Фолькер Кучер - The Silent Death

‘We’ll see about that once we’ve questioned them. We’ll be checking your alibi at the same time.’

‘Feel free, you’ll see that I’m telling the truth!

‘The question remains why you didn’t report Krempin.’

‘You don’t have to report everything; things like that can be settled man-to-man.’

‘That sounds out of character coming from you. Given that you have brought legal proceedings against your rival Manfred Oppenberg on thirty-seven occasions in the last five years. You let the thirty-eighth opportunity slide?’

‘People change, Superintendent.’

‘You haven’t changed one iota! You just knew that you could do more damage to Oppenberg if you exploited the sabotage attempt for the press. Which you then proceeded to do.’

‘I couldn’t have known Betty Winter would die!’

‘You took advantage of her death all the same, to blacken your rival’s name even though you knew it couldn’t have been him, and to publicise your new film in a truly macabre fashion.’

‘I owe it to Betty that I give her final film the publicity it deserves. That she deserves!’

‘My heart bleeds,’ Böhm grunted.

Bellmann gave the bulldog a vexed look, as if he expected the bulky DCI to launch himself at him at any moment.

‘Herr Bellmann,’ Gennat said. ‘Even if neither you nor your employees are responsible for the murder of Betty Winter, you have obstructed and misled the police in their investigations. You will have to answer for that.’

‘My client…’ the lawyer began, before being interrupted by Gennat.

‘For the time being that’s it from our side. You’re free to go.’

‘I can go back to my studio?’

‘No,’ Gennat said. ‘Things don’t happen that quickly around here. Superintendent Lanke from E Division would like to speak with you. On examination of your film reels, we uncovered pornographic material.’ The lawyer jumped to his feet and began to protest but Gennat continued. ‘It’s called accidental discovery. Surely I don’t have to explain that to a lawyer such as yourself? In such cases evidence is passed on to the relevant authority. E Division is not far from here, on this floor. An officer will show you and your client the way.’

Bellmann looked at his lawyer.

‘You see, Herr Bellmann,’ the lawyer said. ‘There was a reason you brought me after all.’

Trudchen Steiner arrived with fresh supplies of cake as soon as Bellmann and his lawyer disappeared.

‘Well, gentlemen,’ Gennat said, shovelling slices of cake on Böhm and Rath’s plates. ‘We’ve taken one step forward and two steps back.’ He made a thoughtful face. ‘I think we can safely rule this Krempin out. He’s no killer, not even through negligence. The only thing is, it wasn’t Heinrich Bellmann either.’

‘Can you be sure?’ Böhm asked. He was gazing at his cake as if longing for it to be transformed into a Bulette with mustard. ‘I don’t trust the man.’

‘If he was responsible for Betty Winter’s death, he wouldn’t have told us so much. He might have exploited her death, but he didn’t cause it.’

‘Somebody must have reattached the wire,’ Rath said, ‘and it must have been someone familiar with both the studio and the script. If not Bellmann himself, then someone from his company.’

‘I don’t think any of his employees would commit murder on his behalf,’ Böhm said. ‘That’s one of his few claims that I do believe, the sleazebag.’

‘Perhaps not on his behalf,’ Rath said, ‘but working under their own steam. Perhaps one of Bellmann’s employees had a score to settle with Betty Winter.’

Gennat nodded. ‘That means we must step up our search for further motives, something that was neglected last week, I’m afraid. The cui bono principle, as Bellmann’s lawyer so nicely put it: who stands to gain from her death?’

‘Bellmann’s daughter perhaps,’ Rath said. ‘I think she has her eye on Victor Meisner, perhaps she wanted to make him a widower so that she could console him.’

‘Then it could also have been Meisner,’ Böhm said. ‘Perhaps together with her. Love has turned many people into accomplices.’

‘I don’t think he benefits from her death,’ Rath said. ‘The only reason he still had a career was his wife. He was the one holding her back. It’d be more likely that she killed him. ’

‘Whoever it was,’ Gennat said, ‘must have known about the construction up on the lighting bridges, and how to reactivate it in next to no time.’

‘Good luck trying to prove that!’

‘My dear Böhm, I’m afraid you don’t always get everything handed to you on a plate. Let Bellmann’s employees stew for the time being. Let’s see what they say and take it from there. Before we interrogate them, I want each individual reinvestigated. What relationship did they have to the deceased, what do their finances look like, etc, etc, etc? We need to know more about everyone we bring in, more than they know themselves.’

‘Perhaps there’s another death that can help us,’ Rath said.

Gennat looked at him curiously. ‘What do you mean?’

‘The Krempin case. What do you think of the idea that Felix Krempin knew who had tampered with his construction, or at least had an inkling? Perhaps he was blackmailing the killer and he pushed him off the Funkturm.’

‘One thing’s for certain, Rath,’ said Böhm. ‘If what happened at the Funkturm was murder, then Krempin knew his killer, or at least trusted him. Everything points to that. There’s no way you could throw someone off otherwise.’

Gennat nodded. ‘That sounds plausible, but we need to take care these theories don’t get out of control. What we desperately need are facts. If only we could find the man who went back up the Funkturm after Krempin’s fall. He might be able to solve a few riddles.’

He looked at the two officers. Both had finished their cake, even if Böhm was making a face as if he had just consumed a bottle of cod liver oil. ‘I think,’ Gennat said, ‘we should discuss the next steps with the whole group at two. Then we can allocate tasks.’

Rath and Böhm stood up and moved to the door.

‘Inspector, one more thing,’ Gennat said.

‘Yes, Sir?’

Gennat waited until Böhm had left the room.

‘Let me say this to you,’ he said. ‘Even if it worked today, in future please refrain from interrupting an interrogation that someone else is leading. If you intend to do anything like that again, arrange it with me beforehand.’

The chaos in Homicide was beginning to subside. Most of the crates, above all those containing film reels, could now be passed to E Division. Vice came by themselves to pick up the goods. There was no one Rath recognised from his time in E save for Gregor Lanke, the nephew of the division chief. He had been Rath’s successor, though the pair had never worked together. It was already clear from Lanke junior’s face just how much he was looking forward to the porn films.

There wasn’t much material left for the homicide detectives. Rath took his leave. When he arrived in his office, he encountered a frantic Erika Voss.

‘There you are at last,’ she said. ‘I’ve been sitting here like a cat on a hot tin roof. I’ve arranged to meet my sister at half past twelve, and I can hardly take the dog to the canteen with me.’

‘Half past twelve is still five minutes away.’

‘I didn’t know when you were coming back. You didn’t say anything.’

‘Don’t forget that you were the one who wrecked things for us with the canine unit in the first place!’

‘I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just in a rush, that’s all. Oh, before I forget, your father called again. And a woman, the same one as yesterday, I think. Then a…’ She looked at her pad. ‘…a Herr Weinert and a Herr Wittkamp.’