Craig Russell - A fear of dark water

‘They’re not…’ Menke did not look in Fabel’s direction when he spoke.

‘What?’ Fabel frowned irritatedly at the security-service man.

‘They’re not trying to frame you,’ repeated Menke. ‘Or at least I don’t think they are. Like I said before, they’re trying to compromise you more than anything. Take you out of the picture. Make it impossible for you to lead the investigation into Muller-Voigt’s death, and/or the Network Killer murders.’

Fabel drew a breath. For the first time in the day he felt less isolated; but the knowledge that his own boss had not voiced a belief in his innocence seethed inside him.

‘It seems very elaborate,’ said Fabel.

‘To you or me, yes. But if you have access to the right technology and expertise, then causing this kind of confusion takes very little effort.’ Menke shrugged, but held Fabel’s gaze for a moment.

‘So where does this all leave me?’ Fabel asked van Heiden.

‘Maybe it would be good if you took some leave.’

‘In the middle of three major murder enquiries?’ Fabel was incredulous. ‘That’s giving whoever is behind this exactly what they want.’

‘That might not be a bad idea.’ said Menke. ‘For the moment…’

‘I’m not buying it. I’m the head of this Commission and if you’re telling me otherwise, then you can have my resignation this afternoon.’

‘And that would be exactly what whoever is creating this mayhem would want you to do,’ said Menke. Van Heiden said nothing; it was clear he was out of his depth and Fabel’s threat to resign had taken him aback.

‘Listen, Fabel,’ continued Menke, ‘the Criminal Director is right. To put it bluntly, you simply cannot be seen to lead an investigation when you are under investigation yourself.’ He turned to van Heiden. ‘Why not leave Werner Meyer officially in charge of the Muller-Voigt case and put another officer in to oversee the Network Killer investigation? That will leave Herr Fabel free to investigate the firebomb killing of Daniel Fottinger in the Schanzenviertel. In the meantime, I think it’s only fair that he is kept fully informed of developments in the other two investigations. He still heads the department.’

Van Heiden looked less than comfortable with the idea and said nothing.

‘If you don’t mind me saying, Herr Menke, you’re taking a very profound interest in the workings of the Polizei Hamburg. And in protecting my career prospects.’

‘We have areas of mutual interest, Herr Fabel,’ said Menke. ‘As you’ve already guessed.’

‘These people you say have the technological expertise and resources to pull a stunt like this. The Pharos Project?’

Menke smiled. ‘I suggest you read that file I gave you. Very carefully.’

After van Heiden and Menke left Fabel’s office, Anna Wolff came in.

‘You’re in trouble,’ she said bluntly.

‘Tell me about it,’ Fabel sighed, leaning back in his chair.

‘Not with Robocop and the Spook.’ She grinned. ‘Susanne’s been on the phone.’

‘Oh, shit…’ Fabel jumped up and looked at his watch. ‘I was supposed to pick her up from the airport.’

‘An hour ago. Don’t worry — when she phoned she was pretty pissed off, but I explained that things were serious. I sent a car to pick her up and take her back to your flat. But I’d give her a call if I were you.’

‘Thanks, Anna. You tell Susanne anything about what’s been happening?’

‘’Course not. But I did say it was serious. Well, it’s always serious, but I told her it was more serious than usual. That you’d had a rough time and I was sure you’d explain.’ Anna crossed her arms and frowned. ‘You okay?’

‘What did the Criminal Director tell you?’

‘That we were to keep you under close surveillance and not let you into the incident room in case you saw your picture at the top of the suspects board.’ Anna’s delivery was deadpan.

‘Very funny…’ Fabel made an impatient face.

‘He told Werner and me that you would have to withdraw yourself from the Muller-Voigt and Network Killer investigations but that you were still head of the Commission. He kind of suggested that you would be taking a break. He also said that Werner was top dog on the Muller-Voigt case and Principal Chief Commissar Bruggemann will be coming in to head up the Network Killer caseload.’

‘Nicola Bruggemann?’

‘We stay assigned for the meantime, but she runs the show.’

Fabel nodded. He knew Nicola Bruggemann well: she headed up a specialist child crime unit, which, inevitably, often had to work closely with the Murder Commission.

‘Nicola Bruggemann is an excellent officer.’ Fabel invested his tone with a warning. ‘Don’t be… don’t be your usual contrary self, Anna. It’s not Nicola’s fault I’ve been… what have I been?… not suspended or reassigned… reallocated. I need you and Werner to stick to the Network Killer case like glue. And, obviously, I want to be kept fully informed of developments. In the meantime, I need to get all the information on the Schanzenviertel arson attack.’

Susanne was waiting for him when he got home. There was no anger in her expression, just concern. And she looked tired. Her concern deepened as Fabel went through everything that had happened during her absence.

‘God, Jan… I can’t leave you alone for a minute. What happens now?’

‘I don’t know. It’s all over the place. I’ve been reassigned to take personal charge of this death in the Schanzenviertel: the guy who died when his car was torched. Officially, I’m still running the show with the other cases, but…’

‘Who do you think is behind all of this? I mean, it takes a lot of organisation and resources…’

‘I’ve already had that conversation.’ Fabel held up the file. ‘My spooky pal Fabian Menke suspects the Pharos Project. What the connection between an environmental cult and a serial rapist and killer could be is beyond me, but Muller-Voigt expressed real fears about them. He reckoned that his girlfriend was investigating them and that was why she disappeared. I have to say that it is more than a coincidence that all official records — all computerised records — of this woman’s existence in Germany seem to have disappeared into the same black hole as my text messages. It’s also a hell of a coincidence that Virtual Dimension, this role-playing crap site that all the Network Killer’s victims were logged into, is also owned by the Korn-Pharos Corporation.’

‘You think this cult has targeted you as well?’ Susanne frowned.

‘My guess is that they suspected that Muller-Voigt knew more than he did and passed some of that on to me — enough to start me looking in places they don’t want me looking. The problem is that I’m not as smart or well-informed as they suspect.’

‘But you’re the police, for God’s sake. They can’t take on the police or the government and get away with it.’

‘From what I’ve found out so far, the Pharos Project and the Korn-Pharos Corporation have between them several hundred times the budget and ten times the manpower of the Polizei Hamburg. This isn’t just some commercial concern or cooky cult, Susanne — this is more like a state but without physical borders. There’s no way I would underestimate Pharos or how far they would go to achieve their goals. I think that could be a fatal mistake.’

‘If you and Menke are so sure Pharos is behind all of this, why can’t you bring people in for questioning?’

‘After my interrogation by van Heiden I talked to the State Prosecutor’s Office. We just don’t have enough to justify a warrant. And in any case, we’re talking about a corporation and a cult — groups of people, not individuals. We’re still far, far away from placing an individual at any of the murder scenes. Oh no, I forgot, we can place one individual at the murder scene… there’s a bronze sculpture covered in fingerprints in the evidence store. Unfortunately those fingerprints just happen to be mine.’ Fabel let go a long sigh. ‘Sorry. The point is that we don’t have enough to get a warrant and, even if we did, we don’t know what or who we’re looking for.’