Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Thirty-Seven


9th August 1959

Ramatuelle, France

The Villa was every bit as beautiful as Lea said it would be. The main house was set into a wooded hillside and had sweeping views of the Mediterranean Sea. The property sloped down to a rocky shoreline that had a small beach set into a cove. It was immediately clear why it had been selected by Kiki’s father. Everything about it put them as far from prying eyes as possible while still giving them the experience of being there. Zella thought it was great, no crowds and they had it all to themselves. Next week they could do some real exploring, there were lots of towns and villages in the region that would be fun to go see. This was perfect in the meantime.

The first few days however, had not been easy for Kiki. The day after Kiki had arrived, she had hardly made it out of bed, eventually coming to dinner wearing one of the old footballer’s jerseys she slept in. You’re on holiday, is what Aurora said when the subject had come up. Zella found it amusing that after all this time she still slept in jerseys that her brother had been forced to give away when he was told that he couldn’t be seen as rooting for any particular sports team. The truth was the original three had worn out years earlier and she had quietly replaced them. It still seemed like a fun way to quietly subvert the rules that had bedeviled Freddy.

The next day things had changed in a hurry when both Aurora and Zella had been horrified by the clothes that she had packed. She wasn’t in Berlin and she didn’t have classes to attend. So why did it look like that was what she was planning on doing? From Zella’s perspective, there was hardly anything that Kiki had brought that was appropriate for a holiday or the climate that they had found themselves in. What had followed was Zella questioning Lea about exactly what money was available for this vacation. Kiki would never have had the nerve to have asked those questions and had been horrified by what Zella was doing. Begrudgingly, Lea admitted that money had been made available for incidental expenses, but it was not to be abused on anything frivolous. That had led to a new round of questioning by Zella and eventually led to Lea on the phone with someone higher up the ladder. Eventually Lea had said that funds had been authorized and that Zella didn’t need to be so argumentative. Zella had been joyful that it had worked. “If you asserted yourself more often, these battles wouldn’t need to be fought later” Zella had said, “You should have been talking with your father weeks ago about this.”

The day after had been spent in Nice, just buying clothes. Bright colors and thin gauzy fabric of the sort that Kiki never wore but Zella insisted that she at least try on. Early on it was clear to Kiki that her friends were delighting in helping her with this and she ended up buying more than she imagined that she would. It had been after they had returned to the house late that afternoon when had come word that Kiki’s Uncle Vladimir was in nearby Saint-Tropez. That had put a sour note on the day. While Kiki’s aunt and mother had both died of the same congenital heart condition, Vlad seemed to be in very good health despite his lifestyle. For Kiki it was proof that there was no justice in the world. There had also been a pair of photographers spotted near the front gate of the villa and they had been told to be mindful of their presence if they left the villa.

Now, on Saturday afternoon Kiki was sitting on a towel near the tideline in the shade of one of the beach umbrellas that they had brought down from the house. They had been swimming a few minutes earlier, so Kiki was applying another layer of the zinc oxide crème. Zella found that amusing as she was sketching the rocks that stood over one end of the cove. Zella was telling her and Aurora about according to her mother the Moondogs had called expecting Zella to cover their show in a few hours. Zella obviously wasn’t going to make it. Instead, their show was going to be covered by a different reporter from the BT. One who normally covered Classical Music. While Kiki said that she didn’t hate the band, she certainly wanted them to have a bad night because John Lennon was a bit of an asshole and had written that song about her that she didn’t like.

“I ought to get one of you trying to get that lotion on your back” Zella said as Kiki got Aurora to help her. “I think you missed your calling as a contortionist.”

“The last thing we need is another round of your drawings” Aurora said, “Especially after all the trouble that the last one caused.”

For a long time, there had been a bit of a sore point Kiki and Aurora had with Zella. When they got together Zella always took the lead and it seemed like she could always talk the other two into doing anything. The sketches from a couple years earlier along with any number of questionable things that they had done in the past fell into that category.

Today, that included the red two-piece swimsuit that Zella had said looked good on Kiki a couple days earlier when she insisted that Kiki buy it. This afternoon she realized that she was wearing only slightly more than she had in that original sketch that had been done in her bedroom with the blinds closed. This was out in the open, an aspect of this that Zella seemed to revel in as she was wearing the same sort of swimsuit and it made Kiki reach for the zinc oxide crème. It wasn’t because Kiki was self-conscious, she had gotten over that a year earlier in the training depot when she had endured weeks of having no privacy at all. Rather there were parts of her that had very seldom seen direct sunlight until now and she didn’t want to get a sunburn.

For Aurora it was different, she had been a late bloomer and still had a bit of pudge from childhood that had yet to go away completely. Aurora also had a scar on her belly from an appendectomy a few years earlier that meant that there was no way that she would wear anything that bared her midriff.

“I think that both of you have nice features” Zella said with a smile that showed that she was completely unapologetic about featuring her friends in her art. “You just need to be willing to show them off, without shame. Get this Aurora, you’re as beautiful as I am, or Kiki.”

Aurora looked embarrassed at that, though she probably shouldn’t be.

Kiki realized that it was like being willing to assert herself again, Kiki just wished that she had half of Zella’s confidence.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Thirty-Eight


14th August 1959

Ramatuelle, France

That afternoon a car came up the driveway interrupting what had been a pleasant, though somewhat boring evening. It was in the hours leading up to dinner and they were playing Reversi in the shade of patio after spending much of the day down on the beach. They had discovered that Kiki’s security detail maintained the perimeter of the property. That meant that so long as they stayed within the villa itself, they could do pretty much whatever they pleased.

Zella wasn’t enjoying the game because Kiki and Aurora were much better at it than she was, so instead she was just watching her friends play.

“Perhaps later we could watch Friday Night Variety” Zella said, “Just like old times.”

“I’ve not watched that in ages” Aurora said.

“Is it even broadcast here?” Kiki asked, “And does this place even have a television?”

Zella had no idea what the answer to either of those questions were. They had been spending their mornings exploring the small villages of Ramatuelle and spending the afternoons either swimming in the cove or enjoying just lazing around the house. Until now, the thought of television had not crossed her mind. It wasn’t important, except it did leave Zella at loose ends. She had no idea what to do until dinner was served. It being Friday night the cook had promised something special, seafood apparently and the smell from the kitchen was mouth-watering. Zella just wished that the meal was ready so that they get on with the evening. Every day this week they had just talked, laughed and joked about things until late in the night. It was a lot like old times, as Zella had put it regarding the variety show that they used to watch. Even down to them falling asleep on Kiki’s bed. Still, Zella was starting to get bored and was saved when she heard the car pull up on the other side of the house.

Leaving Kiki and Aurora to their game, Zella walked through the house to the front door. As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Kat opening the trunk on the sedan that the owner of the villa had made available for their use and was handing her thirteen-year-old ward Josefine a suitcase.

“No one told us you were coming Tante” Zella said.

“And ruin the surprise?” Kat asked in reply and smiled sweetly.

Then Zella felt something hug her around the waist, looking down she saw Tatiana who smiled up at her. “You didn’t bring Marie, did you?” She asked. Having a rambunctious toddler on hand would be a nightmare, particularly with Kat’s habit of dragooning babysitters. Kiki and Zella had both been subjected to that.

“No” Kat replied, “She’s with her Aunt Helene and Uncle Hans back home while Doug took Kol on a photoshoot in Bohemia.”

Zella struggled to hide her relief when she heard Kat say that. Then she noticed how Jo was radiating displeasure as she trudged towards the door.

“Jo thinks that this is ruining her summer holiday” Kat said, “She had big plans with her friend Suse Knispel, it’s safer for everyone if they are apart for a couple weeks.”

Zella had heard her father talking about the Panzer Commander whose daughter had just been mentioned. Apparently, the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.

“Wait until she sees the beach” Zella said, “Though Kiki is going to take one look at her and pull out a tub of that sun crème of hers and a trowel.”

Kat started laughing at that. According to Kat both of Jo’s parents had Scandinavian backgrounds. That was reflected in Jo’s white blond hair and translucent skin. It also meant that she would probably only need a few minutes to burn to a crisp in the Mediterranean sun, so she would need to be careful.

“That big heart and desire to care about others is a big part of who Kiki is” Kat said as she handed Zella another suitcase from the trunk. “It is why she will one day be a great doctor and wonderful mother.”

“Kiki said that being a mother is something that is not in her” Zella said, knowing that she felt the same way about herself.

“I thought the same thing” Kat said, “Look how that worked out. Life frequently doesn’t work out the way you expect.”

Zella held her tongue, as she carried the suitcase into the house. According to her mother, Kat had done a lot more than that. Even going so far as to look into making sure that children would be impossible. Trauma has that effect, her mother had said, and Kat had been absolutely petrified of that aspect of herself when she was younger. It seemed strange to hear that. To Zella and Kiki, Kat had always been their auntie and both of them had tried to be like her in their own way. The idea of her paralyzed by fear was unthinkable, but the truth was that Kat was just as human as anyone else they knew.

Tatiana had run ahead, and Zella could hear Kiki and Aurora excitedly greet her. Seconds later, Tat came running back into the house followed by Kiki as Aurora would be putting the game away. When Kat saw that Kiki was wearing a floral print sundress that she had acquired in Nice a week earlier she smiled.

“This is actually a pleasant surprise” Kat said, “Your father was afraid that you would be dressed like you needed to be in class this afternoon.”

It was Zella’s turn to laugh, knowing how close that came to happening.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Thirty-Nine


16th August 1959

Ramatuelle, France

Sitting in the shade of the umbrella, Kiki was sitting with Kat as they spent the afternoon at the beach. Kat was wearing one of her sleeveless shirts and cutoff trousers, the same as she had every time that Kiki had seen her during her off hours in the summertime. She even had the old sneakers that she got imported from America that were sitting on the blanket next to her bare feet.

Tonight, Kiki had a lot to look forward to. Because she had done nothing for her “birthday” this year in July, Kat had arranged for there to be a small party for her up at the house this evening. Mostly, she had been told to keep out of the way of the preparations. Dinner followed by cake with homemade ice-cream. Zella and Aurora said that they wanted to get Kiki a present, so they had gone to Saint-Tropez to take care of that.

“It doesn’t get much better than this” Kat said to Kiki as she watched Jo and Tat closely as they played in the water. “You are free of any real obligations and have your entire career ahead of you. You also have wonderful friends who came with you on this holiday.”

“I guess” Kiki replied, “I think Zella is getting bored though.”

“She’s used to doing things a certain way” Kat said, “Going out on Friday and Saturday nights, then Sundays are the time she puts it in perspective by typing up what she saw for the Berliner.”

“I can’t believe they let her do that.”

