Free The Riddle of Sphinx Island by R. T. Raichev Page B

“stable” of fillies living in the free sector of the city. The latter he groomed for the purpose of entrapping Soviet officials and getting state or military secrets out of them. The girls were also trained to put out incorrect, misleading information, which they made sure the Soviet enemy would receive, accept as true, act on and blunder. I may have got some of the details wrong, mind, but this is the gist of it. Oswald’s front, or cover, was a restaurant in West Berlin, the so-called “free sector”.’
    ‘Did Oswald tell you about it in person or do you have other sources of information?’ Doctor Klein turned back and resumed his seat opposite her.
    ‘Oswald told me. He was drunk when he did. Not as drunk as tonight but enough to start showing off.’ She gave a twisted smile. ‘Benevolently inebriated, if one can put it like that. He enjoys talking about his conquests. He likes boasting, as I am sure you have noticed.’
    ‘I have noticed, yes.’
    She started telling him about the last German girl Oswald had seduced before returning to the US. The girl’s name was Gabriele Hansen and she had a sister called Freddie. The Hansen sisters. That was one of the most shocking stories she had ever heard, Ella said. She still found it incredible that anyone could do a thing like that.
    Doctor Klein sat monumentally still. He looked enormous in his old-fashioned double-breasted dinner jacket, stiff collar and black tie. He brought to mind Watts’ picture of the Minotaur, Ella thought. Outside, the moon had intensified its glow and it was as light as day.
    ‘Oswald had marked Gabriele down as a suitable target because her sister worked for one of the big Soviet officials in East Germany while Gabriele herself lived in Free Berlin. The two girls were very close. They exchanged letters and spoke on the phone. They hadn’t seen each other for several years. It was very hard for Freddie to visit her sister in Free Berlin but she had managed it somehow. Perhaps she and her Soviet boss were having an affair, I don’t know. Freddie was very pretty. Both girls were very pretty. Very fair. Beautiful blue eyes.’
    ‘I expect Oswald showed you photographs?’
    ‘Yes … I also saw the home movie, which Oswald shot on the day Freddie arrived, commemorating the occasion, so to speak … The three of them met at his restaurant where they had dinner …’ Ella’s voice tailed off.
    There was a pause. Doctor Klein leant back in his chair. He brought his fingertips together and urged her to continue.
    ‘I am not sure I want to,’ Ella whispered. ‘I get upset only thinking about it.’
    It was good for her to talk. It was therapeutic. Doctor Klein spoke in reassuring tones. It would take her mind off what happened tonight. ‘Tell me about the home movie. I am interested in stories about Germany. I still have relatives who live there. Berlin is a fascinating city. I remember a dancing club. I remember the linden trees. A little on the lonely side. That was a song I remember. Do forgive me. I am getting soft and sentimental. Tell me what happens exactly in the home movie.’
    She shut her eyes. ‘It’s after closing time. Oswald’s restaurant is empty. A festive candle-lit table. Silver and fine porcelain. The windows are bespattered with rain. Oswald is dressed in a white dinner jacket and crimson cummerbund. He looks very dashing. He is holding the camera in his right hand. He is waving – it is his reflection in a tall gilded mirror we see. There is Gabriele in a long, pale green dress –’
    ‘You have very good visual memory.’
    ‘Freddie looks preoccupied but she smiles bravely. She is painfully thin and pale, cheaply dressed. Gabriele has put her arm around her sister’s shoulders. They are about to sit down to dinner. The camera swirls. Close ups of the girls’ faces. Although Freddie looks haggard, she is prettier than her sister. She has brought a “socialist” chess set, as a present to her