The Hornet's Sting_ The Amazing Untold Story of World War II Spy Thomas Sneum - Mark Ryan [73]
Sneum uttered the code words he had been given: ‘Strange weather when you can’t make biscuits.’
He waited for the recognition that would lead to the cash, but Park didn’t seem to want to play along. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,’ the lawyer said.
‘I believe it is all arranged,’ responded Sneum, trying to maintain an equal air of confidence.
‘Oh, you’re in the right place,’ said Park. ‘But this is not a good time. Try again in a few weeks.’
Tommy was taken aback. He had no choice but to leave the building quietly, since to cause a scene might have compromised both men. He couldn’t understand how the British could let him down during the most dangerous opening days of the mission. Nevertheless, trying to stay positive, he contented himself with the fact that his first objective had been achieved, as he and Christophersen had at least gained a foothold in Copenhagen.
But amateur sleuths were already at work in the building that housed Oxlund’s spacious first-floor flat. The general lack of activity in suburban Noekkerosevej turned out to be part of the problem. It had rendered Christophersen’s arrival on the block more conspicuous, because the other occupants of Kaj’s building had nothing better to do than gossip about any changes to their humdrum little world. Unfortunately, the only other first-floor apartment was home to the most vigilant neighbor of all—the building’s acting caretaker, Hans Soetje. A Danish police report later described how Soetje first laid eyes on the nervous Christophersen:
First a person came after nightfall. He rang the bell, and because Soetje’s and Oxlund’s bell are so close together and have the same sound, Soetje opened. The person stood outside on the staircase, but pushed himself into Oxlund’s doorway so that Soetje couldn’t see his face very well.
But soon Soetje got the chance to have a closer look, while at a cigar shop one day, because the same person was also there and tried to buy some tobacco. At this point Soetje realized that this person was actually staying with Oxlund, though he didn’t know the newcomer’s name. Due to the man’s strange appearance, Soetje began referring to him as ‘The Russian’ when speaking to his wife about him.
‘The Russian’ was about thirty years old, around 1m 85cm tall, very slender with mousy-blond hair, and a beard that was reddishblond, as were his moustache and sideburns. He had a pointed nose and sometimes wore horn-rimmed spectacles. He was well dressed in a dark blue felt hat, a blue-grey overcoat and a dark blue suit.
As can be gleaned from this report, the caretaker’s eye for detail was ominously impressive.
Chapter 21
BED MANNERS
FRESHLY INSTALLED IN A top-floor flat at 15 St. Annaegade, Tommy aroused considerably less suspicion, and he saw the immediate attraction of the location. Ship movements on the wider waters of Christianshavn, just a few blocks beyond the canal, could be monitored all the way up to the naval base at Holmen. Other factors made the hideout ideal, not least the roof-top escape route it offered, should the Abwehr raid from below.
And Tommy found that his new home contained added attractions. On the ground floor lived an elegant woman named Emmy Valentin, who was, he guessed, ten or fifteen years his elder. He might have been surprised to learn that she had actually turned forty-six on 11 July and was therefore nearly twice his age. However, since his very first lover back home on Fanoe had also been of a different generation, that wasn’t necessarily going to put off Tommy. When Emmy smiled, the years didn’t seem to matter. Time had in no way diminished her ability to captivate the opposite sex, and she was sophisticated in a way that had attracted Sneum to older women in the past. Tommy remembered: ‘Emmy wasn’t exactly beautiful, but she was one of those women who attracted men more than the most beautiful women did.’ Her figure was shapely, her eyes inviting,