Hans had always worked his way out of tough spots in the past. He could hardly believe what had just happened. He and Anna were doing it and suddenly she seemed to gasp, and well, slump to the ground. Undressed, in a friends apartment, a friend who did not know he was using it for this...

What to do, what to do. How can it be that this happened? He felt for a pulse and there seemed to be none. He was clueless as to what to do or whom to call. He wondered if he should try to do CPR or concentrate on getting out of there, and fast. Should he leave her there, as is, what to do, what to do.

Hans was breaking out into a cold sweat, he was sure that his hives would present next. He had a bad habit of being affected by them in times of extreme stress. Whatever. He had to think and he had to think fast. His friend could walk through the door in the next hour or so.

"Anna, Anna, wake up! We need to get out of here. This is not my place." He had begun to talk to her, even as he was pretty sure she was dead. He was losing his grip on reality. In his panic, he began to move her body, as he had already finished dressing himself. He continued to talk to her, though she appeared quite dead. He flipped her on her side and tried to put her clothes back on. Her hair was all undone, but it made no difference to him. If he left her here, someone would figure out he had been here with her, his friend would be forced to explain who had access to his apartment. He would be found out. He had to move her.

She was not a tall or heavy girl and while it seemed a difficult task to get her lifeless body out, he did not for one second believe he could not do it. The question was how. He dressed her as best he could and then decided to try and pick her up. He was getting old. His back strained from lifting her in his arms and he thought it might be easier if he put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. That was unseemly. It was broad daylight and he thought surely someone would be watching. He had to go down the street to where he parked, on top of it.

While deep in the logistics of this, the phone rang. Hans jumped and of course did not answer it. He was all the more motivated to get out of there. He glanced at the clock and realized how much time had really passed since he began this episode. He would also be late for dinner if he did not leave now, and that would cause some trouble with his wife.

There were only a few things that she got really incensed about, and that was if she bothered to cook for him, he better be there to eat when it was hot. It was one of their rituals of their marriage, part of the deal in a big way. He had bitched enough about it that to miss it would be something very unusual. So. He was in a real conundrum.

To leave her here, perhaps hidden away, where he might retrieve her at another time, might work.  He could come back in a day, the same time he had come earlier, and it would not be noticed by his friend. He was counting on it.

So he went into a small closet, pushed aside the clothing and removed some boxes on the floor, he sat the dressed body inside. He put the boxes on the shelf above and under the bed, re-arranging things a bit. He knew it would be unlikely that his friend would even open this closet, as this is where he stored his summer and vacation clothes. It was away from the main living area and the bedroom; with a table slightly to the left of it with a small lamp to light the darkened hall. He would put everything back precisely and come back tomorrow to remove the body.

~ 

When Kurt woke, all he could do was think of Sari. It had been a luscious afternoon and evening and his feet had carried him home on air. As time wore on he needed to get to the school where he was to teach in the late morning. He knew he would see her, she was in his class. Inge was already up and gathering her things to get out, before she was late for her work. They hardly spoke. They hardly seemed in the same plane of existence. She had recently remarked to him, " We are like an old married couple, we hardly make love at all." He had said nothing, just got up and walked out. The trouble between them had been brewing a very long time. He should never have agreed to live with her this way. It was a mistake.

All the photographs told the same tale. Book after book of albums that she routinely kept of their life together, her hobby being photography, showed a couple at odds with each other. He wondered how he had missed it early on and how she continued to miss it, or did she? He wondered, looking at one of the photos out. A man and a woman, barely touching each other, one with a look of detachment, almost distain. No smile, no warmth, and yes, it was him and it was how he felt. More and more he could not change his feelings.

He was in the habit of staying out late at a pub or being caught up with his band, or in his university office and just plain away from her. She really took no notice; he began to busy himself with many other women in an attempt to calm his growing resentment and distractions with their living arrangement. She was bent on domesticating him, and he was bent on breaking out. The secret was killing him.

He had a lot to hide, yet nothing. Like everyman, he had a personal agenda and for a very long time Inge fit into that. Then, she did not, but by then, it had gone a bit too far. In order to rent the apartment, for them to live together, for her to keep her job teaching at a school, her life had to be in order. No one outside of Austria would understand this kind of existence, where the church and the state were one, and it crossed over, at this time into a moral play for young lovers in the late sixties, early seventies. You could not rent together unless you were married and could prove it.

So many people had been in the business of fabricating evidence of this, practiced during the recent war, doctoring documents; they had learned how and so solved this problem. If they were suspected, nothing was said, it was all for the sake of getting the apartment, and if the lie was found out, you just forfeited the apartment. It mattered more to Inge, too much more, her job would also be on the line. She insisted that if he loved her, then he would have to marry her to make it work. She promised it was to be a casual arrangement, that it was for the sake of the job and the apartment. He was in a place in his life that it made a bit of sense to him, but still he felt he loved her, and it would work out. It was like being trapped, that is how it later felt, when the promise of no strings unwound themselves from the coil and tied him to a woman that he found he did not really love.

