Филип Керр - Metropolis

‘That’s an evening I’m not going to forget in a hurry,’ she said.

‘Me neither.’

‘For a minute back there I thought you were dead.’

‘Believe me, I had the same feeling. There was real electricity in that damn chair.’

‘Are you all right now?’

‘Just about. You might say what happened in there — touched a raw nerve. Once, when I was in the trenches, I found myself trapped up to my neck in a shell hole full of mud, unable to move my arms and legs and thinking I was going to drown. It’s a recurring fear I have in all my nightmares. Not being able to escape. Thinking I’m about to die. After ten years you’d think I was over it. But I’m not. Most of the time I can handle it, but now and again it’s every bit as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.’ I took a deep drag of my cigarette. ‘I’ll be all right in a minute. In fact, I already am.’

‘What’s in the envelope?’

I looked at the envelope in my hand; someone had put it there as we’d walked out Sing Sing’s door. ‘I think it’s the fee,’ I said. ‘For my performance. Look here, I should never have taken you there. I’m sorry. That was criminal.’

‘I’d say you already paid the ultimate price for that particular crime, Bernie.’

I tried a smile. It felt a little tight on my face, as if someone had glued it there.

‘Come on,’ she said. ‘I’ll take you home. Let’s find a cab.’

But the evening was not quite over. We hadn’t walked very far when a brand-new Mercedes roadster pulled up and a man I half recognized leaned over the cream-coloured door.

‘Hey. Helmut Zehr. Need a ride?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Get in,’ he said curtly.

It was Erich Angerstein, Eva’s father.

I opened the door and nodded at a reluctant Rosa. ‘It’s all right,’ I said. ‘We know each other. Sort of.’

We climbed into the car, which still smelled strongly of the showroom.

‘Where to?’ he asked.

‘Nollendorfplatz,’ I said.

‘Good. That’s on my way.’

The big car took off smoothly. After a while Angerstein said, ‘You look like you need some schnapps. There’s a hip flask in the glove box.’

I helped myself to a couple of bites of Angerstein’s liquor and then nodded some thanks his way. He was wearing a smart single-breasted silk suit and a nice white shirt with a green silk tie. Only, the leather gloves on his hands seemed a little out of place. Maybe the car was stolen. Then again, he was probably a man who was always careful about where he left his fingerprints.

‘You do know that was a ring bar you were in back there?’ he said.

‘Of course.’

‘What the hell possessed you?’

‘You were there?’

‘I saw the whole damn thing. You and Old Sparky. You’re lucky it was only me who recognized you, otherwise they might have fried you for real.’

‘You’re exaggerating.’

‘Am I?’

‘When we met earlier I told you I was a cop. Otherwise I’d be just another Fritz to you. Rosa, this is Erich Angerstein. He’s a gangster. But you can relax for now. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. Not unless there was profit in it.’

‘Pleased to meet you, Herr Angerstein. I think.’

‘It’s all right, sugar. I don’t bite. Not when I’m driving a new car.’

‘Nice. What is this, anyway? The Mercedes Getaway?’

‘Oh, I like her, Gunther. You should hang on to this one. She has courage.’

‘More than me, I think.’

‘Could be. Look here, Gunther, the people who run that club hate cops more than they hate losing money. Suppose I’d turned you in to them?’

‘Why would you do that when you know I’m trying to find your daughter’s killer?’

‘Maybe so. But I still don’t understand why you went there in the first place.’

‘I was looking for someone. A potential witness.’

‘To my daughter’s murder?’

I didn’t want to say too much on this score. The last thing I wanted was for Angerstein to find Prussian Emil and question him on his own. There was no telling where that might end up.

‘I’m not really sure. It all depends on what he tells me when I catch up with him. He might know something useful. Then again he might not.’

‘Maybe I can help you find him.’

‘Maybe.’

‘This Fritz have a name?’

‘Yes, but I’m not sure I’m going to tell you what it is.’

‘Why not?’

‘In case you decide to go rogue and look for him on your own account. Maybe even find him, too. A man with your education and background, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you did find him. But you might get impatient. And not knowing the right questions to ask, you might come up with the wrong answers.’

‘I see what you mean.’

‘Look, under the circumstances I could hardly blame you for taking the law into your own hands. But it really wouldn’t help my investigation if you did.’

‘And if I gave you my word?’

‘Come on, you’re a Berlin gangster, not a Prussian Army officer.’

‘And that means my word isn’t worth anything?’

‘It could. Look, I don’t know about you but me, I’m a cynical bastard. It’s the secret of my charm.’

‘I told you before. I want to help you catch the man who killed my daughter.’

‘Sure, I get that. The difference is that I want to build a case against this Fritz and you want to murder him.’

‘In the long run, what’s the difference?’

‘Frankly, none. But my job is to see that the right man loses his head.’

‘So you’re not going to tell me his name.’

‘I don’t see how I can.’

Angerstein sighed. ‘They’ve got a name for this in chess when, after several hours of playing, neither side can move and nobody can win or lose.’

‘A complete waste of time?’

‘ Stalemate . What, you never played chess?’

‘Sure. I played Hamlet, too, but it certainly won’t bother my conscience if I don’t win or lose with you, Herr Angerstein. You’re not the only informant in this town. There never was a detective who couldn’t find himself another informer.’

‘No, but trust me, I am the best-informed informer you’re likely to find. There’s not much crime that happens in Berlin that I don’t know about. The fact is, it’s not just me who wants this bastard caught; it’s all the bosses I represent in the syndicate. A killer like this is bad for business. There are too many cops out looking for him. With the result that they see more than they should.’

‘Now, that I can believe. But I already told you, I’m not the trusting kind, Herr Angerstein. They don’t pay me enough to think too much. When it snows I know to stay indoors. These days that’s considered enough to make detective.’

‘I think you’re a lot smarter than you say you are. And you’d have to be smarter than that suit says you are. Look, Gunther, by the oath I took to the ring to which I belong, I’m supposed to finger cops for the benefit of our fellow members. But I didn’t give you away back there. That has to be worth something.’

‘They have a name for that, too?’

‘You could call it a sign of good faith. I see your dilemma. But I really do want you to get this bastard. Not just for me and Eva, but for all the others he’s killed as well. And all the others he might yet kill. So please give me a chance. Let me help. The Berlin underworld is a sardine tin without a key for a cop like you. But with my contacts I can probably find this fish in no time.’

‘That’s the first reasonable thing you’ve said since you offered to drive us home.’

‘So you’ll give me a name to work on?’

‘I’m still thinking about it.’

‘Well, think up, copper, we’re here.’