Maria and Liesl sat on a bench at the train station, watching Georg on the telephone a few meters away. The phone booth door was drawn, but they could see his stoic countenance through the glass window and something about his appearance unsettled Maria.
"What do you think is taking him so long?" Liesl asked, never removing her gaze from where her father stood.
Maria sighed and shook her head. "I have a bad feeling, Liesl. Wait here. I'll be back in a minute," she said as she rose and walked to the booth.
Maria rapped lightly on the window and Georg glanced upwards toward her with a start, surprised by the sudden interruption. With his hand, he motioned for her to push the door open.
Maria leaned inside the small compartment. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head in a silent plea for Georg to fill her in on the details of his conversation.
He placed his hand over the receiver and mouthed the words, 'still checking' to his wife. His face remained void of emotion but his posture was tense.
Maria gently stroked his cheek with encouragement and Georg smiled tightly at the gesture, covering her hand with his and squeezing it for strength.
Suddenly, Georg's face dropped and his stoic appearance turned to a frown. "I see. Well, thank you for your time," he spoke into the telephone.
Hanging up the receiver, he turned to Maria and shook his head. "No luck. There's an Emil Detweiler on file, but the address he listed as his residence is a commercial building. Probably so that he wouldn't leave a trail," he said with dejection.
"We suspected it, but now we know for sure that they're here," Maria pointed out with optimism. "That's more than we knew before you made the call."
Georg nodded mutely in response. He exited the booth and placed an arm around Maria's shoulders, leading her back to where Liesl sat.
Liesl glanced at her parents and immediately the hope faded from her face. "No?" she questioned, although she already knew the answer by the expressions she saw on their faces.
Maria shook her head. "Not yet, but we'll keep trying," she said with contrived encouragement.
Maria and Georg sat down beside Liesl on the bench.
"Would anyone we know have even a slight clue as to where they are?" Liesl asked, her own mind trying to think of the possibilities. "Uncle Max maybe?"
"We could try to get in contact with Max, Georg," Maria said with a quick, thankful smile in Liesl's direction.
"I'm hesitant about making any phone calls to Austria unless the idea seems very promising. Besides, the officials could be watching Max since many people knew that he was staying with us," Georg told them, his own mind preoccupied with weighing the options that remained.
"Yes, that's true," Maria agreed. "But it might be worth it Georg. Max could know something. Aside from Marianne's family in Innsbruck, Max is the last person that the children saw—"
"Now there's an idea," Georg interrupted, leaning forward so that he could look at both Liesl and Maria. His eyes showed renewed hope and glowed with ambition. "Max gave us Marianne's brother's telephone number in case we had to get in touch with them. I forgot."
"That's right! On that slip of paper in the ticket portfolio," Maria exclaimed.
Georg nodded as he reached into his pocket for the slip of paper. "I left the portfolio at the abbey when we left since I knew I'd be searched, but I put the contents in my pocket."
Maria and Liesl looked at each other and smiled when Georg pulled out of piece of paper with an address and telephone number on it.
"This is it. Josef Krüger, 2549 Rotstrasse, Innsbruck. His telephone number is also here," Georg told them.
Maria looked at him and smiled with reassurance. "Good luck calling. We'll wait here for you."
For what seemed like an eternity, Maria and Liesl sat on the same bench, staring at the phone booth where Georg had his back turned to them. Neither spoke very much, as both were anxious about his success in reaching Josef Krüger
Maria stood up and began to pace the length of the bench, her nerves wearing on her patience and her curiosity growing.
"Do you suppose he can't get through?" Liesl asked with despair.
Maria ceased pacing and looked at Liesl. "I hope that's not the case. I do wish he'd show some sign of emotion so that we'd know what's happening," Maria stated with frustration.
"How complicated is it to make a phone call?" Liesl posed with a shrug, not fully understanding the difficulty of the task at hand.
"Quite. Especially when it is out of the country. We tried to call you from Paris and we couldn't get through, even after many tries," Maria sighed. She began to pace again, kneading her hands absently in front of her.
Liesl looked compassionately at Maria, sensing her worry, and then returned her gaze to her father. She could see that he had shifted slightly in his stance, and now leaned against the wall of the phone booth. His face appeared calm, and he was obviously engaged in conversation with someone. However, it was still not possible to fully decipher his emotions.
"Look," Liesl stated as she motioned her hand towards her father.
Maria looked upwards and felt encouraged by the sight. "Wait here a minute, darling," she said before turning and walking towards Georg. As she approached him, Maria put her hands on her hips and released an exaggerated sigh of impatience.
She approached the phone booth and Georg noticed her before she had to make her presence known. He opened the door and reached forward, taking hold of her hand. Although still engaged in conversation, he squeezed Maria's hand tightly and looked her intently in the eyes. He nodded at her and smiled softly, almost peacefully.
"Yes?" Maria mouthed to him with wide eyes of excitement.
Georg nodded and again squeezed her hand.
Maria looked Heavenward for a second and then turned to Georg. Tears started to form in her eyes.
Georg bid farewell to Josef and hung up the receiver. He turned to Maria and smiled, softly at first, but then more broadly. Relief was written all over his face. "They're less than fifteen minutes away on foot. Emil told Josef three possible hotels he knew of here that he would try to check into, so we can narrow it down to those."
Georg held up the piece of paper with Josef's telephone number and Maria could see that he had scribbled a list on the back of it. "He said to try the one at the top first and to go down the list from there."
Maria's eyes glistened with moisture and her smile broadened.
Georg urged her away from the entrance and walked out of the booth, leading her back to Liesl.
"We'll be with everyone again very soon," Maria told her while taking the girl's hand.
Liesl smiled and her eyes sparkled with happiness. "Where are they?" she asked her father with a smile.
Georg held the paper up for Liesl to see. "At one of these hotels. We will need to walk a little though," he told her with an unsure glance at her swollen foot.
She nodded at him and shrugged her shoulders, momentarily forgetting about her injury. However, a moment later when she realized her father's point, Liesl's face filled with determination.
"Don't worry about me," she said while casting a brave look of assurance in her parents' direction.
Georg removed his tie and knelt down at Liesl's feet. "Hold out your foot to me, Liesl," he told her.
Liesl looked at him sceptically, but did as she was told.
Georg wrapped his tie around her ankle as a mock bandage and tightly knotting the ends together. "Try to stand," he told her, while putting out his hand for Liesl as support.
She stood and leaned against her father; the pain was still apparent, but the bandage seemed to at least keep her ankle steady enough to put some pressure on it.
"Much better," she said with an encouraging smile.
"Just lean on your father and me, Liesl. It will only be a short distance," Maria told her with a glance at Georg, the compassion in her eyes for Liesl was blatant.
Georg met Maria's gaze and he gave her an encouraging look. He turned his attention to Liesl. "If your ankle starts to hurt, or you get tired, I'll carry you."
"I'll be fine," Liesl told them both with certainty, anxious to see her family again and not allowing her injury to delay their reunion any longer than needed.
Maria took Liesl's hand and squeezed it affectionately. She moved closer to the pair and Liesl took some of the weight off of her father and distributed it evenly between both parents. The trio walked out of the train station and left in the direction of the hotels that Josef had suggested.