Hidden Depths (16 page)

‘What?' asked Kruger. ‘You mean, tit for tat?'

‘Possibly they shared some bad, past experience. But something pricked this man's conscience which tells me he was capable of showing empathy to his victim.'

‘Just because he didn't kill her doesn't mean he's a nice guy,' Glockner stated. ‘Marine Boy took Lotte Holler there with the intention to harm her. It's attempted murder.'

‘I didn't say Marine Boy was a nice guy,' Hanne said, realising she was joining in with her colleague's penchant for nicknaming suspects. Oh what the hell, she thought, if it helps lighten the mood when working with dark and grisly cases.

‘Marine Boy is, or was a troubled soul. He's damaged but he's also capable of being normal.'

Glockner was flabbergasted. ‘Normal? Murder isn't normal?'

Drais continued. ‘To show empathy, you have to be taught it. Marine Boy's complex for sure, but he has a conscience. Even if he planned it, he couldn't kill Lotte Holler, so someone loved him at some point and taught him about empathy.'

‘What do you mean, that he was a troubled soul? Do you think he's dead?' asked Glockner.

‘Marine Boy may be dead, who knows? What I mean is, it's 12 years ago and a lot can change in a person's mental health in that time.'

Kruger requested. ‘Enlighten us, Drais.'

‘OK. The definition of a psychotic is that what they think is their reality. If Marine Boy thought about killing Lotte, he then had to act on his feelings, because his thoughts and feeling were his reality.'

‘So, we're looking for a pretty screwed-up individual,' Kruger surmised.

Hanne continued. ‘Marine Boy's state of mind could be worse or better. Mental health often fluctuates throughout our lives, depending on our circumstances. There are low and highs and manic episodes or just a steady, OK kind of flow. It depends if Marine Boy is emotionally literate or in denial.'

‘Oh, Marine Boy knows he's done it all right and he's got away with it up until now, but I'm going to nail the bastard,' Kruger pledged.

‘I meant, Marine Boy probably thinks he's normal or at least pretends to be. Take us three as an example, we're hardly normal but we think we are.'

‘Yeah, yeah, Drais, very droll. It's too much psychobabble,' said Kruger. ‘So, what are you really saying about Marine Boy?'

‘I'm saying, it could have been a stage in Marine Boy's life. Maybe his mental health has improved and he's put his past behind him – and now he's just as normal as the three of us.' Hanne smiled when she said this, watching their astonished faces.

Chapter Twenty-t
wo: Tentative Steps

H
ANNE WAITED IN
D
R
Roth's office. She noticed how pristine everything was – a tidy desk with in and out trays, flowers in a vase that gave a sweet fragrance to the room – but it was a place bereft of personal photos.

Jonas Roth opened the door allowing Julia Kessler to pass through before him. Hanne rose from her chair and held out a hand to Julia, which was grasped warmly.

‘Thank you for coming, Frau Drais,' said Julia.

‘Please, call me Hanne.'

‘OK, Hanne. Pleased to meet you, and please call me Julia.'

‘I'm so very sorry about the press release of your sister's private details,' Hanne said, sincerely, hoping to start on a good note.

‘Jonas… Dr Roth explained everything,' Julia said, appreciating Hanne's gesture. ‘From my point of view, it's a fresh start for all of us.'

‘Thank you. We'll drip feed the media from now on and everything will first be approved by you and Dr Roth,' Hanne reassured her.

‘That's good to hear,' said Julia, looking at the doctor in the hope that he would take over the conversation.

Dr Roth cleared his throat. ‘Lotte's doing very well and making a slow but steady recovery. She's reluctant to talk to the police but she knows she has to. May I suggest we schedule weekly meetings with her lasting no more than an hour?'

Hanne nodded. ‘Will either of you be present at these meetings?'

‘I think Lotte will be more comfortable if I'm with her,' Julia told her.

‘That's fine,' Hanne replied. ‘And shall we have a briefing meeting with you, Dr Roth, before and after our sessions?'

‘Yes, of course. We can schedule that in.'

‘I'd also like to speak with the nurses on duty the night Lotte woke up, if possible?'

‘That would be Lena Bruhl and Martin Schmidt,' Jonas informed her.

‘I'd like them to come to the station to be interviewed so my colleagues can be present.'

Jonas nodded. ‘I'll let them know.'

‘Thank you,' Hanne said.

Julia's smile was friendly. ‘I'll think you'll find my sister is quite chatty and she'll tell you all you need to know in her own time. Just let her do the talking.'

Lotte Holler was dressed in a tracksuit that hung loosely on her thin frame. She was sitting in one of the armchairs by the window in her room when Julia and Hanne entered.

‘Excuse me, if I don't stand up,' Lotte began, eyeing the police intruder. ‘I had a work-out in the gym this morning and my legs are a little achy.'

