Secret Family - Part Seven.

Secret Family - Part Seven.

gOOd Reads, Novel, Novelist, Writer, Writing, Blogger, Free Books, Free Serialized Books, 

I've been working hard to get up to date. You will see that I've decided to re-publish to six parts of 'Secret Family' under its original title 'Searching for Love'. I've struggled with that for quite a time and I'm finally convinced that it's the right decision. As far as my reader figures are concern the damage was already done. 

The revamp of my site 'nicah la Cortes' is almost complete. It's taken far longer the I had anticipated will the expected delays to my writing schedule. As usual nic has been in attendance in 'guru' mode. He's fixed a couple in the 'Blogger' platform for me. I'll blog about that in due time.

Hopefully you are keen to get and read, so I'll let you.


nicah.

----- o O o -----

Cover art: The cousins chillaxing.

18.

Tim was the first down in the morning, shortly followed by Solo. The girls arrived in their dressing gowns and immediately gravitated to the coffee maker. They sat at the island and silently sipped their coffee. Solo surveyed their tangled mess of bed head hair with an air of amusement.

“What?” Kellie demanded annoyed by his grinning.

“Looks like you all had a bad night, that's all.”He nodded at Marte who was absently winding and unwinding a long strand of her hair.

“Wrong thing to say. Obviously, you never had a sister. You'll learn.” Tim admonished taking his coffee to the couch, hoping to avoid the inevitable fallout on his comment.

Kellie back-combed her fingers through her hair and messed some body into it. A stare from Marte and Anja told him that he was on very thin ice.

“It's barely two days since your hair was longer than mine.” she countered.

“I like your hair like that,” he said trying to defuse the situation.

“Huh! Too late, too little.” she warned him.

“I like it too. It's really cute and practical.” Anja complimented her. Her hair was short but longer than hers.

“It was a messy bob but it's grown out now. I'm thinking of having it cut again. A choppy pixie cut, but really pretty and girly like his,” Kellie pointed to Solo, “but a little shorter.”' She grimaced at him. The others didn't pick-up on it.

“And you could add hi-lights and lo-lights, with a hint of a glossy-brunette undercut to catch the light when it moves. Classic but with an edge.” Marte expanded.

“That would look great. I'd like mine like that.” Anja mused.

Marte nudged her whispering, “No-o you don't!” in her ear. They both waited for the fireworks.

Quickly Anja added diplomatically, “But, it would look much better on Kellie”. There was no fallout, maybe she hadn't heard.

Solo used to the girl-talk to try slide out on the room unnoticed. Kellie caught him on the stairs.

“Where u goin'?”

“Got t'work.”

“No, not today. If you work, that means I gotta work too an' I don't feel like it,” she whinged. “I need a break an' I want to see what you found in those books. OK, genius. What you got?” She was still annoyed that he had beaten her to cracking the code, as she grudgingly admired his work.

Then turning to Tim she said, “Uncle Tim, did you know boy genius here deciphered the code books?”

“Only bits.”

“How'd you find it? The key I mean.” Tim's eyes lit-up.

“Forget that. Sorry Solo, but we just want to know what they say not how you did it. You and uncle Tim can bore each other to death later.” Marte said what others thought.

“It starts with a verse of the Bible, the First letter from the apostle Paul to the Corinthians chapter thirteen verse thirteen;

'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.' That's from the King James Version of the Bible.” He said pointed out. The first bit is in OCS.

“O-- M- G--.” Marte gasped. The girls looked at one another wide-eyed in anticipation for they focused of Solo..

Solo smiled encouraged with the effect, “Well the next bit was a substitution cypher. It took the rest of the day to get that.”

“No! Tell us what it said, not how you did it.” Kellie prompted excitedly.

“Well, there's not much to tell yet. I've only started decoding it, it's a complicated process.”

Their expressions changed from excitement to disappointment in a moment.”

“Nerf!” Somehow Kellie made sound like a swear word. “Yes, fine. So stop talking the damn problem to death and just tell us what it says.” Kellie was becoming annoyed.

“OK. Don't get your panties in a bunch.”

“Arrrggghhh!”

“It a bit weird, I'm not sure I translated it right. It starts; 'Berlin, August 25th 1940'. It was the date that gave me the primer.”

“The date of the first Bomber Command raid on Berlin. ” Tim interrupted. The girls looked at Tim with raised eyebrows expecting more. He shrugged his shoulders to their annoyance.

“That the night our house was bombed and the twins vanished.” Anja added quietly. They stared at her together as a cold shiver ran down their backs.

“O-M-G!” Marte exclaimed.

“That seems to make sense in a weird spooky way.” Solo added.

They all looked at Solo questioningly. “And?” Kellie gestured with a winding motion expected the big reveal.

“Well, I said, I'm not certain about the next bit. I'd been trying to get a better translation 'cos it's so weird. It says; 'My name is Nadja and this the account of the day I died.'

They looked at one another and back at Solo with puzzled expressions.

“What the hell does that mean?” Marte's annoyance was evident.

“You're right it's weird. You must have translated it wrong.” Kellie said dismissively.

“I double an' triple checked it an' tried several translators but they all say the same.”

“We've got a Russian translator in the department.” Tim offered. “I wouldn't want to send him everything but he could certainly verify your work.”

“OK. Copy it to Tim and get him to tell us if we are on the right line.” Kellie said. “What else did it say?”

“Nothing. I mean that's all I got so far.”

“That's all!”

“It's slow work an' it seems dumb to carry on if I think its wrong,” he explained.

”OK. Solo and I will get on with the translation.”

“Why did she write it in code. Do you think she has some dark secret?” Marte mused aloud.

“I don't know. I suspect it wasn't written in code for the joy of it. It probably contains things she didn't want to become common knowledge. There has always been something about great grandma.” He mused. “We know she was German and she appeared out of nowhere in England in the middle of the war. No one could explain where she came from or how she got here. Then she vanished completely until after the war when she reappears married to an English Officer in Eastleigh of all places. She would always change the subject and walk away if anyone asked and so did great grandpa. There was definitely something odd about it.” Tim told them.

“OK, you carry on. I'll join you nerf.” Kellie turned her stool toward the stairs.

“Hey! Who u callin' a nerf?”

“You! You big nerf. Don't you know when you're not wanted?” she pushed him toward the stairs.

He paused before he got to the stairs, looking as though he was going to say something and thought better of it.

“It's OK. You're my big nerf.” she said and grinned following him upstairs.

Anja and Marte exchanged questioning looks.

“Are they?” Anja raised her eyebrows.

“They say not.”

“But they act and behave like a couple.”

“Exactly! They're like an old married couple.”

“It's so sweet.”

