AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lucas’s eyes darted around the room, as if trying to see any way of distracting Walter.
“Don’t!” Walter said between his teeth. “It will take one movement to cut her throat.”
Elena froze.
“She went to the British Embassy in Berlin,” Walter continued, “to tell them there would be an attempt on Scharnhorst’s life, but they did nothing about it. Did you know that?” He was talking rapidly now, almost stumbling over his own words. “They betrayed you! Your own man in Berlin betrayed you. I killed Scharnhorst and put the rifle in Elena’s hotel room. She went along like a good little English girl and did all I wanted her to.”
He tightened his grip until she flinched. “Pity. I quite like her, but she’s your granddaughter, the one you love the most. Perhaps you love her as much as I loved my father? What do you think, eh?” His hand tightened. “There’s a symmetry to it, you know. She was an obedient little puppet, except that I lost her for a while, after the assassination. She went to ground in Berlin, but I found her again. She couldn’t resist coming out for the book-burning, with her Jewish friend.”
Elena tried once more to alter her weight so he would have to change his grip. He yanked her hard, closer to him. “Enough talking! I needed you to know, because there’s no justice if you have no idea why your family’s going to be killed before your very eyes, and you are going to be blamed for it.” He moved the knife a little higher and cut across Elena’s cheek.
Lucas’s face was ashen. “Do anything you want with me…” he began.
Elena had always loved Lucas more than anyone else, for no reason that she knew of. It was simply so, and she would protect him at any cost. Without giving it any thought, she put her right hand forward, then jerked her elbow back as hard as she could, straight into the soft spot beneath Walter’s ribs. As his grip on her eased for an instant, she pulled away and swung around, lifting her knee into his groin. She lost her balance and fell to the floor on her hands and knees, as Walter lifted his foot to kick her. It could have pounded into her face, except that there was a crack of gunfire from somewhere near the door and Walter fell on top of her, with blood gushing everywhere.
Lucas lunged forward, dropped to his knees, and grasped her, pulling her free.
She wiped her hands across her
face and they came away covered in blood. She stared toward the doorway where her grandmother was standing, very still and very pale, with a heavy Luger pistol in her hands, now pointed at the floor. Elena looked at Walter. His head was almost unrecognizable. It was hideous, a mass of blood and bone.
Lucas’s arms tightened around her. “Don’t look,” he said quietly. “He’s not there anymore. That’s just what’s left of who he used to be.” He turned toward Josephine.
She was beginning to tremble, and very slowly she let the gun slide to the floor.
“How did you know?” Lucas asked.
“I came to see if you’d like tea straightaway,” she replied, “and I heard him talking. I knew where your gun was.”
“Did you? I never told you I even had it!” His voice dropped. “Are you all right?”
She was shaking visibly now. “Lucas, I don’t need to be spoon-fed. I fought in the war, too, and some of it was nasty.” She left the gun where it had fallen and walked over toward Elena. She looked at her anxiously. “I’m proud of you, sweetheart,” she said quietly. “We’ve got to bandage that cheek and clear all this up. I don’t think any of this is something we want to report to the police.” She held out her hand.
Elena took it and got to her feet rather clumsily. She looked at the red silk dress that she had been so proud of. She wasn’t ever going to be able to wear it again, nor would she want to anyway. She felt a little dizzy. Her whole world, the safety she’d trusted for as long as she could remember, had changed. Her grandmother had just shot Walter, who had intended to kill them all. She turned to face Lucas.
“I’m sorry, my dear,” he said quietly. “Very sorry indeed. Now come upstairs and take that dress off. We’ll get you into something clean and attend to those cuts. Come on.”
She was battling tears and losing. She felt them slide down her cheeks. “It’s just…” She looked at him and shook her head. He seemed exactly the same, the blue eyes, the gray hair thinning now, the gentleness that went back to her very first memories. “Nothing is what I thought it was.” She could barely form the words. “In Germany, or anywhere, not…not even here.”
The grief was intense in his face, and she realized with amazement that he feared she would reject him. She stepped over Walter and put her arms around her grandfather. He had square shoulders, but he was always thinner than she expected. She held on to him as tightly as she could and felt his arms reach completely around her.
It was Josephine who broke the moment. “What are we going to do about this, Lucas? Shall I call that nice young man you speak to so often?”
“What?” Lucas was startled.
“We need help,” Josephine said more clearly. “Shall I call Peter Howard?”
“Do you—”
“I know where his number is,” Josephine reminded him. “He gave it to me if ever I were in real trouble and you were not here. And I think this is about to become real trouble.”
“Yes, please.” Lucas pulled away from Elena. “You need to change out of that dress.”
“Get rid of it,” Josephine interrupted from the door. “Go upstairs and change into something of your own, now! We aren’t expecting anyone, but don’t waste time. I’m going to tell Mr. Howard what happened and request that he come over immediately, with whatever equipment is necessary. I hope we can save the Turkish carpet.” She went out of the room after picking up the gun from where it lay on the floor.
Lucas took Elena upstairs to the bathroom and very gently, and surprisingly efficiently, cleaned the slight mark on her throat and the deeper one on her cheek. She could not see what he was doing, but it eased the pain quite a lot and it stopped the bleeding. Then she went into her bedroom and took off the red dress and put on a far less glamourous one of her own.
When she came down Lucas was waiting. “Are you up to this?” he asked grimly. “Would you rather stay in your room while we deal with Walter Mann?”
