My Brother's Secret (20 page)

‘Hide, Karl,’ he said again, coming to a stop and grabbing my arm. ‘Find somewhere to hide. We’ll run.’

We were standing on the road that cut through the cemetery, the grass stretching out on either side, broken only by the gravestones.

‘Don’t … leave me … on my own,’ I begged him, my words coming in gasps between breaths. I was almost
bent double, trying to recover.

‘You can’t run any more and they’re coming,’ Jana said to me.

Sure enough, I could hear footsteps behind us.

‘Hide with me,’ I begged them.

‘They’ll just look for us,’ Jana said. ‘We’ll keep running, they’ll chase us.’

‘They’ll never find us here,’ I said. ‘We can—’

‘Do as you’re bloody well told, for once.’ Stefan pushed me away from him, forcing me onto the grass. ‘Now go. Find somewhere to hide. I’ll lead them away.’ Then he pushed Jana away from him, saying, ‘You too. Go! Look after my brother.’

‘What—’ Jana started to argue, but Stefan was already jogging away, his boots pounding the path, and behind us, the boys had reached the entrance to the cemetery.

‘Come on,’ Jana whispered as the sound of Stefan’s running disappeared further along the road.

She took my arm as we hurried onto the grass, passed a row of three benches, and headed among the gloomy gravestones. We threw ourselves to the ground and crawled for the darkness around the base of a long, low memorial. There, lying side by side, we watched the road and tried to control our breathing.

The three boys slowed as they entered the cemetery, looking about to see which way we’d gone.

‘That way,’ said one of them, hearing Stefan’s footsteps further along the road. ‘Come on.’

‘You go,’ said a second. ‘I’ll look here. Maybe they split up.’

So two of them picked up their pace, continuing their pursuit of Stefan, while the third remained behind.

As the footsteps faded into the night, Jana and I watched the boy standing on the road, turning this way and that in the hope of spotting us somewhere in the park.

I wondered where Stefan was and whether he would be able to outrun the boys chasing him.

The boy who had stayed behind didn’t seem to be in any hurry to search for us. He waited for the others to leave, then fumbled in his pockets, and in a few seconds, a flame flared up in front of his face. He lit a cigarette before flicking the match away from him. It arced up and out, dying in the wind.

The boy glanced about, turned around once, then started walking in our direction. My muscles tensed as I prepared myself for more running, but instead of continuing his search, he sat down on one of the benches and leaned back. He tipped his head to face the sky and breathed a long stream of smoke into the night.

Jana nudged me and pointed behind us with her thumb.

I shook my head. I didn’t dare move. The boy was so close – no more than ten metres away.

Jana nodded her head and nudged me again. ‘Now,’ she whispered and started to get to her feet.

I had no choice but to follow her. I didn’t want to be left alone out here, and if the boy spotted her, she would be ready to run and I would still be lying on the grass. So I eased to my feet, aware of every sound I made.

The rustle of my jacket was like the driving rain of a thunderstorm. My heartbeat was like the drums of a parade band. When my knees clicked the noise was like gunshots.

Then Jana nudged me again and showed me the large stick she was holding. It was as thick as my arm and almost as long. She took it in both hands and raised it up, swinging it over her shoulder as if she meant to approach the boy from behind and hit him with it.

I shook my head at her.

If she hit him, she might kill him.

She looked at me, then at the boy, and took a step towards him.

I shook my head more vigorously this time and grabbed the back of her shirt.

No!
I wanted to shout.

Jana hesitated, still brandishing the stick as if it were a club, then she lowered it and stood for a moment before backing away.

I was sure that if I hadn’t been there, Jana would have hit that boy. She would have swung the stick as hard as she could against the back of his head and she would have cracked his skull in two.

WOLFF AT THE DOOR

J
ana and I left the boy sitting on the bench and folded into the darkness. We moved silently along the railings and slipped, unnoticed, through the gate.

