Фолькер Кучер - The Fatherland Files

‘What about Concordia ?’

‘Same code. Murder is off limits.’

The Ringvereine controlled organised crime in the city, but nearly all of them shied away from murder, at least those who could afford the luxury of a code of honour.

Marlow looked at him sceptically. ‘What would you like to know, Inspector?’

‘A witness was killed in police custody last week. By a professional.’ He didn’t want to reveal any more. Neither that the killer had posed as a police officer, nor, this went without saying, whose name he had used.

‘Do you think Concordia are behind it?’

‘I think a man named Gustav Wengler is behind it. A suspected bootlegger, who does business with Concordia . I believe that, with the help of Concordia , Wengler has neutralised a troublesome witness.’

‘I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree, Inspector!’ Marlow tapped a cigarette against the lid of his case.

‘What do you mean?’

‘ Concordia no longer have any dealings with Wengler.’

‘Only last week Concordia men were involved in loading Wengler’s moonshine onto a boat at the Westhafen.’

‘Also the moment that their long-standing arrangement came to an end.’

‘Wait a minute. You’re saying Concordia deal directly with the Luisenhöhe distillery?’

‘ Dealt . Like I said. How else do you think they get their hands on so many original bottles? And they’re important; the Yanks pay top dollar for market products, take it from someone who knows.’ Rath thought of the two thousand dollars in his mailbox. ‘What’s actually inside isn’t important. You have to assume our associates over there dilute the product even further. With water and medicinal alcohol, or worse. Poor Yanks.’ Marlow shook his head and laughed.

‘But this arrangement is now over?’

‘The Pirates drove Concordia out of business, if you ask me with the express approval of Gustav Wengler.’ Marlow took a drag on his cigarette. ‘If a witness needed eliminating, it’d be Hermann Lapke who ordered it, the head of the Nordpiraten .’ The gangster grinned. ‘If I were you, Inspector, I’d be asking around at police headquarters. Who knows, perhaps you’ll find your killer there.’

Rath was astonished. He was certain he hadn’t mentioned the police impersonator and his fake badge. Charly’s words flashed through his mind – but surely Dettmann had even less to do with a Ringverein than Gustav Wengler?

‘What do the Pirates have against Concordia ? I thought it was Berolina they had it in for?’

‘Lapke’s decided to leave us in peace for the time being.’ Marlow inhaled appreciatively. ‘Though he’s leaning on Concordia pretty hard. Five of their members have now been killed and, according to the papers, you were the investigating officer.’

‘The Phantom.’ Rath nodded thoughtfully. ‘The victims were all linked to Concordia …’

‘No doubt some of them wouldn’t want it inscribed on their gravestones, Riemann, the Charlottenburg lawyer, for instance… but, yes, the Phantom’s victims have all been necessary in some way for Marczewski’s business deals.’

‘Polish-Paule?’

‘I wouldn’t call him that, unless you want to get yourself shot. Though he’s a perfectly charming fellow otherwise.’

‘He’s Masurian?’

‘Prussian, at any rate. Came to Berlin a few years ago from Königsberg.’

‘Then Wengler knows him from the old days.’

‘Possibly, though they’re no longer friends. Marczewski’s afraid he’s next on the Phantom’s list, and went to ground several days ago.’

‘So the Pirates are behind all the Phantom murders?’

‘Lapke’s behind them. Ever since he was released from Tegel a year ago, he seems to be on astonishingly good terms with the police.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘That it’s no coincidence he was spared by the Weisse Hand , unlike his friend Höller.’

‘You’re saying Lapke was in cahoots with the Weisse Hand ?’

‘Perhaps he still is.’

‘The Weisse Hand no longer exists. We broke it last year.’

‘The man who kills on Lapke’s behalf is one of your colleagues, Inspector, believe me. Whatever name you give him.’

‘The Phantom’s a sniper; the victim from police custody had his neck broken.’

‘I’d be surprised if Lapke gave the job to someone new.’

‘So who is it?’

‘If I knew that, he’d have been exposed by now. Or killed.’

‘You’re well informed.’

‘In my line, information is the alpha and omega,’ Marlow said, and Rath remembered his father’s saying. Knowledge is power .

He fell silent and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. It was about the same size as the Buick’s glove compartment. ‘Do you think that Paul Marczewski would be willing to testify against Gustav Wengler?’

‘You really want to get this Wengler, don’t you?’ Marlow said. ‘If it hurts the Pirates , you have my support. That said, I can’t imagine Marczewski will make the greatest impression in court, and he’ll hardly be crazy on the idea either. But…’ – he threw his cigarette out the window. – ‘…I’ll see what I can do.’

Charly hadn’t been at her desk half a day and already felt she was in a rut. At the weekend she had laboured under the illusion that she still worked for Homicide, discussing the dead man in the cells with Gereon and mentioning Dettmann by name on several more occasions. In the meantime her colleagues in G had picked up the girl gang from Wedding. Questioning had taken place while she’d been seconded to the Vaterland team, and now she had to sift through the transcripts with Karin van Almsick, looking for contradictions or inconsistencies.

Somehow she couldn’t help sympathising with these girls who threatened their fellow U-Bahn passengers with switchblades, which they took great pleasure in opening in front of their victims’ faces.

The youngest was fourteen, the oldest seventeen. All were homeless, orphaned girls trying to make ends meet. Charly couldn’t help thinking of Alex, whom she’d met a year ago. Where might she be now? Initially she’d feared she might stumble on the name Alexandra Reinhold in the transcripts, and was glad to be proved wrong. Alex, too, had stolen, and used a knife from time to time, but Charly liked her all the same. Hopefully, one way or another, she’d soon have her life back on track, along with her friend Vicky.

‘Penny for your thoughts.’ Karin van Almsick was a very nosy colleague. ‘Let me guess, you’re thinking about him?’

News of their engagement had been made public that morning in G as well as A Division. She’d received the congratulations of her colleagues, and promised to bring a cake the next day. ‘Actually, no,’ she said. ‘If I’m honest, I don’t think of Gereon much at all.’

She tried to focus on the transcripts, but her colleague wouldn’t allow it. ‘How long have you known one another? Pfeiffer from Juvenile Crime says you worked in Homicide three years ago as a stenographer.’

‘That is indeed where I met Gereon Rath. It’s plain you’re a CID officer.’

Her colleague smiled blissfully, not realising that Charly was being sarcastic. ‘How long have you been together?’

‘We were together and then we weren’t – but we got there in the end.’

Karin van Almsick gazed sympathetically. ‘How awful!’

‘There are other men out there.’

The throwaway remark was astonishing to her colleague. ‘You’re not serious?’