McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales - Michael Chabon [141]
“Hitler’s reply had been a terse ‘No.’ Then the automobile had driven away.”
Hours later Hitler was meeting his new backers. He stayed overnight at the Deutscherhof in Nuremberg. There were many witnesses. At eight-thirty the next morning, the housekeeper, Annie Winter, arrived at Prinzregensburgstrasse to begin work. The flat was silent. Frau Winter knocked several times, without getting a response. Eventually she sent for her butler husband, to force it. They found Geli.
“She appeared to have shot herself. Beside her lay the dead canary, spattered with her blood. She was shot in the heart.”
Hitler’s Walther 9.5 mm automatic pistol lay near her hand. She had been dead for some hours. Hess had been called. Eventually, he called the police.
“You have to be certain who you call, Sir Seaton. The Munich police have a decided anti-Nazi bias and would love to use something like this against the Führer.”
The police had soon decided Fräulein Raubal could not easily have shot herself at that angle and that she had probably been murdered. Nobody believed it was suicide.
“And it could not have been Alf, Sir Seaton, however it seems. Alf was miles away, in Nuremberg, when the crime occurred. You can see how easy it will be, perhaps, to prove he paid someone to kill her. But he loved Geli, Sir Seaton. He lived for her. He is too gentle. Too idealistic. I fear that if the case isn’t cleared up rapidly, by one such as yourself, it will mean the end of Alf’s career and, because he is our most important spokesman, the dissolution of the Nazi Party. Please stop this from happening, Sir Seaton. Please say you will help us!”
Begg’s features were hidden from Hess and the astonished Sinclair as he spoke reassuringly.
“Of course I will, Mr. Hess. It’s not the sort of problem one solves every day. And we do love a challenge—don’t we, Taffy?”
The pathologist was taken aback. “If you say so, old boy.”
Sometimes even Taffy Sinclair found his friend’s game very hard to follow.
CHAPTER THREE
LEADING THE MASTER RACE
Begg’s first stop after lunch was to the murder scene itself. Prinzre-gensburgstrasse was the smart area where “Führer” Hitler now lived. On the way, Hess explained how the Winters had called him and he in turn had tried to telephone Hitler in Nuremberg. But Hitler had already left Nuremberg and was traveling to his next appointment. Apparently he was singing snatches of song, entertaining the other occupants of the car with jokes, impressions of people they had just met.
“Many people, Sir Seaton, have no idea what a marvelous entertainer Alf is. He used to keep us in fits of laughter on those long tours. He could impersonate anyone. Pompous innkeepers, party officials, intense old maids, famous politicians! He could have gone onstage as a comedian if he had not been chosen to lead his people.”
Hess recollected the question. “Well, the hotel sent a boy after Herr Hitler’s car, and when he got the message Alf almost collapsed. Everyone says it was completely unexpected. Indeed the first words from his lips, I understand, were ‘Who has done this?’ He had the car turned, his appointments canceled, telephoned me the first chance he got, and came back at once to Munich. It was my suggestion I next call the Munich Police Headquarters and he assented. And then I sent you a telegram. My staff arranged your tickets and so on.”
“The police weren’t suspicious concerning the time you waited before telephoning them?”
“I explained that I myself had been in a state of some shock after seeing poor Geli’s body.” He paused and then looked with a strange, new innocence into Begg’s face. “I know I am a suspect, Sir Seaton, but I seek peace and security and pride from the Nazi Party, not violence. This is what most of us