‘Apologies,’ Rath mumbled, now fixing her in the eyes. ‘It won’t happen again.’
‘Didn’t she lead us to the cinema killer back in the day?’
Rath nodded, grateful for her presence of mind. Charly had worked on the case herself. The fact that the pair had known each other at least since then was common knowledge, in A Division anyway. ‘You’ve a good memory, Fräulein Ritter,’ he said, lifting his hat. ‘Delighted to have you back on board, though it’s a shame Homicide must do without you.’
With that he made his way towards the door, fighting the temptation to turn around. He couldn’t have looked Charly in the eye a moment longer, forced to pretend like this. Kirie made no more trouble, following her master dutifully outside.
‘You’ve got that one well-trained,’ a colleague said, giving Rath a poke in the side as they left the room. ‘You should give us a loan some time.’
Rath forced a smile, and proceeded down the long corridor quicker than in all his years of service. The way was lined with doors, and he was glad to reach his office at last. Once inside Kirie made a beeline for the two bowls Erika Voss kept ready. It was she who had persuaded him to adopt Kirie, whose previous owner had been murdered. ‘Detective Gräf has already left to provide the weekend summary,’ she said. ‘He asked about a report: Haus Vaterland. Do you have any idea where it could be?’
Morning briefing was a ritual first established by Detective Chief Inspector Böhm. CID officers exchanged notes on current investigations, breaking free of the confines of their individual teams. An outside view could kick-start cases that had become stalled, and on several occasions links had been made between apparently isolated fatalities. Of the senior homicide officers, Rath was the only one not to make it to the small conference room on time. All eyes turned as he entered.
Detective Gräf was in the middle of listing all deaths that local CID forces had reported to headquarters over the weekend. He had a fatigued air about him. Though there was little of note, Ernst Gennat, the chief of Homicide, listened spellbound. The superintendent never missed a detail, and often he had resolved homicide cases by recalling seemingly irrelevant items. Other times, he made connections that escaped everyone else.
Rath was only half listening to what Gräf said. There had been a fatal shooting at Stuttgarter Platz in Charlottenburg, probably politically motivated, which Section 1A had already taken on, to go with the dead Nazi in Wedding Weiss had mentioned earlier. The political police dealt with such cases on an almost daily basis. A corpse in Grunewald had turned out to be suicide, and been passed over to the local precinct. In Schlosspark Bellevue a man had killed his wife with a shaving knife. The 21st precinct had initially assumed the case, but now it had landed at Alex. Detective Chief Inspector Wilhelm Böhm had commandeered Henning and Czerwinski, two officers Rath often worked alongside, who had originally belonged to the Phantom troop. He was considering how he could reclaim the pair when he heard his name.
‘Since Inspector Rath is now here,’ Gräf said, ‘perhaps he should tell you about the Haus Vaterland corpse from the early hours of Saturday morning.’
Rath moved towards the front with a small file wedged under his arm. He didn’t look inside; most of what he had to say wasn’t in there anyway. He briefly summarised their findings in Haus Vaterland, before moving onto Dr Karthaus’s discovery. ‘It looks as though we are dealing with a violent death, even if there are no outward signs of force save for the injection to the jugular vein, which was most likely administered by a third party. An extremely peculiar case, not least because of the circumstances surrounding the death itself.’
Ernst Gennat, who had earned the nickname Buddha in part because of his impressive physique, now spoke. ‘If I’ve understood you correctly, the body displays all the hallmarks of drowning, yet there is some doubt as to whether this is the actual cause of death.’
‘Correct, Sir. Assuming I have understood Dr Karthaus correctly.’ A few officers laughed. Most of those present had experienced the pathologist’s use of latinate terms. Lange and Gräf were unsmiling. ‘The written report is still pending but we hope for a more concrete indication of the cause of death from the blood analysis. For all that, it’s strange enough already. What we have here is a simulated drowning that took place in a freight elevator.’
Gennat nodded thoughtfully. Something seemed to be bothering him, but he said nothing more, leaving Rath to continue with his report. He mentioned his discovery by the third-floor elevator, and his suspicion that the perpetrator most likely stemmed from the Haus Vaterland workforce. ‘I’m assuming the offending party was still inside when police arrived. Security pays close attention that no one unauthorised enters or leaves the building. According to the duty guard, no one was seen leaving after the murder. We have a list of around fifty people present on Saturday morning, all of whom will be subjected to a detailed interrogation. Perhaps we’ll find a motive.’
‘What about the thousand marks?’ Böhm asked. ‘That’s your motive right there.’
‘If that were true, then surely they’d have been taken,’ Rath replied, winning another few laughs. He savoured Böhm’s sour expression.
‘Not necessarily,’ Gennat said. ‘Detective Chief Inspector Böhm is right. Carrying so much cash in a blank envelope is highly unusual. Money can always be a motive, not just in a robbery homicide.’
‘Of course, Superintendent. Sir.’ Rath cleared his throat. ‘Needless to say, I also looked into this anomaly. The widow Lamkau can’t explain the money in her husband’s pocket, although admittedly she has little knowledge of company affairs. We’ll be going through the paperwork today to see if there’s an explanation.’
‘If that’s the case, you could have spared us a needless joke at your colleague’s expense.’
Gennat concluded the meeting. Moments later chair legs began scraping over the stone floor. Despite knowing it would be futile, Rath approached to try and reclaim Henning and Czerwinski, who had been withdrawn from the Phantom troop.
‘You haven’t made any progress there for weeks,’ Buddha said. ‘Leave it for the time being. Take Gräf and Lange, and focus your attentions on the dead man in Haus Vaterland. Perhaps you’ll have more success there.’
‘With respect, Sir, I could use some more men.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t spare you any. Homicide is up to its ears at the moment.’
‘What about the cadets?’
Gennat considered for a moment. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
‘Thank you, Sir.’
His team was already waiting when he returned to the office. Erika Voss had made coffee, and both Lange and Gräf held steaming mugs in their hands. The pair had dark circles under their eyes.
‘Coffee for you too, Inspector?’ Erika Voss asked.
‘Thank you,’ Rath said, as she set it down, heading into the back room with the two officers.
‘One more thing, Erika,’ he said, before closing the connecting door. ‘Put a call through to Pathology and ask Dr Karthaus if he’s completed the Lamkau blood analysis. Then ask ED if our colleagues from Forensics have found any hypodermic needles in Haus Vaterland.’