Chapter 6 Photographers in Salzburg - 5

The bookstore is located on Schenken Lane between the Knights of the Dawn Kinski Palace and the Borg Theater. To enter the bookstore, you have to go down three steps, which are no longer visible now.There were three vaulted rooms side by side, each with a small window to let in light.The owner of the bookstore, surnamed Wagner, is in his sixties. He worked in the State Hofburg Library for twenty years, and then came out of there to run his own bookstore.There is some truth to his claim to be one of Vienna's leading authorities on rare and ancient books. At first, he did not recognize Reber Michel Klimrod.

This is not surprising.Wagner saw Leiber last.He was still a kid in shorts with strands of hair hanging down his high forehead.More than four years have passed since then, and how many things have happened in these four years!The kid used to come here almost every month, and always on Thursdays, unless school was out.He always browsed silently among the bookshelves, looked at the books in the glass bookcase, and often left quietly without saying a word.He often stopped in front of a certain book, and that book was always just bought by Wagner, and he tried it out. After a while, the bookstore owner was no longer surprised.After standing for a while, the boy would shake his head slowly, as if to say: "We already have this book." Or ask the boss about the book or manuscript's provenance, publication date and price, and always end up saying something like this: "I'm going back to my father. Can you please keep it until next Thursday?" Seven days later, he would come back on time to tell the boss whether Barrister Klimrod had decided whether to buy the book or not.When he spoke, his tone was very soft. At that time, his voice was not childlike, and his pitch was still quite high, but it gave people a strange feeling as if it came from a distance; his eyes seemed ethereal and ethereal.When necessary, Wagner will also come to the door to complete a deal with the paralyzed barrister.The magnificent library of the Klimrod family has always amazed the boss.

The appearance of the person who appeared in front of Wagner now, in any case, could not make him recognize that this was the child from a few years ago.He was almost thirty centimeters taller, wore an English-style tweed jacket, and rust-colored socks—both a little too short; Can't see it anymore.This must be an Englishman, Wagner thought. At this moment, Leiber walked down the last step and stopped standing with the backlight.Those eyes suddenly hooked Wagner to some kind of memory.Wagner's sense of déjà vu was then further enhanced by the way the stranger began to stroll along the spine of the book.

Wagner asked him in English: "What book are you looking for?" "Find my father's book," Reber replied in German. Just at this moment, Leiber stopped in front of a set of thirty-two volumes of "Voltaire's Collected Works", which was an edition of 1818.Wagner stood up abruptly, then stopped suddenly, as if realizing his gaffe. "You are little Klimrod?" He was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "Caleb Klimrod?" "Reb." "You've grown so tall I can't even recognize you. How old are you now?" Leiber left the set of "Voltaire's Collected Works" and continued to stroll through.He walked for a while, and then stopped in front of several books, which were blue leather bound Castries (Note: Ignaz Franz Castries (1781-1862) ——Austrian playwright, poet.) "Song of the Soldiers", von Alksinger (Note: Johann Baptiste von Alksinger (1755-1797) - Austrian writer) "The Interpretation of Mainz", "Dangerous Liaisons" by Laclo (Schondro de Laclo) and "Judas the Great Liar" by Santa Clara (Note: (1193-1253) - Italian nun) ".On the margin of the last book, there is a "K" in gold, although only those who know where the mark is or hold a magnifying glass can see it.

Reb walked away from there again. "How can I have your father's books here?" Wagner said. "I have always sold books to him, and I will never buy from him." "Recently?" This question is very natural. Although the bookstore owner's hesitation lasted only for two or three seconds, it could be seen clearly. "Not recently. Not at all. Come to think of it, I haven't sold any books to your father in about three or four years since you were last here. Have you left Vienna yet?" "I went out with my mother, my sister, my sister," Reber said.

