“I understand. But on that particular day, Eva Ringmar was still there?”
“Yes, but she wasn’t working. She was just sitting with her head in her hands, gazing out of the window.”
“Did you speak to her?”
“Yes. I asked her if she wasn’t thinking of going home, of course.”
“What did she say?”
“At first she gave a start, as if she hadn’t noticed me coming into the room. Then she said. . without looking at me. . she just kept on staring out of the window. . she said that she was scared.”
“Scared?”
“Yes.”
“Can you recall her exact words?”
“Of course. She said: ‘Oh, it’s just you, is it, Miss Traut?
Thank goodness. I’m so scared today, you see.’ ”
“You’re sure those were the very words she used?”
“Yes.”
“Did you say anything else?”
“Yes, I asked her if she was afraid to go home.”
“And how did she answer that?”
“She didn’t. She simply said, ‘No, it’s nothing.’ Then she took her bag and left.”
“Miss Traut, what conclusions did you draw from what she said? What was your first impression?”
“I don’t know. . Perhaps that she sounded more resigned than scared, in fact.”
“Did she seem to have been expecting to see somebody else rather than you? The way she expressed herself seems to have suggested that.”
“Yes, I think that’s right.”
“You interpreted it as meaning that she was pleased to see it was you, rather than one of her other colleagues?”
“Yes, it sounded like that.”
“Who might that have been?”
“Is there more than one possibility?”
“You are referring to the accused?”
“Yes.”
It was only now that Ruger made his objection.
“I insist that the last five questions and answers be erased from the proceedings! My learned friend is encouraging the witness to guess! To speculate on things she hasn’t the slightest idea about. .”
“Objection overruled!” said Havel. “But members of the jury should bear in mind that the witness drew her own con-m i n d ’ s e y e
clusions on the basis of meager observations. Does my learned friend have any more questions for this witness?”
“Two, My Lord. Do you know, Miss Traut, if Eva Ringmar had any relationship, apart from a purely professional one, with any of your male colleagues? With the exception of Janek Mitter, of course.”
“No.”
“Did you see, or hear, about any other man, apart from Mitter, in connection with Eva Ringmar, during the two years she was working alongside you?”
“No.”
“Thank you, Miss Traut. No more questions.”
Ruger didn’t even bother to stand up.
“Miss Traut, do you know anything at all about Eva Ringmar’s private life?”
“No, there was no. .”
“Thank you. Do you know anything about the relationship between Ringmar and Mitter?”
“No.”
“If there were any other men in Eva Ringmar’s life, then, there is no reason, no reason at all, why you should know anything about it?”
“Er, no.”
“Thank you. No more questions.”
“Full name and occupation?”
“Beate Kristine Lingen. I work as a beautician at the Institut Metre in Krowitz, but I live here in Maardam.”
“What was your relationship with the deceased, Eva Ringmar?”
“I suppose you could say I was a friend of hers, although we didn’t meet very often.”
“How did you get to know Eva Ringmar?”
“We were in the same class at high school. In Muhlboden.
We graduated at the same time. Saw a bit of each other afterward as well.”
“And then?”
“Then we lost contact. We moved to different towns, got married, and so forth.”
“Are you married now?”
“No, I’ve been divorced for five years.”
“I see. When did you catch up with Eva Ringmar again?”
“Just after she moved here. That was two years ago, more or less. We bumped into each other in the street, and arranged to meet-we hadn’t seen each other for over fifteen years.
Well, we met occasionally after that, but not all that much.”
“How often?”
“Well, I suppose we saw each other about once a month, perhaps. No, maybe not as often as that. Probably about ten or twelve times in all over the last two years.”
“What did you do?”
“When we met? Er, it varied. Sometimes we just sat
together at her place or mine, sometimes we went out, to the movies or to a restaurant.”
“Did you go dancing?”
“No, never.”
“Were you, shall we say, on intimate terms?”
“Yes, I suppose you could say that. Maybe not completely, though.”
“Do you know if Eva Ringmar had any other women
friends, or even one other woman friend, with whom she was on intimate terms?”
“No, I’m quite sure she didn’t. She liked to be on her own.”
“Why?”
“I think it had to do with what she’d been through. The accident involving her son-I suppose you know about that?”
“Yes. You mean that she chose to live a rather solitary life?”
“Maybe not solitary, but she didn’t seem to need to be together with other people. Er, she used to say something along those lines, in so many words.”
“What about her relations with men?”
“I don’t think she had any. Not before Mitter, that is.”
“You think?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“She never mentioned anybody?”
“No.”
“But you did talk about men?”
“Sometimes. There are more interesting topics, you know.”
“Really? Anyway. . during the time you used to meet, those ten to twelve occasions, did you ever notice anything to suggest that she was having a relationship with a man?”
“No.”
“Do you think you would have noticed, if that had been the case?”
“Yes. And she’d have told me as well.”
“Really?”
“Yes. She told me about Mitter, after all.”
“When was that?”
“In May. Around the tenth, if I remember rightly. I rang her to ask if she wanted to go to the movies, but she said she didn’t have time. She’d met a man, she said.”
“Did she say who it was?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Did you speak to her, or meet her again after that?”
“Yes. She phoned in the middle of September. Said she’d got married, and wondered if we could meet.”
“What did you decide?”
“I was about to leave for Linz-I was going on a course for two weeks-but I said I’d be in touch when I got back.”
“But it was too late by then?”
“Yes.”
“How did you think she sounded, when you spoke to her in September?”
“How she sounded?”
“Yes, did you notice anything special? Did she seem happy, or worried, or anything else?”
“No. I didn’t notice anything unusual.”
“Were you surprised that she’d got married?”
“Yes, I suppose I was.”
A brief pause. Ferrati leafed through his papers. The bluebottle woke up after having slept for four days. Buzzed around the courtroom but found nothing of interest and retired once more to the ceiling. The judge watched it for a while, as he wiped the back of his neck with a colorful handkerchief.
“Miss Lingen,” said Ferrati eventually, “during the two years you associated with Eva Ringmar, did you ever have any reason to suspect that she might be having a relationship with a man other than Janek Mitter?”
“No.”
“Did she have any. . enemies?”