The Defeated Aristocrat (35 page)

Sister Ignatius continued to stand and stare out of the brick- and metal-barred prison. The nun who’d escorted them opened the door of a cell on their left. Two men, their faces concealed by masks, emerged.

They left the door open behind them and Wolf saw ready-mixed mortar on a metal board, trowels and buckets.

The men looked neither left nor right. One picked up a trowel, the other a bucket filled with mortar. They walked into the corridor and began.

Wolf was amazed by the speed at which the men worked. A trough had been cut in the floor a foot away from the railings to take the first layer of bricks. The second tier concealed Sister Ignatius’s feet. The third the hem of her gown. The man with the mortar bucket handed the bricks and it was obvious they’d already been cut to size.

Wolf found it easier to look at the bricks than the nun’s face. Whenever he glanced at her, she was still staring, unblinking, straight ahead through the frame inset in the bars, apparently oblivious to the people around her and what was being done.

The only sounds in the corridor were the scrape of the trowels as the men spread mortar and the squelch when a brick was laid on top of the mortar that separated it from the one below. The wall grew to waist height, minutes later it was chest height. Still Sister Ignatius stood and stared straight ahead.

When the bricks reached Sister Ignatius’s chin, the nun went into the cell and returned with an open-sided metal box. She placed it inside the metal frame She nodded to the builder who bricked around it, leaving an aperture a foot long and six inches high in front of Sister Ignatius’s face. He continued bricking using a stool to reach the ceiling. When he finished, he stepped down picked up the stool and returned with his companion to the cell. The nun closed the door behind them.

The nun turned to Father Mathias and made the sign of the cross.

He spoke to the wall that concealed Sister Ignatius. ‘You can reach the aperture?’

‘I can,’ was the reply.

‘You will receive bread and water, night and morning. It will be your choice to eat and drink – or not.’

His words were met by silence. He persisted. ‘Do you have anything to say, Sister Ignatius?’

‘May God forgive me my sins.’

‘You repent? You wish to make confession?’

‘I have confessed all my sins.’

‘Not the murders. You took lives …’

‘Only the lives of those who deserved death.’

‘That is not for you to decide, but God.’

‘God made his decision. I was his instrument.’ She began to pray softly, so quietly it was a few seconds before Wolf realised she was reciting the Hail Mary.

The nun handed Father Mathias the key to the cage that had been hidden by the bricks. ‘You are satisfied, Father?’

‘I will be here tomorrow to hear Sister Ignatius’s confession.’

‘If she chooses not to speak?’

‘I will be here every night and morning until she falls silent.’

‘Some have lived weeks, even months, after their incarcerations, Father. You could be visiting here for some time.’

‘I know.’ The priest handed Georg the key to the cage.

Georg took it, turned and walked away. Wolf and Peter took a last look at the wall, and followed him.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Konigsberg, Saturday January18th 1919

Wolf refused Georg’s offer of a lift. He walked across the Green Bridge to The Kneiphof and headed for Honey Bridge. A lamp was burning on Johanna’s glassed-in veranda. He watched it for a few minutes.

He heard a carriage and turned to see a hire cab. He hailed it and asked the driver to take him to Gebaur Strasse.

He crept into the house quietly, feeling his way into his bedroom lest the light disturb Heini, Martin, or Ludwiga. He sat on the bed and pulled off his shoes.

‘Papa.’

A small body moved against his back. ‘What are you doing in my bed, Heini?’

‘Waiting for you. Can I sleep here tonight?’

‘Of course you can.’ Wolf stripped off his jacket, trousers, and waistcoat and crawled in beside his son. He wrapped his arm around Heini’s small body and wondered who needed who the most.

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Published by Accent Press Ltd 2014

ISBN 9781681469027

Copyright © Katherine John 2014

The right of Katherine John to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers: Accent Press Ltd, Ty Cynon House, Navigation Park, Abercynon, CF45 4SN