But Otto Ziesel was in Captain Ashburner's office, and stared challengingly at Dietrich as the inspector walked in.
Ashburner took his feet off his desk. 'Hello, inspector. I wanted you to be present at this interview in case I'm accused of blocking your inquiries again. Bring us coffee. Donovan, and sit down.' Donovan poured two cups from the thermos jug, put one in front of the captain and took the other himself. 'Coffee for everyone, sergeant,' Ashburner told him. Donovan sulkily obeyed.
'So you found the body, Herr Ziesel?' Ashburner's tone was polite.
'Not directly, captain. It was that black sergeant who saw the arm hanging out of the garbage can.'
Dietrich joined in. 'The container you had just loaded up at the back of the shopping street.'
Ziesel shook his head. 'Not there, no. It was on the corner of Ihnestrasse and Garystrasse, that bin was. There's a whole lot of Yanks live there. It was damn heavy when I put it on the truck. Now I know why.'
Dietrich turned to Ashburner. 'So the murder didn't take place in the Onkel Tom prohibited zone.'
And just about any Kraut could have done it.' said Donovan, triumphant.
'Or any Yank,' Ziesel snarled.
'Don't push your luck,' Dietrich warned him. 'You should go carefully. We have statements about you. Your vicious outbursts against German girls who make friends with American soldiers are very incriminating.'
'Yankee whores, sure, I said that. So? It don't mean I'm going to touch one of 'em.'
'What about Lea Finkelstein? Didn't you touch her? We have the 1944 file on that investigation, Herr Ziesel. It doesn't show you in a very good light.' Klaus Dietrich explained to the captain what he was talking about.
'OK, let's put him in the cells for now. Take him downstairs, Donovan.' The sergeant twisted Ziesel's arm behind his back and steered him to the cellar steps. 'Happy, inspector?'
'With interim custody, yes. With Donovan's brutal manner, no. You should straighten him out a bit.'
'We're dealing with a serial killer.'
'That's not proven. But I'll keep it in mind.'
'You'll have plenty of time to do that on the train.' Ashburner gave the inspector a red slip of paper bearing several official stamps. Your visiting permit for Brandenburg penitentiary. My friend Maxim Petrovich Berkov let an NKVD colonel win a game of chess. Good luck.'
'Thanks, captain. And thank you for your gifts. You gave six hungry Germans a glimpse of a long-forgotten paradise. Very gracious of you.'
A simple thank you would have been fine,' replied Ashburner, irritated. Then he thought of Jutta, and his expression softened. They were going to meet this evening.
Jutta was waiting at the gate of the prohibited zone at seven. John Ashburner jumped out of the jeep and mimed a chauffeur opening the door of a limousine for her. 'Where to, madam?' he inquired in what he thought a very British accent.
'The Ritz, John,' she said, playing along. They drove through the gate and turned right at the corner into Wilskistrasse. He opened the apartment door and let her in first. She turned and stood close to him, her lips parted. Putting her arms around his neck, she drew his face down to hers and kissed him with an intensity he had never known before. His reaction was spontaneous, and embarrassed him. Jutta felt his penis harden through her thin dress, and went damp herself. Later, she thought, and the deliberate postponement excited her.
A whiskey?' he asked, covering his embarrassment.
'Too strong for me. I'd rather have a glass of wine. Do you have anything to nibble with it? Or I'll be falling over.'
A few crackers, some peanuts.' He put the packets on the table, opened a bottle of white wine and poured himself a whiskey. 'How wonderful to relax with a glass of bourbon,' he murmured contentedly, stretching his legs out. She liked the fact that he let himself relax in her company. It created a sense of intimacy between them, the kind felt by young lovers and settled couples. 'How about going to the movies?' he suggested.
'Oh, lovely, what's on?'
'No idea.'
The Onkel Tom cinema was part of the requisitioned area around the U-Bahn station nearby. Germans were allowed in only if they were with American soldiers. There was an aura of Pepsi Cola and Wrigley's Spearmint chewing gum in the air.
The usherette went ahead of them down the central aisle, a grotesque lilac bow in her long blonde hair. She indicated a row of seats. Ashburner thanked her with a smile that did not escape Jutta. A silent duel developed between the two women. 'You like him, don't you, but he's mine, understand?' — 'OK, I'm not planning to take him away from you.' 'You'd better not even think of it.'
They watched a movie featuring Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth and a mail coach. Gary Cooper said 'Yep' and'Is that so, ma'am?', Rita Hayworth showed as much of her beautiful legs as the prudish US censor allowed, and there was gunfire from the mail coach. Bags of popcorn rustled. While the fiery Rita clicked her castanets for the laid-back Gary, John Ashburner hesitantly felt for Jutta's hand, but his fingers landed on her thigh. He was about to withdraw them in alarm, but Jutta gently held them where they were. She enjoyed his touch, anticipating what was to come, and found she could hardly wait for the end of the film.
At last the hero, nobly giving up the heroine, strode away into the sunset behind the corral. The curtain closed, the lights came up. Everyone flocked out. Jutta took John's arm.
'How about dinner at the Harnack House?' he suggested.
'Oh, no thank you, John, I've eaten too much popcorn. I need fresh air now.'
'Let's drive down to the lake, then.' She squealed with pleasure as they bumped through the wood, over sticks and stones. He only just missed a shell crater before the way led so fast down the steep slope to the moonlit Krumme Lanke that it took your breath away. It was nothing to the jeep, which had seen service in a dozen theatres of war.
'That was terrific.' She put her arms around his neck. 'Come into the water.' She jumped out of the jeep and stripped off. Ashburner turned off the headlights. Slowly, she waded into the water up to her knees and then turned. She wanted him to see her.
The moonlight caressed her body. She bent forward, scooped up water and threw it over her breasts. It ran down over her belly and hung like a glittering network in her blonde bush. Her body was singing with excitement. Hesitantly, he took his uniform off and followed her in. They embraced. kissed and sank into the shallow water that had retained the warmth of the sun, unerringly finding their way to each other. Under his thrusting movements she rose, rejoicing, to an unstoppable orgasm. Pleasure carried them both away, and if Ashburner had been capable of thinking at all he might have compared this passionate love-making, with amazement, to the lukewarm encounters of his marriage.
They remained intertwined until desire took hold of them again. Jutta rolled him over so that she could sit on top of him. Delighted, he enjoyed the way she passionately rode him, uttering rhythmical cries. Another couple were making love noisily on the bank nearby. It did not inhibit but stimulated them — accomplices in love.
He took her home and kissed her lovingly. 'See you tomorrow.' A sense of happiness, something she hadn't known for a long time, came over her.
The report came over the jeep radio as Ashburner was parking it outside his apartment. 'Shit,' was his first reaction. Then he shouted into the microphone, 'I'm on my way!'