Фолькер Кучер - The Silent Death

‘I told Böhm the truth,’ Lange said. ‘In my opinion you did the right thing yesterday. It’s how we found Fastré’s corpse, isn’t it?’

‘Good of you to back me up. Are we certain it’s her?’

‘We haven’t found any papers and she hasn’t been officially identified, but really there’s no doubt. She looks just like her billboards.’

Rath drew closer and saw what Lange meant. Jeanette Fastré didn’t look like a corpse at all. Her face had been carefully made up and though her eyes were staring up at the ceiling, they seemed more hypnotised than dead.

‘Do your work, Doctor,’ Böhm said to Karthaus, who immediately ceased bobbing up and down. ‘We have every-thing we need in the can.’

‘Evening, gentlemen,’ Rath said politely. Böhm ignored him.

‘Evening, Rath,’ Karthaus said. ‘Are A Division having their company outing? I haven’t seen so many earnest faces in a long time.’

It became clear what he meant when an imposing figure emerged from the darkness and climbed the steps to the stage. Ernst Gennat! So, Gräf was right: Buddha was back, and had even driven out to the crime scene, which only happened once in a blue moon.

‘Inspector,’ Gennat said, when he caught sight of Rath. ‘I hear we have you to thank for this discovery.’

‘I’d say the search unit did a good job, Sir.’

‘It seems we really do have a serial killer on our hands,’ Gennat said. ‘The strict information ban imposed by DCI Böhm holds for the time being. There’s no need to send the public crazy while we still don’t know what’s going on. So, not a word to the press.’

‘It seems like someone who specialises in film actresses. Shouldn’t we at least warn them?’

‘We’ll clarify that at briefing tomorrow. There’s no rush. Vivian Franck was last seen on the eighth of February and most likely killed shortly afterwards. Frau Fastré here has been dead for a few days at most. Our man likes to take his time. There’s roughly a month between the two crimes.’

‘Assuming there are no other victims we haven’t found…’

‘You checked all missing person cases, didn’t you?’

‘We’ve compared everything. Fastré was the first missing actress in years.’

‘Then he’ll bide his time before the next one.’ Gennat gazed thoughtfully at the corpse. ‘What do you think?’ he asked. ‘Why does he kill? A sex offender?’

Rath shrugged his shoulders. ‘There was nothing to suggest that with Vivian Franck’s corpse.’

‘Still, difficult to say, given her stage of decomposition. We’ve been lucky this time insofar as we have such a well-preserved corpse. I’ll be very interested to hear the results of Dr Karthaus’s examination.’

Rath looked across at Böhm. He had dismissed the uniformed officer and was now speaking to the civilian, probably the man who had let the police in. Karthaus turned the corpse over. ‘How’s it looking?’ Buddha asked.

Karthaus shrugged. ‘No external agencies, as far as I can see.’

‘No injection sites?’

‘A number of them, but hardly visible, probably subcutaneous. How did you know?’

‘Vivian Franck,’ Rath said, more to Gennat than Karthaus. ‘Schwartz found injection sites on her too. Maybe lethal.’

By now Böhm had joined them, but didn’t deign to look at Rath. Gennat seemed to notice, but didn’t say anything. ‘Can you say how she died, Doctor?’ he asked.

Karthaus shrugged. ‘On first glance, I’d say natural causes. Let’s see if we find any trace of poisoning during the autopsy.’ He gestured towards the body that lay before them so angelically. ‘I can tell you one thing for sure, however. This corpse has been washed.’

‘Seriously?’ Gennat was surprised.

Karthaus nodded. ‘Normally,’ he said, ‘corpses aren’t particularly sweet-smelling. Not just because of the decomposition – the sphincter fails at the moment of death, but in this case… there is no excrement whatsoever, everything is clean. I think she might even have been perfumed before she was left here.’

‘Was that the case with Vivian Franck?’

Gennat had addressed the question to both Rath and Böhm. Rath deferred to the senior man, who raised his broad shoulders into a shrug. ‘She was made up, but washed? No idea. Schwartz didn’t say anything about that, nor did the men from ED. I’ll tell you one thing though: Vivian Franck didn’t smell good when we found her. She had already been dead for weeks.’

Gennat nodded. ‘How long has this one been dead?’

Karthaus considered for a moment. ‘Ten hours at the most, I’d say.’

‘Are you familiar with the Franck file?’ Rath asked the doctor.

‘Why?’

‘Because we need to know if the two cases have anything in common.’

‘I’ll have a look at it tomorrow, before I open the corpse.’

‘Can you tell us anything about her vocal cords?’

‘No,’ Karthaus said. ‘I’d need to cut her open for that. But I’m not doing it here. You’ll have to be patient.’

Kirie was already asleep when Rath got home, much later than anticipated. Charly, on the other hand, was still awake. She was sitting in the living room with a glass of red wine, and placed her book on criminal law to one side when he entered.

He gave her a kiss. ‘Thanks for looking after the little one. It would have been a real shock for her to see her mistress dead.’

‘So it really was her.’

Rath nodded as he fetched a glass from the cupboard and sat beside her. He poured himself a little red wine and lit a cigarette. Charly was eager to hear everything that had happened. The only thing he didn’t mention was that he was at loggerheads with Böhm again.

‘Do you think her vocal cords are missing too?’

‘I’m almost certain.’

‘What does it mean?’

‘No idea. With Vivian Franck, I thought it was someone trying to give Oppenberg a shock. That theory doesn’t fit anymore, not now that we have a second dead actress who has absolutely nothing to do with him.’

‘An actress’s voice is her most important tool. If you take it away, then you take away everything.’

‘Unless she makes silent films,’ Rath said, and Charly gave him an angry glance. She didn’t like cynical remarks like that. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘The real question is why he kills them at all. Or rather: why does he remove their vocal cords if he means to kill them anyway? Where’s the sense in that?’

‘It must have a symbolic meaning,’ Charly said. ‘He’s trying to tell us something. The fact that the corpses are in old cinemas has to mean something too.’

‘Do you think he’s leaving clues about his identity? That he wants to be caught?’

‘Don’t know, but these are real productions . He’s trying to tell us something.’

‘It doesn’t look like he’s a sex offender at any rate.’

There was a pitter-patter in the corridor and Kirie poked her sleepy, black head through the door. She came in and curled up at Rath’s feet.

‘What’s going to happen to the dog?’ Charly asked.

Rath shrugged. ‘Someone will inherit her.’

‘But you’re not going to let her go to a home, are you?’

‘She’ll stay with me for now.’

‘I’m tired.’ Charly yawned and stood up.

‘My bed is your bed.’

‘You’ll take the sofa, will you?’

‘As you know, I have a very large bed.’

‘But no ulterior motives.’

Rath made a deadly serious face and raised his hand as if giving an oath.

‘Seriously,’ she said. ‘I need to leave early tomorrow, and I’m exhausted.’

‘Me too.’

He stood up and took her in his arms, bit her softly in the nape of the neck, and worked his way along her slender throat.