Noelle started toward her dressing room, and he fell into step beside her.
“I will go with you,” Colonel Mueller said.
She walked into her dressing room, the hairless albino Colonel close behind her. He
made himself comfortable in an armchair. Noelle hesitated a moment and then began to
undress as he watched indifferently. She knew that he was a homosexual, which deprived
her of a valuable weapon—her sexuality.
“A little sparrow whispered something in my ear,” Colonel Mueller said. “He is
going to try to escape tonight.”
Noelle’s heart skipped a beat, but her face showed nothing. She began removing her
makeup, fighting for time as she asked, “Who is going to try to escape tonight?”
“Your friend, Israel Katz.”
Noelle swung around, and the movement made her suddenly conscious of the fact
that she had removed her brassiere. “I don’t know any—” She caught the quick triumphant
gleam in his pink eyes and saw the trap just in time. “Wait,” she said. “Are you talking
about a young intern?”
“Ah, so you do remember him!”
“Barely. He treated me for pneumonia some time ago.”
“And a self-induced abortion,” Colonel Mueller said in that soft, high-pitched voice.
The fear flooded back into her. The Gestapo would not have gone to this much trouble if
they were not sure that she was involved. She was a fool to have gotten herself into this;
but even as Noelle thought it, she knew that it was too late to back out. The wheels had
already been set in motion and in a few hours Israel Katz would be either free…or dead.
And she?
Colonel Mueller was saying, “You said that the last time you saw Katz was at the
café a few weeks ago.”
Noelle shook her head. “I said no such thing, Colonel.”
Colonel Mueller looked steadily into her eyes, then let his gaze drop insolently to her
naked breasts and down her belly to her sheer pants. Then he looked up into Noelle’s eyes
again and sighed. “I love beautiful things,” he said softly. “It would be a shame to see
beauty like yours destroyed. And all for a man who means nothing to you. How is your
friend planning to get away, Fräulein?”
There was a quietness in his voice that sent shivers down her spine. She became
Annette, the innocent, helpless character in her play.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Colonel. I’d like to help you, but I
don’t know how.”
Colonel Mueller looked at Noelle a long time, then stiffly rose to his feet. “I will
teach you how, Fräulein,” he promised softly, “and I will enjoy it.”