Chapter 12

Elise's face was priceless. She had started to berate me for forgetting my keys again, when the two other felons stepped forward from their hiding place.

"Hello, Elise. Please take pity on us and let us have a few drinks before applying your third degree tortures. How are you, dear? It's good to see you!"

Elise didn't answer Alfred, she just slid into his arms, pulling Jake into the embrace as well, after a little while. Apparently, she did not favour me with over-much affection just then. I would have to work for it!

"Come, let's sit down in the lounge. I shall take care of the drinks. You, Alfred, know the way, don't you?"

He had the grace to squirm and blush when I reminded him of how he had infiltrated my house at the start of our relationship. Nevertheless, he was happy to plonk down on the sofa next to Elise, holding her hand, his youthful face a fine complement to her animated maturity. With drinks in hand, the storytelling began.

Elise was quick to ask the questions foremost on my mind as well. She complimented Alfred with his language skills, remarking that perhaps he should have chosen a more cultured tutor, his vocabulary being a bit down to earth at times. And she asked about the doctor.

"Alfred, Jake, why did Helmut pick this clinic of all places? After the initial disaster?"

"Well, the place was highly praised by some of the doctors in the local hospital. Helmut is a layman, he had to listen to somebody. In most straight-forward cases that doctor would have done a reasonable job, I suppose."

And why did he release Karla so easily? Did Alfred have rubbish on him? Alfred and Jake chuckled at that.

"Elise, the expression is: 'Did I have dirt on him?' And, yes, I did. There was an affair a few years back, when he was accused of fraudulent billing by the medical aid societies. He got off with a relatively minor fine and a fat blemish on his reputation.

"Funny enough, nobody doubts his professional competence. But his finances are a shambles, his pretty clinic on the brink of bankruptcy. I let him know that I knew about his various problems, made him realise that he would not survive another scandal, and he surrendered."

"And, of course, you also made a hefty donation to his funds, didn't you?" Jake wanted to know.

But Alfred merely smiled and said that money just lying about was quite useless, you had to do something with it.

Elise would not let go. "How did you know about that affair of his? You only came into this situation because Berthold called for help. He didn't know about it. – How, Alfred?"

Of course, by now we all knew where this was going. Alfred had to have tapped into the doctor's mind, that same thing which he promised never to do again.

"Elise, you did not mind that Alfred learned our language from me, by that very method. I agree that he was right to use it on the doctor. I bumble along innocently, more or less, but he was about to mess severely with Karla. Selfishly, greedily. He had to be stopped. Please give Alfred a break."

"Elise, I agree with Bert here, even though I dislike this feature of my Heavy Matter. It is way too dangerous for all involved. That said, we got into this mess and we have to see it through. That poor woman needs to be whole again. Once it is over, we stop meddling, that I promise you."

Elise shook her head doubtfully, and went to the kitchen preparing to feed us. Jake took this opportunity to inspect my small library. He went here, checked there, pulled out a few books and gave me a happy grin.

"Bert, you have done yourself proud here. This is as nice a haven anyone could wish for. You should be more forthcoming with your drinks, though."

"Hey, Jake, give a man a break. There is lots of your whiskey, and I do have a few outstanding samples of other goodies. Let's see what Elise came up with."

Elise had cobbled together a quick buffet-style dinner. A great assembly of delicacies: smoked ham and salmon, some fresh lettuce, chunks of pork, cooked and then fried to a crisp, sauces and dips, roasted garlic bread. I pulled open a few bottles of my best local wines, light, uncomplicated reds with a clean, uncluttered flavour. Everybody approved my choices, and we managed to polish off all of the food. After Elise's variation of Mountain Dew coffee had been served, approved and consumed, we were relaxed enough to further ponder over our problem.