Lumen by Ben Pastor Read Free Book Online

reminded of titles or ancestral privileges in a modern army. I intend to assign the case to him, and unless you know details about his nature that would make him unfit for the job, he’ll start working at it as of tomorrow.”
    Hofer gave back the folder. “I have no objections. I’d probably have done the same. I only hope you will not take him altogether away from the field.”
    “Oh, no.” Schenck straightened to his full skinny length, smiling. “Young mules do best with heavy loads.”
     
    A few streets away, Kasia laughed too much to keep the eye pencil straight, and smudged the thin arch of her left brow. “And he’s gained weight, too?”
    Ewa Kowalska embraced her shoulders. She threw a critical look at the mirror, although the diffused light in the back of the dressing room made her face look taut and attractive.
    “He’s still a good lover, if he doesn’t drink too much.”
    Kasia’s eyes met hers. After unscrewing the top of a rather worn stick of lip rouge, she rubbed her forefinger on it and then dabbed her cheekbones with it, sucking in her lips in to mark the blush zone. “It’s easy to laugh, but I almost envy you. German officers make good money.”
    “Money has nothing to do with it.”
    “Then what does, nostalgia?”
    Ewa shrugged, without letting go of her shoulders. “I don’t know. Power.”
    “Power?”
    “There’s power in it - in getting a man back.”

    “Is he married?”
    “Yes. No children, but he’s married. His wife’s a sow.”
    Kasia laughed again. “Did he tell you that, or did you see a picture of her?”
    “Neither. But I’m sure she’s just a sow. Most women are stupid sows.”
    “Well, Ewusia! Where does that leave me ?”
    Ewa came up to Kasia’s chair and embraced her. “Not you, darling. But you know that most of them are.”

1 November
    Father Malecki didn’t say what first came to his mind. He looked at Bora standing at the other end of the convent waiting room, and had to make an effort not to bring up the issue of the torn missals.
    Bora was leafing through a loosely bound typescript, but his eyes were on the American priest. There was a stern, challenging look on his face, unless of course it was a form of defensiveness.
    “I was assigned to this investigation, Father Malecki. I didn’t ask for it.”
    “Oh, I understand that.”
    Because the priest’s eyes stayed on the document, Bora made a point of continuing to scan each page quickly. “Some utterances of the holy abbess were politically significant.”
    Malecki kept a straight face. Today Poland had been officially incorporated into the Reich, and he had to be prudent. He was especially careful not to stare at the sutured wound on Bora’s head. “Their interpretation was, anything can be made of oracular responses.”
    “I’d say that ‘Cross-marked flags from the West’ identifies us rather clearly, Father. What amazes me is that she
referred to ‘The Round City and the Ram’ as leaders of the flags. Our army commanders are in fact von Rundstedt and Bock. It’s remarkable that she said this as far back as a year ago.”
    “Well, I see that the good sisters have given you my notes. What do you think of them?”
    “Technically, that your typewriter has a defective ‘R’. You have consistently tried to avoid words with ‘R’ whenever possible: ‘Might’ instead of ‘power’, ‘benevolence’ instead of ‘charity’ or ‘mercy’. From the theological viewpoint, I would not hazard comments-I don’t know enough about mysticism. Judging by your scepticism, though, I’d say you attended a Jesuit university. Wasn’t it St Ignatius who said, ‘No novelties’?”
    Malecki grinned in spite of himself. Sunken in his broad face, the bright blue eyes revealed the quick labour of his mind. “I did attend Loyola University, and I am a Jesuit.”
    Bora didn’t smile back. “I had some Jesuit teachers, but you know us Germans - our Catholicism has a monkish bent. And I’m