Page 54 of Risky Obsession

“Do you mind if my sister and I ask you a few questions?” Kane said.

Relief swept through me, just about rendering my legs useless.

Gunter ran his fingers over his mustache. “You can ask . . . whether I have answers is the real question.”

As Kane chuckled, I pointed at the red line on the map. “Is this a train line?”

Gunter leaned in. “Yes.”

“Do you know if it’s still there?” Kane asked.

“The map is nearly eighty years old.” Gunter stroked his mustache again. “As I mentioned, the war forced many changes in this region. That’s why pre-war maps have become collector’s items.”

“Do you have more maps of this area?” Excitement laced Kane’s voice.

“I have many maps.” Gunter gestured to a pile of scrolls high up on a timber shelf.

Kane’s eyes lit up.

“But this is the one that gets the most attention. That’s why I put it on display.” His gaze swept to the map. “But I must warn you, this map is not very accurate today.”

“Oh, that’s okay. We are more interested in understanding the region from when our great-grandfather lived here.” I nodded at Kane.

Gunter frowned. “Where did he live?”

Oh, shit. I scrambled for a reply. “Well, that’s the hard part. We?—”

“Do you know Carinhall?” Kane interrupted.

Gunter’s brows thumped together. “Yes.”

“Oh good,” Kane said with a surprisingly upbeat tone. “We went there yesterday. Not much left now, thank goodness. That place gave us the creeps, didn’t it, sis?”

I shuddered. “I’ll say.”

“Anyway,” Kane said, “we have a map that we found in Pops things, and Carinhall is one of the few markers on the map that we were able to find. Could I trouble you to take a look at the map?”

“Please?” Grinning, I pressed my hands together, begging.

Gunter’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Okay. Bring it in and I will try to?—”

“I have it here.” Kane reached into his jacket and removed the yellow envelope.

“Oh. Follow me.” Gunter strolled deeper into his shop.

Kane winked at me. “After you, sis.”

Clenching my lips so I didn’t giggle, I followed Gunter’s path through a row of shelves to his desk where he was busy clearing away paperwork.

“Don’t go to too much trouble,” I said, as Gunter placed a stack of red journals onto the cluttered desk behind him.

“It’s okay. I have everything in this shop except space.”

Kane pulled his hand-drawn map from the envelope and spread it across the glass counter. “We’re hoping you can help us decipher some of the places on here.”

Gunter leaned over and squinted at the map, and his mustache twitched like an anxious caterpillar.

“So . . . here’s Carinhall.” Kane pointed at the word beneath the castle on the map. “But these train tracks are gone.” He ran his finger along the parallel lines.