Berlin, Flat of Heidi Kaufmann
July 22, 1944, 0825 hours
Teppel had not slept at all. He spent the night cleaning and straightening the mess made by the SS guards – all except for Heidi's bedroom. She had not emerged from the room all night, and occasionally Teppel thought he could hear the sound of sobbing coming from behind the closed door.
He could not fault Heidi for being angry, though her anger hurt him deeply. He had never wanted to put her in harms way and yet he had done just that. Maybe I should have told her sooner. He shook his head. He knew that would have also been a mistake. To have her react like this as he was leaving was one thing, but if she would have reacted this way before, his whole existence would have been in jeopardy. He thought about trying to explain why he hadn't told her, but he knew that in her current state of mind, she would not listen to him.
He sighed as he sat on the window sill. He was in a no-win situation with Heidi. His feelings for her were genuine, but after having found out that his life was a lie, she didn't want to believe it.
He slowly moved back an edge of the draperies to look out the window. What he saw made him gasp. Sitting across the street was a car with two men inside. Gestapo! It has to be! What are they doing here?
He got up and began pacing the room. I am trapped here now. If they are watching the building, there is no way for me to leave even if I wanted to.
He heard the bedroom door open and turned to see Heidi standing in the doorway. She looked as if she hadn't slept at all either. "Heidi," he said.
"Hans, I am going to work now," she said brusquely. "If you want to hide in here today, you need to get in now so I can close up the opening."
Teppel sighed. He had hoped they could talk about things before she left, but it was obvious that she was not in the mood for that. He nodded and climbed into the dark hiding place under the stairs.
- - - - -
Heidi replaced the paneling and slid the bureau into its place in front of the opening before leaving her flat. She felt bad about speaking to Hans so harshly - she hadn't intended to do so. She had actually hoped to talk to him about the situation before she left for work. But when she opened the door to her bedroom that morning and saw him standing there, the anger came welling back up inside her. I will talk to him tonight.
As she walked down the steps from her building, she became aware of a car parked across the street. She saw two men inside watching her. Oh no, the Gestapo! Her first instinct was to turn around and run back inside, but she knew that would be a mistake. Without paying the car any further notice, she began walking down the street as she normally would. Just another boring day in the life of Heidi Kaufmann.