Amerika: The Missing Person

When Karl and Robinson arrive at a remote suburban apartment, the driver demands extra payment from Karl because of his long wait in front of the hotel. Just as the driver starts to argue with Karl, a policeman takes an interest in them. Karl notices a “strongly built woman in a red dress under a parasol” (141) in a top-floor apartment with Delamarche. Karl tells Delamarche that he is leaving, but the policeman begins to question Karl and he flees.

Delamarche runs after Karl and brings him back, and Karl tells him he is “very indebted” (148) to him. Delamarche tells Karl that Brunelda, the woman in the apartment, dislikes commotion, so they must be quiet at all times. Lying on a sofa, Brunelda questions why Delamarche brought Karl but lets him stay. Karl sleeps on a pile of curtains.

Robinson tells Karl that Brunelda is a wealthy divorcee who acquired her money from her ex-husband, “a chocolate manufacturer” who “still loved her” (158). As Robinson reveals how they came to live with Brunelda, Delamarche’s role becomes clear: He convinced Brunelda to sell everything she had to purchase “an apartment in the suburbs with him, so that she could devote herself entirely to him” (159-60).