“True nerd lurve! OMG you should have been them when they broke-up just before we went to see you in Berlin. They were impossible. Mooning around when they were separate, sighing and stomping, ignoring one another. It sent me insane, it sent us all insane.”

“But I don't see it?”

Marte's phone chimed for a text message.

“Ops! We are both summoned to the principal's office,” she read.

They found Kellie and Solo in the office.

“Are we in trouble Miss?” Marte asked. Kellie threw her a look between annoyance and puzzlement.

“We need to talk without Uncle Tim.” Kellie said. “I've updated Solo with Marte's news about the cameo's. I got the data from the maker's website and we've got three possible addresses so far. Solo is still digging through their data.”

“I thought they couldn't tell us addresses because of the data protection laws?”

“And yet we got them. I guess miracles do happen. Just don't tell Tim.” She said smirking.

“Are you telling me you hacked them?” Anja asked.

“You're welcome.” Kellie smiled momentarily her face dropped as she contemplated the possible fallout from Anja and Marte.

“Oh, I'm not judging. Why should complete strangers and civil servants decide what we can know about our own family history. They've been hiding the truth from more than seventy-years. Why?”

“OK, If you're in then, you and Marte work on the names and addresses.”

---

He smirked as he thought about it. He thought about it a lot. It was almost all he thought about now. He'd raised his game, he'd started-out meaning to teach the stuck-up bitch a lesson, but he'd escalated his ambitions.

He'd wanted her from the first moment he'd seen her, in her expensive clothes, defiant and proud, driving to her flash new German car. He hated all German cars, and foreigners. The fact that the BMW Mini was manufactured in Cowley, Oxford was lost on him. This Scandinavian blonde and the German twins, they were a different class of tail, they were not like the common English girls he saw. They were foreign, special, exotic. He also completely missed the fact that they were foreign and he hated foreigners. They were a trophy worth winning. The thought of a trophy amused him, he should start a trophy wall. He could mount his prizes on the wall so he could see them whenever he wanted. Of course no one could see it except him. Yes, it would be worth the effort, the risk.

Bizarrely he thought about a sermon he'd once listened to. Yes, he's been a regular church goer once; His mother made him go to Sunday school every week, that was when he'd believed. The minister spoke about the thought process of desire, envy and covetousness. How it could start with a single thought, a wrong desire and as you dwelt on it and cultivated it, so it grew until it demanded action and gave birth to action and sin. Oh yes, he thought about sin a lot. Oh yes, he wanted to sin with them. A lot.

He walked down West street toward the roundabout. Now he'd confirmed where they'd lived he found himself compelled to walk past several times a day. It was a pilgrimage to see and worship his objects of desire. Yes, a pilgrimage, that's what made him think of that sermon.

His pulse rate increased as he passed the house. Her car was there. She was probably in there with the twins. He almost salivated at the thought of them. He knew his frequent pilgrimages risked his discovery. He needed to see them without them seeing him.

He sat on the wall of Fortnums Cars, the defunct car showrooms opposite the house. The site was shabby and run-down with peeling paintwork. Greasy oil slicks stained the tarmac, plastic bags, pizza and discarded fast-food cartons littered the car-park. It was an eyesore. Yards from the train station, this was not the kind of impression that should welcome new visitors to the town centre. His sense of civic pride demanded that he fix it. After he'd fixed the Turner house that was. They should give him a medal for civil services to the environment he thought. He tossed his pie wrapping and empty cola bottle on the forecourt without another thought.

He wandered around the back. The buildings weren't alarmed. He jimmied the back door and scoped out the showrooms. The stale air smelled of damp and decay. The showroom blinds had been closed and a single shaft of sunlight from the open kitchen door at the back penetrated the gloomy interior. In the kitchen a squadron of flies circled performing acrobatics above an overfilled sink of unwashed cups and dirty plates. Another squadron bombed and strafed what looked like, according to the box, had been pizza but was now morphing into a maggot festered, furry, purple and green life-form of its own making. More than a hint of blocked drains and the stench of unflushed toilets assaulted his nostrils beyond the kitchen area. Even he hesitated to venture there and retched covering his mouth and nose. There were a couple of tables, a desk and some chairs in one of the offices. He could understand why the furniture had been junked, he would have abandoned it too, firewood. He renewed his earlier decision to fix it. No wonder the rumours were that they had gone bust; they deserved it.

He squinted left and right through the gap between the blinds before he rearranged the furniture to suit his purpose. From the showroom he had a perfect vantage point of the front of the house on the left-hand side, and straight up Grove road on the right-hand side. It would serve as a perfect hide. He focused his field glasses on the front bedrooms hoping that they were being used by the girls. The curtains were closed. That was a disappointment but he still felt a quiver of excitement and anticipation.

---

It was just before three A.M. when he ventured out. He dove to the old man's road killing the engine as he turned the corner and free wheeling down the slope to park silently outside the house. He heard the church clock chime. Nothing stirred not even a breeze. The night was cool and still. Only the tardiest and most inebriated of the late night revellers were still dragging their alcohol fuelled bodies to their beds.

He shambled along the road weaving like a drunk, tunelessly singing and humming 'Green Bottles', punctuated with a string of obscenity whenever he frequently forgot the words. To the casual observer sleepily peeking through their curtains and closing their windows against the disturbance he was just another pathetic drunk. The irony was that he could have been one of them any other night. But not tonight, he had a mission.

He was pin sharp and alert despite any appearance to the contrary. It was always good to have a backup plan and a disguise. Truth be told, he was a little high. He hadn't been stoked like this since his as on night manoeuvrers when he was in the Cadets, before the accident and they kicked him out. He was amazed how easily the little military training he's had, kicked back in. He missed the thrill of action, being a predator suited him, it felt natural.

He scoped the road around as he approached his target. No sign of life from the house. He meandered crossed the road between the two cars. Surreptitiously he glanced around. In one single fluid and almost silently movement he lunged his shank into the rear type. He appeared to stumble as he passed the car before continuing on his tuneless singing.

There was a Porsche 911 parked on the patch of gavel that covered the front garden of one house. A tarted-up, two-up, two-down, an old 1860's built labour's cottage. All white render and cheap plastic double glazing. That annoyed him. They drive a classic nine-eleven and live in a cheap next generation slum. He fixed it. The pretentious prats richly deserved it. They wouldn't be driving that again until they bought four new tyres.

“Serve them right!” he smirked.

.

