"Michael Moorcock - Seaton Begg - The Case of the Nazi Canary" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

Prinzregensburgstrasse he needed someone to look after the place, so he invited his sister to come and be his
housekeeper. He insisted she bring her daughter Geli, too. He was, I will admit, a little infatuated, but more in the way a
childless man might yearn for a daughter. He doted on the girl. He bought her whatever she wanted. He paid for drama
lessons. Singing lessons. Dancing lessons. He took her with him everywhere he went."
"Even to political meetings?" asked Begg, making a note.
"Even to those. His career had begun to prosper. The SA were glad to see him with a girl from time to time. He
paid for the singing lessons, because she had a talent for operetta, which Adolf loves. Of course there were more
puritanical party comrades, such as Heinrich Himmler, who disapproved of this relationship. Himmler felt it detracted
from Hitler's seriousness, and it made him vulnerable to the anti-Nazi press. There were vile rumors, of course, but
those are always attached to successful politicans.
"Geli caused the odd scene in public, and Alf seemed unable to control her. Alf knew how Himmler felt, but he
ignored him. Geli fired his political engine, he told Himmler. Without Geli he could not give the speeches which swayed
the crowds.
"But it was not only Himmler who noticed," Hess said, "how much less the rich ladies would give to party funds
when they saw their beloved Herr Hitler, who on other occasions had laid his head in their laps, with his niece. They
had influence over their husbands. And the industrialists Adolf wanted to win over were not too sure about a man
who took his niece everywhere he went.
"I know there were strong arguments in this very room. Once Adolf became so incensed by what he said was
interference in his private life that he fell to the floor and began to tear at the carpet with his teeth. He can be very
wearing sometimes. That is why few of us ever wish to upset him. . . ."
"The carpet?" declared Sinclair. "With his teeth?"
"I wasn't there on that occasion, but R├╢hm, Strasser, and Doctor G├╢bbels were, as I recall."
"You have told us about Captain R├╢hm, but have not explained about Herr Strasser and Doctor G├╢bbels."
"Personally, I prefer R├╢hm, for all his predilections. He is at least an honest soldier and as loyal to Hitler as I am.
Gregor Strasser is the leader of our party in the Reichstag. He's a bit of a left-winger. A very distinguished man, but
rather at odds with Adolf over the direction of the party. Strasser is more socialist than nationalist. Doctor G├╢bbels is
the intellectual of the party. A frail little man with a club-foot. He represents what I call 'the Berlin faction'тАФthose who
have more recently attached themselves to our party's destiny."
"And would any of these think the death of Geli Raubal would benefit Herr Hitler and the party?" Begg enquired,
staring out at the construction in what had once been a rather pretty garden.
"Oh, all of them would probably say something like it." Hess nodded absently, looking about the room, its sparse
furniture, rather as if he saw it for the first time. "But saying and doing are very different things. I can't see R├╢hm, who
thought Geli a bit of a doxy, or Strasser, who was the last one to want scandal, or G├╢bbels, who is our chief
propagandist, threatening either Hitler's career or the party's prospects by killing Geli. And Captain Goring has no
interest in such things. G├╢bbels might have made her an offer she couldn't refuse. R├╢hm might have frightened her
away. Strasser would have told her to keep her nose clean and not embarrass the F├╝hrer."
"And this Herr Himmler?"
"He's a cold fish. He has Hitler's ear. He has wheedled his way into the F├╝hrer's confidences in recent years. I
thought he might have been behind that sniper's assassination attempt. They tried to kill me, you know. But I heard
the rifle shot in time and flung myself flat. I still live in fear in case the sniper should try againтАФ"
"You were telling us about Herr Himmler."
"Head of Hitler's personal bodyguard. Big rival of R├╢hm, who runs the SA, our storm troopers. He did hate the
relationship. But he, too, knows that the party is on the very brink of sweeping the country. As far as I know he is in
Berlin. Why would he jeopardize his own career? You see, there are no real suspects within the party. This is the work
of communists and their backers. Our self-interest would not be served by scandal."
"True," agreed Begg. "So you believe there was perhaps a political motive for her death. And what about a
personal one?"
"You will have to ask others about that." Hess was suddenly very subdued.
Under Begg's clever prompting, Hess revealed all he knew of the Geli Raubal murder case.
Hitler was becoming increasingly jealous of Geli, who grew steadily bored with his prolonged absences from the