She had not been his first girlfriend and it turns out she was not his last. But this time he had met someone who suddenly made all of this matter; he was beside himself, hiding it. No one at school realized he was actually married. Even Fussan did not realize it, she was sophisticated not to pry into his living arrangements and also had no need to know, he had come highly recommend from the University staff and honestly they said nothing, it was such a non-thing for a man.

His desire to make things right was growing intensely as he became consumed with Sari. She was just so different, he felt something he had never really felt before, which was ridiculous, as he hardly even knew her and only slept with her once.

It was absolutely ridiculous. 

 ~

Sari had been up and about shopping and was now heading to school, after dropping off some things at her room in the student house. She was meandering down the street, as she had plenty of time to get to class, and it was after all, you know who, teaching. It would be a bit uncomfortable, but she actually thought she might enjoy it. Such a wonderful secret it was. She felt bad because she had not told him who she really was and it was unlikely she would, but she would enjoy this extra curricular interlude and perhaps when she left, she would want to contact him and let him know who she really was and then take it from there.

She spied a female student walking around, and looking slightly disheveled.  It was too early in the morning to be drunk, and yet, there was something very odd about this girl's gait. She squinted into the sun and tried to take stock of who it might be, she knew she recognized the person, or maybe what they had on, as a student. However, she could not quite place the face, the hair was a mess, and the coat, well, unbuttoned. She looked like she was in a trance and well, uncomfortable in the cold. She decided to go across the street and see who it was and try to figure out if she needed help.

Startled and amazed, she discovered it was Anna. Anna, looked at her with glazed eyes, and touched her hand to the back of her head.

"Anna, are you all right?"

"I, don't know, I am, yes, Anna, I am Anna. Anna Wagner and I am...."

"ANNA!"

Slumping onto her arm, Anna became difficult to hold on the sidewalk laced with ice, they were both in danger of falling over, and Sari was very shocked. She was trying to process everything that was happening. Just at that moment an elderly woman came out of the shop they were standing in front of, to help. Together they struggled and almost dragged her into the shop. There was no chair or place to sit, so they laid her gently on the white floor. She was in a complete state of shock although it appeared she had no injuries.

They called the politzei and an ambulance and together, Sari went with her to the krankenhaus. While it appeared that she was uninjured, the medic discovered a possible blow to the base of her skull, there was also some dried blood matting her hair. Whatever had happened, it was some time ago.

As they arrived at the hospital, Anna appeared to lose consciousness, her breathing became almost silent. They hurriedly carried her off and Sari could not accompany her. The police began to question Sari, having learned that she was standing with her outside the shop from the elderly woman, whom they were satisfied had nothing else to offer and let go about her business.

After they established that Sari had just met her on the street and had not been with her when the incident by which Anna may have been injured took place, they wanted to know how they knew each other and about the school. She produced her ID and did tell them who Anna was, her full name and that she too was a student. Anna did not have any identification on her.

Sari was in shock herself. She was trying to remember when she had seen Anna last, what she was wearing. Then it all came back to her. That was sure to be a question from the police, and indeed, they did ask her when she might have last seen her. It came in a jumble of questions about the school, who she was, and more like an after thought.

Suddenly Sari sprang up. They looked at her startled. They had moved inside and been sitting in a corridor of the hospital. Sari sat back down, now they were curious and disturbed, watching this American suddenly become unbalanced, almost angry, frightened.

"Fraulein, I think we take you to the Polizei station, then we get an English translator so we can continue our conversation, nicht wahr?"

Sari said, " Richtig, I want to make a statement about something I saw yesterday."

The police, both of them, seemed confused and yet calm. This girl was going to say something to them and she seemed to want to make sure she was understood. As they walked out of the hospital, a nurse came to give them a message.

It was a message from Anna, the nurse said. She said Anna had suddenly stirred, opened her eyes and said, "Tell Sari, Hans, thank you."  The nurse looked confused and said that then she drifted back into a deep sleep again, and that was all she said. The police were very interested, and immediately asked Sari, who Hans was.

" I think I know. I will tell you everything when we get back to the station." While bits of English were being spoken and Sari threw in some German, the language barrier did exist and everyone wanted to be very sure of what was being said. It was not just an Austrian incident; it had very bad things written all over it, as it involved an American student who was here to study. That could be a problem on many levels, for many people and Salzburg itself.

 Copyright 2011 by SheilaTGTG55

You can read Parts 1 and 2  here of Intrigue and the Grossglockner: 

 http://open.salon.com/blog/sheilatgtg55/2011/02/17/intrigue_and_the_grossglockner_-_part_one

  http://open.salon.com/blog/sheilatgtg55/2011/02/21/intrigue_and_the_grossglockner_-_part_two