The Defeated Aristocrat (15 page)

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Go to the Richters’s now. I’ll follow you in an hour by which time you should have made the necessary arrangements with Lilli Richter. Once I break the news of Gluck’s death she’ll be in no condition to think about letting the apartment. Insist on moving in today. I need someone inside that house to watch the letterbox.’

‘Surely she’ll ask me to postpone moving in after you inform her of Dedleff’s death?’

‘She may want to, but Lilli’s polite.’ Georg stroked his chin thoughtfully. ‘Gluck treated Lilli abysmally but I don’t doubt she’ll mourn him. I should respect the dead and wait a decent period before moving you in, but given the hint of a sixth victim in the note Lilli received last night, I dare not wait.’

‘You really think the killer will strike again so soon?’

‘After three murders in eight days, who knows? The Richters’s address.’ Georg handed Wolf a slip of paper along with his official card. ‘My direct line in headquarters, below it is my home telephone number. I have your brother’s telephone number. You have your service revolver?’

‘The British objected to my keeping it when they took me prisoner.’

Georg unbuttoned his tunic and removed a shoulder holster and gun. He handed both to Wolf.

Wolf checked the weapon. ‘Luger P08 Parabellum semi-automatic, a fine serviceable piece. Won’t you miss it, sir?’

‘I have another. Carry it at all times and keep it within reach at night.’ Georg took a box of ammunition from his pocket and handed it to Wolf. ‘I’ll get Peter to give you more. The murderer could target you next. I presume they trained colonels to fire guns.’

‘All officers received firearms tuition so they could shoot troops in the back when they refused to go over the top.’

‘Go straight to the Richters’s from here. Don’t drop a hint as to what’s happened to Dedleff Gluck. I trust you’re a good actor?’

‘I know how and when to keep information to myself.’

‘You have one hour to do what’s necessary to secure that apartment. Find out if you can ring the doorbell from inside the house. I’d prefer to believe someone in the house placed those notes in the Richters’s letter box than a ghost.’

‘Sir, those coal smears …’

‘This is a city, Mau. Put a handkerchief over your nose the next time you walk beneath a chimney stack and check it for smears afterwards.’ Georg looked his watch. ‘You intend to look after your son.’

‘Yes.’

‘Don’t move him into the Richters’s. Leave him with your brother until these murders are cleared up.’

‘You’re that sure someone in the household is the murderer?’ Wolf removed his coat and jacket and strapped on the holster.

‘I’m that sure someone in the Richters’s household is implicated.’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Konigsberg, Saturday January 11th 1919

By two o’clock in the afternoon, twilight had thickened to darkness. Wolf walked to the end of Kohlmarkt, jumped on a tram at the Kramer Bridge and headed north to Castle Lake. He was conscious of Georg’s gun hanging heavy in the shoulder holster beneath his coat. It felt strange to be armed again, especially in East Prussia.

He caught himself scrutinizing his fellow passengers. Pulling his hat low to cover his eyes he paid attention to every man of military bearing. He wished he’d asked Georg Hafen if he was the only veteran working for the police out of uniform before realising that, if there were others, Georg wouldn’t have told him. He left the tram at Munz Strasse and walked into the square that fronted the south end of the lake. The Richters’s house was next door to the sixteenth-century mansion that housed the
Konigsberg Zeit
offices. Both buildings were imposing, six storeys high, lavishly embellished with Gothic turrets and carvings.

There were five bell pushes alongside the door to the Richters’s private residence. The lowest was labelled Richter, above it, E Nagel, with caretaker in brackets after the name. The one above that was a blank, as was the topmost one; between them was sandwiched a button marked Gluck. Gluck – luck.

Dedleff hadn’t lived up to his name.

Wolf pressed the button marked Richter on the premise that as it was the lowest it would be answered soonest. A man about forty with the pale face of an invalid and the straight back of a soldier opened the door. He eyed Wolf warily.

‘Can I help you, sir?’

‘Kriminaldirektor Hafen informed me there is an apartment available here for rent.’

‘Your name, sir?’

‘Mau. My sister works for Fraulein Richter.’

‘Please, come in, sir. I’ll inform Fraulein Richter you’re here.’ The man limped back into the marble-tiled hall.