Likewise he 'fixed' a tyre on every Mini and Mercedes in Gordon Road. Not that there were many. Gordon road was not could be called a well-off area in Fareham; He was surprised at the number of new and up-market cars were there. Gentrification. There was nothing gentle in living in Gordon road. He went to the end of the road, it was a dead-end to motor traffic. He went on through the footpath beside the Fire Station and turned back down West Street. He was still using his 'drunk' disguise; Well, if it ain't broke. He'd covered three sides of the block now and was almost at his intended target without having encountering problems. This was turning out to be a piece of cake.

He paused outside the house. Two of the cars were gone, just the Mini was still parked in front. He knew there was a back entrance, maybe the other cars had been moved around the back. No matter, it was the BB's Mini he wanted. He would fix the others later, time permitting. He surveyed the front of the house and noticed the alarm box blinking occasionally high in the eves. That was a pain, he hadn't noticed it earlier, but he couldn't see any CCTV cameras. Anyway, this was only a recon, a fact-finding mission and a distraction. He was saving the big show for later.

He slid across the forecourt keeping close to the wall, ready to launch into action if an alarm was triggered. He crouched between the front of the house and the car and slid the shank into the passenger side rear tyre. He stuck a tracker under the rear of the car and was fixing the front tyre when the forecourt was flooded with light. He was taken by surprise and panicked running away from the house.

He slowed to a walk as he turned reached the pavement and the flood lights dimmed. There was no audible alarm. He struggled to catch his breath his heart pounding. He cursed under his breath gesticulating his anger. He panicked under the pressure, not for the first time. He vowed to do better, none the less he had garnered some useful intel. especially about the alarm system. He needed a drink but he was on a mission, the drink would have to wait until later. He fought the impulse and stiffened his resolve.

He wandered along to the track along the back of the properties behind West St. He was hoping that one of their other cars had been parked in back. He was having trouble working-out which property was which in the dark. A dog started barking at the sound of his footsteps on the gravel. This time he would not panic. As and act of bravado he unzipped his trousers and relieved himself, urinating on the hedge. The dog growled, backed away and stopped barking. A lucky break for the dog. A small win for him.

Unable to fix anything there he returned his way up Grove road. A few doors up there was a house with a Mini and a Mercedes parked on the forecourt. That was an opportunity he couldn't resist. He quickly got to work. He fixed both rear tyres on both cars. He would have done the front ones too but the dog started barking out back again. He immediately regretted not fixing to damn dog when he'd had the chance.

Still, all in all, not a bad night's work he congratulated himself as he returned home . At least a half-dozen people were going to be late to work in the morning and that put a rare smile of satisfaction on his face. He needed to up his game and that meant more intel. He needed to observe his prey in its natural environment. He fell asleep thinking about them, especially the twins. He dreamed about what he was going to do to them. He was drooling in his sleep.

19.

“I'm pleased to see that you and Kellie are getting on together.” Maddie said.

“It's often difficult for me to know where to Asperger's ends and what is just a tantrum, and you can never what might trigger one of her episodes.”

“I'm sorry. I guessed that Kellie had Asperger's but I didn't know what her triggers are. I have a friend in college who has Asperger's. They say that it is frequently linked to a very high IQ. Ingrid has a high IQ, she's a polymath, languages are her thing. I bet I can guess Kellies talent. She's a techie, a computer geek. It all makes sense now, and is Solo?”

“No. - No, he's bright, but he's not in Kellie's league apparently."

Maddie realised that Kellie had entered the room and zoned in on the conversation focusing on it with laser like intensity. She wondered how long she'd been listening.

“WelI, I have a busy day ahead." Maddie grabbed her bag and turned to leave

“You can't escape that easily," Kellie dangled her mother keys from her fingers, “you can't just drop 'but he's not in Kellie's league', without explanation."

“It was just something that your uncle Tim said." Maddie said trying to dismiss it. She should have known better; Once Kellie bit-on she was like a Pitbull.

“I knew. It was that test. I didn't fail. I aced it didn't I?” She was triumphant: It had been bugging her since they did the test. “I knew. I knew I had to be better than Solo. When were you going to tell me?”

“It’s all my fault. I would have told you a little while later, after we got over the loss of your dad. I know you decided to take a gap year off before Uni. anyway. So much is happening too fast. I need to have you for a little while longer before you lose me too."

“Mum. You're not going to lose me. You need to trust me. I don't want to leave you. I don't want to take gap-year I just don't want to go to university at all, and I really don't want to work with Uncle Tim and his cyber police geeks. I want to stay with you."

“Are you sure? I've been so dreading you leaving to go to Uni," Maddie hugged her daughter.

“I've been dreading telling you that I'm not going to Uni. I mean, I could in a few years if I want to, but I'm happy as I am and I don't need to work if I don't want to."

“Ur, excuse me,” Marte's tone was incredulous as she paraphrased, “'You don't need to work if you don't want to' who died and left you a fortune?”

There was the whistle of inhaled air from Anja as she poked Marte hard in the ribs.

“Ouch!” She turned to Anja. “What?” she said rubbing her ribs that Anja had jabbed and saw the consternation and confusion on Maddie's face. She looked at Anja seeing her wide eyes and open mouth face in disbelief as Marte realised what she'd said.

“No one. She earned every penny herself." Maddie said with a tone and look that threatened to trigger the next ice-age.

“OMG, I'm so sorry. Me and my motor mouth. I'm really sorry. I wasn't thinking." Marte's face was surfaced with colour and heat.

“Kellie is a maths prodigy. She designs algorithms and writes apps. She has several patents and receives royalties from her work." Maddie explained like she had rehearsed it without really understanding it.

“Mum, you're going to make people think I'm some kind of freaky geek girl."

“I'm afraid they already know that, sweetie. You are my freaky geek girl and I love you for it. Dare to be different, embrace it. It suits you." Her mum kissed her cheek. “If you've done with my keys, I do need to go places.” Maddie took her keys and turned to go. “You girls, please be discreet about what you may have learned and remember this discussion should be kept in the strictest confidence even between family members."

The three sat in silence for a moment. Watching one another Marte and Anja expecting Kellie to blown-up at any moment.

“That was intense," Kellie broke the silence, “embarrassing and I thought that it was just the Asperger sufferers who were the ones who lacked empathy and social graces."

Anja caught Marte's eyes and raising her eyebrows glancing to Kellie's direction.

“I really am sorry about that, I wasn't thinking. I can't believe that I actually said that." Marte said quietly, blushing again at the thought.

“That's alright. Everyone expects that it was dad's company. Well it was when I was younger; at the start no one would take me seriously. You know as I was a girl, and so young. So, dad was the face of the company, the spokesman. Then one day Siemens called with an urgent problem when dad was out. So I Skyped them and fixed the problem and coded a bunch of upgrades for them. They were shocked when they found out how old I was. They called me their 'kleines englisches Geekmädchen' and they always wanted to deal with me for technical issues after that. You don't think I'm really a 'little English geek-girl' do you?”

