound the alarm. She’s good for that at least. What’s that on your legs?”
“Sores,” he said, looking down at two lesions. “From the slime.”
“What slime? You keep saying—”
“I can’t go back there. I’ll die.”
Irene took his hand. “You’re safe. Do you understand? Now let me get the soup.”
“They have to get us, you know, so the others won’t find out. Then everyone would—”
“It’s a POW camp?” Alex said.
“POWs, criminals, anyone they can find. They don’t care what happens to us. If we die. People think we’re dead already.”
“No,” Irene said from the stove. “I never thought that.”
“It’s worse than in Russia. They don’t want anyone to think he can get past the patrols.”
“How did you?”
“Rudi’s cousin drives the truck for the TEWA plant. In Neustadt. The same run, every week. So the Russians know him. They don’t look in the back.”
“So they don’t actually know how you got out.”
“They will. Someone always talks. Then they have to track you down.”
“Look,” Irene said. “Across the street. Lights. The power must be back.”
She turned the switch, then stared, appalled at Erich in the light.
“What about upstairs?” Erich said. “Is there an attic?”
“It’s open from the bombs. You’d freeze.”
“Then I’ll find something.”
“Ouf, be sensible. It’s safe here. Where would you go?”
“They’ll come,” he said stubbornly. “They’ll find me here.” Pacing now, determined.
“Come with me then,” Alex said. “They’ll never look for you at the Adlon.”
“The Adlon?” Erich said, another confusion.
“You can’t get a room without papers,” Irene said. “If he stays with you they’ll report—”
“Not with me. There’s a room he can use. Someone who’s out of town,” he said vaguely. “They’ll never look there. He’ll be safe, at least for a day or two. Until we figure out what to do.”
She lowered her head, thinking, then looked up at him. “You’d do this? It’s a risk to you.”
“So was the SA. Remember, under the stairs?”
“Yes,” she said, still looking at him. “How could I forget that night?”
“This’ll be easier. I just have to talk him in. You can’t go like that, though. Let’s get you cleaned up. Look like you’re actually staying there.”
“At the Adlon?” Erich said, slightly dazed.
“I’ll light the geyser,” Irene said, busy. “It never gets really hot, the water, but it’s a bath. Just don’t run it too fast. A trickle, then it’s warm. I still have some clothes from Enka.” She went over and opened a closet door, assessing. “The coat will be big but you have to have a coat. Who walks into the Adlon without a coat? Shall I come with you? We’ll have a drink, everything normal, then you say good-bye—”
“No. We don’t want to draw attention. You kept his clothes?”
“Most I sold. On the black market. That first year, how else could you live? But I never sold the coat. It’s a Schulte, hand tailored. Enka liked things like that.” She watched Erich go into the bathroom, then turned back to Alex. “So much for old times,” she said softly, a faint shrug of the shoulders. “Anyway, it was nice, that you wanted to.” She put her hand on his arm. “How things turn out,” she said, then folded her arms across her chest, holding herself, as if she were going to spill out. “What are we going to do? Look at him.”
“We’ll hide him until he’s better.”
“And then what?”
“Then we’ll do something else. First, let’s get some food in him. Did you keep any shirts? He can’t wear this.”
She kept holding herself, swaying a little. “If they find him, they’ll—shoot him. That’s what they do.”
“What’s the difference, he’s dying where he is.” Then, hearing his tone, “They won’t find him. We’ll think of something.”
“You will, you mean. The Adlon. Imagine. Why do you do this? It’s trouble for you.”
“You think I’d walk away from Erich? Any of you?”
She stared at him, not saying anything.
“Maybe it’s for Fritz,” he said, avoiding her eyes.
She smiled to herself. “How sentimental you are. He did it for the money. Your father paid him.”