Page 36 of Risky Obsession

“Well, unless you think Salsburg is the better option.”

I frowned. “Why do you say that?”

She squinted at me. “I thought we were sharing intel.”

The six men who had come in were noisy as they pulled out chairs and sat at a nearby table.

I chuckled and sat back. “You want to trade secrets?”

“So to speak, yes.” She sipped her beer and ran her tongue over her top lip as she lowered the stein to the table. “You go first.”

As I laughed a bit more, I conceded that much of my information could be found on the internet, so there was no harm in sharing. “Emma Sonnemann had a castle in Hamburg.”

“Correct. She did,” Tory said, “but she didn’t go there at the end of the war. She went to Salzburg to Mautendorf Castle.”

I frowned. That was news to me. “You seem very certain.”

“Mautendorf Castle was originally owned by Hermann Epenstein, who was having an affair with Hermann Goering’s mother.”

I bulged my eyes at her. “Interesting side note.”

“Epenstein died in 1934 and left the castle to his wife and she in turn bequeathed the castle to her godson, Hermann Goering.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t find any of that info in my research.”

“My father made a lot of notes on castles in Europe that were owned, seized, or ruined by the Nazis. It’s fascinating reading . . . if you like that kind of thing.” A tiny smirk crossed her lips as she continued.

“I do, actually. Okay, you have my interest, because I never found that in my research.”

“You wouldn’t have. Goering was never formally detailed as the owner of Mautendorf Castle, and it was proven that no such entry of his title was ever listed in the land register. That fact was proven during a yearlong lawsuit between Epenstein’s heirs and the state of Germany.”

I frowned. “What’s the significance of this castle?”

“Where did Goering go at the end of World War Two?” she asked, although her expression suggested she knew this answer.

She’s testing me.

“He surrendered to the US Army,” I said.

“Yes, but do you know why?”

I frowned. “Because he was an evil bastard.”

She chuckled and her grin made my heart dance. “Goering tried to flee to Mautendorf Castle, but he gave himself over to the US Army because the Red Army troops had flooded the valley leading toward Mautendorf.”

My heart pounded as the gravity of her revelation began to sink in. Was that information a pivotal piece of the puzzle?

“Do you think he was heading to Mautendorf Castle because that’s where he sent the gold?”

Tory shrugged. “Makes sense to me.”

“We know the gold was put on a train. Are there train tracks to that castle?”

She frowned, and it made her look so cute my dick pulsed. “We need a map.”

“Speaking of maps.” It was time to reveal one of my clues. I pulled a yellow envelope from the inside of my jacket pocket.

“What’s this?”