Allan Martin - Death in Tallinn

“Yes, indeed, it really is very good.”

Heinrich smiled. “So good that Krummfeldt suggested we send it abroad too. With prohibition in Finland we made lots of money. Then we started sending it to Sweden too. With the absurd price of legal alcohol there, people were flocking to buy illegal stuff that was just as good. And they even thought it came from Finland. We bought back two of the farms and added them to the estate, and invested money in good blood stock. Two top-class stallions. Beauties. You must come and see them sometime. We even managed to get hold of some excellent Georgian brandy.”

“ Three Monks ?”

“You know of it? You grow in my estimation, Herr Hauptkomissar . It’s well-known to connoisseurs. So hard to get after the Revolution. But it’s so corrupt over there now, we only had to find the right officials to bribe. We almost thought of turning the distillery legal then, but there would have been too many awkward questions, and the money kept coming.”

“Did Vaher go along with it?”

“Of course that was awkward, having a policeman in the family. However, we discovered he was very reasonable. His view was that the business of the police was catching real criminals – gangsters, pimps, murderers, thugs – and that making illegal booze was hardly a big deal. So we gave him a cut, and he was very happy with that. He was not a bad chap for an Estonian.”

“He was all right,” said Laura, with a sniff.

“Please, tell me about the guns. I can understand the vodka. But why were you bringing guns into the country? That’s a whole new level of risk. And the punishment is very severe. Even as an accessory to that, Laura might face ten years in jail. Juries can sympathise with illegal alcohol – who doesn’t want to buy his vodka cheap – but not with importing weapons.”

Heinrich coughed and winced, caught hold of Hallmets’ arm. “Albrecht was working in Germany with the Nazi party. I’m not sure exactly what he did. He and Krummfeldt were thick as thieves, and every time Albrecht came here, he’d go off with him. Finally they let me in on their plan. Krummfeldt is involved in a number of German Societies throughout the country – he puts money into them, too – and he thought that with the right leadership they could be brought together into something like the Nazi party. The plan was to use the money we made from the booze to import weapons. Then, when the time was ripe, we would mount a coup d’etat , restore power in Estonia to the Germans – the old families in the countryside and the businessmen in the cities – and declare an alliance with Germany.”

“Why did you agree to it?”

“I hoped that if Estonia could then become a satellite of the Reich – a sort of Protectorate – with the rights of the Baltic Germans restored, we would get more of our land back. The settlement the Estonians forced on us was very unjust. Albrecht said his friend Alfred Rosenborg thought it was a great idea, and once Hitler was in power Germany would welcome it. He was posted to the embassy here to help prepare for the coup.” He coughed again. More blood seeped through Laura’s hand.

“Please,” she pleaded, “Stop talking, Heinie, you need to rest. You can say all this later if you really want to.”

He looked up at her. “No, Laura, it needs to be said before it’s too late. I need to protect you.”

Laura glared at the Chief Inspector. “Where’s the ambulance? Why are they taking so long? A baron should be first in the queue.”

“I stopped being a baron many years ago,” gasped her brother. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here. Let me finish my story.”

“Why didn’t they just send you German weapons?” asked Hallmets.

“Come now, Chief Inspector, please allow us some intelligence. The point was that Germany itself should be entirely unconnected with the coup. The weapons were Finnish. The whole thing was to be an internal move by the German community here. There were even some Estonians who would work with us.”

“Did Vaher know about the plan?”

“That was a problem. We knew Vaher’s opinions about law and order, and his admiration for what the Nazis were doing in Germany, so we hoped he’d support us, and bring some of his police colleagues along. But he said a coup d’etat in Estonia by us Germans was the last thing he wanted. And the idea that Germany was behind it appalled him. ‘No patriotic Estonian will stand for Germans running the country again,’ he said. He told us to drop the plan altogether, and and threatened to stop it if we didn’t. I told Albrecht Nikolai was right, it wasn’t going to work. Laura begged Albrecht to drop it too.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Laura confirmed, wiping a tear away, “I did. I pleaded with him.”

“Albrecht said he’d think about it. Next thing, Vaher was dead. We suspected Albrecht was behind it, although he denied it. He said some gangster must have killed him. He insisted that we go ahead with stockpiling weapons. He was confident there would soon be enough people to stage a coup. ‘Even if we have to bring them in from Germany’ he said.”

“He always wanted his own way,” added Laura, “Ever since he was a child. Our parents spoiled him, gave him whatever he wanted.”

“So you don’t know exactly who killed Vaher?” asked Hallmets.”

The baron shook his head. “Albrecht denied he was there, but I didn’t believe him. My little brother was always a bad liar. I suspect Hans Schriff, and maybe some of those so-called ‘gardeners’ we had. And that other policeman, the one Laura seemed to like…”

“Lepp? Was he involved too?”

Laura shook her head. “No, not Indrek, Surely he wouldn’t…”

“Yes,” her brother continued,”That was him. I never liked him, you know. No empathy for others, no sense of duty. He was very enthusiastic. For the coup, I mean. He longed to be one of the rulers. One of the new men, he called himself. But really, there was no breeding, no class. Like Hitler, eh?” Von Langenstein coughed. Blood dribbled down his chin.

“Thank you, Herr Baron , I think you should rest now.”

“You must believe me that Laura was not involved. She is a woman after all, and this was men’s work. She realised Albrecht was involved in the killing when she saw you had his pen.”

Laura nodded tearfully. “Yes, it’s true. He…”

“But she knew her duty to the family, Herr Hauptkomissar . Her silence was only the proof of her breeding. There is no reason to punish her.”

“Rest assured, we’ll not be hard on her.”

The baron fell back on the sofa exhausted.

“Eva,” said Hallmets, then to Larsson, “Can you get the medics up here as fast as possible.” He knew the baron had not long to live. He too had seen such wounds on the battlefield.

As Larsson got up and turned for the door, Hallmets saw Heinrich’s expression freeze and Laura’s mouth fall open.

“Hands in the air!” a sharp voice called.

Larsson and Hallmets obeyed. Hallmets turned around very slowly, to see who was there. He saw a man rising from the chest by the window, a thin man with dark hair oiled and combed back from his forehead, and a thin moustache beneath a thin and pointed nose. With a luger pistol in his hand.

“Albrecht!” gasped Laura.

The man climbed out of the chest. He was wearing an immaculate black suit and shiny black shoes. He seemed to Hallmets more like a gigolo than an aristocrat. “I got in there as soon as the fighting started. I’m not stupid. Well, Heinie, you’ve really spilled the beans there. Now I’m going to have to shoot these two cops before I go.” He walked over to the doors leading to the centre of the house and turned the key in the lock. “That’s better. We need a little privacy.”