Dirk Lützelberger - Secret doors

"We have done a series of drug tests and blood work. The man had a whole cocktail of substances in his body. But in order. He had nearly a thousand euros in cash on him. And he had traces of heroin on his hands. But these were only concentrations just above the detection limit. The money found on him, for example, was contaminated. Perhaps we would be able to detect drugs on your hands as well if you had the counterfeit money in your hands."

Wedelmaier kept his temper and let this allusion pass. The young lady certainly did not suspect him of bribery and did not accuse him of anything. It was surely just the talk of a young, aspiring forensic scientist.

"It could happen to any of us, I’m sure you’re right. But you said you found more drugs?"

"I spoke of other substances. No drugs, Mr. Wedelmaier. Just to be on the safe side, we will conduct a hair analysis to detect or rule out drug misuse. You will receive the results in a few days. But the blood tests were much more revealing.

We found Moxifloxacin, Refecoxib, Lumiracoxib and Diclofenac in high doses. Moxifloxacin is a fourth-generation gyrase inhibitor, whereas Refecoxib is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug which belongs to the group of COX-2 inhibitors. Lumiracoxib is actually the same. It is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to treat rheumatic diseases. Diclofenac, on the other hand, belongs to the group of non-opioid analgesics, but also inhibits cyclooxygenases, although not selectively.

Wedelmaier had already lost the thread of the conversation some time ago and Mrs. Steiner’s words, which reached him through the telephone, resembled a cloud of sounds that made no sense to him. "If I may interrupt briefly, Mrs. Steiner? What exactly does that mean for our dead man?"

"Excuse me. I’ve gotten too deep into my gobbledygook. This is an antibiotic and several painkillers."

Wedelmaier rolled his eyes and nervously tapped his desk pad with a pencil.

"There are several things unusual about this find. First of all, there are concentrations that are not possible with proper ingestion."

"Maybe he wanted to kill himself" Wedelmaier interjected.

"They won’t kill yourselves so easily. But let me continue to summarize. Already in 2004, the drug Refecoxib was taken off the market after a negative long-term study. In the study, the incidence of heart attacks, angina pectoris and strokes increased. At that time, the company did not want to take any risks and no longer wanted to sell the drug.

The same applies to Lumiracoxib. Lumiracoxib was also withdrawn from the market in 2007 after serious side effects were reported.

Furthermore, due to an unfavorable benefit-risk ratio, Moxifloxacin was only approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2008 for exceptional cases where other antibiotics may or cannot be used.

Diclofenac still exists today. It’s available only on prescription and helps with mild to moderate pain."

"Yes, but where did mister …", Wedelmaier leafed through his notes on the desk, "… Schörff got all those drugs?"

"That is a good question and certainly something for the police" Luisa replied whimsical.

"Maybe, but what did Mr. Schörff die of?"

"He had full-blown myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. His sports activities caused cardiac arrhythmia and eventually led to a heart attack. Death must have occurred some thirty-six hours ago."

"Could it be because of these myo … thingies that he took the antibiotic?"

"Rather unlikely, because cardiac insufficiency is caused by viruses that antibiotics can’t fight."

"And the painkillers?"

"Also unlikely, because such an illness often goes unnoticed because it does not cause pain. If symptoms occur, they are more like a flu-like infection. But it is strange that he had so many different drugs in his body in such high doses. And some drugs were already off the market."

"Very strange indeed" Wedelmaier admitted. "Please send me the full report."

"Gladly. To what e-mail address?"

In such moments he had always cursed his superior. They pinched and scraped, and they didn't grant the internet access. And that in the information age! Wedelmaier was inwardly very agitated, but he didn’t say a word to the young forensic scientist.

With calm and carefully chosen words he answered, "Mrs. Steiner, unfortunately I can’t give you an e-mail address, but I could give you a fax number."

After a short break she replied, "With pleasure, no problem. I’m sure I’ll be able to find one here."

After they exchanged the number, the District Inspector thanked her and hung up. Only a few minutes later the report reached him by fax. Once again, he scanned the pages and noted down some important points. Then he started to add them to his report with a grumpy attitude. It could have been such a clear and simple incident with a small memo, but then a spoke was put is his wheels. He still had a lot to do, so he set to work.

At 10:00 am sharp, the Chief Inspector showed up at the station.

"Good morning, Wedelmaier, what have you brought together?"

"Good morning, Chief Inspector. I can give you my final report."

"Let’s hear it!"

"I have written everything in this paper here for you."

He handed over the three pages of his report, as well as the forensic report to his superior, who quickly skimmed it.

"I’m glad to see you’ve come so far. After all, this now seems to be an incident that we should follow up intensively. Where was he visiting in Austria? Who did he meet? Does he have any relatives here? What was his concern for his stay? Many questions that you should pursue in the next few days. Once you have fully completed the initial investigations, we can pass on the information to the relevant authorities in Germany. And finally take care of the request for information to the German authorities to inform the sister."

"You are absolutely right, Chief Inspector. I shall begin at once to compile the missing answers."

As quickly as the Chief Inspector had appeared, as quickly he had disappeared again. While he was turning on his heel, he said a fleeting, "Thank you, servus" and disappeared.

Wedelmaier let himself sink back into his chair and sighed, "These are going to be long days."

♦♦♦

"I wonder if we can’t help there after all."

Gwen just didn’t give up, Stefan thought, but that’s what he loved about his colleague. Once she got something into her head to do, she would follow the theory, the idea or the conception until it either turned out that she was barking up the wrong tree or she had achieved her goal. Stefan had never seen anyone in his environment show such persistence before. He had accepted his fate the night before, when he had quickly realized that he could not talk Gwen out of her plan. So, he hoped inwardly for a refusal when they entered the police station.

"Hello, Mr. District Inspector" Gwen greeted him.

Wedelmaier looked up in amazement from his typewriter when he heard the familiar voice again. He was stunned for a few seconds and froze when he saw the two colleagues with their son coming in the door. But then he stirred and greeted them.

"The colleagues from Germany. What else can I do for you? I thought you were enjoying your vacation."

Before Stefan could say anything else, Gwen went like a bull at a gate.

"Last night, we were wondering if we could help with the investigation. It looked like you were running this place by yourself, and we wanted to help you out a little."

Wedelmaier was furious, because nobody would make him out to be a small policeman who had to be 'helped'. But then he thought of something better. He could even take pleasure om the situation, if he did it right. The colleagues came from Germany, what if he simply gave them the case? Then he would have very little to do with it and could close the case quickly. This would certainly impress the Chief Inspector.