The Pale House Read online

  PRAISE FOR

  THE MAN FROM BERLIN

  “I’m reminded of Martin Cruz Smith in the way I was transported to a completely different time and culture and then fully immersed in it. An amazing first novel.”

  —Alex Grecian, author of The Yard and The Black Country

  “From page one, Luke McCallin draws the reader into a fascinating world of mystery, intrigue, and betrayal.”

  —Charles Salzberg, author of Devil in the Hole

  “Set in 1943 Sarajevo, McCallin’s well-wrought debut . . . highlights the complexities of trying to be an honest cop under a vicious, corrupt regime . . . Intelligent diversion for World War II crime fans.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Luke McCallin’s first novel . . . is nothing if not ambitious . . . Because every surface appearance in the Balkans is deceptive, setting his novel there makes Luke McCallin’s maiden effort an even more notable achievement. Despite such potential pitfalls, the author has produced an extraordinarily nuanced and compelling narrative.”

  —New York Journal of Books

  Berkley Books by Luke McCallin

  THE MAN FROM BERLIN

  THE PALE HOUSE

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China

  penguin.com

  A Penguin Random House Company

  This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

  Copyright © 2014 by Luke McCallin.

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  BERKLEY® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

  The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-59688-3

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  McCallin, Luke, 1972–

  The Pale House / Luke McCallin.—Berkley trade paperback edition.

  pages cm—(A Gregor Reinhardt novel)

  ISBN 978-0-425-26306-8 (paperback)

  1. Germany—Armed Forces—Officers—Fiction. 2. Intelligence officers—Fiction. 3. Civilians in war—Crimes against—Fiction. 4. War crimes investigation—Fiction. 5. World War, 1939–1945—Yugoslavia—Fiction. 6. Sarajevo (Bosnia and Hercegovina)—History—Fiction. I. Title.

  PR6113.C3585P35 2014

  823'.92—dc23

  2014006608

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Berkley trade paperback edition / July 2014

  Cover art by Danielle Abbiate.

  Cover design by Richard Hasselberger.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Version_1

  To my wife, Barbara,

  and my children, Liliane and Julien.

  All my love.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  It all began when my editor, Amanda, asked me if I could deliver the second Reinhardt within a year after the publication of The Man From Berlin. Given it had taken me eleven years—give or take a few months—to write the first book, I was more than a little nervous. So, it turned out, was Amanda! Writing The Pale House has been a source of immense personal satisfaction, but also a testament to how much encouragement and help I’ve had along the way. Far more than for The Man From Berlin, writing The Pale House has needed quite a bit of both.

  I would like to thank my friend Chelsea Starling in particular for introducing me to Jordan Rosenfeld, a writing coach whose course on plot helped in focusing and refining my understanding of how stories work and come together. For anyone wondering or interested in such courses, look no further than jordanrosenfeld.net.

  Thanks again to friends and family who read and commented on the drafts, in particular—as always—to Mum and Dad and my sisters, but also to Severine Rey, Marina Throne-Holst and Marina Konovalova, Jean Verheyden, Ben Negus, Miriam Lange, and Mike Flynn. Thanks to Jennie Rathbone for not only reading the draft, but for putting me in touch with the good people at World Radio Geneva. Special thanks to Professor Emily Greble, who took the time to answer my questions about Sarajevo, to Franz Bottcher for going beyond the call of duty in researching German Army judicial proceedings, and to Tamara for setting my Serbo-Croat straight!

  A special thanks to Pamela Cramer and her daughter Anna who, while walking down Lexington Avenue in New York, snapped a picture of a gentleman in a car reading The Man From Berlin, and who was promptly christened the Man From Manhattan! The picture is on my Facebook page for anyone who would like a look at it.

  Thanks again to Ryan, Tamara, and Loris at Geneva Fitness for always setting the bar high and keeping me on my toes!

  I have been moved by all the reaction to the first book, and hope The Pale House lives up to expectations. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many people through Sofie von Staplemohr’s and Monique Bouvoir’s reading groups, and thanks as well to Xavier Huberson at Payot Books and to Helen Stubbs at Off The Shelf. It has as well been a real pleasure to hear from, and interact with, all those readers who took the time to contact me through the website or on Facebook.