“Yes, but a very cute one and I love you for it too, or maybe because of it."

“If it was not for knowing Ingrid, I would have never noticed it," Anja said diplomatically.

“And you don't think I'm a freak?”

“Not a freak but maybe a geek. There are much worse things than being a geek. So we both look like geeks, who cares, we geeks rule!” She dug in her bag and popped a pair of big, round, black rimmed glasses on her nose, tilting her head up and to the left and touched two finger to her lips with a puzzled expression. “I only need them when I'm studying and my eyes are tired.“ She said.

“Wow! That's a knockout look! It would be almost worth having poor eyesight for that look.”

“And while I remember. Piercings and Ink! Tell and show," she demanded.

Kellie and Marte showed their piercings.

“I wanted a bunch of them when I was sixteen. I went on a bit of a Goth thing but mum and dad won't allow it. They said I’d regret it when I was older. They were right about the tattoos but I still like the piercings." Kellie sounded disappointed.

“You should have done it anyway; there's nothing they can do, once they're done," Anja pointed out “You can't un-pierce someone.”

“They would have stopped my allowance forever."

“I thought you had all this money."

“It's in a trust fund until I'm twenty-five, until then I get a small monthly allowance."

.

“Bummer!”

“I don't need much. I've got my computers and mum and dad gave me this cute little car."

“That's not a car it's a Smart, it's a motorised shopping trolley for old ladies," Marte laughed at her own joke, “and you still can't drive until you've passed your driving test.”

“I passed the theory and the practical is next month, but I don't care, I think it's cute and I don't plan to go very far in it. All I need is something to drive places when it's raining and to potter around town and the shops.

“That reminds me," Kellie said, “we better go shopping."

“Shopping, that's my favourite pastime," Marte immediately perked up.

“No. I mean food shopping, for dinner. You promised Tim a proper German dinner if you remember, so now you get to play domestic goddess."

“Spoil sport!”

“I'll help you,” Anja volunteered.

The two of them headed to the supermarket. As they went to get into Marte's Mini, Anja mentioned the passenger-side rear tyre looked soft. Marte leaped from the car and swore as she pointed to it. They examined the damage and the tyre was soft but not completely flat. Marte intoned an ancient in incantation to the saints Murphy, Sod, and Fortuna the Greek goddess of chance.

They went to the Kwick Fit next to Aldi on the other side of the road. The fitter looked at the damage from the tyre and whistled through his teeth. He announced it was not an accidental puncture, it had been slashed, a 'real pro job', and was beyond repair. He mentioned that they had another couple of tyres that had been slashed last night, a midnight blue Mercedes wagon and a Mini Cooper like hers parked in-front the owner's house just around the corner from the Turner's home. Neither of them realised the significance of that at the time. Marte bought a new tyre thinking no more about it. She put it on her father's credit card and they went food shopping.

---

“Wha'cha makin”? Kellie sniffed as she detected the onions caramelising. She'd come down for supplies of tea and biscuits for her and Solo. They had been working on the manuscript in the improvised office.

“Rot-kohl-rouladen, Himmel und Erde mit Rot-kohl. Oh and Sauerkraut," Marte made her best attempt at pronouncing the traditional meal as Anja smiled at the devastation of her native language.

“What’s that in English?” Maddie asked overhearing.

“‘Rot Kohl Rouladen’, are parcels of mixed minced beef and pork mince, and pickles all rolled in red cabbage leaves," Anja corrected the pronunciation. “ ‘Himmel und Erde’ means literally 'Heaven and Earth'. It's traditional German mashed potatoes, the heaven is from the apples above and the earth are potatoes from under the earth. It also it has caraway seeds and cubes of bacon and caramelized onions with it. ‘Rot Kohl’ is sweet and sour red cabbage. It’s a Berlin family favourite.”

“Sounds delicious," She said sounding not entirely convinced. It was the apples in the mash she was uncertain about.

“You are making this especially for me?” Anja sounded surprised. Marte smiled and nodded.

“All done now. Except for the strudel.

“And strudel!” Real German strudel was one of Anja’s favourites.

No problem."

“Oh - you - cheater!” Kellie pointed at Marte.

“What?” Marte snapped.

“Rose will be bringing the strudel from the bakery; Marte’s mum owns a bakery," Kellie explained, “and I bet you got the Rot Kohl and Sauerkraut from Sammy’s."

“I didn’t say I was making it all," a distinctly petulant tone tinged Marte’s voice.

“Don’t start fighting girls. Marte has prepared everything else and we are all thankful. Thank you Marte." Maddie tried to smooth things over. Kellie was disappearing up stairs now well provisioned with coffee, biscuits and other baked goods.

“Sure you've enough to last 'til dinner?” Marte quipped, She puffed-out her cheeks like she'd had her mouth over full, “need a hand to carry all that?” She needled.

Kellie paused, sniffed twice, “Anyone else smell onions burning?” She calling and waggled her butt at them as she vanished upstairs.

“Why don’t you show Anja the family photos, I’m sure she'll want to see them." Maddie intervened shaking her head as she looked despairingly toward Anja.

Marte grabbed Anja and the box of pictures and they perched on a couple of stools at the kitchen island and dived into the photos.

“No not those, I’m sure that Anja won’t be interested in pictures of you on your holidays from when you were five." Maddie said.

“I'm just trying to sort them.”

“Find the ones of Oma and the old pictures. The ones that no-one can recognise, maybe Anja can recognise someone."

“Yes please. All ours date from after the wall.”

“You mean the Berlin Wall?” Maddie confirmed.

“Yeah. It still defines German history, and all ours are from after the Wall fell. Of course ours are at home but I’ve got some photos from my hike in America on my phone."

“Ah! Well, about that," Marte confessed, “I’ve seen all your photos,” she remembered she and Kellie hacked Anja's laptop, “well the ones you put on Facebook." Best not to mention that she thought.

“I know, but I've got some I haven't posted. I’ve been on your FaceBook too. Kellie doesn't seem to use social media but I friended you and your friend KTUR. I checked you out when I realised who you were. I'm not certain who KTUR is though. Why KTUR?” Anja looked puzzled.

Marte explained the whole KT saga but didn’t elaborate about hacking her. They sat together, Marte glancing at each picture and pointing-out the names of everyone before passing it the Anja. Anja looked it each one and putting them aside without a sign of recognition.

“I thought your mum was saying Katy and it was someone else I hadn't met. I was just . . . Mien Gott!” Anja stopped and grabbed a photo from Marte’s hand. “Mein Gott! This is my Urgrossmutter, my great-grand-mother and this must be the twins.” Anja cried jumping up peering at it intensely.

