St Wolfgang, Austria, May 30th, 1963.

12:00 Hrs: Logging in - message from G - to meet at landing stage by the lake 13:50hrs. I am to carry copy of today’s Salzberger Nachrichten

I think to myself that the newspaper is an unnecessary touch as he knows what I look like, but far be it from me to argue. I decide to get there early and wait in the small café nearby. First though, my make-up needs touching up and a newly pressed blouse is swapped for the stained, musty rag that I’m wearing. No Hollywood starlet but I’ll do. I leave by the back window.

13:00 Hrs: At lakeside café - clear line of sight to meeting point

I’m in danger of forgetting what I’m here to do. There are very few people about and the view across the lake is hypnotic. The sky is pristine, so blue, the lake a perfect mirror for the mountains around it. My ‘thunfisch brotchen’ is already starting to curl in the heat. Why would I order that by a freshwater lake?

13:30 Hrs: No activity at rendezvous

The paper is telling of cataclysmic world events, of deaths and crime and starvation. I have an itch on the sole of my foot. There seems to be no point to anything that I do. This thought makes my heart palpitate like it was full of hatching maggots, and that thought makes me nauseous. I vomit into a pot of geraniums.

13:47 Hrs: Taking up position at meeting point

Nearly time. I feel that my lipstick must be smeared, and I know that my breath has a gastric reek. I decide to wait by the jetty post near the ferry stop, my legs feel like water and a prop will help. Every person is now a threat; every passing shape causes an adrenaline spike.

13:50 Hrs: No activity at rendezvous

I feel like I’ve become deaf. There is a swathe of heavy silence around my shoulders, pressure like thunder in my head. Where is he! What’s that noise? Just a child playing nearby. The tinny siren on the boy’s toy fire-engine makes me realise I’m not deaf at least. He’s staring at my paper so I tell him to “go away” because the ferry is approaching and G must be on it. I have become death.

13:55 Hrs: No Act……………..

May 31st – Page 2 Salzberger Nachrichten

“Tote Blondine im See gefunden”

Article Trans:

A female British tourist was found drowned in Wolfgangsee in the early afternoon of May 30th. The body was found by the captain of the lake ferry. Local chatter implies that there was a terrible accident as the corpse seems to have sustained disfiguring injuries, having been squashed between the incoming ferry and the jetty post. Police say that identification may take some time but that there are no obvious signs of foul play.

Picture:

The cordoned ferry docked, police cars around. A child’s toy fire engine can be seen toppled on its side next to the jetty post.