Beneath a Starless Sky

Chapter 13

This time they went sightseeing in the city centre. Arm in arm, Lilli and Marco gazed at the Frauenkirche with its famous domed towers then walked on past the imposing Residenz Museum to the Feldherrnhalle mausoleum, built to honour the Bavarian Army. As they stood admiring the great stone lions, Lilli noticed a dozen red roses, lying like splashes of blood on the cold steps. Marco’s eyes followed hers. They both knew they were left as a tribute to Herr Hitler’s supporters, killed in a failed coup a few years back, but neither of them chose to remark upon them.

Over the next month they saw each other when they could. For their fifth meeting Lilli suggested they went to see a film, but she was careful to avoid the cinema where she worked. She didn’t want the manager, fat, greasy Herr Rubenhold, to spot her. When he wasn’t angry with her for being late for a shift, he’d give her one of his leers. She wasn’t sure which was worse. She pictured herself in her ridiculous candy-striped usherette’s dress, her little pink hat at a jaunty angle, being lectured by him.

‘If you are courting a Reichswehr officer, you no longer need your job,’ he would growl. Worse still, he might find a way of telling her parents. So she suggested another picture house, far away from Geising, where they were showing The Blue Angel. It starred one of her idols – Marlene Dietrich.

They sat in the back row, alongside all the other young lovers, and Marco bought a big carton of pretzels. Just sitting beside him, brushing against his tunic, gave Lilli goose bumps.

The film was every bit as good as she’d hoped. Dietrich was magnificent as the cabaret performer, Lola Lola.

‘I want to be like her someday,’ Lilli whispered, staring up at the siren whose presence filled the screen. As soon as she’d spoken, she thought how childish she must sound.

‘But you are far more beautiful than Dietrich,’ he shot back, offering her a pretzel with a wink.

Biting into the delicious, salty loop of bread she smiled back at him. ‘I bet she doesn’t eat these,’ she said.

Marco leaned over then, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her. ‘Whatever you eat, you are amazing,’ he whispered, his mouth brushing her ear.

They strolled back to Geising, arm in arm. Lilli had told her parents she was going to the cinema with Marsha from the academy. Naturally she felt guilty deceiving them, but she’d wanted to get to know Marco before she introduced him to them. Now, however, it seemed there was no need to hide their feelings for each other. It was time the whole world knew she was in love.

They stopped at the end of her street once more. It was a cold evening and Marco’s body felt warm against hers as he leaned in. Lilli closed her eyes, and her mouth yielded to the press of his soft lips as they kissed long and slow. She could swear her soul left her body and soared above the rooftops. And then he whispered it. Marco actually said the words that she’d longed him to say and that she herself had felt for a while.

‘I love you,’ he whispered on a long breath.

‘I love you, too.’

It was painful drawing away from him to leave him that night, but after they’d agreed to meet again the following week, Lilli ambled back to her apartment block, her whole body feeling as though it could float over the city. So this really was love and Marco had felt it, too: a giddy, mad sensation that sent your head spinning and your heart racing. It was amazing, but she was missing him already.

Herr Grunfeld, the janitor, about to lock up for the night, was at the main entrance to the block.

‘Fraulein Lilli, there you are,’ he said, pointing to the clock on the wall. A big bunch of keys jangled at his waist. ‘You girls,’ he tutted. Her mother had obviously mentioned she was out with Marsha.

‘I’m sorry. I lost track of time,’ replied Lilli, even though she wasn’t sorry at all. Without bothering to offer any further explanation for her lateness she simply said: ‘Goodnight, Herr Grunfeld.’

Yet no sooner had she set foot on the bottom stair than the janitor called her back.

‘There’s something for you,’ he told her, his hand disappearing into one of the wooden pigeonholes behind the front desk.

Lilli turned to see him retrieve an envelope and lay it on the counter. Moving closer, she could see it was a folded piece of paper with her name on it. She reached for it as the janitor’s brow creased in puzzlement.

‘I didn’t see who delivered it,’ he told her, scratching his grizzled head.

Lilli opened the note to read the message, written in a neat, educated hand. It took her a moment to take in the meaning of the words. The letters danced in front of her eyes as she re-read them, and a cold shiver crept through her body.

‘You cannot always have your own way, you Jewish whore,’ was all it said.

She tried to still her trembling hands. Herr Grunfeld mustn’t know what poison the note contained.

‘And you’re sure you … you saw no one?’ she asked, her voice suddenly snagging on her own fear.

‘No.’ The janitor shook his head and frowned. ‘Everything all right, Fraulein Lilli?’

She managed a smile. ‘Of course. Why shouldn’t it be?’ Her answer fired out too quickly to sound true. Only a minute before, she had felt as light as a feather. Now she trudged up the stairs with a new and unwelcome burden on her shoulders. Who could possibly have written such a vile note? Who could be so cruel? Worse still, a thought occurred to her as she opened the door to her apartment: whoever sent the message, must’ve known she was out. Could that mean someone was watching her?

Chapter 14

Lilli made no mention of the despicable note at their next meeting. Marco was taking her to her first opera. He wanted to share his love for it. It was going to be a special evening and nothing, and no one, would be allowed to spoil it.