“Having her mother be the Editor of the paper helps. It’s also paying her to do something she would do anyway” Kat said listing off the reasons, “Because she needs to be able to tell the story afterwards, she needs to keep her head. Maria knew exactly what she was doing when she arranged Zella to get this job. Though I doubt that Zella is going to have the time next month.”

That made perfect sense to Kiki and it was a reminder that they were going to be expected to be at University in September.

“Should Jo be out in the sun?” Kiki asked changing the subject.

Kat smiled, “You insisted that we put that lotion on her to prevent sunburns” She said, “Zella joked about how you would want to paint it onto her, she wasn’t far off.”

Kiki frowned at that, so far none of them had gotten serious sunburns because of her efforts. Perhaps this was one of those times that Doctor Berg mentioned where she couldn’t save people from themselves.

“I’m just trying to help” Kiki said.

“And we all appreciate your efforts” Kat said as she unbuttoned her shirt. To Kiki’s shock Kat was wearing an Atome style swimsuit like she was. Even if Kat was obsessive about her fitness, she had just celebrated her thirty-seventh birthday.

“I thought that…” Kiki started to say.

“That I’m too old?” Kat asked with a laugh, “You’ll be my age one day and it won’t seem too old. Except for these, I’m holding together well enough for an isolated beach like this one.”

Kiki noticed that Kat was gesturing towards a few pale faded stretch marks on her stomach as she unbuttoned her trousers. The rest of Kat’s body was as athletic as it had ever been.

“Besides me personally, not all of my girls are as confident about their bodies as you are” Kat said as she started putting the zinc oxide crème on her arms and shoulders, “Leading by example.”

Kiki realized that she must be talking about Aurora.

There had been a few times that Kiki had heard Kat referred to as an unlikely leader. She was starting to realize that there were different ways to lead. Kat always tried to set an example for others to follow and seldom asked others to do what she wouldn’t do herself. When Kiki had read one of the first copies of Kat’s biography that had gone on sale in Germany, she had seen how Kat had struggled once removed from the actual operations. It was just like her. Kat had to be on the ground, doing things. There was also the aspect of Kat the mother, something she had been long before she had her own children.

Her girls, going back to Gia and those who followed. Which included Kiki herself. All of them had become far more than they would have been if Kat had not been present in their lives. With that Kat got to her feet and splashed into the water joining Jo and Tat. Hugging her knees, Kiki watched them as they were swimming in the cove.

“Why are you just sitting there Kiki!” Kiki heard Kat call out, Jo and Tat echoing her. With a sigh, Kiki took off her glasses and put them in her bag. Then went to join them.

----------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as they finished dinner, they started taking turns cranking the ice cream maker in the garden after eating the meal on the patio. The Cook had said that the yoghurt cake he had made would go perfectly with the strawberry ice cream they were making. As Zella had found out, there wasn’t a television in the villa. So, Aurora and Zella had acquired a transistor radio in Saint-Tropez while they had been there this afternoon. Tonight, they had tuned it to a radio station that was playing French Pop music.

Kiki was taking her turn turning the crank when Zella and Aurora approached her.

“We got this for you” Zella said as she handed Kiki a small box. Aurora was eager to see her open it.

“I thought you got me the radio, didn’t you?” Kiki asked.

“We got that for all of us” Zella replied.

“This is what we got you Kiki” Aurora said, “For inviting us.”

Opening the box, Kiki saw that it was a necklace made from lapis lazuli beads.

“Thank you” Kiki murmured. Kat had been right a few hours earlier when she had said that it didn’t get much better than this.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty


22nd August 1959

Potsdam

Nella didn’t understand the heatwave other than she clearly didn’t like it and was fussy as a result, but then Charlotte understood that small children and babies seldom liked changes to their environment. “Excuse me” Charlotte said as she put down her glass of iced tea and went to see to Nella. She could have had a team of nurses to mind Nella at all times, but Charlotte didn’t like the thought of her daughter being raised that way. She had seen the result of that within her own family and didn’t want to repeat the mistake.

After traveling extensively to the Pacific and South East Asia the year before, Charlotte had decided that staying in Berlin was the better option, the park-like grounds that surrounded the Summer Residence were perfect until the hot, humid days had arrived this week. Even here in Potsdam, Charlotte had noticed that Louis spent his days working. The Chancellor might have been the Head of Government with Louis filling a largely ceremonial role, still he felt that he had an important part to play in world affairs. That was why most days, Louis was in his office on the phone or typing one of the columns that appeared in newspapers around the world under various pseudonyms. When Charlotte had told him that he should be enjoying a Summer Holiday he had just smiled and said that he would do consider doing that next week.

Charlotte’s step-children were a different story, they were all enjoying their Holiday, though enjoy wasn’t exactly the right word to use. Louis had seen to it that they all got something that they needed out of it.

Friedrich had been photographed on a beach in Vietnam where he had been learning to surf. His time with the Pioneer Corps was coming to an end and he was going to be going to University in the Fall, his intention was to study Law. Charlotte wondered what the Empire would make of having a Lawyer on the throne if Louis followed through with his intention of retiring when he turned sixty-four. They had eleven years to find out.

Michael was in Bohemia, where he was going to take the throne as King there when he turned twenty-one. The Bohemians saw it as a step further in their bid for greater autonomy within the Empire, so Michael was being well received. Louis Junior was on a school ship in the Baltic, considering that he was trying to get into the Naval Academy it was perfect for him. Kristina was in the South of France. The latest tabloids had run with her wearing a brightly colored sundress and shopping with her friends in Cannes. It was completely unlike her. The normally introverted Kristina wore drab clothes and was seldom seen in public. Gräfin Katherine was also in the pictures, which explained why the photographers were keeping their distance. Everyone was surprised that Kristina was actually quite pretty when she put in the slightest effort. It just went to show that people were not very observant, and one never knew what they might choose to talk about.

It was the photographs of Kristina that had prompted an outraged phone call from the twins to their father. Louis had wondered how they seen the photographs and had gotten to a phone considering where he had sent them. Before he had hung up, he had told Marie that their sister had been sent to the South of France as a reward for all the hard work she had put in over the last couple years. Both Marie and Victoria would be smart to follow their older sister’s example. If Charlotte had to guess, being sent to the Sisters of St. Joseph at Saint Trudpert’s Abby as novices was not how the twins had been expecting to spend the summer. However, considering how they had spent the rest of the year it was exactly the sort of Holiday they deserved. The sort of marks that they had been getting in school mixed with their abysmal behavior had resulted in them coming dangerously close to getting thrown out of the gymnasia that they attended. Corrective measures were needed, and Louis had resorted to a rather novel approach in showing them the sort of life they could expect if he grew tired of paying for their upkeep. The convent in an isolated corner of Baden was someplace that they couldn’t beg or bribe their way out of easily. It was an action that Charlotte felt was long overdue. She had suggested to Louis that perhaps they could have learned the same lessons waiting tables or working on a farm somewhere. He just shrugged and said that he would keep that in mind for next time.

Making her way back to the table carrying Nella, Charlotte stuck a napkin in her neglected glass and used it in an effort to try to cool Nella down.

“That’s a use for tea I’ve never seen before” Suga observed as she saw what Charlotte was doing.

“It’s mostly water by this point” Charlotte replied, “I’m not going to drink it, if it helps Nella so much the better.”

In recent days, Charlotte had found the Japanese Princess to be a good companion. Aside from Kristina, she was probably one of the few people who understood where Charlotte was coming from. That was when Suga wasn’t talking about how the weather in Germany was much milder than Japan this time of year.

“We were talking about your plans” Suga said, resuming the conversation that Charlotte had abandoned. “Are you really going to go back to work?”

“When I can” Charlotte answered, “There is such a need for the sort of work I did.”

“Even as Empress?” Suga asked.

“Especially as Empress” Charlotte replied, as she watched Suga take a sip of her tea. She had asked for it hot, how she did that on a day like today was beyond Charlotte’s comprehension.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-One


24th August 1959

Münstertal, Baden

The buildings of Abbey had built over centuries, that meant that there were a lot of surfaces that needed cleaning and upkeep. While the most modern methods of cleaning them were not available, the Sisters of Saint Joseph were more than happy to do the labor needed. Or if as Rea thought, they had more than enough penitents on hand to do the work if they came right out and said it. Unfortunately, that included Vicky and Rea. The Sisters didn’t care about the minor details, like them not even being Catholic. Rea was nominally Lutheran but only to the extent that she didn’t really believe in anything at all. Vicky had dabbled in a number of religions including their mother’s Russian Orthodox beliefs, Buddhism, even going so far as looking into Occultism. If Vicky didn't have Rea as a reality check, she would be particularly vulnerable to the things that the Sisters were telling them. Especially if it got her out of doing the especially backbreaking work that they had been doing over the last few days since Ria had gotten them in trouble again.

“I told you that calling Poppa was a mistake” Vicky said to Rea as they were on their hands and knees scrubbing the stone floor of kitchens. As soon as they were done here, there was a large number of dishes that needed cleaning. “We would not have been sent here without his say so.”

Now she said that, when they were planning the phone call, Vicky had lots of suggestions of how to get into the office of the Abbess. Then she had played lookout while Rea had made the call. One thing that had not been a part of their plans however had been that their father had called back and told the Abbess that Rea had made the call. That was after he had hung up on Rea after telling her that she needed to be more like Kiki.

“Who were we supposed to call then?” Rea asked, “It’s not fair that Kiki got to sit on a beach while we get to be unpaid labor.”

“Fair?” Vicky asked, “Poppa said that Kiki has been working hard for the last two years, what have we done?”

That wasn’t something that Rea wanted to think about. Kiki had worked hard to join the Medical Service and get into University early. For the twins, the only time they had really put in any kind of work, it had been to further a prank or some other mischief. The two of them had been told by the Headmistress at the end of the last term that unless they started to apply themselves it was doubtful that they would even be accepted into University. Then she had told them that there were several vocational programs that might be better suited for their temperament if they weren’t prepared to do that. It had gotten them scolded by their father, something that they were unaccustomed to. Rea had thought the matter had blown over when the term ended, but clearly it hadn’t.

It galled Rea how easily they had been duped into coming willingly to this place. They had been told that they were going to the Black Forest in Baden, Rea had assumed that meant the resort towns with the spas that they had heard so much about. It had turned out that they had not been given complete information. The first clue should have been when they hadn’t seen their luggage being unloaded from the train. Later Rea had a great deal of time to think about it and she had concluded that it had never been on the train in the first place. Once here, they had ended up wearing the clothes they were given within a day. After a few days of being given the silent treatment, they had been told by the Abbess that the sin of pride was what she considered it her duty to save them from. However long it took. What followed was them working from well before sun up until late in the night when they fell asleep their bodies aching too much to move every single day except Sundays.

