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“I think I know who did this,” said Bernie.
“We killed that man in the theater.”
“No, sir. I think it’s someone else. Another GI. I followed him to the movie house.”
“Why?”
“I saw him hurting this girl, earlier to night.”
“Where?”
“Through the window of an apartment, as I walked by. I’m not sure, but I think he might have killed her. I didn’t know what to do so I waited. He came out a few minutes later.”
“Where were you headed?”
“Me? I was going to the movies.”
“Why didn’t you say anything to an MP?”
“I saw him go inside, lost him in the lobby. Then I thought I saw him going behind the screen. That’s why I followed him back there.”
Gra
“I think he might’ve gone back to that apartment,” said Bernie.
“Take me there.”
“Okay. It’s this way.”
Gra
“What’s your name, Private?” the man snapped, as soon as he came off the radio.
“Bernie Oster, sir.”
“What unit are you with?”
“Two hundred ninety-first Engineer Combat Battalion.”
“Where you from?”
“Brooklyn, sir.”
“Which neighborhood?”
“Park Slope.”
“North or South?” asked Gra
Bernie looked over at him, but couldn’t read the man’s expression. “North.”
“Where’d you live?”
“On Union Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenue. You know Brooklyn, sir?”
“What’d your dad do?”
“He worked for Pfizer,” said Bernie. “Research and development. He was a chemist.”
“Was?”
“He’s retired now. Turn right here.”
Bernie led him to the front door of the woman’s apartment building. Gra
The door stood open a crack. Gra
All the lights were off. Bernie couldn’t remember if he’d left them that way. Gra
“Stay by the door,” said the man. “Don’t touch anything.”
Bernie stepped inside. Gra
“Get away. Get away.”
Gra
“Is she dead?” asked Bernie.
Gra
“Two hundred ninety-first Combat Engineers?” he said.
“That’s right.”
Gra
“You didn’t tell me you were from the same unit,” said Gra
“Guess I didn’t realize-”
“You didn’t see him do anything to that girl from the street, the curtains were pulled. You were up here with him-”
“No, only after he killed her,” said Bernie, his voice shaking. “He made me come up with him.”
“What are you doing in Reims?”
“We were delivering dispatches-”
“Don’t fucking lie to me. Tell me what I want to know or I put your brains on the wall-”
“Okay, okay-”
“Your friend just killed my partner, you Nazi fuck!”
Gra
“You’re with the 150th Panzer Brigade,” said Gra
Bernie opened his eyes.
Gra
Bernie shook his head.
“What’s your friend’s name?”
“His name’s Von Leinsdorf. Erich Von Leinsdorf. He’s a lieutenant in the SS,” said Bernie.
“You came across the line with him into Belgium, with two other men, near Elsenborn. You killed three soldiers at the border crossing.”
“He did. And one of ours. He was wounded, Von Leinsdorf shot him.”
“Where’d you put the bodies?” asked Gra
“He ordered us to drag them into the woods. One of your men was still alive, a sergeant, so I tried to help him-”
“How?”
“I gave him morphine. Put sulfa and a pressure bandage on his wounds.”
“You did that? Where’d you go from there?”
“We spent the night near Butgenbach. The next day we scouted that bridge-”
“Why were you at that hospital?”
“The fourth man with us got shot. An American convoy came along and took us there.”
“Where Von Leinsdorf killed Sergeant Mallory and your own man.”
“I guess he did-”
“You guess so? You were driving the fucking jeep!”
“He didn’t tell me what he was going to do, and he didn’t tell me after. He never told me anything.”
“Why’d you come to Reims?”
“He said we were going to meet the other squads, at that movie theater. That’s all I know.”
“Where’d you cross the border?” asked Gra
“In the mountains this morning. A place called Pont-Colin. He killed the guards. I left a message in the booth to warn somebody, I was trying to stop him-”
Gra
“Write down your name,” he said.
“Which one?”
“Your real name.”
Bernie did as he was told. Gra
“You wrote this,” said Gra
“Yes, sir.”
“Why did you come to France, what’s your target?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me, god damn it-”
“I don’t know, I swear to God he never told me. If you know anything, you know more than I do. There’s a second objective, but he never told me what it was-”
“Why?”
“He didn’t trust me.”
Gra
“Because I’m an American.”
Gra
Down to my last chance, thought Bernie.
“I am from Brooklyn, I swear to you it’s true, I was born there, I grew up there. My parents are German; they immigrated to New York, then moved back here six years ago. We lived in Frankfurt till they drafted me into their fucking army. I’ve been fixing cars in Berlin, I’ve never been in combat, I never shot at anybody; I got pulled into this because I speak English. They didn’t tell us what it was about and they killed anybody who didn’t go along with it. We didn’t even know where we were going until it happened.”
Gra
“Park Slope North, like I told you. I was born in Brooklyn Hospital on DeKalb. I went to PS 109 on Snyder Avenue, just off Flatbush. Mrs. Qui