  A big thank-you to my agent, Peter Rubie, for keeping things simple. And last, but not least, I want to thank my editor, Amanda Ng, for always pushing me to consider and reconsider Reinhardt’s journey. It was hard, but I enjoyed it, and I hope you all do as well.

  CONTENTS

  Praise for Luke McCallin

  Berkley Books by Luke McCallin

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Note on Pronunciation

  Comparative Chart of SS, German Army, and British Army Ranks

  Cast of Characters

  Prologue

  Part One: Blood on a Dying Tree

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Part Two: All Are Not Huntsmen Who Can Blow the Hunter’s Horn

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Part Three: When the Wolf Rises in the Heart

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Par
t Four: The Dead Ride Quickly

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Historical Note

  Note on Pronunciation

  c “ts” as in hats

  “ch” as in starch

  “tch” as in hatch

  Dj “dg” as in fridge

  Dž “dg” as in hedge

  J “y” as in you

  Lj “ly” as in million

  Nj “nj” as in new

  š “sh” as in shut

  ž “zh” as in measure

  COMPARATIVE CHART OF SS, GERMAN ARMY, AND BRITISH ARMY RANKS

  WAFFEN SS

  WEHRMACHT

  BRITISH ARMY

  Reichsführer-SS

  -

  -

  -

  Generalfeldmarschall

  Field Marshal

  SS-Oberstgruppenführer

  Generaloberst

  General

  SS-Obergruppenführer

  General

  Lieutenant General

  SS-Gruppenführer

  Generalleutnant

  Major General

  SS-Brigadeführer

  Generalmajor

  Brigadier

  SS-Oberführer

  -

  -

  SS-Standartenführer

  Oberst

  Colonel

  SS-Obersturmbannführer

  Oberstleutnant

  Lieutenant Colonel

  SS-Sturmbannführer

  Major

  Major

  SS-Hauptsturmführer

  Hauptmann

  Captain

  SS-Obersturmführer

  Oberleutnant

  Lieutenant

  SS-Untersturmführer

  Leutnant

  Second Lieutenant

  SS-Sturmscharführer

  Hauptfeldwebel

  Regimental Sergeant Major

  SS-Stabsscharführer

  Stabsfeldwebel

  Sergeant Major

  SS-Hauptscharführer

  Oberfeldwebel

  -

  SS-Oberscharführer

  Feldwebel

  Staff Sergeant

  SS-Scharführer

  Unterfeldwebel

  Sergeant

  SS-Unterscharführer

  Unteroffizier

  Corporal

  SS-Rottenführer

  Stabsgefreiter

  Lance Corporal

  -

  Obergefreiter

  -

  -

  Gefreiter

  -

  SS-Sturmmann

  Oberschütze

  Private

  SS-Oberschütze

  Schütze

  Private

  SS-Schütze

  Gemeiner, Landser

  Private

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  IN THE GERMAN ARMY IN SARAJEVO

  IN THE MILITARY POLICE, THE FELDJAEGERKORPS

  Captain Gregor Sebastian Reinhardt: a former detective in the Berlin Kriminalpolizei (Kripo)

  Colonel Scheller: commander of the Feldjaegerkorps in Sarajevo

  Captains Lainer and Morten: decorated veteran officers

  Lieutenant Max Benfeld: a young Feldjaeger officer from Alsace, known as “Frenchie”

  Sergeant Priller: a machine gunner

  Corporal Ossig: communications

  Priller, Bader, Pollmann, Triendl: Feldjaeger

  IN THE MILITARY POLICE, THE FELDGENDARMERIE

  General Herzog: commander of military police in Sarajevo

  Major Neuffer: liaison officer to the Feldjaegerkorps

  Sergeant Ibel: a patrol officer

  Private Günsche

  IN THE 999TH BALKAN FIELD PUNISHMENT BATTALION, UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE FELDGENDARMERIE

  Colonel Pistorius: commanding officer

  Major Erwin Jansky: chief of staff

  Lieutenants Brandt and Metzler: officers in the penal battalion

  Kreuz: a soldier sentenced to the penal battalion, a recidivist and informant

  Thun: a documents clerk

  Alexiou: a Greek, a “hiwi,” a foreign volunteer

  Kostas and Panos: his twin sons

  Georg Abler, Carl Benirschke, Otto Berthold, Bruno Cejka, Jozef Fett Werner Janowetz, Marius Maywald, Jürgen Sedlaczek, Christian Seymer, Ulrich Vierow: soldiers sentenced to the penal battalion, their fate unknown