Wolf followed. A marble staircase swept upwards dominating the hall. There were three doors, all with keyholes. The one to the right was narrower than the others and as Wolf had noticed a door set into the basement next to a coal chute on that side of the building he assumed it led to the cellars. A door on the left obviously led into the adjoining newspaper offices.

The man who’d admitted Wolf, muttered, ‘Excuse me, sir,’ and disappeared through a third door opposite the front door.

Wolf glimpsed red and gold wallpaper. He heard the “ping” of a telephone being lifted from the receiver and the door closed. He looked around. The only furniture was a wrought iron umbrella stand. He walked across to it and lifted out the sticks it contained. They were stout and suspiciously clean as if they’d just been polished. He was returning them to the stand when the door opened again.

A tall, broad-built, middle-aged woman with the round face and distrustful eyes of a peasant approached. She stood in front of him, and folded her arms across her chest.

‘You find Herr Richter’s walking sticks interesting?’

‘Very, my father collected them. This Aaron’s rod with carved snakes is quite magnificent.’ He lifted it from the stand.

She took it from him. ‘You’ve come about the apartment?’

‘I have.’ Her proprietorial, defensive attitude reminded him of Martha.

‘You told Ernst you know Frau von Braunsch?’

‘Ernst is the man who let me in …?’

‘He’s the caretaker.’ The woman made no attempt to introduce herself.

‘Frau von Braunsch is my sister.’

She continued to look him up and down as if she wasn’t pleased with what she saw.

Ernst joined them, closing the apartment door behind him. ‘Fraulein Richter will be with you shortly, sir.’

‘Thank you.’

‘If you’re Frau von Braunsch’s brother you have a castle in Lichtenhagen.’ The woman hadn’t asked a question.

‘I do,’ Wolf conceded.

‘Then why do you want an apartment in this house?’ she demanded.

‘I’m looking for work. There’s nothing in Lichtenhagen.’

‘You own a castle and you have to work?’

‘I own a castle and an estate, but it eats not makes money. I have to pay the estate workers’ wages.’

‘Freiherr von Mau, I’m sorry to keep you waiting.’

Wolf turned. The most attractive woman he’d ever seen walked through the side door he’d presumed connected with the newspaper offices. A foot shorter than him, she had a slim figure, exquisite oval face, even features, and black hair. Her clear white skin was marred by red and black bruises, but no defect could diminish the luminous glow in her blue eyes. Georg had told him Gluck beat her. He hadn’t visualized such extensive injuries. If Gluck had been present he would have beaten the man senseless for what he’d done to his wife. Then he remembered the corpse in the hotel.

‘I’m Lilli Richter.’ She offered him her hand.

‘Wolf Mau.’ He lifted her hand and kissed her fingertips.

‘Your sister has spoken of you so often I feel I know you. I’m so glad you survived.’

‘You’ve heard of my return?’

‘I telephoned your sister this morning to enquire after her health. Her husband’s death has devastated her and upset us all.’ Her voice trembled and she took a moment to recover her equanimity. ‘Ernst said you’ve come about the apartment?’

‘I have.’

‘The kriminaldirektor told you about it?’

‘His son-in-law, Peter Plewe, is a close friend. He told the kriminaldirektor I was looking for work and somewhere to live in Konigsberg.’

‘There’s no room in your family’s mansion in Gebaur Strasse?’

‘Too many Maus under one roof makes for family quarrels, and Gebaur Strasse is a long way from the waterfront where I’m hoping an old comrade will find me employment.’ Wolf expanded on Hafen’s suggestion that he might find a fictitious post with the Franks.

‘You’re not a police officer?’

‘I have no uniform, nor do I intend to wear one again.’ It wasn’t exactly a lie.

‘The apartment is on the fifth floor. Bertha, isn’t it time for my father’s tea?’ Lilli prompted her housekeeper. ‘Perhaps you could make some for Herr von Mau.’

‘Me too, please, Bertha,’ Ernst went to the door on the right. ‘I’ll be up as soon as I’ve stoked the boilers.’

Bertha watched Wolf follow Lilli up the stairs.

‘Didn’t your father teach you a gentleman walks in front of a lady up the stairs and behind her on the way down so he can’t look up her skirt?’

‘He did,’ Wolf replied, ‘but he also taught me that a lady waits for a gentleman to precede her when ascending a staircase.’

‘I don’t know why my generation bothered to try and teach yours manners. Lady or gentleman – neither sex has any.’ Bertha retreated into the apartment and slammed the door.

