Фолькер Кучер - The Silent Death

‘That’s hardly a crime.’

‘Perhaps not, but it does give a pretty clear indication of how much you gained from the death of your star.’

‘What good are short-term gains against the loss of an irreplaceable actress?’

‘Her successor is already filming.’

‘You mean Eva Kröger? A promising talent, for sure, but what is she against an experienced actress on the verge of greatness?’

‘Your first talkie with Winter wasn’t exactly a hit.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean? At least you could understand what she was saying! Unlike all those lisping, stuttering, screen beauties from God knows where.’

Gennat shrugged. ‘I’m in no position to judge her abilities. I’m just looking at the figures.’

‘You need to be patient with sound film, it takes a while before you make your money back.’

‘These foreign versions you’re filming seem rather expensive to me.’

‘In future we’ll only film one additional language version alongside the original. In English.’

‘It’s lucky that Frau Kröger speaks English so well then. Being able to employ a single actress for two language versions must save you an enormous amount of money?’

‘You can’t blame me for limiting costs. Do you have any idea how expensive a sound film can be?’

‘How you save on costs is your business. It only concerns the police when people are killed because of it.’

Bellmann turned to his lawyer.

‘I refuse to tolerate any suggestion that my client is in any way linked to the murder of Betty Winter.’

‘No one’s suggesting anything of the kind,’ Gennat said. ‘All I’ve done is mention two things that are indisputable: that Betty Winter was killed intentionally and that her death has brought more advantages than disadvantages to your client.’

‘According to the cui bono principle that makes him a prime suspect!’

‘You’re the lawyer, not me,’ Gennat said.

The man blushed and fell silent. As good as he might have been for contractual disputes, Rath thought, he was unsuited to criminal defence.

‘What about Manfred Oppenberg and how he benefited from all this?’ Bellmann asked. ‘He’s the one who smuggled Herr Krempin into my studio.’

Bellmann’s hypocrisy was getting on Rath’s nerves. He tried a shot in the dark.

‘On the morning of the twenty-eighth of February you discovered that Felix Krempin intended to sabotage your shoot. Why didn’t you tell the police?’

Bellmann looked as if he’d been dealt a blow to the solar plexus. He gasped for air. Bullseye. Rath had him on the ropes and refused to stop there.

‘Because then you wouldn’t have been able to accuse your rival Manfred Oppenberg of ordering a murder? Because you knew from the start that Krempin never planned to kill Betty Winter, you just wanted to make it look as though he had.’

‘How do you know…? Have you arrested Krempin? Is he serving you up these lies, or is it your old friend Oppenberg?’

‘Felix Krempin is dead,’ Gennat said.

Bellmann’s surprise seemed genuine.

‘If he took his own life, and there is evidence to suggest he did, then it’ll be on your conscience,’ Rath said, even though, of all the officers in the room, he was the least convinced by Krempin’s suicide. ‘You threw him out, and he went underground because he was forced to read about your suspicions in the press.’

‘But that’s…’ Bellmann began to stutter. ‘I can’t help what the press write.’

‘That’s something you’ll have to square with your conscience,’ Gennat said. ‘Alongside Betty Winter’s death.’

‘That’s nothing to do with me! I barely understand it myself. He disconnected the wire.’

‘You’re talking about Krempin?’

‘Who else?’

‘Then you knew about his plans?’

‘Yes, but…’ Bellmann seemed outraged, before checking himself and lowering his voice. ‘It’s true, I knew what he was planning, but surely you don’t believe what your colleague here is accusing me of!’

‘How was it then?’

‘I told him what I knew about him, and that he should take his things and scram. Before he left the studio he went onto the bridge and deactivated the device.’

‘Did you see him do it?’ Rath asked. ‘How do you know?’

‘I don’t go onto the lighting bridges. Krempin went up there on his own, but what else could he have been doing? He knew that I’d have called him to account for the damage otherwise. Besides, the thunder machine was working in the morning as usual. It wasn’t until midday… You know, the spotlight…’

‘I still don’t understand why you let him go,’ Rath said. ‘Why not report him straightaway? Was it because you already knew that you wanted to lay the blame at his door for something much worse? Namely murder. In the process, you killed two birds with one stone. On the one hand, by directing the worst kind of suspicion imaginable onto your rival. On the other, by getting rid of the increasingly troublesome Betty Winter. Then there’s the insurance money.’

‘What are you saying? I’m no murderer!’

The lawyer took his client reassuringly by the arm. ‘Best not to say anything now, Herr Bellmann, not before…’

‘Oh, pipe down!’ Bellmann shook off the man’s hand. ‘Do you think I’m going to sit here and be accused of murder?’

‘I just mean… The other thing we spoke about,’ the lawyer whispered.

‘That’s got nothing to do with it. Really, I don’t know why I brought you here in the first place.’

The lawyer fell silent and gazed out of the window, offended.

Gennat’s confidence-inspiring voice filled the room once more. ‘Tell me in your own time what really happened on the twenty-eighth of February. You wouldn’t believe how many people have sat in your place, grateful to unburden themselves at last.’

‘There isn’t much to unburden myself of,’ Bellmann said. ‘I’d known there was something fishy about this Peter Glaser for a long time, and had him placed under surveillance.’

‘But waited until he had built his wire construction before exposing him?’ Rath said.

‘I had to have something on him to prove what Oppenberg was capable of.’

‘And on the morning of the twenty-eighth you had reached that point,’ Gennat said.

‘As I said, I had him placed under surveillance, and they told me he was on the lighting bridges far more often than necessary.’

‘So, a few of your people were in on it. That means they knew about Krempin?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who?’

‘Just a few lighting technicians.’

‘I need all their names.’

‘I can give them to you.’

Gennat shook his head. ‘And not one of them told us that Glaser’s real name was Krempin.’

‘I have loyal workers, Inspector.’

‘Superintendent.’

‘Superintendent.’

Gennat turned to Rath and Böhm. ‘What do you say, gentlemen? Shall we believe the man?’

‘You have to, Superintendent!’ Bellmann sprang to his feet. ‘It can’t have been me. I wasn’t on the lighting bridge for the entire morning in question. In fact, I’ve never been up there at all. You can ask anyone, I was down below the whole time.’

‘You said you didn’t realise Betty Winter had died.’

‘I was with the sound engineer in the projection room, I’ve told you that already. When we heard the bang and her screams, we came out right away.’

‘Perhaps it was one of your employees, acting on your behalf? They’re very loyal, as you say.’

‘You overestimate how far their loyalty stretches.’ Bellmann sat back down. ‘My staff are all good, upstanding people. They wouldn’t commit murder, not even for me.’