“Yes, Vera, Nadja, and Lubja at the Oktoberfest, but we're not certain of the date. It was sometime in the 1930s."

“I can remember my Urgrossmutter but I never thought that I would ever see the twins. Mein Gott! They look just like Kellie but with long hair.”

They continued searching the box for more photos with renewed urgency. There were none.

“I’ll ask mum if she has any more." Marte was dialling as she spoke.

“Mum, Have you got any more photos from Oma?” Everyone was listening to the one-sided conversation with Marte and her mother. “No, we need them now,” Marte pleaded sitting on the edge of her seat. “Anja’s identified her Urgrossmutter, her great-grand-ma, and the twins in the old photos . . . Well when will uncle Tim be down again.” She frowned as her voice raised slight. “Of course we are expecting him this weekend . . .” Her eyes rolled as she glanced at Anja. “I’m sure nobody thinks that, he's always welcome. . . ” Marte stood turning to Anja and shrugged. “You tell him to stop being so stupid he’s never a nuisance and tell him to bring all the photos and letters back with him” she commanded. “No! I’m cooking diner . . . “ she listed the menu with a hint of smugness in her voice. “She’s German, so she probably likes sauerkraut.” Her face was a picture of disbelief. “No, I’m making a red wine gravy.” she was beginning to tire of the conversation. “I don’t care if that’s not traditional, I like red wine gravy and I’m doing red wine gravy.” With an exasperated eye roll Marte hung off. She huffed and with a quiet. “Ops”! she smiled. “No point calling back she’ll be searching for stuff by now," She smiled sweetly at everyone and slipped her phone back in her pocket. Maddie cocked an eyebrow at Marte’s dissing her mum. Anja looked questioningly at Marte.

“Wong number”, Marte grinned and continued sorting through the box of snaps. This earned a playful punch in the arm from Anja.

“Oh alright, I'll tell. She’s found some more of Oma’s photos and some more papers. Tim is coming down on Thursday or Friday. And he's also got some more old photos and papers. She'll remind him to dig them out.” She checked the oven to see the dinner was progressing to time.“It’ll be ready in about thirty minutes," she announced as the room filled with the aroma of dinner as she opened the oven and poked at dinner.

“It seems there will be a full house again this weekend. Will we have enough beds? '' Maddie queried speaking to herself unaware that anyone was listening, “now there are five bed bedrooms and the sofa-bed in the sitting room. There’s plenty of room when it’s just us girls, it’s the boy’s who are the problem unless Rose and Per are willing to travel everyday."

“I thought they were just coming to dinner tonight.” Marte puzzled, “I don’t think mum and dad will be able to stay for two or three days without warning. Mum has the bakery to manage. Anyway that’s only one more than last weekend and it should be alright. We can always put Solo back in the shed,"

A loud Meow announced Yoda’s presence, as he appeared from upstairs and started patrolling back and forth in front of the oven door. Marte scooped him into her arms but he squirmed and twisted out of her grip and returned to his self-appointed guardianship of the oven. It seemed the smell of dinner cooking was much more interesting for the cat, as he resumed patrolling and purring loudly. “He’s a jerk. He won’t give you any attention now until he’s fed. Then he’ll be your new best friend for as long as he thinks you still have food to share. Such a boy”!

---

Yoda, seeing sight of Rose walking in with Per, stopped purring and quickly skulked out of sight.

“What's up with him?” Kellie asked as he almost collided with her on the stairs.

Rose and Maddie were sitting together on one couch watching the three girls together on the other.

“The family resemblance is remarkable," said Rose commented on what must have been the hundredth time, “I would think you three were sisters if I didn’t know better."

Rose was looking between Anja and Kellie with an arched eyebrow toward Maddie. Kellie picked up in the gesture.

“It’s OK," she said, “I got over it. Anja and I are friends now."

“Well Anja I was surprised but really pleased to find you here,” Rose hugged Anja warmly.

“Me too." Anja concurred appearing a little uncomfortable.

Maddie inclined her head slightly with an almost imperceptible shrug of her shoulders. Rose smiled knowingly as though she thought better but said nothing. She was always guarded when dealing with Kellie. She could never guess what may set her off. Kellie’s current demons seemed to have been slain for a while but she decided to change the conversation anyway.

“You are welcome at my house any time Anja. Which is more than I can say for some," Rose started.

She was searching for the cat who had had the sense to make himself scarce. Marte knowing the tone and look rolled her eyes heavenward.

“Your Yoda cat better stay well away from me. He's in disgrace, ghastly creature." Rose announced, “He has been peeing on my mother-in-laws-tongue. I've been smelling Tom cat in the sun room all week and this morning I noticed the leaves are dying. It seems that Yoda had been relieving himself in the pot. Know wonder he fled the room when I came in."

“I can't blame him; I always try fleeing the room whenever she comes in," Marte muttered.

“What was that?” Rose rounded on Marte.

“I was just saying he's probably feeling guilty. I saw him flee the moment he saw you. He looked terrified." Marte was not above throwing the proverbial cat under the bus should the circumstances dictate.

“Well, he's not going to be a welcome guest in my house again until he's learnt some house manners."

“Where's dad gone to?” Marte asked annoyed as he vanished as soon as he arrived. “Its dinner time.” She moaned, only to see him return carrying some boxes from the car.

He glanced around the room as he looked for somewhere to put the boxes before he dropped them. He gave-up dumping then in the middle of the floor for a moment while he tried to make space in the kitchen.

“Don't leave everything on the floor where someone will fall over it Per.” Rose bossed. “Put it in the sitting room.” She pointed to the couch.

“Diner is ready, and it will spoil in we don't eat now," Marte started shepherding everyone to the table. “Anja, you are the guest of honour so you sit here between mum and aunt Maddie at the head of the table."

Kellie and Marte served the food while Per got the glasses and wine ready for a toast. Per always found a reason for a toast, as was the Norwegian way. This time it was in honour of welcoming the new member of the family.

---

The phone rang and Maddie answered. She mouthed,‘TIM’ to everyone.

“You're late! I’m afraid there’s no more dinner left . . . no, no, we’ve finished eating we were just sitting down for coffee," she pointed to Kellie and indicated that she should put a fresh pot of coffee on. “It was delicious, Marte made it . . . red cabbage parcels, and heaven and earth . . . well she’s always been an amazing cook but this really lived up to the name ‘heaven and earth.’ . . . I’m sure she would love to make it again, you’ll have to ask her yourself . . . OK, tomorrow then. I'll tell the girls. Bye."

