Dirk Lützelberger - Secret doors

"In fact, I could use a little help, but you’re on vacation here and I don’t want to burden you with investigations." He didn’t want to bother with prefaces and tried to achieve his goal in small steps.

"It doesn’t matter, Mr. District Inspector. We are happy to help. Right, Stefan?"

Stefan nodded politely, knowing well that the expected turn of events would not come about here.

"Well, if you really want to help?" One more small step.

"Yes, we’d love to. What can we do? What do you already have?"

Stefan resigned. The dam had burst, and Gwen had got her own way. They could weigh in here, not to say, 'have to'. Now there was no turning back.

Alois Wedelmaier brought the colleagues from Germany up to date. He summarized the forensic medicine report in a few words. He mentioned the sister who lived in Germany and also the request for information which he had made to the German authorities a few minutes ago. Finally, he read out the name and address: "Andreas Schörff, Schulstraße 27 in Gettorf." He waited for the reaction.

"Gettorf? It’s around the corner from us!" Gwen was all excited. "The case would probably end up on our desk anyway, since it’s in the catchment area of the State Office of Criminal Investigation in Kiel, where we both work."

"I’m glad to hear that. Should I make them a copy of the file so they can take the information back to Germany? You might as well go straight to the sister. Maybe she lives nearby. At the very least you could then investigate the drug abuse, that’s what I would call it. I would then close the file here in Austria and inform my superior, if that’s okay?"

"Of course, this is okay for us. Stefan, what do you think?"

"The case would come to us anyway, to question the strange circumstances of his death. Then we might as well take it with us, and you can get acquainted with it on the way back."

Gwen and Wedelmaier nodded almost synchronously.

"And remember to inform the Salzburg Forensic Department, so that the hair analysis results can be sent directly to my mother in Kiel" Phil wisely remarked.

Gwen and Stefan couldn’t stop laughing, because Phil wanted to help to 'rough up'. The District Inspector looked at all three of them irritated and joined to laugh.

Back at the resort, Gwen went over the file. It wasn’t much so far. It described how the District Inspector was informed of the incident by Gwen. Her address details were included in the report, as well as the time and place where Mr. Schörff was found. After comparing his fingerprints, his identity was quickly proved. So far, everything pointed to an athlete who may have died from overexertion or other unfortunate circumstances. It was clear that the cause of death could be ruled out as external force. As usual, the forensic report swarmed with technical terms and neither Gwen nor Stefan were able to translate and understand the details. The District Inspector had shared his recollection of the report with them, but Gwen felt uncomfortable relying on the testimony of an amateur. So, it was soon clear that they needed professional help. Gwen didn’t want to wait until they were back in Kiel and at work and had picked up the phone to call her longtime friend and colleague in forensic medicine, Dr. Michael Peters. Dr. Peters was able like no other to describe even complicated matters in simple words.

Gwen activated the hands-free function of her mobile phone so that Stefan and Phil could listen in. Gwen read the medical examiner’s report aloud slowly. With all the foreign words and technical terms, she felt like a beginner trying to read his first words. Michael supported her, because he could deduce the right words from the context. After Gwen finished the full report, the forensic expert summarized the most important findings colloquially.

"Your dead jogger, Mr. Schörff, suffered from heart muscle inflammation. The drugs he had in his body were not suitable to fight this disease. That means, the question arises why he had taken the drugs. It is conceivable that he had a disease and wanted to cure it with the drugs. Normally, 'one' medicine would have been sufficient. It would have worked in a much lower dosage and …", he used a dramatic paused to increase the tension, "… he would have taken drugs that were also approved in Germany."

Stefan and Gwen looked at each other. They were at a loss. What was the meaning of all that? Why was someone taking partially unapproved drugs in high doses? And where did he get them from? Was the overdose perhaps just an accident, or was he pursuing a goal by taking it?

"Michael, Mr. Schörff was a sportsman. Could it be that these drugs had been taken to improve performance" asked Stefan, to give a new direction to the exploration of the options?

"No, Stefan. The substances are completely unsuitable to increase performance or, if necessary, to build up muscles. As an athlete he would have known that. I’d like to go one step further and say that the drugs may even have been responsible for his heart muscle inflammation."

"How?" Phil asked incredulously.

"For example, if you have an infection and need to take antibiotics, you should always refrain from doing sports. Neither strength nor endurance sports! Everything together is too strenuous for the body. To fight an inflammation and to show performance in sports. One effect could indeed be heart muscle inflammation. If you then continue to exercise instead of taking it easy, your heart may eventually conk out and you may suffer a heart attack."

Stefan nodded in agreement and confirmed to Dr. Peters, "I have read about that too."

Gwen kept thinking out loud. "This is all very mysterious. If he really was suffering from an infection and had received the medication from a doctor, wouldn’t the doctor have told him about the risks? But why the painkillers? And why in high doses?"

"Please give me a minute I want to look something up" Michael asked his colleagues for patience.

"None of this makes any sense" Phil started.

"No, you got that right. We can’t figure it out so far either. Or do you have another brilliant idea, Gwen?"

Gwen shook her head thoughtfully as Dr. Peters spoke again.

"I checked for side effects and drug interactions. You won’t believe it."

"Now don’t put us on the rack" Gwen told her boyfriend to get to the point.

"One of the drugs was taken off the market because of cardiac arrhythmia after long-term use. It cannot be ruled out, that the heart also suffers a heart attack. Furthermore, the probability of a heart attack increases when the antibiotic and one of the painkillers are taken at the same time. At the high doses in which he took the medication, I believe that the probability of a heart attack is close to one hundred percent. Of course, it is impossible to say with certainty that this will happen, or even when, but the risk is considerable. The painkillers must have also alleviated the symptoms of heart failure, if he had any at all."

"Maybe he didn’t do the drugs on purpose" Phil interjected, and the adults remained silent.

They looked at each other with irritation and tried to process the new aspect and bring it in line with what they had heard before.

Stefan was the first to grasp the idea and tried to put it into context. "If he didn’t know what he was ingesting, it would explain why he had such a high concentration in his body. It would also be a plausible explanation why he had taken this specific mixture. However, it does not explain why someone wanted to administer this mixture to him and where the unauthorized drugs came from."

Dr. Peters agreed with Stefan. "That is absolutely right. I get the feeling that you’re onto something bigger and Gwen can’t wait to get back to Kiel?"

Stefan looked at Gwen, who was all smiles.