Bruno stepped back, as if he’d been poked with a stick. “What did he tell you?”
“Don’t lie to me,” Anna said with feigned indignance.
“Max has gone mad!”
“How long did you think you could keep this a secret from me?”
Bruno cocked his head to the side. “There is no secret.”
“Then I shall write to yourvater,” she bluffed. “Or perhaps I’ll go visit him in Frankfurt to discuss why his son refuses to tell his fiancée the truth about his family’s business.”
“Anna—”
“Stop the lies!” she cried. “I already know that Wahler Farbwerke is manufacturing poison gas!”
Bruno’s jaw muscles tightened.
“If there is to be any chance for us, you need to tell me precisely how you got involved, and what you’re going to do about it.” She clenched her hands, digging her nails into her palms.
He paused, wiped his face with his hands, and then lowered his eyes. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Oh, my God.
“A team of chemists, including myself, were recruited by Fritz Haber, head of the Chemistry Section in the Ministry of War, for a special unit.” He drew a jagged breath. “I didn’t know what it was for. I thought it might be to develop improved explosives. But it turned out to be for the deployment of chemical weapons. There was nothing I could do to leave or change my assignment. And I found out from Haber that myvaterhad entered into military contracts to supply the army with chlorine gas—a by-product from ink and dye manufacturing.”
This can’t be happening!Anna shuffled over the floor and slumped in the chair. Tears welled in her eyes.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret what I’m doing,” he said.
“Why did you lie to me?” she cried.
“I didn’t want to hurt you, and I was afraid of losing you.” He kneeled at her feet and placed his hands on her knees. “Things will be different after the war. All will be forgotten. The business will go back to making dye. Our days will be filled with happiness and prosperity—I promise.”
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. “You’re committing atrocities.”
“It’s war,” Bruno said. “The British and French are using the same gases.”
“It doesn’t matter!” she cried. “It’s a war crime. You’ve killed and maimed human beings with poison!”
Bruno stared at her. With a voice devoid of emotion, he said, “Death is death, regardless of how it is inflicted.”
She shuddered. A pain pierced her stomach, producing the urge to vomit. “Oh, my God. What has become of you?”
He opened his mouth but made no sound. His hands trembled against her knees.
She stood, pushing him away.
His eyes filled with tears. He lowered his head and wept.
With shaking hands, she removed her engagement ring from her finger and placed it at his feet. She retrieved her coat and left the boardinghouse. Brokenhearted and shattered, she collapsed onto the sidewalk and sobbed.
CHAPTER30
OLDENBURG, GERMANY—FEBRUARY7, 1917
Anna entered Norbie’s workshop and sat at a workbench, covered with gears and springs from a dismantled grandfather clock. The passing of days since ending her engagement to Bruno had done little to relieve her torment. Norbie and Max were upstairs, and she hoped that her time alone—surrounded by the meditative chorus of ticktocks—would help her forget about him, if only for a little while.
Anna had been devastated when she arrived home from the boardinghouse. She’d confided in Norbie, telling him everything that had happened. Hervaterwas shocked, and he cried along with her until neither of them could produce any more tears. She’d apologized to Max for not believing him, but he only expressed concern about her welfare. He didn’t press her to talk, and she felt comforted by his company. And when he ran out of things to say, he’d simply given her a reassuring squeeze on the hand. Also, Max and Norbie invited Emmi to spend evenings at the house to listen to Max play the piano. It was obvious to Anna that they’d invited her best friend to help with consoling her, and she was thankful to be surrounded by everyone she loved, including Nia, who cuddled with her on the sofa.