Hanne noticed Lotte was physically frail. There was a Zimmer frame and a walking stick close by. ‘Don't get up on my account,' she said.

Julia did the introductions. ‘Lotte, this is Hanne, Hanne, this is my sister, Lotte.'

‘Julia, don't be so formal,' Lotte said gruffly. ‘I can speak for myself.'

‘Thank you for seeing me,' Hanne said, stretching out her hand to Lotte. Considering the patient's condition, it was quite a strong handshake, thought Hanne, noting the determined, almost steely look in Lotte's eyes.

‘Have a seat,' Lotte instructed. ‘Julia, you can sit on the bed.'

‘Thank you,' said Hanne, sitting in the armchair.

Lotte got straight to the point. ‘So, after all this time, what do you think the chances are of catching the bastard who put me in here?'

‘I can't guarantee anything but we'll certainly try. Shall we begin?' Hanne asked.

‘OK, but it'll be like chasing a phantom in the night,' Lotte said, with more than a hint of bitterness.

Hanne took out her notepad. ‘What do remember about that night?'

‘I remember everything! What do you want to know?'

‘Please, talk me through the events.'

‘I was abducted outside my flat in Kreuzberg. He put a gun to my head and duct tape over my mouth to stop me from screaming, tied my hands behind my back and shoved me into the back of my car. Next thing I knew, I was at a lake and at the mercy of a madman!'

‘That would be Muggelsee. Go on.'

‘I tried to kick out at him but he was too strong – I'd freed my hands and pulled off the duct tape and I was screaming, but no one could hear me. It was pitch black except for the headlights on the car.' Lotte's voice faltered. ‘He held a gun against my head and told me to strip.'

‘Lotte, if it's too painful, you can stop any time,' Hanne assured her.

‘No, it's OK, I won't cry. I won't give that bastard the satisfaction. I was afraid he was going to rape me but he told me that wasn't what it was about.'

Hanne noticed Julia had tears in her eyes as her sister retold her story.

‘I was so cold in the water,' Lotte began. ‘He told me to dance, and perversely it did me a favour because it warmed me up. But being made to dance to that bloody opera song… I'm not a fucking toreador! Just saying it makes me so angry. I've never felt so humiliated in all my life!'

‘What do you think that was all about?' Hanne asked.

Lotte bellowed. ‘Revenge, that's what! He knew me, that boy knew me.'

‘That boy?' Hanne quizzed her.

‘Well, I didn't think he sounded older than about 20,' Lotte announced, looking at Julia and thinking, if I don't tell this psychologist, they'll find out some other way. Lotte braced herself. ‘You see, I used to work as a warden at a youth correction centre in East Germany. You may have heard of it… Torgau.'

Hanne had indeed heard of Torgau. Her ex, Claudia, knew of a girl who'd been sent there and the tales of cruelty and abuse inflicted on the children by the adults were horrific. After her release from Torgau Claudia's friend had suffered many breakdowns and had been in and out of mental institutions for years.

‘Yes, I've heard of Torgau,' Hanne replied carefully, beginning to wonder if Lotte Holler could be guilty of cruelty and abuse as a Torgau warden.

Lotte continued. ‘My attacker knew me at Torgau and had some sort of grudge against me, and I wasn't the only one! There were others.'

Hanne was intrigued. ‘What sort of grudge?'

‘Oh, I don't know, I probably told him off a few times. You know kids, they can't take any discipline.'

Julia couldn't agree with such a sweeping statement. ‘Oh, I don't know. My boys don't give me much trouble.'

‘Julia! Your boys are saints, just like you,' Lotte said, mockingly. ‘Torgau kids were troublesome, to say the least.'

Hanne ignored the siblings' banter and continued with her line of questioning. ‘Lotte, you said there were others?'

‘That's right. He was deranged, he said he'd killed three of my old Torgau colleagues and they were lying dead at the bottom of the lake, and I'd be next.'

‘But he didn't kill you,' Julia interjected. ‘So, maybe he was lying about the three men and he only told you that to frighten you.'

‘I was frightened,' Lotte admitted. ‘Not just for myself, I was frightened for my baby. He killed my baby.'

‘Yes, so I gather. I'm sorry,' Hanne told her.

‘I don't want to be pitied. I want the Torgau boy caught and I want to meet him again when he's not hiding his face behind a balaclava and waving his gun. He'll be wetting himself like I did the next time we meet,' Lotte insisted.

‘We'll investigate to see if there's any truth in it, as it might help us find him,' said Hanne. ‘Did he tell you the names of your colleagues?'

Lotte nodded. ‘Horst Gwisdek, Gunther Schukrafft and Harald Plaumann.'

Hanne thought Lotte's mind must be razor-sharp to reel off these names so quickly after all this time.

Julia asked, ‘If it's true and this Torgau boy killed Lotte's ex-colleagues, could you search the lake?'

‘We've a team of experienced scuba divers and I'll inform my colleagues straight away,' replied Hanne. ‘Ladies, you've been a great help, thank you, but I think we'll leave it there for now.'

‘I want to be kept informed,' Lotte said insistently. ‘You've got to tell me what you find out. You've got to.'

Julia frowned. ‘Lotte, don't get yourself all worked up now.'

‘Worked up? I'm glad to be feeling anything after all this time!' Lotte snapped at her.

Julia understood. ‘Yes, sorry, of course you are.'

Hanne stood up to leave. ‘Lotte, I give you my word, you'll be kept informed of any developments but please understand that it's going to take time to unravel this case.'

Lotte nodded. ‘Time is what I've got.'

Jonas Roth was waiting for Hanne in his office.

‘She's all there,' Hanne told him.

Jonas smiled. ‘Isn't she just? Hopefully you've got some information to help with your psychological profiling of the case. Any clues to what sort of person would commit such a crime?'

‘Yes, I have. Thank you,' Hanne replied, somewhat non-committal. ‘Crimes tend to be committed by the most likely candidate.'

Dr Roth didn't press Hanne further. He knew most of Lotte's story via Julia and she would inform him of the details of Lotte and Hanne's meeting later on.

Chapter Twenty-t
hree: Déjà Vu

H
ANNE
D
RAIS LEFT THE
hospital in Tempelhof and cycled back to Unter Den Linden, stopping off at a Starbucks café near the Brandenburg Gate. She bought a blueberry muffin to take home to her daughter as a peace offering. If she couldn't bake a cake she would buy Audrey one. As she drank her caffe latte at a window seat, trying to clear her thoughts before returning to the station to fill in Kruger on her meeting with Lotte Holler, she watched her fellow citizens pass by.

She couldn't quite believe what she'd heard or what she was thinking. She didn't want to be too judgmental this early in the negotiations yet she couldn't help thinking how tough Lotte was. She hadn't evoked as much sympathy in Hanne, as she would have expected in the circumstances. After witnessing Lotte's dismissive and bossy manner with her sister, Lotte had shown herself to be pretty authoritarian. Julia was a far softer character. When Lotte had mentioned the kids at Torgau, Hanne had felt her hackles rise and unusually, a growing sympathy for the boy: Lotte's assailant, Marine Boy.

In just one meeting with Lotte, Hanne had discovered some of her preliminary profiling was accurate. The motive was apparently established as revenge and there was a distinct possibility that Marine Boy was a serial killer. If it turned out to be true – and she had the feeling it could be – Hanne wondered how deep the Torgau boy's suffering must have been to make him turn to murder.

She wanted her colleagues to consider this newly discovered information and to look at the case from a different perspective. She hoped Kruger and Stefan would find some compassion for Marine Boy but she wasn't counting on it. Hanne was adamant that it wasn't just about finding Marine Boy to lock him away for the rest of his life. No, this was now about justice for him as well. Marine Boy might need psychological help after his suffering at Torgau.

Hanne cycled down Unter Den Linden towards her old university and her thoughts drifted to her happy but arduous time spent as a psychology student in the magnificent and prestigious neo-classical building, the Humboldt, situated across a large courtyard at the back of police headquarters. The Humboldt was Berlin's oldest and highly regarded university where 29 Nobel prize winners were educated, including the scientist Albert Einstein. Hanne knew she was not in such an esteemed league of alumni but allowed herself to feel a sense of pride and achievement having gained her degree in such hallowed halls. She hoped Audrey would follow in her footsteps and go onto greater things.

Kruger's face turned white.

‘Oskar? Are you OK?' Hanne asked.

‘Drais, please tell me I'm not hearing things? Did you just say Horst Gwisdek, Gunther Schukrafft and Harald Plaumann?'

Hanne nodded and looked at Stefan Glockner, who seemed just as concerned.

Kruger undid his top button on his shirt collar. ‘
Fic
! Remember the case I was on back in 1992, when we went after the paedophile ring? Out of roughly 60 names on an anonymous list there were around seven suspects who disappeared into thin air. We never found them, never got to question them, put them away or log them on a sex offenders' register. I remember all the names by heart that got away and Lotte Holler's ghost has just walked over my grave because Lotte's three colleagues at Torgau – Horst Gwisdek, Gunther Schukrafft and Harald Plaumann – were on the paedophile list.'

Glockner was gobsmacked. ‘No! You mean, the names Lotte gave Hanne were suspects in that paedophile ring?'

Hanne gasped. ‘
Scheisse
! These missing men, they're likely to be at the bottom of Muggelsee, and Marine Boy really did go after his Torgau abusers.'

‘And he was fucking successful by the sounds of it!' Kruger said. ‘We've got to search the lake. Get me the case notes of the paedo ring from 1992.'

‘This gives the case an entirely different outlook,' Stefan ventured. ‘If the Torgau three are at the bottom of Muggelsee we're looking for a vigilante and a serial killer.'

Hanne agreed. ‘And a very clever one at that. Do you think Marine Boy was the one who sent you the anonymous tip off and posted you the list?'

Kruger smiled at Hanne's insight. ‘Could be, could be. It wasn't any of the Torgau kids that came forward to identify their abusers, they had no knowledge of any such list.'

Hanne concluded. ‘Marine Boy is not to be underestimated.'

Kruger quickly gathered all his team, including the junior police officers assigned to assist the case, for a meeting. He wrote the following on the incident board:

Lotte Holler, Marine Boy, Gunther Schukrafft, Horst Gwisdek, Harald Plaumann, and the year: 1992.

Kruger turned and addressed his colleagues. ‘Anyone recognise these names?'

This drew a blank.

‘Maybe you're all too young to remember and anyway, some of you weren't even here,' Kruger began. ‘Lotte Holler's been in the headlines, but Schukrafft, Gwisdek and Plaumann were her ex-colleagues at Torgau and were suspected paedophiles who went missing back in 1992, around the same time that Lotte Holler was attacked. Seems our Marine Boy has outsmarted us all this time because Lotte Holler told Drais all three men are at the bottom of Muggelsee.'

‘Which is why they've never been found,' Glockner added. ‘They're most likely dead.'

Kruger smiled. ‘It's the likeliest possibility as to why they've never been caught,' he said.

‘And Muggelsee is where Marine Boy left Lotte Holler,' Hanne added and asked her boss. ‘I'm assuming Lotte Holler wasn't on the paedophile list?'

Kruger shook his head. ‘No women were on the list. Glockner, what can we get from the cold case notes?'

Glockner read from the 1992 file. ‘I haven't checked the others yet but Plaumann was a security guard at Schonefeld Airport back in 1992 when he disappeared out of our clutches leaving a wife and two small children. He was never found, nor was his car.'

‘We assumed he'd skipped the country,' added Kruger.

Stefan continued. ‘It says here, a bicycle that was hidden in the bushes at his gym was linked to a theft in Kopenick. If Plaumann is in the lake, the bike that is kept at forensics storage can be checked for fingerprints. It's a long shot, but at least we might have a link to the fingerprints on the knife found the night Lotte Holler was attacked, and a direct link to the lake and Marine Boy.'

‘We are looking at a possible serial killer,' Kruger interjected. ‘We're going to send a team of scuba divers to Muggelsee tomorrow.'

‘All four were wardens at Torgau,' Hanne explained. ‘In my opinion, it puts a new slant on this case, especially if Lotte Holler is connected to these missing paedophiles.'

‘The motive is revenge. Marine Boy is apparently a Torgau kid but on no account is this to be leaked to the press,' Kruger stated. ‘Is that clear?'

Everyone in the room nodded.

‘It would detract from sympathies towards Lotte Holler if she's found guilty of any crimes from her time at Torgau,' Hanne added.

‘If Marine Boy hated her enough to attack her we will find out why,' Glockner said with assurance. ‘Let's not forget, Marine Boy is guilty of a violent attack which resulted in Lotte Holler losing a baby and spending 12 years of her life in a coma. She is the victim of a terrible crime.'

‘And if he's killed others he's probably one crazy son of a bitch,' Kruger stated.

‘Not necessarily crazy but possibly suffering from paranoia,' said Hanne. ‘Remember, deadly logic is a characteristic of acute mania. However, Marine Boy could be living a normal life now after violent episodes in the past.'

‘Or he could still be out there, acting like a vigilante, killing the wardens of Torgau who abused him or offended him in some way,' Glockner replied. ‘Keep an open mind.'

Hanne thought Glockner sensed her sympathies were leaning towards Marine Boy and chose not to respond. ‘I'll be meeting with Lotte Holler next week to get more details but this is what we have to go on so far. She described Marine Boy as tall and athletic.'

‘That could describe anyone! However, Drais, you've made a good start keeping on the good side of Dr Roth and his patient,' Kruger said. Hanne said nothing. It pleased her that Kruger respected her work and contributions.

‘It's important to establish a definite link between Lotte Holler and her missing Torgau colleagues because it'll help us find a trail to Marine Boy,' Glockner insisted.

‘Right, we've all got a job to do,' Kruger barked. ‘Let's get on with it.'

The team dispersed from the room and only Glockner and Hanne were left behind.

He patted Hanne on the back. ‘Well done, you've truly opened up the case.'

‘I've only repeated what Lotte Holler told me.'

‘I wish I had your modesty,' Glockner confessed. ‘Well, Drais, don't forget to dress up warmly tomorrow. It'll be a long, cold day at Muggelsee.'