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Lili was twenty-two, Macke knew, though she looked younger. Her fair hair had been cut this morning, and it was now as short as a man's. She was limping, and walked bent over as if she had an abdominal injury. She wore a plain blue dress of heavy cotton with no collar, just a round neckline. Her eyes were red with crying. The guards held her arms firmly, not taking any chances.
"This woman was denounced by a relative who found a codebook hidden in her room," Macke said. "The five-digit Russian code."
"Why is she walking like that?"
"The effects of interrogation. But we didn't get anything from her."
Werner's face was impassive. "What a shame," he said. "She might have led us to other spies."
Macke saw no sign that he was faking. "She knew her associate only as Heinrich--no last name--and he may have used a pseudonym anyway. I find we rarely profit by arresting women--they don't know enough."
"But at least you have her codebook."
"For what it's worth. They change the key word regularly, so we still face a challenge in decrypting their signals."
"Pity."
One of the men cleared his throat and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear. He said he was the president of the court, then read out the death sentence.
The guards walked Lili to the wooden table. They gave her the chance of lying on it voluntarily, but she took a step backward, so they picked her up forcibly. She did not struggle. They laid her facedown and strapped her in.
The chaplain began a prayer.
Lili began to plead. "No, no," she said, without raising her voice. "No, please, let me go. Let me go." She spoke coherently, as if she were merely asking someone for a favor.
The man in the top hat looked at the president, who shook his head and said: "Not yet. The prayer must be finished."
Lili's voice rose in pitch and urgency. "I don't want to die! I'm afraid to die! Don't do this to me, please!"
The executioner looked again at the court president. This time the president just ignored him.
Macke studied Werner. He looked sick, but so did everybody else in the room. As a test, this was not really working. Werner's reaction showed that he was sensitive, not that he was a traitor. Macke might have to think of something else.
Lili began to scream.
Even Macke felt impatient.
The pastor hurried through the rest of the prayer.
When he said "Amen" she stopped screaming, as if she knew it was all over.
The president gave the nod.
The executioner moved a lever, and the weighted blade fell.
It made a whispering sound as it sliced through Lili's pale neck. Her short-cropped head fell forward and there was a gush of blood. The head hit the basket with a loud thump that seemed to resound in the room.
Absurdly, Macke wondered if the head felt any pain.
iii
Carla bumped into Colonel Beck in the hospital corridor. He was in uniform. She looked at him in sudden fear. Ever since he was discharged, she had lived every day in fear that he had betrayed her, and the Gestapo were on their way.
But he smiled and said: "I came back for a checkup with Dr. Ernst."
Was that all? Had he forgotten their conversation? Was he pretending to have forgotten it? Was there a black Gestapo Mercedes waiting outside?
Beck was carrying a green hospital file folder.
