The Second Midnight. Andrew Taylor

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СКАЧАТЬ Komm doch her!’

      A soldier in helmet and greatcoat clattered down the steps from the road to the embankment. He carried his rifle across his chest. Behind him there were three more shots and someone began to scream.

      The scream unlocked Hugh’s muscles. He began to run in the direction of the Charles Bridge. The soldier shouted again but made no move to follow. After fifty yards, Hugh glanced back: the German was standing over Dr Spiegel, his arms flung wide and his body arched in a parody of a bow to his victim’s corpse.

      Twenty yards later, Hugh realized what he had seen: the murderer was being sick.

      He ran on to Narodni Street. The trams were still running and he was lucky enough to reach the stop just as a number seven came over the bridge. He sat by the exit, trying to control his breathing. It had become desperately important to look normal. He was Rudi Messner, a Czech-Hungarian boy who was blessed with a German surname and ancestry. He lived with his old Uncle Ludvik – who was fortunate enough to be half German – in Zizkov. Uncle Ludvik’s flat had been his home since his parents died in Budapest. He was going home.

      It was only when the tram turned into Vaclavske Namesti that he realized that he no longer had a home. Within an hour or two the Gestapo would have identified Dr Spiegel and arrived at the flat. The Rudi Messner story and Hugh’s command of Czech were adequate for routine security checks but they would never stand up to the Gestapo.

      Hugh got off at the next stop. The tram deposited him within a stone’s throw of the Petschek Palace, a bleak modern building that had once housed a bank. Now it was the headquarters of the Prague Gestapo.

      The only place he could go to was Old Town Square; and the quickest route would lead him past the Petschek Palace, if he chose to go on foot. He rummaged through his pockets, finding a handful of small change. It would be wiser to save what little money he had for emergencies. He thrust his hands in his pockets and walked fast with his head down, like someone with somewhere to go.

      In Old Town Square Madame Hase rented a narrow but immensely high house on the north side, near the monument to John Huss. Dr Spiegel had taken him there one afternoon in June, when his father’s money ran out. Madame Hase had told him that there was no more money and that it didn’t look as if his father would be coming back. He didn’t expect she would welcome him, but perhaps she might be prepared to help. If he didn’t find shelter for the night, the police would pick him up.

      It was nearly five o’clock by the time he reached the square. There were soldiers and police on every corner. Two box-like armoured cars were parked with their engines still running outside the Old Town Hall.

      Madame Hase’s front door was at the top of a small flight of steps. Hugh rang the bell and waited. He fixed his eyes on the doorknob, willing it to turn. At any moment someone might ask him for his papers.

      Bolts rattled and the door swung back a few inches. Madame Hase herself peered through the gap; in June an elderly housekeeper had answered the door. She wore no make-up and looked much smaller; Hugh realized that for the first time he was seeing her without high heels.

      ‘What is it?’ Her eyes slid past him to the soldiers in the square. Then she saw who it was and the door began to close. ‘Go away,’ she muttered. ‘There is nothing for you here.’

      In his desperation, Hugh acted without thinking. He jammed his foot over the threshold and pounded on the door.

      Once again the door opened to the limit of its chain.

      ‘Don’t do that, for God’s sake.’ In her panic she spoke in Czech. ‘You’ll draw attention to us.’

      Hugh had a flash of inspiration. ‘Then let me in. Or I’ll shout until someone comes to see what’s happening.’

      Madame Hase’s face tightened with fear. ‘All right. Wait.’ She unlatched the chain and opened the door just widely enough for Hugh to slip inside. ‘Down the stairs. Quickly.’

      He found himself in a basement kitchen which for an instant reminded him of Mrs Bunnings’ domain in Wilmot House. There were books and newspapers on the big scarred table. A tap dripped into the sink in the corner. A single armchair had been drawn up to the stove.

      Madame Hase came in after him and closed the kitchen door behind her. He noticed that there were streaks of silver in the black hair.

      ‘Why aren’t you in England?’ she snapped.

      ‘After we saw you in the summer, Dr Spiegel took me to the Embassy. But the guards wouldn’t let me in because I didn’t have a passport. I came here on my father’s, you see.’

      She sank into the armchair. ‘Where have you been all this time?’

      ‘At Dr Spiegel’s. There was nowhere else.’

      ‘The man always was a fool. Where is he now?’

      ‘He’s dead.’ Hugh clenched his hands behind his back. ‘A soldier shot him this afternoon. It was near the Clementinum – the students were protesting and we were trying to get away.’

      Madame Hase nodded towards the radio. ‘It was on the news just now. The SS are pleased: it’s given them an excuse to shut down the universities and polytechnics.’

      She spoke calmly, as if the events they were discussing were remote from them both. Hugh wondered if she had heard him. He tried again.

      ‘Dr Spiegel was killed today.’

      ‘So? We shall all die soon. I think the Gestapo will come tonight.’

      Hugh frowned. ‘How do you know?’

      ‘The riots. The Germans will use them to justify a purge. They always do. Many people will disappear in the next few days. Communist intellectuals will be among the first.’

      ‘Can’t you escape?’

      Madame Hase shrugged. ‘Where? How? The Provisional Committee might have helped – you remember Jan and Bela? But they turned against me when your father did not keep his promises. They think I’m a traitor. No one wants me.’

      To Hugh’s embarrassment she began to cry. She wept with abandon, making no attempt to control or conceal her tears. Hugh sidled nearer the stove.

      Eventually the sobbing died away. She looked up at Hugh, her lips still trembling.

      ‘I could have been a heroine, you know. But no one would let me. I made my housekeeper go – she was Jewish. My mother was half-Jewish. Oh, my God, my God—’

      ‘Madame Hase,’ Hugh said abruptly. ‘May I stay here?’

      She emerged from the private world of her fear. ‘If you want. It does not matter to me. But the Gestapo will find you when they come tonight.’

      Madame Hase was wrong: the Gestapo did not come.

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