“Well, I’m sure you got the gist of that. Tim will be here tomorrow, and he would really appreciate it if Marte would cook menu again sometime. Apparently he hasn’t had proper home cooked German meal with red cabbage and heaven and earth since he was in the army in Germany."

“Next time, maybe it could be made with a proper traditional gravy instead of red wine gravy.” Rose commented, “not that I'm complaining. It was still . . .” she hesitated a little long before adding, “nice.”

“Of course mother," Marte was quietly glowing from the compliments. She was used to her mother's back-handed compliments.

“What about you Anja, do you cook?” Rose asked.

“Not like Marte. The dinner was delicious. I would love it if she cooked it again. Maybe she could teach me to cook it next time, especially the gravy.” Anja smiled coyly, and Marte broke-out in a coughing fit while sipping her wine.

“I’ve had a really hectic day. I can barely keep my eyes open, it must be all that dinner and the red wine I've had. I think I’ll head to bed," was the excuse Kellie who couldn't stop yawning made. Rose and Per decided to head home. No one mentioned Marte's car.

Marte and Anja stacked the dishwasher before turning in and Maddie switched it on as she went upstairs. Seeing the light under her bedroom door the two girls slipped in to found Kellie working on her project with Yoda nestled on her lap. She looked up.

“He was hiding under my bed terrified. He didn't come out until he was sure that Rose had gone. Poor baby, he must be starving."

“I'm not surprised," Marte said, “she has that effect of animals and small children."

“I'm sure she's not that bad," Anja defended Rose.

Marte stared intently at Yoda and pointing at him she said “Cat go!” Yoda slunk off of Kellie's lap and appeared to flow under the bed in one fluid movement.

“Don't frighten the poor baby. He probably thinks he's going to be catnapped and sent to Rose's."

“No, I'm the poor baby. They are going to kidnap and drag me home to go on holiday with my parents, and I won't be able to hang with you guys."

“What makes you think that?”

“Dad was asking if my passport and visa were current for the USA. He said he and mum planned to go on a cruise together, a second honeymoon,” she pointed two fingers to her mouth and made retching noises. “He says he'll can book me in too. A two weeks 'honeymoon cruise' paying gooseberry with mum, I swear I'll end-up throwing one of us overboard." She groaned.

“Why can't you stay with us”?

“Apparently I would be imposing. You need your space and time to grieve properly."

“What about you Anja, you have any plans?”

“I start my final year in September, but I don't have anything fixed before that. I thought I may go hiking again.”

“I was hoping you guys would want the stay and hang with me. I've only just found you and I don't want to lose you all again. Maybe we could follow the obvious plan and find our missing family together." Kellie suggested but they either didn't hear or dismissed it without comment.

Solo went to bed while Kellie worked on. She built a new AWS instance of a PostGRE full text database and populate it with the newly digitized files. As the others slept she worked building an index system, referencing every person, place and date in the database. She linked the maps, locations, routes, and timelines, then she started adding photos of the locations, pre, during and post war. She'd planned to add photos of the people, but finally she fell asleep with her laptop beside her.

20.

That's how Anja and Marte found her when they came in to bring her coffee in the morning with Yoda sprawled across her and the laptop. The cat blinked at them glancing between Kellie and the laptop and at gave them a look that said. “Give me a break. We've had a long night," then he headed toward the kitchen and food. Either it was the cat or the presence of someone else in the room or maybe the aroma of fresh coffee that prised Kellie eyes open. She groaned and shut her eyes again.

“Come on!” Anja and Marte said pulling her out of bed.

She struggled free and dived under the quilt again, grabbing hold. “It's taken all night for it to bond with me. I can't desert it now. It'll never trust me again.” She was starting to sound more like Marte with her wild imagination.

“Nice try.” Marte said firmly wrapping the quilt around Kellie as she and Anja bundled her into her mother's room mumbling soothing sounds at the quilt.

“You must have been up half of the night writing this. I haven't read it sweetheart,” Maddie confessed, “but I think it sounds like a fascinating story."

The girls were holding her down as she struggled to free herself from the quilt and escape back to her room.

“But that's the point mum, it's not a story. It's a historical account of how Hope or great grandma got to England. Her story in her own words. We've all worked on it. We put it together using the manuscript and the notes Solo and me translated. I've verified the names, places, and dates, it all tallies. I've copied some of it to Uncle Tim and Aunt Rose for comments." Kellie gave-up the fight and settled onto her mothers bed letting the other girls snuggle under the quilt with them.

“I hope you don't mind, but I copied it to Alrik too," Anja looked worried, “I thought he may be able to find more about what happened to the family after Hope escaped."

“Brilliant. Why didn't I think about that?”

“Because you were too tired last night." Her mother messed with her bed hair which had been flattened by sleep.

“You gonna have your hair done? You should do it. With the colour thing.” Said Marte has she reached-out to mess it herself but was rebuffed my Kellie with a look that flashed danger.

“I only thought about telling Alrik this morning." Anja said trying to defuse the situation by hugging Marte's shoulders and pinning her arms as she appeared to be about to mess with Kellie's hair again.

“Well, you should be in charge of Alrik, because you are German and live there and you already seem to have a good relationship with him. Marte can work on the Italian, the American connection and Oma Love. Solo and I are still working on translating the manuscript, and it seems that I'm getting my hair cut.” Kellie grinned.

“Well you girls seem to have it all under control."

“Aren't you going to ask what I'm having done to it?”

“I'm sure you're capable of deciding that for yourself.”

“I had to wait until I went to Uni for my mum trusted me get my haircut the way I wanted. I hated having to brush it and braid it all the time when it was long.” Anja said.

“My mum doesn't know I have piercings. Auntie Maddie can I stay with you, Kellie and Anja a while longer?” Marte asked.

“I thought you were staying with me. Or who is the strange young woman who's been living in my guest room?” She noted the dual question and avoided the trap.

“Exactly which strange young women, do you mean?” Kellie interrupted.

“No. You know what I mean. Mum and Dad want me to go on a second honeymoon cruise with them next week, but I'd much rather stay with you guys." She pulled the throw-up face again.

“Marte dear, you are always welcome at our house but what will your parents say?”

“They want to get a last minute booking for me. A stand-by flight in cattle class while they swig champagne in the first class cabin. Then two weeks locked in with a total stranger in a lower deck in a shared torture chamber. Them, at the Captain's table living it large; Me, poor Cinderella shackled to an oar in the dungeon, surviving on crusts and bilge water, deprived of sunlight and fresh air." she shuddered at the imagined horror of it.

Kellie signed air quotes. “Kidnapped Norwegian Princess sold as galley-slave," she mocked. “It's called a shared inside cabin. I'm pretty sure they don't have dungeons in luxury Caribbean cruisers."

