Double trouble – a Ms Winslow investigation

Armin von Weiden found the headline for the article in the Mannheimer Kurier acceptable: “Love across the frontierGrenzefrontiers – spy scandal uncovered after more than 70 years,” he translated.

“But this,” he said to his friend Dorothy Winslow, waving the pages of Wunderbare Woche at her, “is just horrible! It says: ‘Sex scandal – spy affair finally comes to light’.”

Dorothy was visiting from England and staying with her niece Lucy Tischler and her family in the village of Heroldstein. This coincide with sth.zeitlich mit etw. zusammenfallencoincided with the launch Erscheinenlaunch of a book about a spy story that Armin and Dorothy had uncovered. 

“We should be pleased about the publicity,” said Dorothy, as she looked through the galleyKorrekturfahnegalleys a final time. 

“It’s such an amazing coincidence – your great-aunt and my great-uncle – both spies – knew each other. You couldn’t invent this.”

Dorothy smiled slylylistig, verschmitztslyly at Armin, who blusherrötenblushed a little. 

Almost a year ago, Armin had been visiting Dorothy at her home in Cambridge. She had asked him to help her sort through boxes of letters from her great-uncle, George Winslow, who had been a British spy before the Second World War. Dorothy knew that Armin was a history expert and they had spent many happy hours decipher sth.etw. entzifferndeciphering George’s terrible handwriting to see if there were any fascinating secrets hidden there. 

Then, one wet afternoon, as the rain drummed on the windows of Dorothy’s sitting room, Armin, who had just taken a third sconebritisches Teegebäckscone, stared at the fadeverblassenfaded blue paper in his hand. 

“What’s the matter? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” Dorothy said while putting down her teacup.

“I might have, but surely it can’t be.”

“What is it, Armin?” 

“Well, George mentions someone called Lou in his letters.”

“That’s right. Why?”

“I know this is a be a long shotweit hergeholt seinlong shot, dear Dorothy,” said Armin, wiping jam from his chin, “but I had a great-aunt who was a German spy. Her name was Louise von Weiden – the family called her Lou.” 

“Sorry, Armin. Are you suggesting that the two knew each other?”

“Look here! This letter is dated 14 February 1938.”

Dorothy moved to sit next to Armin on the sofa. “And?” 

“It says here: ‘Met Lou for dinner. She looked wonderful in a blue dress.’”

“Where did he write the letter and who is it to?” 

“That’s what really caught my attention,” Armin said, pointing a long finger to the top of the page. “It’s from Tallinn and addressed to his brother James. I know that Lou was in Tallinn at the time and we have a picture of her at a party. I’m not sure if her dress was blue – it’s a black-and-white picture.” 

Dorothy smiled gently at her friend, “Sorry, Armin, but there are just too many coincidences in your story, and I’m sure two spies working for almost enemy governments would not have been seen together.”

“I’m not saying George was in the photo – and Lou is only caught in profile – but when she died many years later, she was holding that picture.”

Dorothy had more questions: “Why would George write to his brother about a dangerous affair? What if the letter had got into the wrong hands?”

“That, dear Dorothy, is a question you will have to answer. Now, I’m going for a walk – rain or no rain. Are you going to join me?”

And that is how their investigation started. Slowly at first, but then information began to come out. Small pieces of a puzzle that fitted together. First, Dorothy found out that George and his brother James had been very close. And that there had been a secret between them: something never shared with anyone else. 

Armin unearth sth.etw. aufstöbern, ausgrabenunearthed some old papers belonging to his great-aunt and finally located the photo taken in Tallinn. Lou’s head was a little blurredverschwommen, unscharfblurred and in profile, but a hand was stretched out towards her. With the aid of a magnifying glassLupemagnifying glass, Dorothy was able to identify a British wristwatchArmbanduhrwristwatch on that arm, the same one that George had worn all his life. 

“You were right,” said Dorothy after she had identified the watch. Armin smiled a big broad smile. 

“I think we should make this into a book. It’s a wonderful story.” 

Dorothy nodded and added, “Well, we still don’t have enough for a book, but I know a young man who might be able to help us. Mati Saar is Estonian and he’ll know all the important places to see, and maybe there are archives he can access.”

Eleven months had passed since that day. Not only had Mati been very helpful. With his assistance, they had uncovered an even bigger secret that was now at the heart of the book. Mati had spent the last two weeks in Heroldstein helping Dorothy and Armin do a final fact-check on the book. After a big “thank-you dinner” the previous evening, he had returned to his hotel in Mannheim and was due to fly back to Tallinn the next day. 

Dorothy put away the final galleys. It was time to collect sb.jmdn. abholencollect Dorothy’s twin great-nephews from the local Grundschule. 

“Here we are,” she said a bit later. “I do hope Lucy’s boys are well behaved today.”