Vicky turned away from Rea, she was angry and didn’t want to talk. For years they had been a great team, Rea providing the ideas and Vicky coming up with ways to make them reality. It had always been that way with Rea leading since she was the older of the two by about fifteen minutes. Since they had figured out too late the nature of their holiday, Vicky had blamed her. Only seeing the photographs in the gossip magazine of Kiki having a great time in France had caused her to come around briefly. Then they were in trouble again. There was nothing left to take away from them, so their workload had increased. Rea was left wondering how that was even possible.

“I’m sorry” Rea said, “This wasn’t what…”

Vicky turned and gave her a withering look. “You’re never sorry” She snapped, “Every time you get us in hot water you expect me to back your next play. I’m through with your games.”

With that Vicky went back to scrubbing the floor.

“Vicky, I…” Rea started to say only to have one of the Sisters enter and give her a dirty look.

“No talking” The Sister said curtly, “Now, back to work.”

“Yes, ma’am” Rea said as she put the brush into the bucket of soapy water that they were using to clean the floor, only to spill it.

As she felt the water soaking through her dress around her knees Rea just felt like crying. This was the worst holiday imaginable.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Two


1st September 1959

Ramatuelle, France

The final week in Ramatuelle definitely felt that way. The first day in September had dawned with an overcast sky and it had started to rain mid-morning though it wasn’t particularly cold. Instead, it felt like they were under a warm, heavy blanket and they just went through the day in a sleepy fashion.

Zella had talked about going down to the beach but thought better of it. Instead, she and Aurora were in the parlor listening to the radio and completing the neglected paperwork for when they registered for the autumn term on Monday. As a returning student, Kiki had completed most of that before she had left Berlin, the only parts remaining were what she would need to do in person. This year she had been encouraged to take a few elective classes as most of what remained to get her certification as a Medic was practical instruction and not in the classroom. Doctor Berg had suggested that she take an art class or something of that nature. To challenge herself, or at least to do something that Kiki found enjoyable.

That was how Kiki found herself sitting on a couch next to one of the bay windows looking out the window thinking about the book that she had just finished reading. Kat had lent it to her before she had packed up Josefine and Tatiana to return home the previous Friday. It was the final book of a fantasy trilogy that Kiki had read the first two books of a couple years earlier. She had meant to get to this book when it had come out but had never been able to find the time. Over the previous days Kiki had been reading it every chance she got and reached the conclusion a few minutes earlier.

It was a somewhat silly story featuring hobbits, elves and dwarves but Kiki had seen that the author had managed to make it a parable of something larger. As the story neared its climax, the real action had not taken place on a battlefield but in a far-flung wasteland where Frodo and Samwise had found themselves captured by their enemies. Before they were captured, Frodo had swallowed the one ring to keep it from falling into the hands of Sauron’s minions and had grown deathly ill as a result. Samwise was forced to ask for mercy for his friend from those he could least expect it from.

Kiki recognized the obvious symbolism of humanity’s fate hanging by a slender thread over an abyss of their own creation. Having to appeal to that same humanity from your enemies… At the conclusion of the book, Samwise went home once they had reached Mount Doom and destroyed the ring at an extreme cost, Frodo didn’t. Having doomed himself the instant he swallowed the ring. The entire message of the trilogy was that power corrupts and those who touch it are corrupted themselves. It also contained the idea that only thing that countered that corruption was simple decency. It was something that shouldn’t have even needed to have been said, Kiki thought to herself as she looked out the window at the raindrops that were hitting the flagstones on the path in the garden. Which reminded her of a different book that she had read.

Before Kat had left, Kiki had gotten a chance to talk to her about what she had read in her biography. The part about how she had partially put the experience of past trauma behind her by taking part in a somewhat risky drug trial using experimental drugs that radically altered the perceptions of the person who had taken them. Kat had done it willingly and had found a bit of peace in the process. Though she had told Kiki that she felt that talking openly about the what had happened to her had probably been what had helped her the most. The only thing the drugs had done was lower her inhibitions enough to be so open. Later Kat had said that she had watched raindrops hitting the puddle outside her window, the ripples in the water had become sounds that echoed through the universe carrying her with them. Making it so that Kat was acutely aware that she was a part of everything. By the same token. Kat had said that outside a carefully controlled environment, such drugs were potentially dangerous and that she would be wise to avoid Albert Brandt because he a reckless idiot who had somehow gotten a Doctorate.

“What are you thinking about Kiki?” Zella asked.

Had she been that obvious?

“Just the books that I’ve been reading lately” Kiki replied.

“Anything that I would like?”

“Not really” Kiki said. She couldn’t imagine Zella reading J.R.R. Tolkien and her reading about Kat’s life would probably not end well. Zella had a habit of asking one question too many.

“I’ll need something to do on the train this Thursday” Zella said, “I was bored out of my mind when we were coming here.”

That was a reminder that the holiday was down to the last few days. It had all been so wonderful that Kiki just wanted time to stop. Now it was rushing towards them going back to the lives they had taken a temporary break from.

“If its sunny tomorrow, we can go down to the beach” Aurora said, “One last afternoon in the sun.”

That did seem like the best way to spend last full day in the villa.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Three


15th September 1959

Tempelhof, Berlin

“Is she Marie Cecilie or Victoria Augusta?” Vanessa asked when Rea entered the room. When Rea didn’t react to mention of the proper name that she hated or mention of her twin sister beyond weary resignation Kiki realized that Rea must have come to her for help. Just that last detail was cause for worry.

It wasn’t until Kiki had gotten back to Berlin that she had discovered that her little sisters had spent the entire Summer Holiday as unpaid drudges at a convent in Baden. Seeing how serious her father and stepmother had been regarding the matter had been the only thing that had kept Kiki from laughing about it. The twins had never done anything that could be described as hard work in their entire lives, until now. The Nuns had not cared about who Rea and Vicky were, to them they were just two children full of pride and arrogance who needed to be taught a valuable lesson. That hadn’t been the real surprise for Kiki though, it had been the almost palatable anger that Vicky had towards Rea. The two of them had been inseparable for their entire lives, now it seemed that they could hardly stand to be in the same room with each other and that had extended into the school year with Vicky demanding that she attend classes separate from her sister as much as possible. It was a deliberate slap at Rea by Vicky, one that their educators were overjoyed to make happen which didn’t help matters.

That was how things had stood a week earlier. Since then Kiki had been too busy to pay attention to what her sisters were doing. She had discovered that she would need to apply to the War Academy through the University next year if she wanted to be on an Officer career track. It was something that was necessitated by the promotion to Gefreiter that had come through while she had been on holiday. She hadn’t expected that promotion yet, not until she had completed the initial training to be a field medic. That also meant changing her electives and jumping through a lot of hoops in a process that was still ongoing.

“What do you want Rea?” Kiki asked.

“This is as close as I’m ever going to get to University, isn’t it?” Rea said looking at Kiki’s bed and the shelves that contained her books, photographs and other personal mementos.

“No” Kiki said knowing that Rea was just feeling sorry for herself. The Headmistress of her school, the same one who Kiki had many dealings with had clearly been trying to get Rea and Vicky to take things seriously. “You still have time to straighten things out. Just everyone is disappointed with you right now because you’re far smarter than you’ve been acting over the last couple of years.”

That was the truth, as much as Rea didn’t want to hear it.

“That won’t bring Vicky back” Rea whined. For Kiki that was too much.

“Victoria isn’t dead” Kiki replied firmly, “She’s angry because you talk her into doing things that get you both into trouble. She’ll forgive you eventually.”

Looking at Ria’s face, Kiki could see that as upset as she was about the things going on in her life none of these things were enough to send her running to Kiki for help. There had to be something else going on, something that only she could help Rea with.

“What’s really going on Rea?” Kiki asked, “All those other things are difficult sure, but they are old news. What’s changed?”

Rea stood there looking at Kiki with her lower lip quivering for a long moment before rummaging through her book bag until she pulled out a crinkled-up piece of paper. She handed it to Kiki who read it and almost burst out laughing, but she didn’t because Rea would take it the wrong way. It was an assignment sheet from a Composition class that Rea would be taking and the essay she was being asked to write was the sort of thing that would get the class into the swing of things after a holiday.

You are to write 1000 words about the fun things you did over the Summer Holiday.

One thousand words, basically two pages double spaced. Kiki knew that Rea could bang it out in an hour if she wanted, so that wasn’t the problem. Even so, Kiki noticed that Rea was starting to cry. Upon seeing this, Vanesa left the room without a word. Dealing with a distraught girl wasn’t something that she wanted to deal with. Vanesa had complained in the past about how it was nothing but drama with her younger siblings, something she despised.

“Everyone is going to laugh” Rea sobbed as Kiki sat Rea down on her bed. “The holiday was awful. We were tricked into going there willingly. Then we found out that we just had the clothes we were wearing, so we had to wear these horrible dresses that were made from sackcloth. That isn’t a joke. We spent the entire holiday working. Pulling weeds, scrubbing pots and doing laundry…” Rea trailed off.

“Why don’t you write about that?” Kiki asked, “Just say what happened, the truth.”

The only thing that might surprise Rea’s classmates about what happened is that she didn’t land in a reform school.

“You didn’t hear me!” Rea wailed, “Everyone saw what you did and expect that I had a holiday like that. When they learn the truth, it will be the funniest thing they will have ever heard.”

That meant that after being rejected by her sister, Rea now had the prospect of being rejected by her classmates as well.

“Please calm down” Kiki said repeatedly, not even succeeding in getting Rea’s attention. Instead she just found herself sitting on her bed with her sister who was sobbing uncontrollably.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Four


19th September 1959

Mitte, Berlin

The line about twin sisters was that there was a smart one and a wild one. They made that assumption about Rea and Vicky. However, Kat had known them from time that she had been holding Rea minutes after she was born and they were waiting for Vicky, so she knew better. They were both of equal intelligence, just they expressed it differently. Rea was the far more the imaginative of the two and far better at coming up with ideas. Vicky was better at putting those ideas into practice. Vicky was actually far from being the wild one in that she seemed to want far more structure and stability than Rea did. Generally, there was a push and pull between the twins where the strengths of one generally made up for the weaknesses of the other. Now though, with Rea and Vicky separated for the first time in their lives, Louis Ferdinand and Charlotte were finding that things had taken a disturbing turn.

Of course, as soon as Kat arrived in the solarium that had become the unofficial office space of the Empress in the Winter Residence, the subject of the twins was the first thing that Charlotte wanted to talk about after tea was served.

“The twins are not particularly well liked” Kat explained, “In the past, everyone has been afraid of what would happen if they were provoked. Now that they are at odds and that has clearly changed.”

“I take it that there are many looking to get even?” Charlotte asked.

“These are teenaged girls we are talking about” Kat replied, “There is a line forming to the left.”

