Astrid wrote again on her notebook. The man behind the countertop kept staring at her. She had been already three hours sitting on the same table, the one in the corner, with a good view of the whole tavern, constantly watching and taking notes. He had killed already several guys for asking too many questions. No women so far, buy they most certainly didn't behave like her. They just stayed at home with the kids. Lots of things had changed in society along the XIX century and the first years of the XX but not that one.

Impatient, he made a gesture to his assistant, who took his place behind the countertop and went to talk to her. Her clothes were quite normal. Long skirt, leather boots, long coat, white shirt, tie, and a bustier above the shirt. The most odd element, that he saw as he approached her, was a bunch of scars along the left side of her face, that she partially hid under a fringe of hair combed in that direction.

-What's the book about frau...?

-Grauwald. Astrid Grauwald. See, a friend has told me that there is a lot of illegal alcohol trafficking in the area, and I'd like to write a book about that.

-What...? What friend?- Somebody had talked and he now would have to silence that woman. He hoped that she wasn't really a member of the Grauwald family, owners of the castle and town of the same name.

-Irrelevant.

-And you are a policewoman...?- He had never seen a woman in the police, but the times were changing so fast.

-Nein, just a writer and scientist.- Actually she was merely a young woman that had inherited an assload of money and used it to travel around the world and learn things. She presented herself as scientist and writer because rich gal that travels around seeing stuff sounded much worse.

-Look, lady, if there is truly illegal alcohol trafficking around here, you may be dealing with dangerous people.- He warned her for the last time. So far she hadn't seen anything and been annoying was no good reason to kill her.

-Of course, that's what makes them interesting.- She wrote something else in her notebook, covering it with her hand, right in front of his eyes and that was the last straw for him. He made a gesture to his assistant, whose meaning they both were well acquainted with. The woman had to die.

A couple of hours later the tavern closed. Even after the front door had been locked the woman was still there in her corner, writing. She seemed so distracted that she wasn't aware of being alone with the two men. The assistant still behind the countertop grabbed a two barrel shotgun and aimed it at the woman.

-Frau Grauwald, you have bitten more than you can chew.- The tavern owner brought her out of stupor. She calmly put her notebook in her purse, where she was also hiding one of those devilish machines invented by Deringer, and raised her arms.

-There are a hundred policemen watching over this place.- The assistant looked through a window and saw literally nobody in the dark alley. He shook her head.

-Ok, come with me.

The owner grabbed her arm and led her to the basement. She didn't resist. Down there she saw a good amount of casks and a rusty alembic. Some of the casks were leaking and there was a lot of liquid on the floor, brandy according to the smell. He made her sit on a chair, whose back was against a thick wooden column going floor to ceiling. While the assistant aimed the shotgun at her, the owner proceeded to tie her tight to the chair and column.

He either didn't have much experience with ropes or he was overdoing it, because he used an excessive amount of them. Ankles, thighs, upper and lower arms, torso and waist were all encircled with several loops of rope. A last piece of rope surrounded her neck, then the column several times, and then went to her ankles. As soon as he had used all the available rope, he applied a pair of lengths of chain too. She felt oddly flattered, they musted consider her very dangerous.

While the owner finished the last touches, the assistant left the shotgun on the floor, leaning vertically against the wall, and opened her purse to read the notebook. He wouldn't find anything. It wasn't only coded, with lines and lines of seemingly random words, but also if they managed to crack it, underneath they would only find gibberish. She hadn't been taking notes, but merely provoking them to show her the stored alcohol.

-What does it say?- Asked the tavern owner after applying a sixth padlock. She couldn't move an inch, not only because of the bonds, but also because of all the weight. Her back would hurt the next day.

-I don't know, it's coded.

-What does it say?- He asked to her.

-That you two are morons.- He slapped her on the cheek and the hair moved aside revealing her scars. She had been pretty years ago but not anymore. Aside from the lines on the skin, her iris and pupil were parted in the middle and a part of the cheekbone had been removed in the hospital for being infected.

-You keep defying me, woman. What does it say?- He raised his hand again.

-She's provoking you.- Cut the assistant. He seemed to be the smart one.

-Oh, yeah? Why? Do you like this...?- The tavern owner caressed her cheek and then slapped her softly.- Or this...?- He cupped her breast and then the other.- Or this...?- He massaged her inner thighs. Lifting her skirt would be impossible with all those ropes.- Would you like a pair of rude men mistreating you, frau Grauwald? Making you a woman. Because clearly your husband is not entertaining you well.

