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“How could that be done?” von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.

“I thought you were going to tell me,” Müller said.

“I have an idea,” Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz said. “I’m not sure how you will react.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Fräulein Dyer has attracted the eye of a senior SS-SD officer,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said. “They met while he was home on Christmas leave. They were introduced by an SS-SD officer. A bachelor, somewhat older than the lady, he is rather badly smitten with her. He wants to give her a little present.”

Müller laughed, then was silent for a moment before he replied:

“I was in Peis’s apartment,” he said. “Peis had a very nice, very ornate Siemens radio. I rather doubt he went to a store and bought it. It was probably ‘taken into protective storage.’ There are probably others.”

“Perhaps you could steal a few hours from your busy schedule to pursue a little May and December romance,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said.

“Goddamn it, Helmut,” Müller said. “There’s not that much of an age difference between us.”

“And you know, of course, what Oscar Wilde said,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said.

“I don’t even know who he is, much less what he said.”

&n

bsp; “He was an Englishman,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said. “A writer who said some interesting things, one of which was that ‘celibacy is the most unusual of all perversions.’”

Müller snorted appreciatively.

“Now I know,” he said. “He went to prison for being a fag, right?”

“Yes, he did.”

“A man could get in trouble, Herr Minister, quoting the philosophy of an English pansy to a Standartenführer SS-SD,” Müller said.

“Yes, I daresay he could,” von Heurten-Mitnitz agreed.

“What the hell do they want, Helmut?”

“I’ve given that a lot of thought,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said.

“And?”

“It may have something to do with the professor,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said. “Or with the Fulmar Werke in Marburg. I can’t imagine what else it would be.”

“And by getting her a radio, we let them know we’re ready to put our necks on the block? Is that how you figure it?”

“Yes,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said. “They must have someone in Marburg. Or the Dyers are already in touch with an agent—”

“She’s not,” Müller interrupted. “And I don’t think her father is, either.”

"Then there is an agent in Marburg watching them,” von Heurten-Mitnitz repeated,“who will report we’re doing what we’ve been asked to do.”

“It makes me sick,” Müller said. “That may be just fear. But it may be that I don’t like treason.”

It was a moment before von Heurten-Mitnitz replied.

"While I was waiting for you, Johnny,” he said,“I was listening to the radio. The Americans bombed Dortmund last night. According to the Propaganda Ministry, damage was light—”

Müller snorted.