Charlotte frowned when she had heard that. While everyone had agreed that something had needed to be done regarding Marie and Victoria, there were a number of unforeseen consequences that they were having to deal with. The meeting with the Headmistress of the gymnasia about the growing backlash against the twins was one of those things.

“This did cause Marie to turn to Kristina for help” Charlotte said, “So it isn’t a complete disaster.”

It was Kat’s turn to frown. That wasn’t exactly a great outcome either. Kiki helping her sister with a carefully worded essay was one thing. Having a fourteen-year-old leaning on her for emotional support was the last thing that she needed right now though. Kat thought that Kiki was taking on too much, she had already suffered health problems that stemmed from overburdening herself the previous winter. Just how resilient was Kiki mentally? Kat couldn’t begin to have the first clue. Her own experience was that no one really knew until they reached the point where things simply fell apart. That was especially true with overachievers who don’t ask for help until they were flying off into the void.

“Even so” Kat said, “We need to find a way to get the twins to reconcile, they are much stronger together as opposed to whatever this is, even separate they’ll muddle through. I’m more worried about Kiki though, she takes on too much.”

“You would know” Charlotte said.

Kat didn’t want to hear that. How many times had Aunt Marcella talked to her about how she was burning the candle from both ends and that the day would come when she would regret it?

“What do you think of Louis’ latest idea?” Charlotte asked, changing the subject.

“Which one?” Kat asked in reply.

“The Electors.”

“Oh” Kat replied. She had heard that Louis had had proposed a series of reforms in the Reichstag regarding the royal succession. The same proposals had the Royalists on the far right completely outraged, from Kat’s perspective that meant that they probably had a great deal of merit. One of the ideas would be that the next Emperor wouldn’t automatically be the heir of Prussia. Instead, they would be going back to something like the election of the Emperor in the Holy Roman Empire with a modernized spin. Kat knew history well enough to know that whoever got appointed to the role of “Prince Elector” would be granted a tremendous amount of power within society.

“It’s still a secret but Louis is planning on retiring in favor of Freddy when he turns sixty-four, like his grandfather did” Charlotte said, “We would need to have the system set up by then.”

A decade hardly seemed like enough for that task.

“He also wants all the regions of the Empire represented” Charlotte said. No wonder the Royalists were outraged, a democratization of that process was the antithesis of everything that they believed in. What many had dubbed, the lucky sperm club was more in line with their thinking. “Do you have any idea of who ought to represent Berlin as Elector?”

“I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy” Kat said, “I love this city and have spent almost my entire life here, but I know the reality. Too many factions pulling in different directions. Whoever gets the job will either try to please everyone or they will know that its impossible and try to please no one. Either way they will need to be patient until the very special presentation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in the Reichstag with real knives and blood.”

“Surly that is an exaggeration” Charlotte said.

“Ask Friedrich Ebert Junior if I am wrong?” Kat said, naming the Governing Mayor of Berlin. The City’s politics made the actions of the teenaged girls who Charlotte worried were going to be coming after the twins seem very tame by comparison.

“You can make that happen?” Charlotte asked, only half seriously.

“He owes his entire career to my family” Kat said, “If I call him, he will pick up the phone.”

Charlotte was a little surprised by that. Kat was telling the truth though. There was a reason why her father had avoided getting arrested during his long career. Knowing where all the bodies were buried and which up and coming politicians were already bent was a part of that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Five


5th October 1959

Tempelhof, Berlin

It was one of those rare autumn afternoons where it had been raining that morning, but the sun had come out and the sky was filled with puffy white clouds under a vivid blue sky. Convincing Rea’s teachers to let her free from a couple of school periods had been difficult, especially because they saw it as an opportunity for her to goof off with her older sister. Kiki had been forced to get Doctor Berg to say that it was because Ria had a medical appointment, which was true after a fashion. Kiki was certain that Berg would have a lot of questions for Rea, mostly because twins raised so many of those for someone in the medical field.

Rea was looking around the quadrangle as they walked across it. One day it would a green plaza in the middle of the Humboldt Campus of the University of Berlin. Today however, it served to remind everyone just how new the campus was. One day it would boast tree shaded concrete walkways and lawns meant to invoke a forest with meadows. Presently, the trees were hardly more than saplings still standing between the two stakes that supported them. The lawns were swampy patches of grass that had signs warning people to stay off. Thoughtless people who didn’t read the signs would get what they deserved when cold water soaked their shoes.

Entering the cafeteria Kiki saw Doctor Berg sitting at a table reading a magazine, the headline said that it was about China. Rather than joining her they joined the line with the rest of the lunch crowd. Chatting with her sister about the food that was good and what was best avoided was enjoyable. Still, knowing who they were having lunch with, Kiki did her best to make selections that would get her the least amount of grief. As they approached the table, Berg looked up and gave Kiki a look that suggested that she knew that one of the aspects of this change of scenery was that she couldn’t order for her. It was something that Berg had used to send a message to her about what she thought of Kiki’s ability to take care of herself on more than one occasion.

“Pleased to finally meet one of my protégée’s infamous little sisters” Berg said in greeting to Rea as they sat down.

Rea didn’t say anything in reply, she just pushed the pasta that she had gotten around her plate with her fork.

“Marie’s had a hard time lately” Kiki said, “Her and Victoria haven’t been getting along and she’s been having difficulty at school.”

It was a bit of an understatement. When Kiki had gotten Rea from school, she had found that Rea had been put in a desk at the front of the class, presumably to keep a close eye on her. It had also made Rea the perfect target for her classmates any time teacher’s back was turned. She remembered from her own time in the very same classroom that the teacher in question could easily put a stop to it but didn’t. Rea had angered a lot of people over the prior two years. While the gymnasia couldn’t throw her out because of who their father was, Kiki wouldn’t put it past them to make things so difficult for Rea that she would leave on her own.

“I’m not having a hard time” Rea mumbled, “Everyone hates me there.”

Berg sat there with a knowing look on her face. Kiki had discussed with her at length about how many of Rea’s problems were self-inflicted.

“I would say that you need to remember that whatever you are going through now is temporary and completely trite” Berg said bluntly, “You could always be like the children I was just reading about who are dying of starvation because growing enough food is impossible where they live and importing it would cost too much.”

Kiki was a bit surprised that Berg said that, perhaps for the first time ever Rea didn’t have a snide remark in reply. How many times had Berg said that if she didn’t challenge those seeking her council, then what was the point? Kiki suddenly remembered that. To Nora Berg, Rea was just another naïve girl who lacked perspective. It was a role that Kiki herself had played too often in the past. There was also the aspect of what Berg’s specialty was. Her delivering blunt advice, cutting through whatever bullshit delusions her patient might have would be a huge part of that.

“Good” Berg said, “Now that I’ve got your attention, I’ve so many questions for you.”

“You cannot be serious?” Kiki demanded.

“I’m dead serious” Berg replied, “Do you honestly think that you are the only one who I talk to Kristina? When I last talked to your stepmother, she was worried that Marie lacked direction and is more interested in feeling sorry for herself than bettering her situation. A good solid kick or two is one of the few things that no one has tried.”

“But what about how she spent the Summer Holiday?”

“That was merely a good start” Berg said, “I would say that the Nuns probably made the mistake of trying to lay on a heavy load of religious indoctrination. With a girl like her that caused most of the lessons they were trying to teach Marie to fly into one ear and out the other.”

That did sound like Rea, who had forgotten her food and was weeping silently. What exactly had Kiki gotten her little sister into?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Six


12th October 1959

Near Newcomb, Upstate New York

Join the Army, haul a frigging cannon up and down hills and the magazines to feed the damned thing, Ritchie thought to himself as they crested the latest ridge, he knew better to say such a thing out loud. At least the scenery was nice, and the hills were not as tall as the ones in Colorado. The funny part was that Jonny said that this was actually the best part of being a soldier. Spend the days doing a long-range patrol followed by nights spent in local campgrounds that were otherwise abandoned for the season. Ritchie had to admit that after a day in the woods, a hot shower and a full night spent sleeping on a cot in a vacation cottage was a welcome change over the alternatives when it was raining all night like two nights before. For the most part, the caretakers were more than happy to let them use the space when Jonny asked, apparently it was something that he had been doing since the 1st SFG had been established at Fort Drum a few years earlier. Then there was the other aspect.

Somehow, Jonny’s ‘58 Falcon mysteriously ended up parked at the campsite with coolers containing food, soft-drinks and beer locked in the trunk when they arrived there at the end of the day. “It’s all about planning Runt” Jonny had said to him when asked. “Would you rather be up in the woods living off K-rations?”

Ritchie really wished that they had a different name for him. Parker said that if he wanted better than he would have to earn it. He had asked the Squad’s radio operator “Huck” how he had done it only to learn that his real name was actually Samuel Clemens Spooner. The reason he had gotten stuck with the nickname Huckleberry in the first minutes of Basic were too obvious to even mention.

He could hear Huck a few paces behind him, in addition to his own gear he had the heavy radio set strapped to his back. So, Richie was very aware of how of things could always get worse. A few paces ahead of Richie, was Simon Kravitz, the Squad’s Grenadier. The stock of the grenade launcher was sticking up out of his rucksack. Richie didn’t know what to make of thing, it looked like a big shotgun and packed a punch but was slow to load. The perspective of Kravitz was on display in that he carried a rifle on a sling. He said that if the shit hit the fan here in Upstate Bumfuck then he preferred to have more than one shot. Considering that Kravitz said that he considered everything north of Yonkers to be Bumfuck it was hardly a surprise. Jonny was the Squad Leader and Parker was his assistant. They were ahead somewhere over the top of the ridge. Jules Mullens, who had decided that being in the Army had more of a future than the lumber industry in Maine was the last member of the Squad. He was presumably walking behind Huck.

Seeing Jonny and Parker looking at a map and looking down the ridge brought Richie to a stop. Far below was the road and the sunlight reflecting off of a lake. “Look at that” Jonny said, “We’re a couple hours ahead of schedule and we can already see where we are going to crash tonight.”

“How far is that?” Ritchie asked.

“Only about a mile” Parker said, “If you could fly Runt.”

Ritchie knew better than to react to that. It would only encourage them. The next couple hours or so would involve them making their way down the ridge, preferably without getting killed or destroying their knees.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Places like this were found throughout the region. Every summer, thousands of people from New York City with the means to would come to spend two weeks in July or August outside the heat and humidity of the city. It would be crowded and full of life. Now though, it was mid-October and it was little more than a gas station and general store out in the middle of nowhere. Finally, able to rest after spending the entire day walking, Ritchie was sitting with his back against the fence of the yard of the caretaker’s house while Jonny got the keys to the cottage from the caretaker himself.

Dozing in the sunlight, Ritchie heard the cars pull in. Opening his eyes, he saw the red Ford Falcon and yellow VW Rabbit. Behind the wheel of the Falcon was Gloria, Jonny’s girlfriend, another woman who Ritchie didn’t know was driving the Rabbit. That was one mystery solved.

