“Before dinner, I want your first reaction to our three friends.”
“I don’t know if I have one,” Boltitz said.
“We all have first reactions,” Cranz said. “My first reaction to you in Himmler’s office was that you looked like a submarine officer, not an Abwehr officer.”
Boltitz smiled.
“And you certainly had one of me,” Cranz said.
“I thought you didn’t look very menacing for someone in your line of work.”
Cranz laughed. “That’s what I want now, about these three, the first thoughts that came to your mind.”
“Von Tresmarck is nervous, as if he has something to hide. The Austrian is a typical aristocratic bureaucrat. Von Wachtstein is a soldier.”
“And which of the three is the guilty party?”
“None of them may be.”
“But if you had to guess, which one would it be?”
“I don’t like to guess about something like that.”
“Which one, Boltitz?”
“Especially when the man who comes to mind wears the same uniform as the man asking the question.”
“Because von Tresmarck’s nervous?”
Boltitz nodded.
Cranz met his eyes for a long moment. “I agree that von Tresmarck’s hiding something. A man may have many reasons for looking nervous, many skeletons in his closet. But none of them may be treason.”
“That’s why I don’t like to guess about this sort of thing.”
“The traitors most difficult to detect, Karl, are those who believe their treason is holy. If I had to guess, it would be the pilot.”
“Why not the Austrian? He’s already demonstrated his willingness to betray an oath.”
“Interesting point,” Cranz said. “That, for the moment, slipped my mind.”
Why do I think that very little ever slips your mind—especially something like Gradny-Sawz’s change of sides?
“And he’s a diplomat; diplomats are taught to lie,” Boltitz said, tempering it with a smile.
Cranz returned the smile. “After we’ve had our dinner, why don’t you take von Wachtstein out and get him laid?”
“You’re serious?”
“Absolutely. It would establish a camaraderie. People tell their friends things they ordinarily wouldn’t talk about.”
“Says the friendly Obersturmbannführer.”
Cranz laughed.
“But I really like you, and I’m not sure about von Wachtstein. I have a feeling….”
And if you have a feeling about von Wachtstein, you probably have one about me.