“Not so good.”
“I understand. It was a terrible, terrible tragedy.”
Mimi bit her lip and then blurted, “Eli, they murdered her. They abused her, they beat her, they shamed her and then they murdered her. And I think you know who I’m talking about.”
Eli’s expression was noncommittal.
Mimi continued. “I know you’ve been watching them for some time. Preston saw you outside Vittie’s office, and Christine saw you outside Nicky’s office. You’re with some branch of the government. You’re investigating some or all of them and that’s why you moved to Albany Park in the first place. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Mimi, I have too much respect for you to deny any of what you said, but I can’t talk to you about it.”
“Someone is responsible for murdering my best friend. Chrissie and Preston were innocent and naïve kids. They stumbled onto something, and it was much bigger than either one of them understood. And you know it, Eli.”
Again, he nodded but did not comment.
Mimi stood firm. “I want to help. I want to bring those responsible to justice. I want to do it for Chrissie.”
“How do you propose to help?”
“Well, for one thing, I have information. Gobs of information. Chrissie confided in me. We talked on the phone for hours, almost every night. For months, I listened to all of her stories about her job and the shipping business—stories about Nicky, her father, all the wealthy people involved and all the hidden cash. The afternoon that Nicky assaulted her, she came directly to me. I was the one who was always there for her. I was present during the conversation she had with her father. I know about the late-night meetings in Vittie’s office and the secret room in the back where the ledgers are kept. Eli, I have a very good memory, and I feel like I could be helpful in creating a narrative. I want to help you catch the murderers.”
“Why haven’t you gone to the police?”
“Nathan says we have no evidence, and we would be accusing the most powerful men in the country. Who would believe us? He says there’s not a prosecutor in the city with backbone enough to take on Vittie, and the police would probably file it away somewhere, like the wastebasket.”
Eli shrugged. “I can’t fault Nathan’s logic.”
“But you haven’t given up. You have a backbone. You’re not afraid to chase those people.”
After a pause, Eli said, “Mimi, I’ve been chasing them for twenty years.”
“Twenty years? What does that mean?”
“It means it’s a long time.”
“But now you’re closing in, aren’t you?”
Eli’s expression remained noncommittal.
“Please, Eli, let me help,” she pleaded. “I have a lot of information.”
Eli pondered the request. “Mimi, this is dangerous business. There have already been two murders.”
“And one was my soul sister.”
Eli nodded. “Let me think about it. I’ll contact you soon.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
LUBLIN
LUBLIN, POLAND
OCTOBER 1941
MONTH 25 OF THE NAZI OCCUPATION
It was evening when Maximilian motored out of Lodz with Eli by his side, heading for Lublin. It was only the fourth time they were able to return home since Zörner and Globočnik had ordered them to establish a new brickyard in Lodz the previous June. In each case, they were able to return home only under the pretense of needing materials and equipment from the Lublin yard. Visits were short, a few days at most. This visit was planned to last four days before they were scheduled to return.
“How much longer do you think it will be necessary for me to keep traveling back and forth?” asked Eli. “The Lodz brickyard is starting to hold its own. My presence is largely unnecessary, and I’d like to spend the winter in Lublin with my family. You can stay in Lodz and let me go back to managing the Lublin brickyard. I need to give my father a rest. He hasn’t been well and he’s not getting any younger.”
“What about your brother? Why doesn’t he assist your father?”
“Louis is a religious man. He studies with the elders. He also serves on the Judenrat. Look, the new brickyard is operating well and filling more orders every day. We’ve done a good job in setting it up and we’ve hired a capable foreman. We’re well staffed. My oversight is not required on a daily basis. You can manage the business all by yourself.”
With a quick shake of his head, Maximilian said, “First of all, I don’t want to manage the business. I want to own the business and have you manage it, not some foreman. Besides, I need the freedom to be closer to my German contacts. A great deal can be learned over a glass of wine. That is precisely how we are all surviving this war.”
“Maximilian, you don’t need me, and I want to be with my family.”
Maximilian didn’t respond. He stared straight ahead and drove on into the night.
After a moment, Eli said, “I know you heard me. As much as I love your charming company, I want to stay at home and wait out the war with my wife. Sooner or later the war will end, and things will get back to normal.”
Without looking at him and in a quiet tone, Maximilian answered, “That’s not going to happen, Eli.”
“It’ll happen if I choose it to happen. If I decide to stay in Lublin, you’ll have to return to Lodz without me. Despite all your self-perceived influence, I don’t belong to you.”
“No, I mean the part about things getting back to normal. It’s not going to happen. Not for you. Not for Esther. Certainly not for the Jews, and maybe not for any of us.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Maximilian shrugged. “A glass of wine, a snifter of schnapps, late nights, loose lips. Information passes easily in the wee hours. If one stays alert, one learns things. Let me ask you, how do you think Odilo Globočnik got appointed as SS und Polizeiführer of Lublin in 1939?”
“I have no idea.”
“He was a Himmler favorite. He still is. They share Hitler’s views of racial purity for the Germanic people, both in Germany and in the occupied territories. Himmler appointed Odilo to be the SS Germanic overseer of the Jewish laborers in the ghetto. Do you remember me telling you about the Jewish reservation in Nisko? Five hundred thousand Jews?”
“Yes, but you said the plan was abandoned.”
“Correct. Not because of any moral concerns, but because it was too costly. Odilo has remained in Himmler’s inner circle and has also found favor with Heydrich and Hitler himself. There may no longer be a Jewish reservation, but Odilo is unquestionably the man in charge of Jewish affairs in Poland. As such he has recently been tasked with Jewish depopulation.”
“Depopulation?”
Maximilian nodded. “Removal.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“From Globočnik himself, the other night, right before he passed out.”
“He told you those things in a drunken state?”
“Drunken does not begin to describe the level of his impairment, but he was still lucid. Sort of.”
“So, of the things he told you in this drunken state, how many of them are true and how many are fantasy?”