  IN THE SARAJEVO GARRISON

  General Kathner: general officer commanding in Sarajevo

  Judge Felix Erdmann: chief of army criminal justice in Sarajevo

  Judge Marcus Dreyer: serving in the War Crimes Bureau, an old friend of Reinhardt’s from Berlin

  Colonel Wedel: in charge of the army’s defense plans for Sarajevo

  Captain Langenkamp: army liaison to the Ustaše

  Doctor Henke: a military doctor

  Captain Prien: an officer in military intelligence

  IN THE CITY—THE OPPOSING FORCES, THE CITIZENS CAUGHT IN-BETWEEN

  IN THE PARTISANS

  Vladimir ‘Valter’ : chief of the Partisans in Sarajevo

  Simo: his right-hand man

  IN THE USTAŠE

  General Vjekoslav ‘Maks’ : commander of the Ustaše in Sarajevo, a man of fearsome reputation

  Colonel Ante : his deputy, known as “the Gambler,” an old adversary of Reinhardt’s

  Captain Bunda: an Ustaše of imposing size and temper

  Captain : Ustaše liaison officer to the German Army

  Nikola Marin and Franjo Sutko: Ustaše torturers

  Labaš and Zulim: Ustaše soldiers, friends with Bunda

  Jovan Buzdek, Svetozar , and Branimir Zulim: Ustaše officers, brutal men, of particular interest to the Partisans

  IN THE CITIZENRY

  Suzana : one of the directors of Napredak, a humanitarian organization, and mother of Marija, whose death Reinhardt investigated in The Man From Berlin

  Inspector : a detective in the Sarajevo police

  Almira and Suljo : an elderly couple, refugees rescued by Reinhardt from a massacre

  Neven: a boy rescued by Reinhardt at the same time as the

  Anica: a woman working at Napredak

  Safet : a playwright

  ELSEWHERE AND ELSEWHEN . . .

  Carolin: Reinhardt’s wife, died of cancer in 1
938

  Friedrich: Reinhardt’s son, lost with the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad

  Captain Koenig: officer in the Vienna garrison, a member of the German resistance

  Rudolf Brauer: Reinhardt’s former partner in the Kripo and his oldest and closest friend

  Colonel Tomas Meissner: Reinhardt’s mentor, and regimental commander during WWI, a member of the German resistance, his fate unknown

  Major Hassler: former deputy to Colonel Scheller, killed in action in Montenegro

  Doctor Muamer : a senior Partisan, a friend of Reinhardt’s, known as “the Shadow”

  Inspector Andro Padelin: a Sarajevo policeman and Ustaša, partnered with Reinhardt in The Man From Berlin

  PROLOGUE

  VIENNA, NOVEMBER 1944

  “Tell me again,” the Gestapo officer said. The one slouched behind the desk. “The bit about the car crash. Tell me that bit, again.”

  Reinhardt’s mouth felt gummed dry, the blood in his mouth sticky and heavy. They had given him nothing to drink since they had dragged him in here. He breathed heavily through his nose. “We were attacked south of Brod . . .”

  “On the way to interrogate General Verhein.”

  “No,” said Reinhardt. Something felt wrong in his mouth. There was space and movement where there should not be. He focused on the floor. The tiles were mismatched, different colors, different sizes. He focused on one, fixed his eyes on it, tried to ignore the pacing of the second agent. The one who prowled and struck whenever he wanted to. “We were lost. We ended up going south by mistake.”

  “So you weren’t looking for Verhein?”

  “No.”

  Fingers snaked into his hair, and his head was yanked back. The other agent measured him with his eyes.

  “So you were looking for Verhein.”

  “No.”

  “The crash . . . ?”