“Must be nice to have a girl willing to do that for you” Huck said as he handed Ritchie a bottle.

“I wouldn’t know” Ritchie replied. His high school sweetheart had written to him recently after somehow learning he was in the Army. He had yet to write her back, not because he didn’t want to but because any letter from him would get her into a fight with her parents. They hated his guts because he was too poor and too Mexican for their liking. Taking a drink, Ritchie could taste the sweet of apple juice but alcohol as well. “What is this?” He asked.

“The caretaker spent some time in France with the 1st Division” Huck said, “When Jonny paid for putting us up for the night he threw in a few bottles of hard cider. Anything for America’s fighting men, he said.”

“What did he have to say about this?” Ritchie asked, tapping the 1st SFG patch on the dark green beret that they all wore.

“He said it wasn’t our fault if we had no idea who our fathers were” Huck said. Ritchie laughed at that. It was exactly the sort of thing that someone from the Big Red One would say.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Seven


16th November 1959

Mitte, Berlin

I know that you’ve had a difficult few months. Normally I would tell you to just be yourself and try to impress others but that hasn’t worked out well in the past, so just try to behave yourself for once. Those were the delightful words from her father when Rea learned that she was switching schools.

It had been Kiki who had tried to stop the move. Arguing that the so-called adults were using her as a scapegoat for their own failures. That had been seconds before she had been ordered to stop talking by their father. While Rea had been subjected to that sort of thing dozens of times, her sister had very seldom been. That was why Rea had been moved to very different school from the one she had known in the first week of November. Whereas the gymnasia had stressed tradition and academic excellence in the classical model, the progressive comprehensive school she found herself in had a very different focus. It was also co-educational, which was a huge shock to Rea. Spending an afternoon period each day in what was dubbed the resource room was a part of that, the school wanted to help her adjust to the culture shock she was experiencing instead of physical education. What that meant in practice was that she had found herself in an otherwise unused classroom that was partially used for storage with several other misfits. Rea having been frozen out of her previous school certainly gained her a bit of acceptance among them. At least she no longer had to take Latin, it had that going for it.

“Have a good weekend?” Rea heard a voice ask. Looking over she saw Japik Antema, one of the other odd ducks in the school was looking at her.

Japik had been sitting in the desk next to hers on the first day. The first thing she had noticed was that he dressed manner that was particularly flash, despite the school’s dress code. Unlike her, he had been attending this school for years, but didn’t get along with the others for some undefined reason and that had landed him in there as well. It might have been because of where his family had come from and his odd name. When Rea had asked, he had just ignored the question. Another girl in their class had said something about how it was something that should be obvious to everyone, that he would never be interested in her as more than a friend. Then when Rea questioned her further, she had gotten embarrassed and refused to speak further.

“Spent it with my older sister and Tante Kathrine” Rea replied.

“Still not getting along with the rest of your family?”

“No” Rea replied and then went back to her studies.

“No, you are getting along with family or no, you still aren’t talking to them?” Japik asked.

Rea struggled to hide the annoyance from her face.

“Who said that they would say anything worth hearing?” Rea asked in reply, thinking of what her father had said.

Japik just smirked and went back to his own studies. The first week she had complained about her difficulties to him because he was one of the few who actually listened. Looking back to her studies, Rea noticed that it was the assigned reading in her history textbook about the ancient empires in the Mesopotamia. It was almost the exact same thing she had read about during the Spring Term before the Summer Holiday and it was a reminder of what she had been told on the first day. If she just applied herself, this didn’t mean the end of her aspirations. She could still be on track to go to University, just there were more obstacles to that now and Rea had to want it. It was also a reminder to something that Kat had said to her, about how it was far easier to fall between the cracks than it was to try to accomplish something with her life.

Then there was Nora Berg, Rea had been surprised by the relationship that Kiki had with that blunt woman. They talked candidly about some of the most horrendous things. During that first lunch that Rea had just sat there and listened for the most part. It was at the second lunch Berg had asked if she had the same issues with anemia that Kiki did. Rea had made the mistake of asking what Berg had meant by that.

“Did you hear the latest?” Japik asked.

“About what?” Rea asked in reply.

“Just your presence here has caused trouble for the Prima” Japik said, “She doesn’t like how you are in with us freaks.”

It was an odd source of annoyance for Rea, the girl who everyone called Prima, though not to her face, was an overachieving social climber who had dominated the social aspects of their class and Student Government. Rea’s arrival and her friendship with the likes of Japik had disrupted her ideas about how the world was supposed to be ordered. What was it that Kat had told her about such social situations?

“That sounds like a personal problem to me” Rea replied, and she saw the smirk return to Japik’s face. Perhaps being at a co-educational school had a bright side, being able to state ideas like that with Japik was a plus.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Eight


4th December 1959

Tempelhof, Berlin

Because Kiki was a year ahead of them, she lived on a different floor of the dormitory. Still she came flying down the stairs and into the recreation room on their floor. Zella and Aurora were watching the evening news while waiting for Friday Night Variety to come on when Kiki ran in and plopped herself down on the vinyl couch next to them. The news was the usual dry commentary, this time talking over film of the battles that were being fought by the British Army somewhere in Africa. It looked like a bloody mess wherever it was.

“You’ve got to see what’s on channel three” Kiki said.

“But what about Variety?” Zella asked.

“It will still be on” Kiki said, “But if you want to see something that will make you wonder what the studio heads are smoking.”

Zella hesitated. Because she was trying to take her studies seriously and staying in her parent’s good graces was important if she didn’t want her mother to sell her motorcycle, she had been staying in most nights. Something that had resulted in her getting a visit from a couple members of the Moondogs. Paul and George were disappointed that she was no longer the one covering their shows in Berlin for the BT. Instead, they were being covered by whatever Reporter drew the shortest straw and none of them understood their music. Getting back into watching Friday Night Variety was a poor substitute for seeing the bands live, but Zella would take what she could get. And because most of the other women who they shared the floor with were far less serious about such matters, they were out enjoying the nightlife. Zella and Aurora had the recreation room all to themselves most weeks.

Aurora was more decisive, she got up and changed the channel. What was on was a surreal puppet show made with stop-motion animation.

“See” Kiki said, “They are watching this upstairs and I figured that you ought to see it.”

“Imagine if this wasn’t in black and white” Aurora said.

“I figure the colors would be eye wateringly bright” Kiki replied.

It was exactly the sort of pablum that was considered family programing. However, Kiki was right in that it was incredibly strange.

“Is Rea coming around this weekend?” Zella asked.

“I assume so, she’s been talking about going to the Christmas Markets with me and Freddy” Kiki replied.

“Is she bringing any of her new friends?”

“No, her Frisian friend is busy” Kiki said, “I wish I could just tell her that she is barking up the wrong tree with that one, but I doubt that she would listen if I talked to her about this matter.”

Zella would never have described Kiki as particularly worldly, but her stubborn little sister was very naïve about certain matters. Making friends with a boy who was so obviously a dear friend of Old Fritz and being unaware of that…

“Will you two be quiet” Aurora said, “I’m trying to watch this.”

“Are you joking?” Zella asked.

“Majoring in Communications” Kiki said, “Remember.”

“Oh” Zella replied. Aurora had been paying close attention to what was on television for that very reason. Not the necessarily the content, but the medium. How messages were conveyed.

----------------------------------------------------------------

It was the first time in some time that Peter was meeting with Kat. While she still had her issues, he had figured that she had learned ways to cope with them and now had her family and extensive network of friends to support her. Still, as Peter had learned, the old expression about how what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger didn’t apply to Kat. There were some things that caused her to go completely unhinged. The case she had asked him to consult on that had her on the trail of a serial killer was one of those things. Sven Werth had told Peter that his team was keeping Kat somewhat removed from the investigation, but someone in her position would be impossible to keep out completely. Peter had felt the need to go to Kat’s house and brief her, if for no other reason than to see for himself how she was.

“My conclusion?” Peter asked, “You’re dealing with psychopath and sexual sadist. Now please tell me that you haven’t made this your latest crusade.”

“I have not been back to Silesia since I alerted the Federal Police to this man’s existence” Kat replied, giving him a non-answer answer of the sort of which she had gotten very good at giving over the years.

“This is the sort of man you feel that you have a duty to rip to tiny pieces” Peter said, “So I seriously doubt that you are letting this go so easily. Especially after you gave me the case file.”

“I don’t need to rip this man apart” Kat replied, “The State will do a better job of that than I ever could, and Helene fell a few votes short of ending Capital punishment. Remember?”

“You think you’ll be content knowing that this man is minus his head?” Peter asked.

“For a bit” Kat replied.

Peter had some more questions, but they were interrupted when two of Kat’s children ran into the room. To his surprise, Tatiana and Malcolm were both eight, nearly nine, years of age. Where had the time gone? They both seemed healthy and Kat switched from being angry about what she perceived as predator who had been allowed to prey on those who she saw a part of herself in, to being the warm inviting presence who they knew as their mother.

After a few minutes of chatting with the children in some odd dialect of French, Kat looked up at Peter. He had caught a few words about “Uncle Emil” so apparently, they knew who he was.

“Petia wants to know if you are staying around for dinner tonight?” She asked.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Nine


12th December 1959

Mitte, Berlin

Kat received a call from Nancy who was in quite a state on what had been a peaceful Saturday afternoon. She had not been comfortable telling Kat what was going on over the phone, so Kat had driven to the townhouse that she had leased with Tilo when he had been posted to the Naval Department in the War Ministry. Having Tilo continuing his effort of improve the standing the Marine Infantry was something that Kat considered a mild annoyance. They had always reveled in their status of being the worst castoffs of the Heer, in the Pacific however they had come into their own. That was the reason why Tilo’s efforts had been bolstered by a series of films depicting the battles that the Marine Infantry had fought in the Pacific War and continued to fight as they attempted to bring order to that vast region. Suddenly, the Marines were the service to join for the adventurous who were looking for some real action. Of course, if there was trouble, leave it to the Marines to find it.

Entering the house, Kat was once again amazed by the choice of décor. The odd mixture of East meets West that he had put together with Nancy’s help. He had filled bookshelves with works of philosophy and the walls were covered with art that ranged from prints of paintings by the Old Masters, Japanese wood block paintings and Vietnamese landscapes. The furniture was equally eclectic, reflecting the travels and wide experiences of both Nancy and Tilo.

“What was so important that you couldn’t tell me over the phone?” Kat asked as she entered the kitchen. Nancy was watching Sebastian playing with toy cars on the floor, it was noticeable that she looked distressed.

“We figured out that Tilo and I are expecting again” Nancy said.