“Shut up you. You're not helping. Anyway that's, 'Norse Goddess', to you. Dad and Mum had planned to go without me months ago and I decided to stay up at Uni. But then, well you know, and I came back to help out. They were going on a second honeymoon; It's the first time they've gone away without me since I was born. I'm sure they'd rather be alone. I'll spare you the lurid details but I'm sure it's more than a young impressionable young woman should be subjected to seeing and I'd much rather stay here.”

“Alright, alright, I get the picture. I'll mention it to Rose this morning," Maddie smiled.

“Thank you, Aunt Maddie. You're definitely my favourite aunt, let me brew you another potion using the magic beans."

“If you mean coffee, then yes please. Then you can all clear out and get breakfast while I get a quick shower." She shooed them out of the room as Anja answered her phone and started talking in German. Kellie managed to decipher that it was Alrik but she couldn't catch enough of the conversation to understand everything else. No matter, she could listen to the hacked recording on Kellie's system. They trailed down stairs after Anja as her excitement mounted.

“News from Alrik. He sends his best wishes," Anja could barely contain herself, “and he is pleased that we all finally found each other. He has read the papers Kellie gave us. He thinks it's an amazing story, and can he have a copy of the database and timeline. He promised he would search the historical records to verify a few facts to help us find the twins. "

“OMG! He's found them already hasn't he?” Marte gasped.

“No, but he's found things in the old Stasi secret police records that can help us. He can access records that are not available to the general public. He mailed some copies of the paperwork to my home because they're hard copies, but he didn't know I was still in England so he's having it scanned and emailed to me this morning. I need to borrow a printer. Then I need to sign them and FAX them back"

“Use mine, in the office. Ask Solo it you need any help."

“Thanks. He said that there's more data in the packet he sent to my home and he will email more later.”

Kellie thought about the intercept and copy she had on installed on Anja's email but decided it was not the moment to worry about that, besides it make yet prove useful in the circumstances.

“OK, well the 'Nordic Goddess' can play 'Domestic Goddess' and make breakfast as Anja and I work on the new data from Alrik”, Kellie paused thinking, “sorry, I don't mean to be bossy. What would you like me to do?”

“It's OK. You get your hair done, and I'll sort-out Alrik and help Marte shop. My turn to make 

RotKohl Rouladen, Himmel und Erde mit RotKohl but I'm buying the apple-strudel at the supermarket.

“We can do that on the way back. I want to take you to my house and to see Debbie. She'll freak-out when she finds what you two look like twins.”

“Not after today.” Kellie smiled to herself.

--------------------------------

Kellie was at the hair salon and Solo was working on the app. Bored, Marte decided to use the excuse of buying the best homemade German strudel from Rose's Bakery to show Anja where she lived. On the way back they could visit Debbie. Not wanting a repeat of the previous days incident they checked the tyres before setting out. No flats. Yeah!

Marte called Rose from the car to warn her they were coming and to reserve a strudel. They joined the M25 at junction 9 and headed west toward Southampton. It was shortly after the Hedge End interchange that Marte begun the suspect a problem. She'd noticed that the steering was tending to pull to the right. Soon the problem got rapidly worse. By now the tendency had become a definite veer. The steering was beginning to drag them into the fast-lane.

“There's something wrong with the car. The steering. I should of pulled off the motorway at the last junction.” Marte said as she hit the hazard lights and slowed toward the hard-shoulder.

Anja looked worried as Marte struggled against the steering wheel trying to steer them to safety across two lanes of speeding motorway traffic. Fortunately a considerate van driver noticed their problem and slowed-down behind them shielding them from the traffic.

“Damn! Sorry about that. I don't seem to have much luck with cars.”

“Me either.” Anja agreed, “It feels like another flat.”

Marte managed to get them to the relative safety of the hard-shoulder.

“I've got a spare.” She announced as they unbuckled their seatbelts.

“Do you know how to change it?”

“Vaguely. No.” She redoubled her resolve. “Of course I can. We are two smart modern women we can do this.” Marte said with more hope than conviction. Anja raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

The van driver moved his van in front of their car and stopped and was still in his van. Maybe he was on the phone she concluded. They opened the boot to find the spare. Marte's phone rang and she rummaged in her bag for her phone.

“You guys OK?” Solo's voice sounded concerned. “The app says you've stopped in the middle of the motorway.”

“Got a puncture, again!” She told him.

“I'll call for help.”

Anja had got the spare wheel and the wheel undoer thingy out already. Marte flashed her a thumbs-up as she secretly wished for a white knight. Well, given the circumstances, even a white van driver would do.

“No. It's OK, we've got this.” She felt much more confident seeing Anja unpack everything.

“OK, call if you need help.“ 

Anja rolled the wheel to the front of the car. “Bring the wagenheber,” she pointed to the car-jack.

“What you call it?”

“Das wagenheber. I don't know what it's called in English.”

“Huh! Well, that makes two of us.”

She looked at the car-jack and the other thingys. No, they were tools. She looked at the car-jack and the other tools, and suddenly felt a lot less confident.

The white van driver opened the back of his van before walking over and smiled as he introduced himself. He wiped his hands on a wet rag that smelled like some kind of degreaser, as he stuck his phone back in his pocket. He looked like a man who knew his way around cars and trucks; That was good. He wore back-to-front baseball hat, with mechanics blue overalls emblazoned with a logo. SAS.

---

His phone chirped an alarm. He couldn't help but smile when he read the message.

“I'll take this one,” he told the fitter as he wiped his hands on an old rag and tried not to run the breakdown truck. The fitter cast aspersions on his work ethic and parentage under his breath.

He couldn't help spinning the wheels on the gravel in his haste as he sped out of the yard. She was on the move. He glanced at the map on his phone and raced toward the motorway. She was about a mile in front of her as he hit the motorway. He floored the gas in his panic to catch up. His tracker had alerted him as soon as she'd left town. So far it was working like a charm. It was money well spent.

His first attempt to sabotage her car had been a disaster. He never thought that one out properly. She'd just went straight across the road and bought a new tyre. Literally. Rich bitch! He never saw that one coming. She probably put it and daddy's credit card without even thinking twice about it. However, despite never intending it, his botched slashing of the drivers front tyre was turning-out to be a master stroke. It allowed her the time to get out of town, and alone before she discovered the damage. Agreed the motorway was not his first choice of venue for a kidnapping but he could still make it work. He was smart.

Barrelling headlong at full speed he could see her car two cars up ahead now. He slowed to match her speed and follow her. He just hoped she was alone. It would make it easier for the first time. He edged closer trying to see anyone was with her. There was someone in the passenger seat but he couldn't see clearly enough to see who. He hoped it was one of the twins. The German one, he was worried that the other one could recognise him, and the 'pup' would be a real problem he could do without.

