‘You’ve been signed off for two weeks. You seemed all right last night.’ He gave her a nudge, but she batted him aside.
‘Cut it out.’
‘I was just saying.’ Since Fritze’s disappearance things were back on the up.
‘I had an appointment with Dieter this morning. I know it isn’t right but I can’t bear it in G Division any longer, and I can’t keep running to you.’
‘But two weeks… What about your inspector training?’
She shrugged her shoulders, as if to apologise. ‘I can’t go back, Gereon. Not right now. Perhaps things will be different in two weeks.’
‘You think? Wieking will still be there; you’ll just have to get used to her.’
The light turned green and he stepped on the accelerator. He could see she was embarrassed, but felt this was the only way. They drove along Joachimsthaler Strasse in silence.
‘Paroxysmal neurasthenia,’ Rath said eventually. ‘What’s that when it’s at home?’
‘Nervous exhaustion.’
He shook his head and smiled. Turning towards her he saw that she was smiling too.
72
Leo’s eye socket barely hurt anymore, but he still wasn’t used to the patch. It took a moment for him to recognise his reflection. The man staring back resembled a carnival-goer dressed as a pirate, or a fucking veteran. Had he really made it through the war to spend the rest of his days as a cripple?
Without the hellish pain, he could forget he was missing an eye until life served pitiless reminders: when he banged his foot, or poured his beer next to his glass. He could no longer judge distances.
When it came to shooting, however, he was better than ever.
In the spacious confines of Marlow’s villa he took out his anger on empty bottles and tin cans, and there were plenty around. Boredom had seen to that.
He had hoped to start on his list of names from that accursed SA cellar, but Marlow had brought him here to Bad Freienwalde, the arse-end of nowhere. Even Marlow seldom left the house, and never its grounds. The only person who’d stayed in Berlin was Liang. The Chinese remained in Marlow’s warehouse at the Ostbahnhof, ensuring that business continued and contacts were maintained. Including those with Berolina, with Leo’s men.
‘Relax, Leo,’ Marlow had said. ‘You’re safe here. Right now Berlin’s too dangerous.’
Leo hadn’t realised it was an order until a few days later when he tried to leave. Berlin was only an hour away, and he could look after himself, but guards prevented him from getting in the car. He was still a prisoner, even if Marlow put it differently. ‘I’m protecting you from yourself,’ he said. ‘I can’t risk you falling into Lapke and the SA’s hands a second time!’
God knows, that was the last thing on Leo’s mind.
Let the arseholes fall into his hands. Katsche, Lapke, Sperling, and whatever their names were. Anyone on the list in his head…
Perhaps, he thought sometimes, as he emptied his Browning into another row of cans, it was no bad thing Marlow was holding him here. Wasn’t revenge a dish best served cold? Already, Leo savoured the fantasy in his mind. First up would be Katsche, then Lapke and Sperling.
And not forgetting this police inspector…
Leo hadn’t added his name until Freienwalde. Marlow explained why he’d had to enlist a cop to bail him out. That Dr Kohn was powerless to do anything. That it wasn’t easy prying people away from the SA.
Leo understood all that, but then Dr M. told him when he had first spoken to the police inspector. Half a week before Katsche had sucked out his eyeball. Half a week!
What had he been doing all that time? Scratching his balls?
If this police inspector, who was supposedly in Marlow’s pocket, had taken his instructions seriously, there was no way he, Leo Juretzka, would be going around with a patch over his eye!
He hadn’t said anything to Marlow, of course; Dr M. would have regarded it as ingratitude, and Leo didn’t want that. He had simply made a mental note of the name: Gereon Rath. Added it to the list, and taken his Browning back outside.
73
When Rath returned from duty on Saturday, Charly was reading with a cup of coffee in front of her on the table.
‘You,’ she said, and sat up.
‘Pleased to see me?’ he asked. Kirie pitter-pattered over to greet him. He drew back the curtain. The morning fog had lifted, the sun was shining, and for once the house was empty.
‘What should we do?’ he asked. ‘Take a trip to the country? It feels like Kirie needs a walk.’
‘Why don’t you take her then?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I can’t go outside! Gereon, I’m sick.’
‘You’re on sick leave, and fresh air is good for you. Look out of the window. Spring’s almost here.’
‘What if someone sees me?’ For a good Prussian like Charly it was inconceivable that she be signed off work, only to stroll blithely through town.
Rath had pictured their weekend differently. ‘You really want to spend the whole day sitting there? Someone could just as well have seen you yesterday evening at Bahnhof Zoo.’
‘That was different, we were looking for the boy. I can’t be going gallivanting off when my colleagues think I’m ill.’
She sipped her coffee and turned back to her book, making a face as if her hamster had died. Rath had rarely seen her like this. Perhaps this doctor wasn’t so wrong with his ‘diagnosis’.
‘For God’s sake, Charly! You can’t spend the whole day in a funk just because the Nazis are in power. It’s only politics. Life goes on.’
She looked up. ‘Only politics. What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You know exactly what it means. We shouldn’t be getting worked up over who’s in government. Our job is the same as before: to catch criminals.’
‘Is it the same though? Somehow I don’t think so.’
‘Something had to give after the Reichstag fire, but things have settled down in A. It’s only a matter of time before normal service is resumed with you, too.’
‘If nothing’s changed in two weeks, then…’
‘What? You’ll get another certificate? And grumble on until Hindenburg shows Hitler and his Nazis the door?’
Charly fetched a Juno from her cigarette case and lit up. ‘I don’t know, Gereon. I just know I can’t stand it right now. If I have to listen to Karin swooning over Hitler and the new age one more time… I swear I’ll strangle her.’
‘Ordinary people like the Nazis. They think they’re going to usher in a better future.’
‘I can’t think about it.’
‘Let’s wait and see. Striking against the Communists was a natural first move, and there are plenty who’d say not before time. By no means just Nazis.’
‘It sounds like you’ve given up on democracy.’ Her disappointment was plain. ‘Or worse, like you never cared about it in the first place.’
Rath could no longer contain himself. ‘Democracy!’ he said. ‘It’s all I ever hear from you. Democracy, democracy. As if it’s the only solution to Germany’s problems.’ He was surprised to find himself shouting, but continued, he had to let it all out. ‘Who’s responsible for this whole shemozzle? How is it the Nazis have a Reichstag majority? I’ll tell you. Your precious democracy. Who knows, perhaps if you women hadn’t achieved the vote in ’19 the Nazis wouldn’t be where they are now.’
‘I beg your pardon,’ Charly stood up and glared at him.
‘It’s true. Without female suffrage, they’d never have got so many votes. It’s the women who run after Hitler. I know any number.’