But first, you and I must come to an agreement. You must admit the truth about the murders you committed during the war. _You must admit that they were murder. That you were the murderer._ Only then can I consider taking you into my family, Mr. Schiffer. The others will also have to agree to it. I cannot make such a decision alone."
There it was. And there was no other choice but to admit it. _Murder_. Even though he had never killed another person, there was no way out of it. "I murdered," he whispered.
Silvia's eyes bored into him. "Not once but many times. You are ready, _Herr Doktor_?"
"I am ready."
"And when you are ready to take part in my next game—is that a promise?"
The thought made him shudder, but he wasn't the person to turn away from a challenge. "Yes."
"A new time, a new challenge. I look forward to it."
"Yes, but what does it mean, that we will enter the game together?"
Silvia smiled that mysterious smile of hers. "You will see. I can give you no other answer. But don't fear for your safety, Herr Doktor. You will never be asked to do anything you can't do."
"I don't like that, Silvia. What kind of game is it, if everyone is playing at their own risk?"
"You will see. Until then, farewell and be happy."
Karl-Heinz Schiffer walked on. The night would be cold. Not cold enough for him to need a blanket. It was just above freezing. That suited him just fine.
His steps were measured and as steady as he could make them. Soon he would be outside the house and back into the night.
He took one last look at the house in which he had spent almost eight years. _Eight years_. He had been a resident for seven of them.
And then he turned away, and was swallowed up by the night.
Behind him, the door of the house was closed.
—
But this time, Silvia watched as Karl-Heinz Schiffer left her house. This time, she had not heard his steps approach.
Only when she had heard the click of his shoe had she been ready to admit him into the game.
Silvia shook her head in the darkness, smiling.
It had not been a mistake, it had not been a coincidence, she thought.
He was the man she wanted in her game. He was the man she could use to find out more about her family. He had always been her favorite, no matter what Silvia was planning. And now the moment had arrived.
Silvia hurried back to her room. A new game was beginning. And she was now the only one who had decided that. And she would be its guiding force.
"I have to do it, Silvia," she whispered. "Don't you understand? It has to be me."
_The old woman on the floor!_
The sound of her voice shook Karl-Heinz Schiffer.
He thought back to his first visit to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He and Lena had walked for a long time down the stairs, and when they stood in the lobby they had been standing next to a bronze statue. A statue of a very old woman sitting with her head lowered, with her hands resting on her knees. She had been sitting there long enough to be worn smooth by many fingers—to become just like Silvia, he thought.
She had to be the sister, she had to be the woman whom Silvia was thinking of in every new game she came up with. And she had to be called Silvia.
Karl-Heinz Schiffer felt light-headed as he returned to the game with Silvia.
It had started again. And now he was inside it, and Silvia was calling it. She was giving him the clue that he was still walking and still alive.
" _I_ see him, Karl-Heinz!" Silvia shouted. "He's a young man with broad shoulders!"
_B_ _road shoulders_.
"I see him!" Silvia screamed. "I see him!"
"It's him," Silvia whispered. "I have never seen him so close to my house before."
Karl-Heinz Schiffer looked at the house with Silvia's room in it. At that moment the front door was opened. A light went on in one of the rooms.
Karl-Heinz turned around. He saw a man in his late thirties or forties walking down the path toward them. A wide-shouldered man. A man in uniform. A _soldier_. He was a lieutenant.
The room with the light was in the house, too.
"Now we'll see if there really is any way out," Silvia said. "Does he have what it takes to take part?"
"He does." Karl-Heinz nodded. "This one will play."
He had to hurry, but it was no longer far away. The house stood up against the darkness. His steps were louder as he ran down the path.
He stopped, and watched how the lieutenant went into Silvia's room. He moved slowly, it seemed, as he was just carrying the light. He opened a chest of drawers, and put it inside.
Then he left the room and approached the old woman, who had been lying on the floor. He picked her up and placed her on the bed. He shook her to wake her up. Silvia began a new chant, and her voice took on a commanding tone. It was as if she had the power to make the old woman obey, as if she forced her to carry out the command.
The lieutenant listened and then nodded. Karl-Heinz Schiffer could see his gaze as he moved from one side of the room to the other, just looking around.
There was a small suitcase next to the bed.
_His suitcase_.
The lieutenant opened the case, took out an old notebook, and wrote on the front page. He also wrote down a number. Then he held the notebook to the bed, lifted the old woman's head, and held it steady while she read what was written on the notebook.
The lieutenant removed the notebook from the old woman's hands, laid it on the bed, and left the room.
The officer turned the light out in the room before he opened the door. He had to move slowly, he seemed to be moving with a limp.
He disappeared through the door.
Silvia's gaze found him.
Silvia took the notebook, opened it, and read the number that the lieutenant had written.
"A code. This is a code," she said. "I did not think the military used codes."
She put the notebook away. Then she turned her attention to the old woman. Silvia sat down next to her, placed her hand on the woman's hand, and closed her eyes. She sat like that for a while, her hand resting on the head of the old woman, while her breathing grew even deeper.
Silvia stood up again, and went over to the wardrobe. It was dark inside, but Silvia moved around in there as if she knew every inch of the dark room. She finally took a garment out. Silvia put it on the bed and smiled when she looked at the lieutenant again.
The old woman on the floor was still asleep.
"I can't stand here all night, Silvia. I'm freezing. I'm going to sit in the car and wait for you."
"Suit yourself," Silvia said. "I'll see you tomorrow. The next game."
She had to shake the old woman to wake her up. The lieutenant hadn't understood the meaning of the number she had read, so she had to explain to him what was written on the page. He looked baffled, but as he was a _German_ he understood when Silvia told him she had found the right place.
Silvia smiled again.
The lieutenant shook his head. "You are a strange woman, _Fräulein_."
Silvia didn't know if he was referring to the fact that she could be stubborn or if he had remembered the German that Silvia had used the first time she had used this game.
The lieutenant returned to his hotel, and waited. Silvia stayed until eleven.
He was waiting for her on his balcony, watching out at the street.
"Time's up, Silvia. I have to go now. It's too cold."
"Where did you go last night, Karl-Heinz? Did you manage to find anything? Have you looked at what she's written?"
He knew that was what she was asking. He knew that she had found her house and gone to the next room. The code and the numbers. The numbers had to mean something to him, too. But he couldn't remember any more than what Silvia had told him.
"I'm sorry, Silvia. I don't have any answers. But it's not just the questions that have been worrying me. It's the