The twins, Freddy and Rollo, decided that they’d rather play football with their friends than go home and do their homework, so Dorothy and Armin spent a quiet afternoon planning a trip to the book fairBuchmessebook fair in Frankfurt. 

Next morning, however, Armin was extremely upsetaufgebrachtupset when he called Dorothy.

“There was a break-in last night at my office, and guess what? It was Mati! Oh dear, oh dear. Can you come over? This is a disaster!”

It took some time for Dorothy to understand what had happened. 

“As you know, I’ve recently had security cameras installed at my office – you can never be careful enough,” explained Armin. “I saw this morning there had been a break-in and called the police. They came and looked at the cameras I had installed, and we could see Mati walk into the place, as cool as a cucumberseelenruhigas cool as a cucumber! He just took all of the original letters and the green box and walked out again.”

“What happened then?”

“Well, I told the police who it was, and they went round to his hotel in Mannheim. The letters and the green box were gone.”

“What about Mati?”

“They found him unconsciousbewusstlosunconscious on the bed. He’s in hospital and the police are waiting to interview him.”

Dorothy looked puzzledverwirrtpuzzled. “Why would Mati take those things? He could have just asked to borrow them. It makes no sense. There must be someone else involved. Let’s have a look at this video together.”

But Dorothy had to admit that the man on the screen was definitely Mati. 

“Did Mati know you had security cameras?” Dorothy asked Armin. 

“He knew about them all righthier: schon, wirklichall right. He helped me set them up when I had them installed. I don’t understand any of this.”

It was horrible waiting for news from the police. Dorothy decided to contact the Estonian embassy  Botschaftembassy to let them know that one of their citizens might be in trouble. To her surprise, the attaché she spoke to knew her.

“Yes, Ms Winslow. I went to a talk you gave at the Foreign Office in London a few years ago. You talked about your role as cultural attaché in the British consulate in Estonia during the Cold War. So interesting!”

Dorothy explained the situation. “I think Mr Mati Saar will need your help. You may want to speak to the police yourself.” The attaché thanked her and promised she would let Dorothy know if she found out anything useful.

There was nothing more she could do for Armin, so Dorothy went home and found Lucy on her way down to the school. Freddy and Rollo were in trouble and the class teacher had asked her to come in to discuss the twins’ behaviour. Lucy was extremely cross (UK)verärgert, sauercross.

“I know they’re naughtyungezogen, frechnaughty, but honestly, the fussAufsehen, Wirbelfuss they make at school about normal things that little boys get up to. They keep them sitting for hours in a classroom and then they’re surprised when they start shooting paper pelletPapier­kügelchenpaper pellets at each other. I tell you, the worst part about having children is having to deal with the school!”

Dorothy volunteersich bereit erklärenvolunteered to go with her. “I can take Freddy and Rollo home while you talk to their teacher. It might be a bit easier for everyone, don’t you think?”

As they walked back through the village, the children were rather quiet, so Dorothy took them for an ice cream, and they told her their troubles. 

“I don’t like that the teachers can’t tell the difference between us,” complained Rollo. “They just say ‘Hey, you! Stop doing that!’ because they sb. can’t be bothered to do sth.jmd. macht sich nicht einmal die Mühe, etw. zu tuncan’t be bothered to learn which of us is which.”

“…and it isn’t difficult. We look completely different,” continued Freddy. “You can do it, Aunt Dot. Why can’t they?” 

In fact, when they were smaller, Dorothy hadn’t always been able to tell them apart. They really were be like two peas (in a pod)sich gleichen wie ein Ei dem anderenlike two peas. However, Freddy had fallen down the stairs a year before and now had a small scarNarbescar on his foreheadStirnforehead, which helped. And Lucy always dressed them in different clothes because – as she said – “Twins in the same clothes belong in horror films.” So, Dorothy made a point of checking at breakfast who was wearing what.

“Of course, sometimes, you can do funny things when the teachers don’t know who you are,” confesszugebenconfessed Rollo, the ice cream making him talkativegesprächigtalkative. Both gigglekicherngiggled.

“What sort of things?” asked Dorothy.

“One day, we had a substitute teacherVertretungslehrer(in)substitute teacher in our class who didn’t know there were two of us. So, Freddy hid on the floor, and I asked a question. The teacher turned around to write the answer on the board, then I went down, and Freddy pop up(plötzlich) auftauchenpopped up in another part of the classroom. Then he asked a question and when the teacher turned her back again, he went down, and I got up at another desk. The teacher thought she was going mad!”

They both roarbrüllenroared with laughter and started on another story, but Dorothy wasn’t listening any more. She’d had an idea.

“Twins!” she said to Armin and placed a photograph on the table in front of him. “Mati has a twin brother!”

After she’d taken Freddy and Rollo to their football practiceTrainingpractice at the local club, she telephoned the attaché at the Estonian embassy and asked if Mati might have a twin brother: “I’m not sure how I could find that out,” the attaché told Dorothy. 