Wolf caught Lilli’s eye and they both laughed. ‘I have a housekeeper just like her.’

‘They should get on well together.’ Lilli waited for him on the landing.

‘I doubt it. There’s never room for more than one rooster in a chicken coop.’

‘Or more than one mother hen in a nest. You’re right. The apartment on the ground floor is my father’s. The one on this floor is smaller than the others because three of the four bedrooms have been walled off for office space for the newspaper. It’s occupied by our caretaker, Ernst, who opened the door to you. The apartment on the second floor,’ Lilli continued up the stairs, ‘is also walled off and accessible only from the newspaper offices. The third floor apartment is mine and my husband’s. The one for rent is on the fourth floor.’

‘From the outside I thought the house had an attic.’

‘It does. Like most of the basement it’s used for storage by the
Konigsberg Zeit
.’ She stopped outside what had been her father’s apartment and opened the door.

‘You don’t keep it locked?’ Wolf was surprised.

‘Normally we do, but I asked Bertha to clean it this morning. It’s furnished with old-fashioned pieces but if you want to move in your own things I can have the place cleared.’

He walked into the hall and looked around through the open doors. ‘No, thank you, this is the sort of furniture I’m used to. The Maus have never thrown a piece out of the castle. If something fell apart it was used for firewood.’

‘Frugal aristocrats.’

‘Is there another kind? Considering it’s not been lived in, this place is warm.’

‘Ernst keeps our stove in the cellar well stoked. There are four bedrooms. Do you intend to live here alone?’

‘No. I’ll use one, my housekeeper another; that leaves one for my son, and one he can use as a playroom.’

‘Then you want the apartment?’

He went to the living room window and looked out at the lake. ‘This view is worth a fortune. If I can pay the rent I’ll take it.’

‘I was hoping for two thousand marks a month.’

He peeled off eight of the high denomination notes Martin had given him and handed them to her. ‘Two months in advance.’

‘Thank you. I don’t know what to say.’

‘I was hoping for “I have a copy of the lease downstairs” and the keys to the house and the apartment.’

‘The keys I can give you. I haven’t had a lease drawn up.’

‘In that case a receipt for the money will do. My housekeeper and son won’t be moving in for a week or two but I’ll be moving in today if that’s all right.’

‘It’s all right, Herr von Mau.’ Shall we complete the formalities downstairs?’

Bertha served Wolf and Lilli coffee and biscuits in the parlour. Sister Ignatius came in with a tray she was making up for Lilli’s father. After exchanging pleasantries with the nun and admiring photographs of Lilli’s daughter, Wolf took his leave. He tripped on the doormat in the hall, reached up to steady himself and accidentally hit the bell that was activated by a pull outside the building.

 It rang loud and clear enough to be heard outside.

Wolf saw a police carriage turn into the square as he left it. Not wanting to think about what Georg Hafen was about to tell Lilli, he put his head down and walked towards the waterfront.

A freezing fog filled the darkness that simultaneously lightened and clouded the atmosphere. Wolf’s breath hovered mistily in front of him. A ship’s horn resounded from the river, mingling with the chimes of the castle clock striking the hour.

He heard footsteps behind him, slipped his hand inside his coat, and released the catch on his holster but didn’t turn until he passed the castle walls. He slowed his pace. The only people that loomed through the haze were thickly swaddled housewives and children of school age. Georg Hafen’s warnings had made him paranoid.

He paused on the land side of the Kramer Bridge at the head of Wasser Strasse. People broke out of the mist and disappeared into the fog. All he could see were the blurs of gas street lamps and below them the ground floor lights of shops and houses. Ahead on the left, the windows of the Green Stork beckoned in the grey icy shadows.

When he drew close he saw men had gathered around the light as though they could siphon warmth from it. Some crouched close to the ground, valiantly ignoring the freezing temperature as they played cards on a snow block table. Others stood talking, waving their arms and stamping their feet in an effort to boost their circulation. Most wore shabby, stained military issue greatcoats, and were so wrapped in mufflers and blankets, it was impossible to recognise them. But from the salutes he received, it was obvious some knew him. He’d never missed having money more. He’d have liked to have bought them all a drink, so they could sit inside the inn if only for a short while, but there were too many. After wishing his old comrades an incongruous ‘good afternoon’ he opened the door and stepped into a blast of warm air.