5) Two teenagers on scooters (as likely as not in circumstances that placed them somewhat to the wrong side of the letter of the law) had ridden across the square toward the Esplanade about a minute later, and claimed to have passed a person who, to all appearances, seems to have been Simmel.
6) A courting couple, of which the lady for certain reasons wished to remain anonymous and therefore preferred to confirm the man’s account by telephone rather than appearing in person at the police station, had been sitting, or more likely semi-recumbent, in a car down by the marina between approximately 2300 and 0100, and at 2330 or thereabouts had seen a man smoking at the edge of the quay, scarcely more than ten yards away from their car. Both were more or less convinced that it was Ernst Simmel.
7) Up in Hoistraat, three new witnesses (to add to the other two) had seen the murdered man on the way from
The Blue Ship. In addition, all three had observed one or possibly two unaccompanied male persons; in all probability this was a case of witnesses observing one another.
8) One lone witness had seen an unaccompanied man come out of Hoistraat and walk down Michel’s Steps sometime between 2310 and 2315, in all probability Ernst Simmel. It is true that the distance between the witness and the person observed was some twenty yards; but since the man was under a streetlight at the time, the witness had been able to register a fairly clear picture of him. The most interesting aspect of this picture was probably that the man in question had been wearing a hat with a broad brim, which had kept his face shaded. This was one of the facts suggesting that this sighting was actually of the murderer; if that really was the case, it was the only direct sighting thus far. No male person wearing a hat had figured in any of the other reports submitted by the citizens of Kaalbringen frequenting their town by night.
The name of the witness was Vincent Peerhoovens, and unfortunately he had been somewhat inebriated at the time of his observation and hence not entirely reliable-a fact he freely admitted and one that was confirmed by several of the other witnesses. Nevertheless, his account must naturally be regarded as extremely interesting with regard to further investigations.
9) Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence to emerge on this Sunday-which had been Chief Inspector
Bausen’s view, at least, when he passed comment on the material summarized by Kropke-came from four young people in their early teens who had been strolling through the woods from the harbor toward Rikken-in other words, the very path the investigation was concerned with. They appeared to have passed by the scene of the murder shortly after 2340. Since Ernst Simmel had been smoking a cigarette down by the marina about ten minutes earlier, according to witness number six, and since none of the young people appeared to have seen him, it could be concluded that when they passed the scene of the crime, the murderer had just struck and was presumably crouching over his victim in the bushes, waiting for them to go away. (On realizing this, one of the girls had burst into a fit of hysterical sobs-the very girl, incidentally, for whose sake they had avoided contacting the police sooner. Her father was the pastor at the local Assembly of God; and at the time in question, she ought to have been at home in bed at her friend’s house [another of the girls in the party of young people] instead of wandering about in the woods with a group of boys.)
Whatever, this piece of evidence suggested that the time of the murder could most probably be fixed at 2340 give or take a minute or so.
“That’s about it, more or less,” said Kropke, closing his note book.
“We ought to give Meuritz a cigar,” said Van Veeteren. “It looks as if he was spot-on regarding the time of death. What I want to know is how the murderer managed to cross the square. I mean, there were-let me see-six or seven people there at the critical moment.”
“Eight,” said Kropke. “At least eight. He probably walked along the arcade. There’s a line of columns along the western side of the square, the Waalska Building-I don’t know if you’ve noticed them, Chief Inspector. The lighting is pretty bad there. None of our witnesses went that way.”
“As if built for a murderer,” sighed Bausen. “Well, gentle men, what do you think? A good day?”
Mooser scratched himself behind the ear with a pencil and yawned. Kropke studied his notes. Van Veeteren drained the last drops from his cardboard cup and registered that there was a world of difference between stale, lukewarm coffee and white Meursault.
“Hard to say,” he said. “At least we’ve acquired a great deal of information. And tomorrow is another day.”
“Monday,” Mooser made so bold as to point out.
“He could have been waiting there in the woods,” said
Kropke, who had evidently been following his own line of thought. “We shouldn’t dismiss that possibility out of hand.”
“Nevertheless,” said Van Veeteren, “I think I’d like to con duct a series of little interviews now. Unless our leader has other tasks lined up for me, of course?”
“None at all,” said Bausen. “Good police officers know how to keep themselves usefully occupied.”
Mooser yawned again.
12
“You were his legal adviser, is that right?” asked Van Veeteren, taking a toothpick out of his breast pocket.
“More a good friend of the family,” smiled the lawyer.
“One doesn’t exclude the other, does it?”
“Not at all.”
Eugen Klingfort’s office had the touch of a luxury cabin about it. Bright teak panels with heavy brass fittings here and there. Built-in bookcases with rows of leather-bound volumes, every one of them unopened since they’d left the printer’s. A leather-covered filing cabinet, a bar counter that could fold into the desk, a Wassermann/Frisch safe.
The incarnation of bad taste, thought Van Veeteren. The more money they have to satisfy it with, the more ghastly it gets.
“And for how long?” he asked.
“How long? Oh, you mean… let’s see, twenty-five or Hakan Nesser thirty years, something like that. Ever since I established myself in Kaalbringen, I think it’s fair to say. Would you like a cigar, Chief Inspector?”
“No, thank you,” said Van Veeteren. “What state were his affairs in?”
“His affairs? What do you mean?”
“I want to know what state Ernst Simmel’s affairs were in.
You were his financial adviser, after all; I thought we’d agreed on that.”
Klingfort lay back in his chair and let his chins rest on his chest. A bit on the corpulent side, thought Van Veeteren.
“His affairs were in perfectly good shape.”
“And his will?”
“There is no will. He didn’t need one. Grete and the chil dren will each get a share of his estate; there are no unusual cir cumstances.”
“How much are we talking about?”
“Now, listen here, Mr. Veeteren-”
“Van Veeteren.”
“-Van Veeteren. I’ve already wasted enough time on that with Inspector Kropke. If you imagine that I have any inten tion of going through everything once again just because you are a rank higher, well…”
“Well what?” asked Van Veeteren.
“Well, you’re deluding yourself.”
“Thank you, Mr. Klingfort. I gather there must be some thing fishy hidden away, but we’ll no doubt be able to track it down without your help.”
Eugen Klingfort snorted and lit a cigar.
“Let me make one thing crystal clear to you,” he said after creating a few thick clouds of smoke. “There isn’t the slightest trace of any irregularity with regard to Ernst’s affairs or his estate.”
“So you exclude the possibility that the murderer could have had financial motives?” asked Van Veeteren.
“Yes.”
“But were there not people who owed him money?”