“Is that what is going on with you” Kat said, “While I can understand why you would be apprehensive, I would assume that congratulations are in order.”

“That’s not it” Tilo said as he seemed to come out of the kitchen wall. Kat knew that he must have been there the entire time, but he had spent years working on his focus. An odd sort of stillness of both the mind and body that had the practical effect of making one’s eyes slide around him without seeing him.

“This is what we want” Nancy said, “The problem started when we began informing the people closest to us of the news, we had only just started when…” Nancy stopped talking.

“We got this back from Portland when we tried to contact Nancy’s friend Beatrice” Tilo said, and then he handed her a yellow piece of paper. “This seemed like something that is in your wheelhouse.”

Reading the telegram, Kat was bewildered by what she was reading. It was perfunctory, just saying that Nancy’s friend Beatrice had died of unspecified causes not long after Nancy had talked to her the previous May.

“I don’t see what you expect me to do about this” Kat said.

“You investigate matters” Nancy said, clearly upset. “Or at least cut the nuts off that louse Beatrice has for a husband.”

“As much as I think that would be justice” Kat said, “My reach doesn’t extend into America. All joking aside castration is a waste of time, so I’ve never considered it beyond a bluff.”

“That is crap” Nancy said, before she stormed out of the room.

“I’m sorry” Tilo said just after they heard the door slam. “I told her almost the same thing you told her before you got here.”

“No need to apologize” Kat said, “These things happen.”

“You really can’t do much?” Tilo asked.

“I can make a few phone calls” Kat replied, “But as I said, it’s not like I could go there in person and I don’t trust the BND’s North American Division. It’s still very much your father’s fiefdom.”

“You really need to bury the hatchet with him” Tilo said, “He admits that he screwed things up.”

“It’s not that simple” Kat said, “He is a manipulative bastard, and it didn’t stop after I left. He continued to twist things to his advantage for years afterwards, making me doubt myself, getting between me and my husband. That is harder to let go of.”

“I see” Tilo said, he didn’t seem too surprised.

----------------------------------------------------------------

While they were in a festive mood, it was hardly the sort of afternoon that would have fit with what they were doing. It being the Christmas season, it should have been snowing, but the weather wasn’t cooperating, so it was cold, drizzly rain instead. That was why Suga had brought an umbrella when Freddy had invited her to come along.

As Kiki and Rea were drifting from stall to stall making occasional purchases and talking to the vendors. Freddy hung back talking with Suga about the books that he had been reading as a part of his studies. Kiki thought that it was long past time that the two of them talked about things that they were mutually interested in. A few days earlier, Freddy had started talking about the properties of concrete, Kiki had seen Suga check her watch and it had been all she could do to avoid laughing. Looking into one of the stalls, Kiki caught a whiff of the smell of the pepper cakes. Last year she had gorged herself on the things, this year she had promised herself that she wouldn’t do that to herself.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Fifty


28th December 1959

Kleinberg, Silesia

The preparations for New Year’s Eve were well underway, even if the staff was finding it difficult to do with the children underfoot. When Hans and Helene had arrived a week prior Käte’s prediction about the Graf’s namesake grandson one day being as tall as his father looked to be coming to pass. Manfred realizing that Manny was taller than he was at thirteen was a shock, and that the boy wasn’t finished growing yet. He had regaled Manfred with his exploits on the Football pitch, having made his neighborhood’s Youth League team, he wanted to be a starting Forward, but the Coach wasn’t letting him do that until he got older. At Manny’s age just making the team was impressive, especially in a place like Berlin which had staggering amount of talent at their disposal. Manny’s younger sister Ina delighted in coming to the estate, even if Manfred was unsure how to relate to Helene’s daughter. The girl was all about rainbows and unicorns, but it at least showed some intelligence. Sonje’s children had inherited their father’s lack of that and Caecilia’s were basically being raised by television. It was far too soon to tell what Albrecht’s boy would be like. With any luck Nikolaus would grow up to be a pilot like his grandfather, and Manfred grudgingly had to admit, his father. Manfred’s hope was that he would eventually steer Niko into the Luftwaffe. Though that could backfire badly, and the boy would become one of those lunatics in the Fallschirmjäger Corps. Regardless of what happened, Elisabeth would probably have none of it and work to see Niko in University like his father. Manfred found that last part a bit amusing. How had that worked out?

The arrival of Katherine’s children before Christmas had been a bit of a surprise, though in retrospect it shouldn’t have been. The oldest girl was apparently fostered to Douglas and Katherine’s house. All Manfred had been told a vague line about how Josefine’s father had been a business associate of Katherine’s father. The less said about that the better. They had welcomed her into their household and family over the last few years. Jo told everyone that she lived with her Aunt and Uncle, so the girl must be appreciative on some level. Even if her attitude didn’t always reflect it. Tatiana and Malcolm were growing fast, with Tat an inquisitive, boisterous girl and Kol being more reserved. According to what Katherine had told Käte, Kol had been struggling with a learning disorder that caused him to struggle academically. Finding Kol poring over the scrapbooks full of newspaper articles and photographs that Manfred had accumulated over an adventurous lifetime was seen by the Graf as a good sign of where the boy’s head was at. Katherine’s youngest was just progressing from being a toddler. It was noticeable that her easy-going personality seemed to be a lot like Douglas’ despite Marie’s extremely close physical resemblance to Katherine. Manfred considered it a bit odd that Marie’s personality was a relief to her mother.

Yesterday morning, Katherine had packed a bag and left without explanation after getting a phone call. The lack of reaction by her husband and children showed that it was something that they were used to. Manfred knew that she had retired from the Heer but had been appointed to be the personal Investigator to the Emperor himself in addition to her role as Obersthofmeisterin. Manfred could see why the House of Hohenzollern would want someone they could trust implicitly in those roles. However, he could also see that it had taken a toll on Katherine over the years. Douglas said that she had said that she was due to be back before New Year’s as if it was something that was almost expected.


Montreal, Canada

Gloria should have known that it was too good to be true, but she had stupidly walked into a trap thinking it was a book event that she had been invited to a few days after Christmas. Someone had convinced her Agent that a writer’s group was meeting in Montreal and they wanted her to speak to them about her book. The worst part was that John had warned her that something like this was coming. She had known for a long time that her boyfriend was a lot smarter than he let on and had a better understanding of how the world worked. The result was that Gloria was annoyed and Jane, who Gloria had invited to come along, was terrified. They were in a freight elevator that was ascending while surrounded by a half dozen men in nondescript suits who were extremely polite, though they had made it very clear that they were not being given a choice in the matter. Polite or not, it was obvious that they were police.

As the elevator stopped, one of the men opened the gate and gestured them through.

“I’m terribly sorry if you were inconvenienced” An older man in a dark three-piece suit who was standing there as they got off the Elevator and fell into step with them. “But the Countess felt that it was necessary that you were given a proper cover for your presence here.”

“The Countess?” Gloria asked, with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Since Gloria had completed the biography of Gräfin Katherine von Mischner-Blackwood she had found nothing but a deep silence from the Countess herself. Now it seemed that they had an answer.

“Thank you, Sir Malcolm” Gloria heard a voice say and yes it was the Gräfin herself. The man in the dark suit was Katherine’s Father-in-Law, Sir Malcolm Blackwood, who she had named her son after.

“We’ve a few things to discuss” The Gräfin said, “Your little friend can wait outside.”

With that Jane was led off by Sir Malcolm who made a point of telling her that he had thought that her father was great in Twelve Angry Men. Gloria was left alone with Katherine, who she was now acutely aware of what she was capable of. When, or if, she ever got a chance to tell Jonny about this, he would probably say that her told her so, even if he wouldn’t take a whole lot of enjoyment from it.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Fifty-One


31st December 1959

Kleinberg, Silesia

The party was in full swing as midnight approached and Ilse only wanted to escape the room. Lately, she had been struggling with a great deal and the social aspects of her life had grown increasingly difficult. The things that were supposed to bring her satisfaction like her career and family, didn’t. It was something that few people seemed to understand. The crippling agoraphobia still plagued her and the fear that she might lose everything in the blink of an eye was always at the back of her mind. Ilse supposed that if her life were a movie the credits would have rolled after she had Nikolaus, and everyone would have assumed that she lived happily ever after. They would be completely wrong.

Ilse was still living with her sister because Albrecht was absent much of the year and that included tonight. Her career had become a source of frustration because it seemed like if no one to wanted to listen to the increasingly disturbing effects she was discovering that were the result of burning coal. There had been times when she joked about changing her name to Cassandra only to have no one get it, a detail that had only served to make her feel more alone.

“You should be celebrating” Käte said as she approached the chair in the corner that Ilse was sitting in, “You survived another year.”

“That is all I’ve done” Ilse relied.

“You need to accept that sometimes that is the best you can do” Käte said, “I was alone like you are now a lot of time when Lothar, Helene and Albrecht were little, so I’ve a good idea of what you are going through. You are fortunate to have a purpose. All I did was rattle around this house for several months as the Lady of the Manor and I didn’t have the first clue as to what that meant.”

That was a reminder that Ilse was feeling sorry for herself. Käte given up her career when she had married because it was expected in those days and marrying into an aristocratic family had come with certain expectations she had not been prepared for. It had only been in the last decade that Käte had been able to resume her career as a Nurse Practitioner in the Neurology Ward of Breslau's University Hospital.

“It’s just that things are difficult for me right now” Ilse said.

“I would be worried if it wasn’t” Käte replied, “I just wish that my son was acting as smart as he supposedly is when it comes to you and Nikolaus.”

“I tried going to Vietnam with him” Ilse said, “Look how that turned out.”

“Sure, you got malaria” Käte said, “But you also conceived a wonderful little boy while you were there, so I would say that you came out ahead.”

That was true, but there was more to it than Käte realized. After Nikolaus had been born and she had recovered, Ilse had been encouraged to have a complete medical checkup done. A lot of things had been discovered, like just how much damage had been inflicted on Ilse during her childhood. Evidence of the long-term effects of malnutrition and the abuse she had suffered had been extensive. The odds had been firmly stacked against her ever being a mother. Ilse had also been told that her heart had healed to the extent that surgical intervention shouldn’t be necessary, still it would need to be carefully monitored for the rest of her life.

“I just want Niko to have a better life than me” Ilse said.

“He already has” Käte said, “No one abandoned him on the steps of a church a few hours after he was born.”

Ilse paused, who had told Käte about that? Or worse, what her father had once said to her about the horrific fate would likely have befallen Ilse if her mother had not abandoned her.

“Manfred, damn him, insisted on running an extensive background check on you when you and Albrecht became a couple” Käte said, “It wasn’t pleasant reading and it was why Manfred spent so much effort trying to get him to spare you further pain.”

“All I remember was that I was never exactly sure what the Graf’s motivations were” Ilse said.

