Ursula Archer - Five

‘It would also be supported by the fact that he let Sigart live longer than the others. In his mind, they’re all connected with the fire – the five geocachers who passed through the area on the same day, and Sigart, who blamed himself for the deaths of his wife and children, both to himself and to anyone who would listen.’

Hoffmann nodded. ‘Then we’re dealing with someone who was also affected by the fire, in some way or another.’ His gaze slid from one person to the next, skipped Beatrice and stopped at Florin. ‘You’re working closely with the guys from the fire service, right, Florin?’ Without waiting for an answer, he smacked both hands down on the table to signify their dismissal. ‘Good. Then the case will soon be closed.’

The first detective to exchange a few words with Sigart was Florin. He managed to catch him at a good moment during a routine visit, and had a five-minute conversation while two doctors sat alongside, ready to usher him out immediately if their patient’s condition worsened.

‘I asked him about the Owner, but he said he didn’t know him. He described him though, as well as he could. The description matched fairly precisely with the one given by the hotel waiter. Bald, a full beard, medium height. Sigart wasn’t sure about his eye colour. Blue or green, he thinks. He said he spoke without any regional accent, and the voice was neither particularly high nor deep. He wore gloves the whole time. That’s as much as I got in five minutes.’

Florin’s disappointment was clear to see. If Sigart had known the man and been able to name him, the case could have been closed very quickly indeed. Hoffmann’s ideal scenario.

‘If I were a man,’ said Beatrice slowly, ‘and I wanted to disguise myself without using wigs and false teeth, then I’d grow a beard and shave off my hair. Everyone who sees me would then remember me as a bearded bald guy, even though I’m normally clean-shaven with a full head of hair.’

A smile twitched across Florin’s face. ‘Hoffmann would be very happy if you grew a beard. “Don’t be such a girl, Kaspary.”’

They laughed, and it did them good. ‘But you’re completely right,’ Florin continued. ‘The description doesn’t necessarily help. The Owner isn’t making it easy for us.’

She sat on Sigart’s bed and waited for him to wake up. He’d been in the hospital for three days now. His condition was stable, according to the doctors. They had allowed Beatrice to pay him a visit, but now he was sleeping, while the IV released one drop of electrolyte solution into his veins per second. The sight nudged something within Beatrice, something like the precursor to a realisation. She waited, but it didn’t come.

Sigart stirred. His eyelids fluttered softly before they opened. He turned his head and looked at her, and Beatrice knew that he had recognised her right away.

‘It’s good to see you alive, Herr Sigart,’ she said.

He didn’t smile, but looked at her steadfastly.

‘Can you speak?’

A shrug of the shoulders, followed by a pain-filled grimace. He cleared his throat. Had the tilting of his head been a nod? Beatrice decided to interpret it as such. ‘That’s good. I don’t want to disturb you for too long, but there are so many things on my mind. I’m sorry we didn’t get there soon enough to prevent you from being kidnapped. We came as quickly as we could, but the perpetrator was unbelievably fast.’

Sigart’s eyes closed again. His breathing sounded worse; the memory was clearly causing him distress.

‘The thing is,’ Beatrice continued, ‘I’d like to know why you ignored our warnings. We offered you protection, and when you didn’t want it we pleaded with you to be careful. Not to open the door to anyone. But the killer still got to you, and there was no sign of forced entry.’

She gave him time to process her question. His eyes were still closed, and after a few seconds he turned his head to the side, away from her.

‘That’s why we have the theory that you must have known the killer,’ she continued. ‘And there are a number of additional reasons why I still believe that’s the case. But you told Herr Wenninger he was unknown to you.’

He didn’t stir. Beatrice felt impatience welling up inside her, and counted silently to five. She gave herself, and him, time. Took a deep breath. Sigart no longer stank of blood, vomit and urine, just of disinfection fluid.

‘If you didn’t know him, why did you open the door? I just don’t understand.’

Had he gone back to sleep, or were her questions too painful for him? Beatrice tried again, as gently as she could, but Sigart was no longer reacting.

The Owner hadn’t been in touch since the picture message showing Sigart’s severed middle finger. The dog team had searched the woods around the cellar where Sigart was discovered, but hadn’t found anything. Drasche had been completely baffled by the prints found in the cellar. ‘We found fingerprints from all the victims, but not a single one from the killer. He must have worn gloves the whole time.’ That, at least, matched Sigart’s statement.

Lost in thought, Beatrice worked through the Owner’s text messages once more, reading one after the other.

Slow.

Cold, completely cold.

Was his sudden silence connected to Dalamasso? Was he frustrated that he couldn’t get close to her?

No , she thought. He could have got to Melanie before we solved the puzzle that led us to her. Like he did with Estermann .

Melanie. Beatrice had saved her mother’s number in her mobile. She’d have to act fast, otherwise she’d lose her nerve.

‘Dalamasso.’

‘Good evening, this is Beatrice Kaspary from the LKA.’

A deep sigh. ‘Yes?’ Just one syllable, filled with contempt. But at least the woman hadn’t hung up.

‘I’d like to apologise for my behaviour. It was unacceptable. How is Melanie?’

‘She’s… she’s doing a little better. But she’s still trying to self-harm, and is hardly sleeping at all, except with the help of strong sedatives.’

‘I’m very sorry.’

No answer this time.

‘Did you want anything else?’ asked Carolin Dalamasso eventually. Curt, icy, clearly hoping that she didn’t.

‘Yes, to be honest. I’d like to ask you something.’ She took the silence at the other end of the line as consent. ‘Did Melanie used to react to things that extremely? Were there any events or triggers that upset her as much as those photos?’

She was expecting a dismissive answer, or none at all, but she was wrong.

‘Children.’

‘Sorry?’

‘She had strong reactions to children a few times, particularly loud ones. But only in the first year after her breakdown, and then it seemed to pass.’ Carolin Dalamasso sighed. ‘When she was at school, there were some children who bullied her a lot. The doctors think these memories might have been triggered by the sight of children.’

‘I understand.’ Yes, I really believe I do, but not in the way you think . ‘Thank you, Frau Dalamasso. I wish Melanie all the best. My colleagues will continue to look out for her.’

‘I know. Are we finished now?’

‘Yes. Thank you again. Goodby—’ The rest of the word was swallowed by the beeping of the disconnect tone. Carolin Dalamasso had hung up.

The suspicion which Beatrice carried around with her that evening and the whole of the next day was much too vague to be uttered out loud to the others. When Florin questioned her on how quiet she was, she fobbed him off with an answer as brief as it was nondescript, and after that he left her alone with her thoughts.

Several times, Beatrice caught herself sitting and staring at the surface of her desk. To any onlooker, it must have seemed as though she wasn’t doing a thing, but inside her mind the kaleidoscope was turning incessantly, equipped with a few new fragments.