The Bavarian state opera house was every bit as beautiful as the Cuvilliés and filled with the same sort of people who’d watched Giselle. The women dazzled in their jewels and expensive gowns, while most of the older men, in white ties and tails, reminded Lilli of penguins, as they waddled about.

She was wearing her one and only evening gown, the one she had worn to Helene’s ball – the one she had met Marco in. She’d smuggled it into her bag that morning and changed at the academy. Marco looked distinguished in his dress uniform and she felt so proud that he had chosen her to accompany him.

As they sat in the auditorium, expectation filling the air, he explained the story of La Bohème to her.

‘It’s set in Paris, in the last century and it’s about a poor seamstress and her artist friends.’

‘A seamstress,’ repeated Lilli, thinking of her father’s business and excited that she might be able to better understand the heroine’s trials and tribulations. But she needn’t have worried about feeling distanced from the characters. The whole experience was so intense, so entrancing, that when the diva, Mimi, might have had to surrender herself to a corrupt police chief to save her lover’s life, she gripped Marco’s arm. Would she sacrifice herself for him? She threw him a loving glance. Of course she would.

The music was sublime and when Mimi died, she could no longer hold back the tears. By the time the curtain fell, Lilli was emotionally exhausted.

‘So, you like opera now?’ Marco asked playfully as Lilli dabbed her eyes.

She nodded. ‘It’s almost as wonderful as ballet.’

Marco laughed at her remark. He was relaxed in her company and she in his, but as they ambled out of the auditorium, to return to the foyer, Lilli saw his expression change in an instant. The smile was wiped from his face.

‘Marco, what is it? What’s wrong?’ she asked, scanning the crowd for an answer.

He did not need to reply. Suddenly Kurt Von Stockmar was standing directly ahead of them.

‘Let’s go out another way,’ said Marco. But it was too late.

‘Well, well, if it isn’t Captain Zeiller and the beautiful Giselle,’ mocked Von Stockmar.

It had been obvious to Lilli at Helene’s ball that there was a certain coolness, verging on animosity, between the officers. The two men eyed each other icily.

Marco’s face hardened. ‘Von Stockmar.’

‘Zeiller,’ he replied before pointedly skewering Lilli with a glare. As his face turned, the long, silver scar on his left cheek caught the light from the chandelier. ‘And the beautiful Miss Sternberg.’ He leered at her. ‘I believe your father made a suit for me once.’

Lilli looked at him wide-eyed. She opened her mouth to reply that her father was the finest tailor in Geising, possibly in Munich. She was proud of him, even though, after the arson attack, he would probably never make a suit again. How dare this arrogant Reichswehr officer try to make her feel ashamed of her family? Before she could reply, however, Von Stockmar leaned closer to Marco.

‘You’re playing with fire there,’ she heard him growl, before he stepped back and disappeared into the crowd.

‘I’m afraid your friend doesn’t like me,’ Lilli told Marco as he tried to rein in his obvious anger. She saw his fists flex before he took her hand in hers. ‘Take no notice of him,’ she advised.

Marco shook his head then flashed Lilli a smile. ‘You’re right,’ he replied, tugging at his tunic. ‘Let’s just say he is a small man.’

On the way back to Geising in a taxi, Lilli imagined introducing her handsome officer to her parents. The evening had been so magical, and she and Marco were getting on so well that she thought they might put an end to the subterfuge. She resented sneaking around in the shadows, making excuses, when all she really wanted to do was declare her love for Marco to the world. It was time for him to meet Jacob and Golda.

‘I have a day’s leave next Sunday,’ he told her, as the taxi turned into Lilli’s street.

It was as if he could read her thoughts. ‘Then will you come for a meal?’ blurted Lilli. ‘I’d like to introduce you to my family.’

For a moment his expression froze. Had she spoken out of turn? Was it too soon? But no. Taking her hand in his, he kissed it gently.

‘I’d like that very much, too,’ he replied.

The sound of the wireless wafted through the half-open door of Herr Grunfeld’s flat as Lilli tiptoed into the reception, keen to avoid attracting the janitor’s attention a second time. She was still wearing her evening gown and didn’t want her parents to find out where she had been. Once inside the hallway, a sense of dread suddenly knotted her stomach as she remembered the note from the other night. Leaning over the desk, she checked the post. The pigeonhole marked Sternberg was empty.

‘It’s you, Fraulein!’

Lilli’s heart leapt into her mouth.

Herr Grunfeld, his keys in his hand, put his head round his door.

‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’ His eyes swept over her gown. ‘Been somewhere nice?’

‘Just something at the academy,’ she replied, brushing his remark aside as she started for the stairs, trying to behave as if she didn’t care that he’d caught her out.

‘Fraulein Lilli,’ Herr Grunfeld whispered hoarsely.

She turned to catch him touching the side of his nose.

‘Your secret’s safe with me.’

She felt herself redden, like a child whose hand had been caught stealing sweets. Could she trust him? She flashed a guilty smile.

At least, she told herself, as she resumed her climb, she needn’t worry about any more spiteful notes. Tonight, at least, she could dream of her beloved Marco.

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