“Well, then, could I ask you to make a phone call to Tallinn?” 

The woman seemed to hesitate, but Dorothy just said calmly, “Do you have something to write with? Good. Then take this number down and, when you call and ask if Mati Saar has a twin brother, say Dorothy Winslow needs to know.” 

The attaché promised to call and hung up. Dorothy settled down in Lucy’s living room and waited. Less than an hour later, her phone rang. 

“You were right. Your ‘contact’” – Dorothy could hear the attaché put nervous quotation marksAnführungszeichenquotation marks around the word. “Your contact says Mati does indeed have a twin brother, Rasmus Saar, and he’s known to the police – burglaryEinbruchdiebstahlburglary and attempted fraudversuchter Betrugattempted fraud. Your contact even sent me a photograph of the brothers. I’ll send it on to you.”

Armin looked at the picture. It showed Mati and Rasmus side by side at what looked like a school-leaving event. 

“Apparently, they both went to university in England first of all, but Rasmus began getting into trouble when he was there.”

“So, if it was Rasmus who was in my office, it explains why he didn’t seem to care about the cameras. Perhaps he didn’t know they were there.”

“Yes, but how did he know to steal the letters and the green box, too?”

“The letters are only of interest with the contents of the green box,” answered Armin. “But together, Rasmus could sell them to any major newspaper, especially in Germany or in the UK, and make a lot of money.”

“And our book project would be ruined,” said Dorothy. Then added slowly, “But how did Rasmus find out about the letters and the green box in the first placeeigent­lich, überhaupt erstin the first place?”

“Maybe Mati let something let sth. slipetw. fallen­lassen, ausplaudernslip,” said Armin, looking dismayedbestürzt, entsetztdismayed. 

“No,” said Dorothy, “I have another idea. “Lucy,” she called through to the Tischlers’ kitchen, “do you have a moment?”

Dorothy’s niece came into the living room.  She looked from Dorothy to Armin. “Why so serious?”  

“Did Mati ever come round here, say, for a cup of tea?” asked Dorothy. 

“Oh, yes,” said Lucy. “He turned up one morning quite unexpectedly, but then he came regularly. We always chatted about the book project. Although I was surprised at how little he seemed to know, and sometimes it felt as if he was quiz sb.jmdn. ausfragenquizzing me about what you were doing. It seemed a bit strange, but he was so nice and polite.” 

Dorothy and Armin looked at each other. Dorothy was the first to speak. 

“We need to find Rasmus Saar as soon as possible. My bet is that he’s on his way to London to sell the story there. I’m going to call the police.”

sure enoughtatsächlichSure enough, the German police picked up Rasmus Saar at Frankfurt airport two hours later. He was on his way to London. In his luggage were the letters and the green box.  

The following day, Mati had recovered enough to pay a visit to Armin and Dorothy. He was very embarrassedverlegen, beschämtembarrassed.

“Rasmus suddenly rock up (ifml.)auftauchenrocked up at my hotel in Mannheim. He said he’d turn over a new leafein neues Leben anfangenturned over a new leaf and had great plans for the future. We ordered some drinks on room service and sat around chatting about old times. That’s all I remember, until I woke up in hospital.”

“…and then he took the letters and the box,” said Armin. 

“Yes, I’m not sure he already had a contact to sell the story to,” continued Mati. “Rasmus thought that, by the time I recovered, he would have sold the story and disappeared with the money. I am very sorry that this happened.” 

Armin held up his hand. “Don’t worry, Mati. The main thing is that you are be back on one’s feetwieder auf dem Damm seinback on your feet and we have the letters and the green box again. Now, I suggest you join us in London next month at the book launch. Dorothy and I would love to have you there.”

Mati agreed on condition that they let him stay in the background. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen to his brother and he didn’t want any publicity.

After dinner that evening, which Armin cooked, he and Dorothy settled in his drawing room for a brandy. 

“We’ve been working on this book for almost a year and I still can’t believe that your great-uncle George and my great-aunt Lou actually knew each other,” Armin said, shaking his head. 

“I must admit it would have been nice if there had been a romance between them,” said Dorothy. “But then our book would have been quite different.” 

“I think the best part of our story is when Mati called us to say that he’d found an unopened box marked ‘George Winslow’ in a dusty back room at Tallinn’s police headquartersPolizeidirektionpolice headquarters. Do you remember that day?”

Dorothy nodded. “Why did nobody ever think to open the box or try to find its owner? I suppose Estonia has gone through a lot of turmoilUnruhenturmoil over the years. Sometimes, things just get bypass sth.etw. übergehenbypassed.” 

Armin closed his eyes and leaned back. “And then to find out that the box was full of love letters between Lou and the most famous and belovedbeliebtbeloved British prime minister of the 20th century – letters that your great-uncle was given to safeguard sth.etw. (auf)bewahrensafeguard.” 

“I think our book just might be a bestseller,” said Dorothy.