‘Do you think they caught him?’ I asked Jana as we made our way back towards Escherstrasse.

‘Not Stefan, he’s too quick,’ Jana said with admiration. ‘You have a very brave brother, you know?’

I glanced over my shoulder and thought about the boy who had remained in the cemetery. ‘You were going to hit him,’ I said.

‘That boy?’ Her voice changed. ‘He deserved it. They all do.’

‘Hitler Youth?’

‘Yes, them and all the other Nazis.’ There was real hatred in her words. ‘They’re killing our fathers and brothers. Ruining our country. Someone needs to shoot Hitler before he leads us all to ruin.’

‘Shoot him?’ I was shocked. ‘You want the British to win the war? To come here and—’

‘No, of course not,’ she said. ‘Germany is for Germans. There shouldn’t even
be
a war; sending all those German people away to be killed … It’s all Hitler’s fault. And now my papa is dead and my brother, too.’

As soon as she said it, I felt as if there was a link between us. ‘Your papa died? What happened? Was he in the war?’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Is that why you’re an Edelweiss Pirate?’ I said to her. ‘You
are
an Edelweiss Pirate, aren’t you? Is it because of what happened to your—’

‘I said I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘I want to be one, too. To stop the Nazis from killing our fathers.’

‘By not hitting them on the head? Anyway, you’re too young.’

‘That’s what Stefan said.’ I couldn’t help sounding disappointed.

Jana stopped and sighed before looking down at me. ‘Thank you.’ Her voice softened.

‘For what?’

‘For stopping me from hitting that boy. You did the right thing. And don’t worry about Stefan, he’ll be fine.
He’s probably waiting for you at home right now.’

When Jana left me on Escherstrasse, I crept home and let myself in the front door.

After replacing the key in the ashtray, I sneaked upstairs to find the bedroom empty. I went to the window, pulling back the curtain to look out.

The street was quiet in both directions.

Across the road, Lisa would be fast asleep in bed. When I’d left to follow Stefan, I had wished that she was with me, but now I was home, I was glad she hadn’t come.

I took off my clothes, put on my pyjamas and climbed back into bed. I wanted to wait for Stefan, so I sat up.

The house creaked and groaned as I wondered what had happened to my brother. I could only hope that he had outrun the Hitler Youth boys and that he was on his way home right now. I tried not to imagine him lying in the street, battered and bruised because they had caught him.

I intended to be awake when Stefan came home, but my eyelids grew heavy and I fell into a sleep that was broken only by a loud banging on the door.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three loud knocks that startled me.

He must have forgotten his key
, was my first thought.
Or lost it
.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I hope he’s not hurt, w
as the next thing to leap into my head.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I slipped out of bed, pausing for a moment to hear the
sounds of stirring from the other bedroom. Then I hurried across to the door and pulled it open just as Opa was about to go downstairs.

He jumped in shock, putting a hand to his heart.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

‘Stay here,’ he said. ‘You don’t need to come.’

When he started down again, though, I followed him, waiting at the bottom of the stairs while he fumbled with the latch, and opened the door.

‘Herr Brandt.’ Kriminalinspektor Wolff took off his hat and came straight in. He looked wide awake, despite the hour.

Opa stepped back. ‘Would you like to come through to—’

‘No need,’ said Wolff. ‘Just here will be fine.’ He flashed a false smile at Opa then spotted me, standing at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Karl. Did I wake you?’

Opa glanced at me then turned back to Wolff just as Oma and Mama came downstairs.

‘What’s this all about?’ Oma asked, going to Opa’s side. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Frau Friedmann.’ Wolff did a strange little bow. ‘I’m sorry to hear about your husband.’

Mama put an arm around me.

‘What … what can we do for you?’ Opa said. ‘I’ve been to the meeting like you said. Look, I have the papers right here.’ He went to the table by the door and pulled out the drawer.

‘No need for that,’ Wolff stopped him. ‘It’s your grandson I need to speak to.’