He turned around and smiled. "Glad to see you again, Mr. Wagner. You still have many good books in your bookstore. I don't have time right now, but I'd like to come and talk to you later. Tonight, perhaps." "I close at seven o'clock at night." It was three o'clock in the afternoon. 'I'll be here by seven o'clock,' said Reber, 'and maybe tomorrow morning.But tonight is more likely.However, I don't want you to extend the business hours for me.If I don't come by then, please don't wait for me. " Wagner also smiled at Leiber. "You can come whenever you like, and this evening is a good one. You will never disturb me. Say hello to your father for me."

Leiber walked down the street with a steady pace.He didn't even need to turn his head, but he could see through the reflection of the window of the watch shop opposite that Wagner walked to the door of the bookstore to watch him go, and then stood under the steps, with a furtive look on his upper body.After Leiber walked out of Wagner's field of vision, he immediately turned around and walked back to the Burger Theater.From there he can directly monitor the entrance to the bookstore.He waited for thirty or forty minutes, and finally saw someone coming.There were three people coming, sitting in a black car.Reber didn't know any of these people, and they certainly didn't seem like lovers of rare books or old books.Besides, Wagner must be waiting for them.As soon as they appeared, Wagner came out to talk to them, gesticulating.Even at a distance, the meaning of some of the gestures was quite clear: he was describing Reb Klimrod to the person he was calling.Two of the visitors walked into the bookstore, and after the remaining one parked his car, he went to stand in the foyer of a house opposite the bookstore and watched outside.

Vienna in 1945 was no longer the Vienna of Johann Strauss, nor the Vienna of the Grinzinger Garden Hotel.Grinzinger, known as the city's "golden heart," no longer pulsates to the rhythm of the waltz.The whole city was half dead, half in ruins, and even in the sunshine of June it looked gloomy and desolate.Pradai Park is in the Soviet area, where some of the wrecked tanks are just starting to rust and are gradually being swallowed up by vines.Vienna's Karntenstraße equivalent of Paris's Rue de la Paix or New York's Fifth Street is now nothing but a few war-stained shells of buildings, where rebuilding of the upper floors has barely begun.Few were still where they had been, scattered across Europe, taken as prisoners if not dead, some wounded, or on their slow journey home.

Reb Klimrod returned home to find that the house was still there, but had been requisitioned by a British general.Not even one of the old servants can be found now.Reber was not yet thirteen when he left Vienna for Lviv in 1941.A child of that age does not know much about his parents' servants.Reber only remembered that the servants lived on the top floor.He did not go to the Austrian police, and certainly not to the authorities of the occupying forces.He had no ID, though that wasn't a major obstacle, and it wasn't even a big deal that he stole a few of the British general's civilian clothes.He feared that there would also be Wagnerian figures among the police.

David Setiniaz believed that Reber Klimrod must have understood at once that his father was definitely dead, and Leon knew intuitively that Erich Steyr was in his father's house. What role did it play in the matter of death.In June 1945, Steyr was probably in Vienna.Like many other war criminals, after the war officially ended, he returned home as if nothing had happened.Some people—for example, the notorious Menger (Note: Menger is a Nazi war criminal wanted by the Federal Republic of Germany. Israel accused him of participating in the murder of 400,000 Jews in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Recently, according to a dead body The bones proved that Mengele had drowned in Brazil in 1979)-he also resumed his old career before the war, and he still practiced medicine and sold medicine.Reber's visit to Wagner was regarded by Setiniaz as an experiment.The reason why he went to Wagner instead of anyone else was because he knew that Wagner and Steyer had old friends.The results of the interview confirmed his judgment.Reber knew from the appearance of the three villains at the door of the bookstore that Steyer was trying to capture him and make him disappear forever.

But his main goal is to find out what happened to his father.Leiber stayed in Vienna for two or three days, sometimes hiding in his old house, sometimes in a ruined building.On June 23, he found the woman in Reichenau... ... Later, I found the photographer from Salzburg ... ...to learn the horrible truth.