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“Home with my tail between my legs. No proof. Mission not accomplished.”
“Home safe, Eleanor. Safe. That’s the most important thing.”
“Which is more than Franklin Linderman can say.” The image of poor Franklin lurching forward in the rear of that SUV, blood dripping from his face, will stay with me forever.
“He understood the risks.”
I sigh. It doesn’t make what happened any less tragic or shocking.
“And it wasn’t a total loss,” Ty adds. “He confirmed that there was a sixth item in Hitler’s safe, that his father took it, and that it was a film reel.”
“Yes, but he didn’t give it to me. Or tell me where it was. Or what was on it.”
“Well, what did he say?”
I think back. “I asked him if the sixth item taken from Hitler’s safe was a reel of film. He said—he said, ‘it was,’ like it was obvious. As in, why would I ask him that?”
“What’s to understand?”
“Then…” I breathe out. “He asked Jenny something. And then the bullet came through the back window, and he was dead.”
“Wow. And you have no idea what he said to Jenny?”
“No. I don’t even know what language they were speaking. It wasn’t German, but sounded a little like German.”
“I’m sorry, El. I mean, jeez, if ever there were a time for a translator—”
“Hang on!” I pop out of my chair. “I have to go, Ty.”
I hang up the phone. I’d forgotten that I’d recorded my conversation with Franklin Linderman. With everything that happened, I’d forgotten it had been left recording.
I pull up the file. After skipping ahead a bit, I land on the spot and listen to my conversation with Franklin:
Me:
“Franklin, may I get to business? There was a sixth envelope in Hitler’s safe the night that Thomas Bauer stole it, correct? Your father took it, yes?”
Franklin:
“He did, of course. And kept it.”
Me:
“Was it a reel of film?”
Franklin:
“It was.” [Pause.]
“I don’t… I don’t understand.”
At this point, Franklin speaks to Jenny:
Franklin:
“Heb je de professor het filmrolletje gegeven?”
Jenny:
