Heroine: The Husband's Cologne (25 page)

“Okay. But can you at least tell me where I could possibly find that man?”

I looked at her in silence for a while and then I told her where I had picked up Stanley. At the same time I felt something almost like jealousy.

   My husband grinned all over his face when he came home that evening. I gave him a big hug and hoped that he only laughed because he was happy to see me. But that was only part of his reason.

“Imagine. This fat
Apala died. His housekeeper found him in the morning of the day before yesterday in his garage. He had a heart attack. Because he was totally plastered he couldn’t move anymore and therefore he had never regained consciousness. Ingvar is also happy that we got rid of that dude. I believe that half of the company cheers and his two daughters also.” Daniel looked at me a bit distraught.

“What’s the matter with you? You are so pale. Do you feel sick or are you getting sick?” I shook my head.

“Nothing serious, something with my tummy. I had to lie down time and again, all day long.”

“Then lay down again, I’ll take care of dinner”, Daniel said, and I kissed him.

“Why does Alan, I mean Mr. Apala, have daughters? I thought he lives by himself. Who will take care of them now?” I asked quite depressed. This was my fault I shouldn’t have left him there. Now I was responsible for his death and two little kids have lost their father. The thought weighed heavily on me and I became sad.

“Those daughters are grown-ups now. They are from a first marriage and they live in Los Angeles. Supposedly
they hate their biological father very much. The rumor goes that he had beaten their mother all the time.” Somehow this sounded familiar to me.

During dinner I kept silent and Daniel talked about his work.

“By the way, Ingvar has invited us again for one of his weekend barbecue parties. Let’s go there. Do you agree?”

“If you think that I should turn him on again then I can do that …”

“I didn’t even think of that at the moment. But we can also play our game without offering him your full program.” Daniel grinned suggestively. I smiled. I liked the idea. Perhaps my husband had lived out his fantasies long enough.

Daniel still wanted to do some work and stayed in the living room by himself while I retreated to the porch with a book. But I couldn’t even read one page of the book. Alan’s death weighed heavily on my mind. The more I enjoyed Daniel’s hug later on. He described with great enthusiasm how it is watching me when I would seduce Ingvar next weekend. However, I was not at all in the mood for those thoughts not only because I had welcomed Daniel’s conversion much too early – which obviously did not take place – but in particular because Alan’s fate made my heart ache.

The weekend was fabulous. By now I had blocked out Alan’s death. After all Alan had invaded my house and
had tried to rape me. In California he could have been subject to the death penalty if and when the victim would have died – something that could have happened to me in all likelihood.

On Saturday we went to see Ingvar where the party had already started in the early morning. The consumption of alcohol increased steadily during the course of the day and the men present bellowed and bawled while the women sat together giggling and whispering. The smell of grilled meat filled the entire garden. Many of the guests had brought their children and no reasonable conversation was possible beside the pool due to the level of noise.

Ingvar’s wife had been drunk already by three o’clock in the afternoon so that she sat on at the kitchen table with wry eyes. Ingvar didn’t pay any attention to her any longer. An hour later she had disappeared and when I asked Ingvar where she was he just shrugged his shoulders.

“She went to bed. Have a look! She’s supposed to be on the second floor. You already know our bedroom.” He grinned suggestively and I giggled obliged. Sonja snored. She had actually been unable to get undressed. I closed the door quietly and went downstairs again. Ingvar and John stood on the patio and talked to two other people who I knew briefly from the other parties. I looked for Daniel, passed by him and winked at him. Then I went back to the house. I made sure that Ingvar could observe
that. In his bedroom I stretched out on his bed and waited. Two minutes later Ingvar came in and closed the door quietly behind him. While he bent over me I saw from the corner of my eye that the bedroom door re-opened a bit without making a sound. Our game continued, but only to Daniel’s delectation.

On Sunday Daniel and I drove yet again southward and we enjoyed Big Sur and the fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean. In Carmel Daniel showed me the spacious estate of a huge educational institution for psychotherapists. At its time, the wildest rumors about its curriculum had circulated at our institute in Cologne. Melancholy flooded my mind when I remembered my time there at the university. Spending weekends on the road together with my husband were scarce since my arrival here. Therefore I eagerly absorbed those pictures of the splendid environment.

On Monday I woke up in a great mood and looked forward to spending a sunny day with work around the house after breakfast together with my husband. While I busied myself in the kitchen a huge black SUV turned into our driveway and stopped in front of our garage. I almost panicked because the tainted windows produced horrible memories in me. It was just about eight o’clock in the morning and Daniel had already left almost an hour ago. Why wasn’t he here when I needed him most? Desperately I ran into the living room where I had left my purse and trembling I reached for my taser. Then I stood petrified before my own front door on the inside and pointed the taser at the glazed wooden door. Somebody like Igor would bust that door easily with one kick. For a moment I was stupefied. Why would I think of Igor now? He was back in Germany!

A dark shadow knocked on the door and somebody with a typically Californian accent called:

“Hello, somebody home? This is the police and I have a few questions.”

That was neither Igor’s voice nor his build.
Police? What did they want here? I went to the window and pushed it up. Then I called out:

“I am here. Can you show me some ID?” I tried to sound as self-confident as possible and mimicked Irene’s sound. Whenever she wanted something she could sound almost brutal and it impressed me over again how men became submissive to her.

“OK, yes ma’am, good morning.” He turned towards me. A small but sturdy looking man in his mid-thirties looked at me with a smile. His white teeth shined from under a black mustache, thick curly hair and a dark complexion gave him away as a southerner. His white shirt under his undoubtedly tailor-made jacket was partially unbuttoned and the curly hair on his chest hardly covered the muscles of a bodybuilder. His sight was impressive if I wouldn’t have been scared.

“What a beautiful day, isn’t it. Please forgive my intrusion and let me introduce myself first.
Lieutenant Robert Gutierrez at your services.” He bowed a bit.

As if he hadn’t copied this introduction from the
Columbo series. It impressed me enough to go to the door and to open it. On my way there I had dropped the taser into my purse and closed it. Once the door was open the lieutenant bowed once more.

“Ma’am, I am from the homicide division in
Roquetas. Please don’t be scared I only do a general witness survey”, he said quickly when he saw that the color of my face had changed. He had truly frightened me!

“And I thought perhaps something bad has happened to my husband”, I panted and took a seat on the couch with knees trembling.

“Oh no, for heaven’s sake!” He lifted his hands in guilt. “I’m only here for a simple matter of routine. Please calm down. I wanted to talk to your better half. I hope that he is home?”

I denied and he sighed.

“Well, then I made the trip for nothing. I had hoped that I could catch up with him at eight in the morning. But perhaps you can help me out a bit. Maybe then I don’t need to come back to you.”

“Sure. What’s going on?” Some strange feeling had befallen me.

“We investigate a fatality of which we don’t know if the person died of natural causes. Do you know the name Alan Apala?”

First I couldn’t utter a word. Then I nodded vehemently
and squeezed out a “Yes, of course”. I cleared my throat.

“That is one of my husband’s bosses. Daniel told me last week that the man had died. But he said that it was a heart attack. He didn’t mention murder. My dear Lord, how did it happen?” A bit of hypocrisy covered up my panic.

“Yes, they determined death of natural causes at first. Undoubtedly, Mr. Apala died from a heart attack. But when they performed an autopsy some things didn’t quite fit together. It is not absolutely certain if that heart attack didn’t have any unnatural causes.” He fell silent again.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked quite confused. “I don’t understand.”

“You said that your husband worked together with Mr. Apala. We’ve known that from the human resources department of the company. Look, we currently check out all persons who were affiliated with the deceased. Ma’am, please answer the following question: does your husband have a so-called taser?” I could have smacked myself for wincing at that question.

“You mean a laser? I have no idea; I just imagine that they have something like that at the company.”

“No, not ‘laser’, I meant ‘taser’”, he interrupted me. “Tasers are small electro-shockers that release little arrows. When they hit a human being the victim receives an electric shock. The police use them to calm down attackers.”

“So it is not a deadly weapon?” I asked back carefully.

“Under no circumstances. Tasers are used for self-defense. Now, have you ever seen something like that in your husband’s possession?” I shook my head. What would Norman do in that situation?

“Please forgive me my oversight”, I interrupted the conversation. “I am really a bad host. Would you like something to drink?
Perhaps some coffee?” I needed to win some time and slow down my pulse.

“Yes, please. May I look around your home until it is done?” Without waiting for my permission he got up. I could only nod with my head.

“That is a pretty little house here. Do you only have the two rooms and the kitchen available? Oh yes, and the bathroom of course. May I use your bathroom; after all I’ve been on my way for quite some time.”

The door to the bathroom closed behind him before I could say anything. I heard the noise of the toilet flushing and he returned with a big grin on his face. The water was boiling. I poured the hot water over the instant coffee and put the cups in front of him and myself. The guy had inspected our whole house in a matter of a few minutes. Who does he think he is?! What would I do if he wanted to have a look into my purse? He sipped from his coffee and said:

“Not bad your coffee. Not as watered down as we get it at the office. You are not an American, aren’t you? For that the coffee is too good and your accent too attractive.” He grinned broadly. Did he flirt with me?

“Now, let’s go back to business. Believe me I would rather talk with you about more pleasant things. But I need to take care of business. I have ten more people on my list for today.” He sighed.

“Please tell me where your husband was last Tuesday. Do you remember?”

“Ah, nothing easier than that”, I answered back in relief. “He was on a business trip in New York and didn’t return until Thursday. The company can confirm that.”

“Well, then everything seems to be OK. One suspect less.” He again took a sip of coffee but showed no intentions to get up.

“Now tell me what did actually happen? I’m bursting with curiosity”, I kept on talking.

“You surely have a right to know why we’re investigating. After all your husband is innocent.” His eyes winked as if he was flirting. He indeed flirted with me!

“With unclear causes of death an autopsy is ordered. There is no doubt that Mr.
Apala died from a heart attack. But the coroner discovered two little punctures at the neck of the deceased. Those came from a taser, no question about it. But this is neither reason to consider murder. However, the law requires under those circumstances to investigate further. I’m sure you’ll understand that.” He looked at me expressionless. No hint of flirt any more.

“Then there was something else. His car was not in the
garage but was rather found unlocked at the center of Los Altos. The key was still in there. Do you know the car?”

“My husband and I were once invited to his house to attend a party. There he showed us his Porsche and bragged about it. Such a car was parked unlocked?” On the inside I congratulated myself for my cool answer. But my pulse was still racing.

“Well, we found that quite unusual as well. Tell me which country does your husband and you come from?” I told him where we were from and then we talked a bit about Bavaria and the Oktoberfest. Everybody knew more about that than me!

He put the empty cup down before him. Something flashed from his wrist.

“Oh well, a Rolex Blue Oyster.” I was surprised. Erich owned the same type of watch. An awfully expensive toy which I liked very much. Lieutenant Gutierrez looked up with great enthusiasm.

“Fantastic! You know about these things.
Makes me very happy!” For the next few minutes he explained to me the exclusivity of the watch.

“Here, hold it for a moment. That is quality! Stainless steel housing that would withstand a tank attack. You Europeans really produce the best products. Cars, watches, beer, all of best quality! Only our military weapons are better.” He laughed and I gave him back his watch which he put in a pocket of his jacket. Wasn’t Rolex manufactured in the USA? There was no time for
an explanation for this important question because the lieutenant had gotten up and stretched his hand out to me.