-Well, my friends have conflicting opinions about sex. The one maried with a handsome young man is very happy, but the one married with a fat drunkard is always complaining about the smell. I'm not married so I only know about sex what I've read in illegal books. With this face nobody wants to marry me, it seems. So to answer your question, I don't know. If you find a couple of rude men, I will ask them for advise.

-Very funny.- The tavern owner was about to slap her again but the assistant stopped him.- I don't know what are you doing here, sticking your nose in my business, but you know we have to kill yo, huh? Do you understand?

-You are the mobsters. Do what you must.- She would have shrugged her shoulders if they weren't holding so much weight.

The owner made a gesture to the assistant, who put the notebook back in her purse. The Rhein was very big and would effortless shallow a woman covered in chains and her notebook with whatever she had written. When the assistant took a step back he hit the shotgun, that upon falling on the floor, activated the trigger, hitting the owner with a bunch of pellets, killing him right away. Agape, the assistant, already promoted to boss, looked at Astrid. She would later laugh about the whole scene but at that very moment she was shocked and slightly scared. Nobody said anything for a while.

-Frau Grauwald, eh...- Started the former assistant.- We both know that I don't want to kill you and get in trouble with your family.- She had no direct family and the distant relatives would love to inherit the castle, but he didn't know that.- Can we please forget all this? I will stop selling illegal alcohol, just please don't call the police.

-Legal or illegal is not the issue. It's vey bad quality and you are selling it to addicts and wretched people. You are creating a problem in the neighborhood far worse than a bit of tax evasion.

-Understood.- He started to untie her and open the padlocks.- I don't know how am I going to explain this to his wife and seven children.

-Tell the truth. It was an accident after all. Just don't mention me.- He nodded. It was indeed quite simple.

-Frau?- He asked after a couple of minutes, having released her from the bonds, right when she was about to leave.- May I ask what happened to you face?

Many people asked the same question but she didn't have a good answer. About three years before she was in a safari in the vicinity of Dar es Salaam, in the German colony of Ostafrika that would later be known as Tanzania. She had gone there with the intention of finding the legendary white elephant. A mysterious animal that lots of people claimed to have seen but nobody had actually seen. She didn't intend to kill it, but merely write about it in her notebook. She didn't even expect to find it.

When she and her two guides found it, nobody could believe their eyes. She immediately started to draw in her notebook, but her guides had a different opinion. One of them aimed his Mauser at the beautiful creature. She tried to divert the barrel but in the struggle the man shot, hitting her on the face. Not only the bullet passed across her cheek, eye and forehead, but it also left a few splinters there that also did some smaller cuts.

The elephant quickly got lost in the distance. The poachers started to argue and then decided to leave her there, where the vultures would solve the problem. She waited for any kind for help, laying on the ground for an unknown amount of time, but suddenly a big, white, leathery elephant head, with amazing light blue eyes, entered in her diminished line of sight.

“Why did you save me?”- She felt a voice speaking, not with words, but straight into her mind. Close to death she found no reason to be afraid. She had nothing to lose.

“You didn't deserve to die.”- Either she was telepathically speaking with a legendary animal or she had gone mad, but telling the truth wouldn't do any harm at that point.

“Strange.”- The voice made a short pause while the elephant kept looking at her from above.- “And what about you? Do you deserve to die?”

“I would think not, but it seems that I do.”

“Wouldn't that be unfair? You dying while worse people get to life?”

“It is indeed unfair. You are a wise elephant.”- At that point joking wouldn't do her any harm either. The elephant of course didn't laugh. It just moved aside leaving her on the ground.

Days later she woke up in an hospital. The nurse had good news and bad news for her. A group of shepherds had found her and taken her to Dar es Salaam. The poachers had been captured. Those were the good news. Bad news were that she had lost sight on her left eye, and the doctors had had to remove several pieces of bone. There were other news that the nurse wasn't aware of, Astrid didn't know if good or bad. She would find out years later.

-A hunting accident.- She simply replied to the former barkeeper assistant.

-Wow, you must be very lucky. I mean, the bullet crossed through your face. You should be dead.

-If you say so...- She replied with a laugh.

-Frau? I can't believe that nobody wants to marry you. I mean...- His own comment made him blush.

-A very kind offer... If it is an offer... But maybe it's me who doesn't want to marry. Maybe I just want to be a gal that travels around seeing stuff.

-And provoking mobsters? To keep pushing your luck? Seems dangerous, frau.