‘The man who was trying to kill you… his name is Heinrich Wosniak?’
Yes.
‘When I showed you that photo in Dalldorf, of the corpse from Nollendorfplatz, you realised it wasn’t Wosniak, didn’t you?’
Yes again. Answering like this made her feel almost euphoric.
‘You recognised Gerhard Krumbiegel, even while I spent the whole time talking about Wosniak.’
Yes.
‘Did you realise Wosniak had killed Krumbiegel in order to fake his own death?’
Hannah wasn’t sure if she’d realised anything that day, only that the name Wosniak meant Huckebein was back in Berlin, and that something couldn’t be right if Kartoffel had been found dead in Huckebein’s coat.
‘I’m certain that’s why he meant to kill you. Because you were a potential threat.’
In truth she didn’t care why Huckebein meant to kill her, the main thing was that he no longer could.
‘One more question, then I’ll leave you both in peace,’ the woman said and fetched the photograph from her bag. ‘Do you know this man?’
No.
‘His name is Achim von Roddeck. Perhaps you saw him with Wosniak, or he came to the Crow’s Nest…’
‘No,’ Hannah said, surprised by her own voice. She had never seen the blond, arrogant-looking prig in lieutenant’s uniform. Such a man could not have been in the Crow’s Nest. It had been others who dwelled there, former front soldiers who, time and again, had been thrust into battle by people like this lieutenant, and who, crippled emotionally and physically by the experience, had been condemned to beggarhood when the war came to an end.
‘Good,’ the policewoman said. ‘I suspect they didn’t make contact again until after the Crow’s Nest burned down. Perhaps it was the fire that told him his faithful Heinrich was also in Berlin…’
As the woman reached the door Hannah managed to ask the question that had been on the tip of her tongue all this time. ‘What’s going to happen to me?’
‘Don’t worry. You won’t be going anywhere near Dalldorf again. I won’t allow it.’
She sounded so certain that Hannah believed her. Falling back on her pillow, she took Fritze’s hand and, for the first time in life, thought that, just maybe, everything was going to be all right.
88
Rath stood by the open patio door and watched Kirie romp around the wet garden with a big stick in her mouth. She brought it to Johann Marlow, who hurled it across the lawn for the game to begin again. Charly joined him to watch.
‘Did she talk?’ Rath asked.
‘After a fashion.’
‘And, is it Wosniak?’
‘Yes. He tried to kill her in Dalldorf, but she defended herself and fled. She recognised Krumbiegel from the crime scene photo and must have sensed something was up…’
‘Why didn’t she say at the time? She could have spared us a lot of hassle.’
Charly looked at him reproachfully. ‘Besides revenge for the fire, it could be the reason he wanted her dead. She was the only witness who could expose the fraud. Dalldorf was his first attempt. The second time, in town, she gave him the slip. The third time he was the one who copped it.’
‘Fine, but it doesn’t tell us why Wosniak killed his former comrades.’
‘Shame we can no longer hear his own take on the matter.’
‘Then perhaps we’ll get more out of the man who hired him.’
‘Roddeck?’
‘I’m almost certain he’s behind it. It all fits too well together. Whenever we begin to question his fanciful story about Engel, another dead body appears to back him up.’
‘Murder, in order to prove a theory? Well, that would be unusual. I wonder if Gennat’s come across that as a motive.’
‘I think it’s best we leave Gennat out of this.’
She agreed, and Rath savoured their keeping a secret together. The only thing Charly had ever failed to share with Gennat was their engagement, but it hadn’t taken long for Buddha to find out.
‘Seriously though, perhaps he has something to hide and is ridding himself of troublesome witnesses.’
‘Hmm,’ Rath mumbled. ‘His old comrades, you mean? Who know a secret from the war?’
‘Precisely. Something that casts Roddeck in a negative light.’
‘Why eliminate them now?’
‘Perhaps there was a reason for them to be quiet, and this reason no longer exists. Something like that…’
‘This is fun. I’m beginning to understand why Gennat sets such great store by you.’
‘Beginning to understand?’
‘But for now it’s just speculation, and where does Krumbiegel’s murder fit into all this?’
Charly had an answer to that one, too. ‘An identity switch. Wosniak needed to disappear and, since his old friend had been equally badly disfigured in the Bülowplatz arson and had no next of kin, he made the perfect victim.’
‘Meanwhile Roddeck could pin it all on Engel, the murdering Jew, already blamed for the heinous excesses of Operation Alberich.’
‘Yes.’
‘Even if it was him, how are we ever going to prove it?’
‘I don’t think we can.’
‘We can prove that he lied in the morgue. We have Krumbiegel’s photograph.’
‘Pretty thin, don’t you think? He’ll worm his way out of it.’ Charly made a sceptical face. ‘The way I see it, we have nothing. At least, nothing we can use in court.’
One of the guards signalled to Marlow from the library. Kirie trotted after the gangster as though she were his. The men discussed something briefly and looked over towards Rath and Charly before going inside.
‘We can’t pretend nothing’s happened,’ Rath said.
‘What do you have in mind?’
‘I don’t know, but we can’t simply stand by.’
‘I tell you now, there’s no way you’re dragging the kids into this.’
‘Nothing could be further from my mind. I just can’t bear to watch Achim von Roddeck make as if he’s the perfect fit for the new age, when really he’s a lying, murdering, arsehole.’
‘Maybe that’s why he’s such a good fit.’
‘Do you have to always make things political?’
‘Life is political. Everything we do is political.’
‘Everything you do. All I want is to make sure killers don’t go free.’
‘That’s just it. Once you’ve set your mind on something you can’t help yourself, and hang the consequences. You’re taking this business with Roddeck too personally. You take everything too personally!’
‘That’s the reason I became a police officer,’ he said. ‘Yes, I take it personally when someone commits murder, or incites others, and thinks he can get away with it. It’s the getting away with it I can’t stand.’
‘Our killer’s dead,’ said Charly. ‘He won’t be murdering anyone else and, if I’ve understood correctly, his victims were hardly saints, not even Krumbiegel who treated Hannah like a slave.’
‘No, they weren’t saints, but the biggest sinner is still alive. Strutting about the place like the hottest literary property in town. I’m sorry, but I can’t allow it. The man belongs in jail.’
‘We’re going around in circles here. It won’t work. You don’t have to have studied law to see that.’
‘You don’t? Well, there’s a relief. Poor drop-out such as myself…’
‘Gereon… I didn’t mean it like that.’
Before their conversation could deteriorate further Kirie came pitter-pattering over, and let both of them pet her. Kirie never took sides. Marlow followed. ‘Nice dog,’ he said.
‘I hope you’re not planning on keeping her.’
‘You needn’t worry there.’ Marlow handed him a sheet of paper. ‘This just came through.’