Mama squeezed me tighter and Opa looked over his shoulder at me again. ‘You need to speak to Karl?’

Wolff grinned. ‘No. The
other
grandson.’

I thought I was going to fall over.

Stefan wasn’t here, and Wolff knew it. The cruel look on his face said as much.

I held onto the bannister and wished there was something I could do. When Wolff discovered that Stefan was missing, he would know he was out in the night and—

‘You want to speak to me?’

Wolff looked as surprised as I was when we heard Stefan’s voice.

I whipped around to see him coming down the stairs, dressed in pyjamas; hair tousled and sleepy-eyed.

It was the first time I’d seen Wolff flustered, but it didn’t last long. He cleared his throat and stared at Stefan. ‘I’ve had reports of a disturbance tonight; your name was mentioned.’

‘My
name?’ Stefan rubbed his eyes as he spoke. ‘Why would my name be mentioned?’

‘You’ve been linked to a group of delinquents calling themselves Edelweiss Pirates.’

Stefan shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. ‘Never heard of them.’

‘Even so,’ Wolff said. ‘Your name has been mentioned—’

‘By who?’ Mama interrupted, and Oma and Opa looked at me.

‘As I say,’ Wolff gave Mama hardly more than a glance, ‘your name was mentioned and there was a disturbance
tonight so …’ he opened his arms, palms up. ‘Well. I’m just doing my job. I’m sure you understand how it is.’

Stefan shrugged as if he couldn’t care less.

‘But I can see that you are here, at home, where you are supposed to be, so you clearly had nothing to do with it.’ Wolff glanced down at his hat and brushed a non-existent speck of dust from the brim. ‘Well,’ he said, looking at Mama, then at Opa. ‘I’m sorry to have disturbed you.’

‘No, that’s … that’s quite all right.’

‘Good night, Herr Brandt. Frau Friedmann.’ Wolff did another odd little bow and I felt a surge of relief. Somehow, Stefan had made it. He had managed to outrun the boys and now he had outsmarted Kriminalinspektor Wolff. I must have fallen into a deeper sleep than I realised and Stefan had come home and slipped into bed without me noticing. This was a small victory for the Edelweiss Pirates.

Wolff turned to the door and put his hand on the latch.

He paused.

Turned back.

Looked directly at Stefan.

‘You’re not curious?’ he asked.

‘About what?’

‘You didn’t ask what kind of a disturbance there was tonight.’

Stefan ran a hand through his hair again. ‘It’s none of my business.’

Wolff waited.

‘All right, then; what kind of disturbance was it?’ Stefan asked.

Wolff took his hand from the latch. ‘Well, I’m glad you asked me that.’ He put his hat on the table and reached one hand into his pocket. ‘There’s something I need you to look at.’ He removed a piece of paper. ‘You see, someone has been delivering leaflets.’

Suddenly, I had an image of Jana and Stefan going from door to door, putting something into the letterboxes.

‘You might have seen them before.’ Wolff unfolded the paper and came closer, holding it out.

It was a picture of the Führer standing over the bodies of dead German soldiers. One of the leaflets dropped from the enemy planes a few nights ago.

I remembered how afraid Stefan had been when I picked up the leaflet in the street the night they were dropped, and I remembered what had happened to Herr Finkel. The leaflets were trouble.
Big
trouble.

‘We can’t have this kind of thing on our streets,’ Wolff said. ‘I’m sure you agree.’

Stefan made a show of peering over to look at the leaflet, but Wolff did not let go of it.

‘Terrible,’ Stefan said with an edge of sarcasm.

Wolff folded the leaflet and put it back into his pocket. ‘These Edelweiss Pirates – people you have been known to associate with – this is the kind of thing they would do. Delivering malicious propaganda.’

‘I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about,’ Stefan said. ‘I’ve never heard of—’

‘Nevertheless, you have been seen with people suspected of being members.’ He stared at Stefan.

‘None of my friends have said anything about being …
what did you say they were called?’