“He was trying to protect both of you in his own way” Käte said, “That is generally what motivates him, though he often doesn’t go about doing it the right way.”

“I guess” Ilse said absently. Her eyes tracking to Kat and Doug who were just rejoining the party after saying that they’d had an important matter to discuss in private. Ilse couldn’t help but notice that Kat’s clothes were slightly askew. “They’re behaving like a pair of teenagers tonight” She muttered.

“I wouldn’t judge your sister too harshly” Käte said with a chuckle, “She has the weight of the world on her shoulders most of the time and it’s wonderful that they are still very much in love.”

The previous week, Kat had left suddenly for a couple days and when she had gotten back Kat had been in a good mood. Ilse knew that usually meant that someone who her sister felt was deserving had been left bleeding in a ditch somewhere. She had been unusually happy since then, and now there was this.

“I’m not judging” Ilse said, as she realized that she was if anything, envious. “I just wish that they weren’t so obvious.”

“I’ll need to remember that when Albrecht gets back” Käte said.

Ilse tried, without success, to keep her thoughts from her face. Was she that transparent?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Fifty-Two


4th January 1960

Tempelhof, Berlin

It might be a new year and a new decade, but the same old problems persisted. Kiki was feeling particularly pensive as she sat down for lunch with Doctor Berg. Much to her annoyance, Berg had made a comment that suggested that she kept track of Kiki’s moods by saying that Kiki would be wise to simply care for herself that afternoon. It was a major difficulty of having her Doctor being her mentor, Berg kept track of such things because she felt responsible for Kiki’s health. Instead of talking, Kiki kept her silence because she didn’t trust herself not to say something that she might later regret.

Focusing on the copy of The Mirror that she had in front of her, she was reading about the formation and continued activities of the Hundecorps. The sidebar article caught her eye. It was a story about the Friedrich II Medal and how the first recipient had been a Pitbull Terrier named Reisser who had been one of the first dogs trained to sniff out explosives. The dog had prevented a Japanese fanatic from blowing up the SPz-2 APC that the Squad he was attached to was riding in. It also mentioned that Reiser had been retired from the service at the age of eight and lived with the family of his handler for the remaining six years of his life. The photograph was of him among the members of the Squad. To Kiki’s eye they looked like a rough lot which was what expected of Panzer Dragoons. A Pitbull was a perfect mascot even if he served an important function.

“You’ve been accepted into the University’s War Academy” Berg said, “As if anyone had any doubts.”

Kiki most certainly had plenty of doubts about the whole matter. The entire application process had been a minefield and she had been fretting for weeks over whether or not she might have missed some important piece of paperwork. Or some functionary would suddenly decide that a Princess should not be doing something like that and pitch the whole application into the nearest bin.

“That’s good” Kiki said, just feeling drained. As she was in the middle of the second year of training to be a Field Medic, things had grown more intense. The prior few days had been a shock to her system after spending much of the Christmas Holiday just resting.

“Major Armbruster would like to make your acquaintance as soon as can be arranged” Berg said, “You should be excited, it’s another first for a woman from your family.”

“I’m just tired” Kiki replied.

“You ought to be, you’ve worked hard for this Fahnenjunker” Berg said with a smile, seeming to not really understand what Kiki was saying.


Wunsdorf-Zossen

The Doctor’s edict was that Horst had to cut all sugar and starches out of his diet and Nina was ruthlessly enforcing it. They had told him that if he didn’t make those changes then it was going to lead to the loss of a lot more than just his seven remaining toes. Having to stuff rags into his boots so that they fit right was constant reminder of that. Horst could still remember how in the mad scramble after the Battle of Verdun his Regiment had marched from dawn until well after dark as they had flanked the British offensive on the Somme river. As an Oberfeldwebel, Horst had been one of those tasked with pushing his outfit forward and he had been there every step of the way. These days it seemed like just walking from his car to his office was a lot to ask.

Fortunately for him, the Heer didn’t have him on to be a soldier, not for a long time. Instead he came up with strategies as a Theoretician, though he knew that he wouldn’t be around much longer even in that capacity. Erwin Rommel had been to see him in December and Horst had realized that he was speaking with his replacement. Learning that Emil had begun the process of transferring Command of the High Command to his Deputy had been a bitter pill for Horst to swallow. Emil had always been the youngest among them and he was retiring. Over Christmas Sjostedt had come to Zosen to spend time with Horst’s family, he had been surprised to notice that Sjostedt’s hair had gone completely white. Horst knew that Sjostedt would continue on in his Ministry until the day he died, he had the growing awareness that unless Sjostedt walked in front of a train, Horst would be unlikely to see it. How had the “Boys from Verdun” as the press had dubbed them when Lang had become Chancellor become a bunch of old men? Considering the sort of lives that they had led, they should have all been dead a thousand times over.

Age and his failing body weren’t the only thing that that consumed Horst’s mind. Over the holidays, Nizhoni had told Nina that her and Stefan were expecting again. After Nizhoni had suffered a miscarriage a year earlier, the two of them said that they were taking a break. That apparently had not have lasted for long though. It wouldn’t be Horst’s first grandchild, but so far, his sons had only had boys. Nina’s fondest hope was that it would be their first granddaughter. It was also in keeping with what Nina’s grandmother had said about how Nizhoni’s daughter would be special. Horst could have told her that, even without her absurd claims having some sort of special insight. Astonishingly, that crazy old bat was still alive though she was well into her ninth decade. Regardless, if it was a girl then news of Nina’s matriarchal line continuing would make the Aunts happy.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Fifty-Three


6th January 1960

Edward J. Kelly International Airport, Chicago, Illinois

“Would you mind telling me why we are doing this again?” Jane asked as they waited to board the flight to Portland.

“Because I was asked to” Gloria replied as she looked up from her book, “And there is no we here, you came along because it sounded interesting.”

In return for a copy of Katherine von Mischner’s biography that Katherine herself had taken a red pencil to, providing key edits that she felt it needed. Gloria had agreed to travel to Portland, Oregon and investigate the death of a friend of a friend of hers in return. There was the promise of a further interview in the near future where Katherine would fill in some of the blanks in her biography. Gloria realized that the friend in question was Nancy Jensen, it was a small wonder why this matter was so important to the Countess. However, rattling around in Gloria’s mind was the warning from Sir Malcolm Blackwood, those who found themselves in Katherine’s debt often had a hard time discharging it.

“Oh” Jane said, and she went back to watching people walking past through the terminal, freeing Gloria to get back to her book. There were times when Gloria was certain that Jane had nothing but dryer lint between her ears. Any time she found a new cause to get into, Jane tended to get a little too into it. It was something that had gotten her into trouble in the past and Gloria found tempering Jane’s impulsive nature to be tiring at times.

The book that Gloria was reading was proving to be a bit involved. It was the English edition of The Windward Shore, the second book of the Corded World Trilogy by Annelies Frank that Kat had given her in Montreal, with all three books signed by the Author. Gloria had finished Daughter of the Stone Forest in only a few days despite how dense of a read it was. All the books were set on the shores of the Baltic Sea sometime in the early Bronze Era with the second book occurring roughly a century after the first. The central character a middle-aged woman who was apparently the great granddaughter of the protagonist of the first book. Themes of survival and endurance were found throughout both books, but most of all the idea that memory was the greatest weapon that women had was the message that Gloria was taking away so far. As soon as she completed this errand for Katherine, Gloria would need to contact Ms. Frank. She sounded like an interesting woman.

Looking up Gloria saw Jane smiling at two pilots who were walking down the concourse. One of them tipped his hat to her as they passed. The last time that Gloria had gone for a night out on the town with Jonny in New York, Jane had said that she would like to do that sometime except she didn’t want to be a third wheel. Jonny, being ever practical, had suggested a double date by fixing Jane up with one of his friends. That would undoubtedly be the dour, humorless Staff Sergeant Jameson “Whiskey” Parker. Gloria couldn’t think of anything that Jane might have done to warrant a punishing evening spent with a man who might say three words beyond “Have a good night” if she was lucky.

As she watched, the two pilots walked over, and Jane was shamelessly flirting with them. One of them mentioned that he had seen her in the minor role she had recently played in a film and Jane covered her mouth to hide a giggle. On second thought, a night with Parker was exactly what she deserved. Fortunately, the call for boarding the flight to Portland came over the intercom.


Washington D.C.

There were jokes flying around about how being Vice President was no longer worth a bucket of warm piss, instead it simply came with the cost of a quick burial. Because Vice President Allard had died in office what had been a simple matter of nominating a sitting President for reelection had aggravated the existing divisions within the Democratic Party.


It was particularly galling to Harriman was that many within the Party seemed to be more interested in fighting with each other rather than recognizing that they had a common purpose. With a decent economy and relative domestic tranquility, Harriman should have been cruising to an easy reelection. However, with the infighting, the Republicans saw an opportunity to reclaim power after twelve years in the political wilderness and nearly being extinct as a National Party just a decade earlier. If many in his own Party couldn’t get half a loaf with Harriman, why did they seem to think that getting nothing with whoever the Republicans nominate was would be a good trade?

Then there was the better “Dead than Red” crowd who seemed to have spun recent events in Cuba to their liking. They seemed to think that former Government of that island being bought off by the Mafia and stealing everything in sight until the people were so pissed off that they overthrew it was far better than the Langist Government that replaced it. Didn’t they learn a damned thing by what had happened in Mexico? Getting rid of a moderate government eventually led to a radical one even if the revolution was stomped out for a generation. The last thing he needed was for them to do something stupid and make a complicated situation worse.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Fifty-Four


9th January 1960

Tempelhof, Berlin

It didn’t happen as much, but it did still happen. Kat had woken up with a black cloud of depression weighing on her. After forcing down a few mouthfuls of food she had gone straight back to bed. Seeing the lack of reaction that Jo, Tat and even Marie had to her being depressed made her feel even worse. Her being this way was just something that was just a part of their lives, like waking up in the morning. Who knew what sort of damage she was doing to her daughters by setting the worst sort of example imaginable? If Kat had to pick the event that had triggered this latest episode, it had been when Sven Werth had called the day before and had told her that the body of another young woman had been found in Southern Poland that matched the Modus Operandi of the killer that they were trying to catch. Another name to add to the long list of people who Kat had failed.

After an unknown amount of time the door of her bedroom opened, and she heard the soft thud of something heavy landing on the bed next to her. Prying her eyes open she saw Doug had thrown a mailbag onto the bed. “I was afraid the girls were doing something to cheer me up” Kat said.

“I told them to leave you alone” Doug replied, “They listened for once, or at least they have found something else to do for now.”

Sitting up in her bed, Kat looked at the cloth bag that Doug had dropped there. “What’s this.”

“Your fan mail” Doug said as he removed a handful of letters from the bag.

