Фолькер Кучер - Goldstein

‘If you had got in touch, I wouldn’t feel obliged to disturb you.’

‘I’ve only just got home. I was on the job until now.’

‘You were in Amor-Diele yesterday, Krehmann said.’

‘That’s right. I learned a few interesting things there too. I’m surprised you didn’t tell me.’

‘You were in a rush to leave my car.’

‘You already knew that Rudi the Rat had disappeared…’

‘He’s probably sleeping it off somewhere with one of his girls.’

‘And who’s to say Hugo Lenz isn’t doing exactly the same thing?’

‘I know he isn’t.’

‘Did you send for Goldstein?’

‘Who?’

‘An American contract killer. The Pirates seem to think he was engaged by Berolina. And that Rudi Höller was his first victim.’

‘Inspector, if that was the case I’d have told you long ago. I don’t know this Goldstein of yours.’

‘I wish I could believe you.’

‘Why shouldn’t I play with an open hand? I’d only be hindering you in your work. You do work for me after all.’

‘Supposing someone else hired the Yank? Someone out for Berolina and the Pirates at the same time?’

‘I can’t think who that might be. Who would be delusional enough to take on two Ringvereine at once?’

‘Perhaps you should have a little think about that,’ Rath said. ‘One more thing: Krehmann said Hugo Lenz had a girl.’

‘Come to Venuskeller , and I’ll introduce you to Hugo’s little friend myself.’

‘Now?’

‘The evening’s only just begun.’

‘It’s a little tricky. My Buick’s in the garage.’

‘Which garage?’

‘In Reinickendorf, the arse-end of nowhere. Arse-end’s about right for its employees too.’

‘Then come tomorrow, let’s say at twelve. Leave the car to me.’

Marlow hung up. That was no suggestion. It was an order.

She was still furious. For half the night she had lain awake wishing him to hell, while at the same time longing for his presence beside her. She went to the window and looked out at the day’s first dismal rays of sunlight as they groped their way timidly towards Spenerstrasse.

It was quarter past seven according to Gereon’s alarm clock on the bedside table. She swept it aside, and it landed with a clatter on the wooden floor. That was no good either.

Her rage had surfaced again in the S-Bahn, gnawing away at her on the journey home, and continuing into the night.

The worst thing was that she didn’t even know why she was so angry, or at whom. Gereon, possibly, but just as likely herself. Ultimately, it was the silence of the last few weeks that had fuelled it, and this silence wasn’t just Gereon’s, but her own.

She no longer trusted him, no longer knew what he thought about her and her work. Did he take her seriously, or acquiesce just to keep her onside? What did he want from her, damn it?

Once you’re married, you won’t have to work anymore. Those were his mother’s words, but Gereon had said nothing in response. Was it because he felt the same way?

Charly had only wanted to tell Erika Rath about her work at Lichtenberg District Court, to get their faltering conversation in that stuffy cafe off the ground. Then came the offending sentence, and an even more embarrassed silence. Gereon looked at his shoes and sipped his coffee; Mother Rath didn’t seem to realise what she had done.

In all the months they had been together, they had never once spoken about marriage, not even jokingly, but that hadn’t stopped him from brazenly introducing her as my fiancée when they ran into Mother Rath by chance outside a large department store. For simplicity’s sake , he had whispered in her ear.

Cologne had been a total disaster, yet she had been so looking forward to getting out of Berlin, to seeing Gereon’s old friend Paul, and visiting his home city for the first time. Things had started so promisingly too.

It was the football that had sealed the deal. She had seen Hertha Berlin play a few times at the Plumpe, their home stadium, but never away, and certainly not in a final to decide the German championship. What a game it was! At halftime, Hertha were unlucky to be behind München, but had turned the game thanks to Hanne Sobek. When the winning goal was struck, shortly before the final whistle, she flung her arms around Gereon, then around Paul, and the two men joked that she was the only woman to be interested in football. They celebrated the win in Cologne’s old town, together with the visiting Hertha fans and a few sympathetic Rhineland Prussians until, at some point, Paul discreetly took his leave. Gereon had booked a room with a Rhine view, and later, as she stood by the window in her nightshirt and gazed onto the lights reflected in the river, he had taken her in his arms and kissed her on the nape of the neck. She felt as happy as she had done in a long time.

She wouldn’t discover how illusory this feeling was until the next day when, wandering through Cologne’s shopping district, they were caught unawares by a woman whom Gereon introduced as my mother , before gesturing towards Charly and saying: ‘Fräulein Ritter. My… fiancée.’

Erika Rath’s eyes widened in a mixture of curiosity and suspicion as she dragged them into the nearest cafe. ‘I’d have invited you to our home, of course,’ she said to Charly. ‘But Gereon never tells me anything.’

She had never seen him so subdued. ‘I… we were going to visit you, of course,’ he said. ‘But it was meant to be a surprise. We only arrived yesterday.’

Mother and son looked at each other in silence. Charly spoke a little about the District Court, until Erika Rath voiced her opinion about work and marriage, whereupon they lapsed back into a suddenly icy silence.

‘We’ll be round tomorrow,’ Gereon said. ‘Don’t tell Father, it’s meant to be a surprise.’

In the evening, Gereon took her to an exclusive restaurant on the banks of the Rhine, a modern building with windows all around, which offered a spellbinding view of the cathedral and river, but the evening was ruined before it began. Erika Rath was still present. It would have been better to talk about it, but Gereon preferred to remain silent.

The next day they paid the Raths a formal visit as promised. Charly was still his fiancée, for simplicity’s sake , and it became clear that Gereon had never breathed a word about her to his parents. The Raths felt ambushed by their presence and, for Charly, that second afternoon was even worse than the first.

Afterwards they left, as planned, by overnight train for a week on the Baltic Sea. The holiday flat in a captain’s cottage was tiny and wonderfully pretty, the weather in Prerow superb, but the atmosphere between them was soured. The blue skies over the Darss couldn’t salvage things, and their first holiday together was a disaster. Even if they had never spoken about it.

In fact they hadn’t spoken about anything, had simply returned to their daily lives upon arriving back in Berlin. Of course, she could have made the running, but she didn’t see why she should. It was his silence that had got them into this situation, and so it was up to him now to break it.

She just didn’t know where she was with him anymore, and the more she thought about it, the more she realised she never had. What did Gereon Rath want? To marry her? Then he should damn well go ahead and ask! But if he thought she would abandon her career, he’d better think again.

Charly went into the kitchen and put on water for coffee. The place still smelled of dog. Kirie’s guest basket stood outside in the hall under the coat stand. She gazed at the rims of her eyes in the bathroom mirror and decided for once to follow Weber’s orders and stay home.