North Africa now. No promotion. All because she couldn’t keep her knickers on. And what about him? Whoever he is. He’s gotten away with it.
’Should I wait for him to return to her? If they are having an affair he won’t be away for long. But I don’t have the time. I’m leaving in a few days. I’ve got to get away from this apartment if I’m to survive this but what to do about her?
He stepped back a few paces and peered around the bathroom door. She was still laying there motionless. He returned to the basin splashed more water on his face, dried it with a towel, looked at himself in the mirror yet again and smiled.
“I’ll make it look like she was murdered.”
He went to the door and locked it and put the chain across . Next he went to the windows and peered out briefly before drawing the curtains. This made the room dark so he put a bedside light on. He emptied every drawer he could find, tipping the contents on the floor to make it look like an attempted burglary. He took one of the new stockings and lifting her head pulled it tight around her throat. So tight it should cause bruising.
Next he wiped the glass he had used with a cloth to eliminate his fingerprints. Then he picked up the telephone. The wire had been yanked out and he repaired it with a screwdriver. He set it down and picked up the receiver. After a moment there was a click and then a dial tone. He rang the police, gave the address, refused to give his name and told them that there had been a disturbance above his mothers flat.
“What is your mother’s name please?”
“Frau Drescher.”
He promptly hung up. They may try to trace the call but he doubted it very much. He quickly went round the apartment and took what he wanted. He found some cash amongst her underwear and left closing the door quietly after wiping the handles. He tiptoed silently past the next floor and once clear he hurried to the lobby. Once outside he took a deep breath. It was late afternoon now, the sky grey still from the rain that had just stopped. He got to the corner of the street when he heard the first of the police cars approaching. Three of them. They sped past him, painted black with the bells ringing. No one paid him any attention. He watched as the men in leather coats jumped out of the cars and rushed inside the apartment block. He would get his friends to give him an alibi for this afternoon. He hadn’t actually told them he was going home to see his wife.
’I’ll tell them I was with another woman,’ he said to himself.
After a minute he saw the curtains of his wife’s apartment open and faces peered out of the windows. Seven storeys straight down to the street. No escape there for the assailant. He had to have gone down the stairs. The Drescher woman would be taken in for questioning.
’Hopefully they’ll be a bit rough with her.’
He hadn’t thought about where he was going to go next. He decided to call on an old friend.
’Will I recognise that bastard of a Colonel again?’ he asked himself.
Otto Wurtz continued watching the windows of the apartment for a few minutes more from the street corner. He could see shadows moving within the room. Then he turned away and headed off as the air raid sirens began sounding across the city.
PART TWO
CHAPTER TWO
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, 2 OCTOBER 48 B.C.
Small waves lapped at the Roman fleet as it lay at anchor half a mile offshore from the city. Apart from guards and a handful of officers patrolling, the decks appeared deserted. Marines and legionaries were in their bunks getting much needed rest or playing dice. A common source of entertainment for the many hours, days or weeks at sea. The slaves chained to their oars slept where they sat.
Admiral Menenius Agrippa was patrolling his ship. He stopped at the stern and watched as men, his men, clad in only loincloths tied ropes around their waists, put knives in their mouths and dived over the rail cleanly into the sea. He peered down and watched as they broke the surface of the water, took a deep breath and dived. Their job was to clear the hull and steering oars of barnacles and any other parasites clinging to them. Each