“Is that a joke?” Kat asked somewhat horrified. For a long time, she had received letters from people trying to get her to lend support to their cause or hitting her up for money. There were a few letters she got from those who called themselves her “fans” but those were of a nature that made her skin crawl. Which was why she paid others to open her mail somewhere else. If these were of that nature and Doug in a fit of well-meaning stupidity had brought them into her house…

Doug pulled a letter the envelope and read it. “This one is from Kellie Hayden in Bristol, England age twelve. She thinks you are amazing” He said, before opening more letters and reading them. “This is from a Jennifer Fitzpatrick in Santa Monica, California. She said that her parents forbid her from reading your biography, but she went to the bookstore every day after school and read it a chapter at a time… Here’s another from England, one from Australia… This one is from a twelve-year-old girl in Park Ridge, Illinois who wishes that she were more like you… This one is from a girl named Siobhan in Ireland who says that she thinks you are an inspiration…”

“Why are you doing this?” Kat asked, this was only serving to make her feel worse. These naïve girls couldn’t see the truth, that she wasn’t, and never could be, what they imagined her.

“I wish that you saw yourself how others see you” Doug said, “I worry about you when you are like this.”

Kat had no response to that, she just wished that everyone would just leave her alone.

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Kiki now understood how her father had done her a tremendous favor when he had rented that villa in the South of France. She was able to enjoy going to the beach with some measure of privacy because of that. The repulsive efforts of an American Men’s magazine were proof of that. They had offered an eye watering sum of money for nude or topless photographs of her now that she had just officially turned eighteen. They had also made it known that if she agreed to come pose for them then they would give her four times that. Kiki could see how even her wearing a revealing swimsuit would be problematic in the future.

“It is because you are seen as wholesome” Zella said as she read the article in the magazine that she had taken off of the unconscious body of one of the male students who had made the mistake of approaching Kiki with it. Kiki’s security detail had taken exception to the somewhat lewd suggestion that he had made to her and had made an example of him.

“Then they are idiots” Kiki said, “I don’t get what they would expect to see.”

“Plenty” Zella said, “You have the cutest belly button of anyone I know Kiki.”

Both Aurora and Zella found that hilarious. It was nice to know that someone found her life amusing.

“The truth is that you could wear a burlap sack and men would still drool over you” Zella said once she had stopped laughing. “They are all complete morons in that regard, except the ones who are gay. Other men are afraid of them because they are scared that they might behave towards them the way they behave towards us.”

That was an angle that Kiki had never considered, but then the sorts of things that Zella and Aurora said happened to them in public were a bit removed from her experience. This magazine was giving her a taste of that. At least when she was about in public, she had armed security on hand so that no one bothered her. She never thought that she would be thankful to have it.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Fifty-Five


11th January 1960

Portland, Oregon

As Gloria walked with Jane across the tarmac to the waiting airplane, they were hit by a gust of icy wind. Most of the time they had been in Portland it had been cold and rainy. Then it had cleared up and became absolutely frigid with wind blowing out of the East. It might be a clear, bright day but there wasn’t a whole lot of warmth in the watery sunlight. As they went up the stairs and found their seats Gloria thought about what she had been doing for the last few days.

From a legal standpoint, Gloria should not have had access to the Coroners report, but she had figured out ways to get around such things ages ago. Particularly in cases like this one where the Police had probably just wanted the case to go away. Beatrice Corwin had led a small, ordinary life and her death was of the sort that was all too common in America. A combination of alcohol and Diazepam had been what had killed her with the official cause of death listed as accidental overdose.

The autopsy had also revealed that Beatrice had been two to three months pregnant at the time of her death. That, when coupled with a husband who couldn’t keep it in his pants, five children at home a different picture emerged and the description of Beatrice telling anyone who would listen that she felt trapped and alone. At least from Gloria’s perspective, it might not have been an accident at all. The reaction she had observed among the Police Officers and the Doctor in the Emergency Room had certainly given her that impression. Like the previous times that Gloria had covered a story like this it had always come down a desire to save the family more grief, so it was hardly a surprise that the same things happened again and again. If you cannot even admit that there is a problem, how are you supposed to solve it?

At least she didn’t have to listen to hypocritical yammering about morality and values as a Doctor, who was almost always a man, tried to rationalize a woman dying of sepsis while under his care. Especially when he was a judgmental prick about how she might have gotten it. When the Countess had asked her to look into this, that had been what Gloria had been afraid she might find.

As the plane took off, Gloria bid farewell to soggy, stodgy, conservative Portland. All in the hope that she would never have to set foot in that city ever again.


12th January 1960

Tempelhof, Berlin

The word came over the intercom of the Hospital that all staff needed to report to their stations due to a mass casualty event that had just occurred. There were no other details that had been given.

“What am I supposed to do?” Kiki asked her Instructor who just looked annoyed with her. She didn’t have an assigned station in this sort of event.

“Go to Casualty, report to the Charge Nurse and do whatever you are told without asking questions” The Instructor said.

That seemed simple enough, but as Kiki tried to make her way down the corridors, she found that she was having get through bedlam. The harried Charge Nurse told Kiki to assist a middle-aged Doctor who blew his stack the instant he saw her. It seemed that he had asked for someone to assist him for what was coming their way and a young woman who was hardly more than a child was the last thing he needed. That was when Kiki heard the term industrial accident and that theirs wasn’t the only hospital that was on standby.

When the first patient was brought in, he looked like he had been beaten with a sledgehammer and his body was covered in chemical burns.

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“I know you did your best” Doctor Ott said, “But as I told you hours ago, I don’t think that you are well suited for this.”

They were sitting in the loading bay of the hospital after working for half the night. The cold winter air was refreshing after what had been going on inside. It had been a kaleidoscope of misery as they stabilized one patient only to have another take its place. Kiki had spent the entire time scrambling to get Doctor Ott whatever he needed.

“I did my best” Kiki said, “I’m still learning to be a medic.”

“You’re marginal at best” Ott said before taking another drag on his cigarette. “You have to have someone who is supervising your training. Mind telling me who that is?”

Kiki hesitated. She had no idea what she had done to earn this man’s hostility but was reluctant to lie about it. “I’m in the training program for field medics” Kiki said, “I have several instructors who you might be able to talk to.”

Ott gave her a cynical laugh. “Nice try” He said, though Kiki had not been trying to put one over on him. “It doesn’t matter, I can find that out on my own soon enough, Casualty is no place for little girls.”

With that Ott flicked his cigarette onto the pavement and went back into the hospital. It was a reminder that Kat had strongly advised her to never start smoking a few years earlier, a filthy habit was how she had termed it. It would only be a matter of time until Ott got ahold of Doctor Berg. Who knew what she would make of that?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One thousand Three Hundred Fifty-Six


18th January 1960

Tempelhof, Berlin

“I was a bit surprised that after what happened last week you didn’t call” Berg said, “I was starting to think that you were avoiding me.”

Kiki didn’t reply, possibly because she had been doing exactly that because she feared what sort feedback she was going to get.

After nearly a week of avoiding Doctor Berg, Kiki finally ran out of excuses with their regular lunch every Monday. What followed were several long minutes of Kiki sitting silently, picking at her food because she was afraid of where the conversation would lead. Berg had ordered before Kiki had gotten there, so Kiki found herself with a green salad that included spinach and boiled eggs. It was one of Berg’s way of saying that she didn’t think that Kiki was taking care of herself again. Which wasn’t what Kiki needed right now, not exactly anyway.

“I screwed everything up last week” Kiki finally blurted out, “By now you’ve talked to Doctor Ott and I’m sure you know that as well.”

Oddly, Berg seemed amused by that. “No one died because you were negligent” She said, “And Thomas knows that you did the best you could, he understands you are still training to be a medic.”

Doctor Berg was on a first name basis with Doctor Ott? That gave Kiki a sinking feeling.

“But he said to me that I was marginal at best” Kiki said.

“Yes, he would have said that” Berg replied, “And that was all he was expecting of you.”

“Excuse me?” Kiki said with a bit of confusion.

“Look in the mirror Kristina” Berg said, “You don’t cut an impressive figure. You’re an eighteen-year-old who could easily pass for fifteen. People are going to judge you for that reason alone even if your complete lack of experience wasn’t evident. There was simply no way that you were going to impress Thomas Ott, who I might add, has had the very career that you aspire to for longer than you’ve been alive.”

Kiki stared at her plate, focusing on the salad, not trusting herself to reply to what Berg had just said. She wanted to say that she understood that Doctor Ott was someone she could learn a great deal from, but her first impression of him was that he was that he was an arrogant horse’s ass. The spinach leaves, boiled eggs, tomato and cucumber slices were covered in a dressing that was absurdly, a pale pink color.

“You have two jobs that you are learning to do” Berg said, “Keeping the patient alive until a proper Surgeon can get to them and assisting that Surgeon when… Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes, Ma’am” Kiki said looking up only to see that Berg was looking at her through narrowed eyes.

“Few have the option of cruising through life with everything handed to them” Berg said, “You could have had that if you wanted, and still could when it comes down to it but have instead made a different choice for yourself. There are however some days when I think you still expect people to just hand you what you want with no effort involved.”

The implication was that today was one of those days.

Kiki shoved another fork-full of spinach leaves into her mouth. There it was, the spoiled, entitled little Princess who never had to work a day in her life. The thing that most people thought that she was. Kiki did her best to make people think otherwise, but it was always there in the back of people’s minds.

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In the middle of winter, it was difficult to keep this room warm even if it had been designed to keep the damp out. If Kat redesigned her most secure space of her house it wouldn’t have been in the basement under the stairwell. This was where she kept all the things that she didn’t want others to see and held conversations that she didn’t want anyone to overhear. Not to mention the supplies and weapons the she kept in case she ever needed them.

“She killed herself” Nancy said looking like a balloon that had the air slowly escaping.

Kat had been sent an advanced copy of the article that Gloria had written. She didn’t know exactly what Nancy had been expecting, but this wasn’t it.

“You aren’t supposed to die like that, not that young” Nancy said looking around the room until her eyes settled on the Surrealist painting hanging on the wall and was confused. “What is with this?”

“A Spanish artist gave it to Kira a few years ago” Kat replied, “She in turn gave it to me.”

“And you keep it down here?”

“There is no way that I would want that ghastly thing upstairs” Kat said, “The strange part is that it has been appreciating in value, so I can’t just throw it away.”

“Stupid painting…” Nancy said with a sniff, “Sitting down here in the dark where no one gets to see it…”

With that she started crying.

The relationship between Nancy and Beatrice was one of contrasts. While Beatrice had made all the safe choices at every turn of her life. The woman she had shared a dormitory room with at the University of Washington, Nancy, had not. To see now where they had ended up was shocking. Beatrice had just wanted a safe, stable life and that had not been what had happened.