He could see she was having problems steering. He felt a moment of rising panic as he thought she was going to lose control of the car. He didn't want either of them injured. He followed as she slowed to a stop in the relative safety of the hard shoulder. He got his first look of them as they looked as the flat tyre.

He was in luck; It was one of the twins. He watched them as they started to get the spare wheel out. The blonde was on the phone, he still couldn't tell the twins apart. In his cab he got some chilled water and drinks from the cooler, and chocolate bars and snacks to eat, all for free. He would be the perfect host, besides they were going to pay for it later. The drinks and snacks were from his special stash, his dealer promised no-one would ever detect they'd been tampered with.

He climbed out of the van doffed his hat and put it on back-to-front saying, “I don't care. You'll have to wait, the safety of these young women must be me priority,” before stuffing the phone into his pocket, pretending that he had been on the urgent call.

God! She was magnificent close up. Better than he'd imagined in his dreams. She smelled like spring flowers and perfume, no, cream teas with scones, yes that was it, she smelled like strawberries and cream. And the twin, she must be the German one. She was wearing a tee from a German band, not that he knew who they were, he just knew the name wasn't English. She was better up close as well. Not in the blondes league but still cute and she had a tight ass. He liked a tight ass.

Between to two of then he was struggling to function. He was thankful of tight underwear and loose overalls. They didn't seem to see what the effect they were having on him.

“What's the problem 'ere then. Let me 'elp yuh.” he addressed them.

“I think it's just a puncture.” Marte pointed to the flat.

“OK, I'll sort that for yuh an' check fer other damage. You'se ladies sit in air-con comfort' grab a drink an' a snack from the chiller if you wants while yer wait. I'm sure you'se be better off out of all the heat an' dirt. No sense messin' them fine clothes an' yer pretty nails an' stuff with all that dirty greasy, sweaty work.” He said shepherding them toward the van.

They found themselves beside the open van door feeling the cool air from the air-con. They glanced at one another, uncertain, but unwilling to appear to seem ungrateful for his help. He left them as he went to the back of the van and unloaded a professional looking jack with wheels, and a wheel wrench.

“A Jack.” Marte shouted.

“Sorry!”

“Das wagenheber, a car jack.” She smiled.

“Ahh! Yes, a car jack. Das wagenheber.”

“Five minutes an' be on yer way.” He shouted over the noise of the traffic.

She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. She chastised herself for her uncharitable thoughts. There were two of them. It was midday on a busy motorway. Come on! What could happen? He was right it was hot, noisy and dirty. She was beginning to break into a sweat in the heat just standing there. She climbed into van. Out of the noise and heat and the confusion, the van was a cool oasis of calm and comfort. She was thirsty. She looked at the cooler with the drinks.

He dragged the jack behind him to the Mini. He was trying to think on his feet. He had to get them locked into the truck and preferably incapacitated. Then he could attach the towing bar to the Mini and get them off the motorway. That was as far as he could go. He saw the BB climb into the van. He couldn't believe that she was actually doing it. His heart was pounding and the excitement was giving him a high. The German twin got in too. He laughed-out-loud. It was working. He couldn't believe he was doing it.

He kneeled down to position the jack under the suspension and started pumping the jack still on his knees. Something brushed his foot and ankle as he went to stand-up. He looked behind him. Shiny black boots and black trousers filled his field of vision. Two men not in uniform but obviously policemen stood in front of him.

“Take your time chief. We've got plenty of time.” The first officer said.

“You change the wheel and get the young ladies on their way safely first, then we can have a little chat. Hmm!” His partner added.

---

It was late afternoon when they returned from shopping and Marte's house, to discover that Tim had phoned. He wouldn't be able to get down this weekend due to car problems. His car was going to be out of commission for a few days.

To everyone's amazement Tim called again in the evening. This time using Skype. His car would take a few more days to get fixed so he wouldn't be able to make it until next weekend. He implored Marte to cook home-made German food next weekend instead. She promised she would if she is still there; The second honeymoon cruise still threatened.

He told them the latest news of the search for Oma Hope's story. He'd found some other notes among Oma Hope's papers and got a translator, who worked in the department, to translate them as a favour to him. The work was almost through and he would bring then in the weekend.

Solo was less than pleased to hear his finding the key to the manuscript was dismissed as 'dumb luck'. Kellie defended him pointing-out that if it was so obvious how come no-one else made the link during the past seventy odd years. Kellie summed it up as jealousy, and the rest of them agreed, but it didn't help to lift his spirits.

The rest of the day passed quietly. Marte got an email from one of the American purchasers of the cameo. It said that the cameos they had bought were of a single portraits, not of three girls. It had been carved to order and shipped to the USA. The owner thanked her for her enquiry, which had been inherited from her mother, but had been damaged. Now she knew where it had been made she would get it repaired or replaced. It seemed that the first line of enquiry was dead. Later in the evening there was another email response from the USA. Once again the trail went dead. This time It was not the right cameo. That meant it must be the last one they searched for. The one from New Hampshire.

“It must be the one.” the girls chatted animatedly.

“That's not necessarily true.” Solo argued. He was still on a downer. “She may have gotten married or changed her name for some reason. Lots of German immigrant families, especially with Jewish names, changed their names to avoid persecution.”

“We may have to contemplate the possibility that we could never find her.” Marte conceded sadly.

“I'll never give-up.” Anja said defiantly. “There must be a way to find her. I think I'll email Alrik. He always finds something.”

“I have an idea.” Kellie said. “Well, two actually. Someone should check the US Immigration records at Ellis Island.”

“I can do that.” Marte volunteered.

“You need to search for passengers from 1940 to 1945. Maybe she took a long time to get passage.”

“What if she sailed under an assumed name?” Solo asked.

“If we need to we'll have to cover all possibilities.” Marte gave him a look to shrivel him with a glance.

“Jus' tryin' to cover all possible angles.” Solo mumbled.

“First search for her family name. Then look for all women named Nadja and variants of the two names in German. Then try Ukrainian and French. Finally, try unaccompanied single women in their twenties.” Kellie suggested.

“Alrik must be online, he's answered already. He says check the passenger manifests of ships sailing from Lisbon.” Anja beamed at the new clue. “I've got this one.”

“What are mister negativity here and you going to do?” Marte niggled.

“We are going to search for the family history of our three cameos owners, and Opa and Oma Koepple's family's history to see if we can find any common names or places.”

They separated to their rooms to begin a night of searching. For once everyone, even Kellie, was asleep.