Relieved, Max helped his friend dock inside the boathouse before Hermann climbed onto the platform, his right arm bound in a cast.
“Annika told me about the fire,” Max said as they walked toward the castle. “Thank you for helping her save the Schloss.”
“I was too late to save Herr Knopf,” Hermann said.
“I suspect Herr Knopf might have had something to do with the fire.”
Hermann nodded slowly. “He told the Gestapo in Salzburg that your family is Jewish.”
“My mother is Jewish,” Max replied, but in that moment, he decided to embrace this heritage of his ancestors. The men he’d stood with in the arena had tried to maintain their dignity, unlike the men who tormented them. “Which means I am Jewish as well.”
“You can’t stay here,” Hermann said as they walked toward the house. “Tempers in town are raging strong.”
Max thought of all he’d left behind: a city in shambles, a father who seemed to disown his flesh and blood. “I can’t go back to Vienna either.”
“There’s a group of men who have gone into the mountains. Some are Jewish and others are Aryan men who have refused to join the Wehrmacht.”
“I brought a woman with me,” Max said. “I must get her to safety before I leave.”
“Does anyone know she’s here?”
Max shook his head.
“Then she will be safe.”
“No one knows that I’m here either.”
“Someone saw your car in Obertraun last night. You need to drive away in today’s light so people will see you. They’ll never know about her.”
“I can’t leave Luzi.”
“You have to leave her to keep her safe.”
Max nodded to the towering mountain behind them. “There’s wood and some food and a Sterno oven in my family’s hut. I’ll hide up there for now.”
Together they concocted a plan. He would drive the Mercedes slowly through town so anyone curious would know he was leaving. Then he’d hide the car in the abandoned barn on Sarah’s property before hiking up the mountain on snowshoes after dark. It might take hours in his condition, but he would do it for Luzi’ssake.
When it was safe, he’d hike back down.
“I’ve been giving the treasure to Annika,” Hermann said, “but I don’t know where she is hiding it. If something happens...”
“I know where it’s hidden,” Max said.
“But what if something happens to both of you?”
“Nothing will happen to Annika.” The Gestapo would never suspect her, but many of the Jewish people nearby knew about Hermann’s involvement. One day the Nazis might arrest him or Hermann for taking these things, and while Hermann was loyal, Max feared he would buckle under an interrogation.
“If I knew—”
“Someone might kill you for it.” Max directed him up the steps. “Please come inside.”
Annika was drinking coffee in the library, and Luzi was on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her.
“Hermann, this is Luzi,” Max said.
Hermann’s eyes focused on his shoes. “Hello, Luzi.”
“I have to leave for a few days,” Max told her. “Annika and Hermann will care for you here, but I will return whenever I can to check on you.”
