The Defeated Aristocrat (25 page)

‘Which you would know,’ his father added sourly.

‘Helmut was a comrade. One time at the front he gave me his only pair of clean socks when my kit bag was sucked into the mud. You wouldn’t believe how good those dry socks felt. I wanted to repay him by doing something for him.’

‘You knew Norde was here?’ Georg asked Herr Engels.

‘No, but Dolf asked me if there were any vacancies in the brewery as a friend of his needed a job, so I guessed he was trying to help someone. It didn’t occur to me Dolf would allow someone to sleep in the office.’

‘Would you have minded?’ Georg asked.

‘Not if I knew they were trustworthy, which in this case I didn’t.’

Anxious to avoid a time-consuming argument between father and son, Wolf interrupted. ‘Are there any jobs?’

‘No. We turn away dozens of people every day. Given the number of unemployed in the city I wish we could take on more, but people haven’t the money to buy bread for their children, let alone beer. If it carries on like this I’ll have to close the brewery.’

A carriage stopped outside. The door opened and Dorfman strode in, flanked by a cohort of police officers.

Georg went to the office door. ‘Excuse me, Herr Engels, Dolf. I must speak to the kriminalrat and check on our patient with Kriminalobersekretar Plewe. Herr Mau, I was establishing a time-line for the night’s events.’ Georg handed Wolf a notebook, ‘could you please take over.’

‘I’ll stay with the Herren Engels until you return.’ Wolf moved his chair before Dorfman spotted him. Georg saw what he’d done and closed the office door behind him.

‘Did anyone know Helmut was here beside you?’ Wolf asked Dolf.

‘There weren’t many people about, it was dark, but someone could have seen us drive in. We were both sitting on the driver’s seat of the cart.’

‘You didn’t tell anyone Helmut was here after you went home?’

‘No, he didn’t,’ Herr Engels vouched.

‘You went straight home?’

‘It’s two doors down, sir. I didn’t see anyone to tell.’ Dolf couldn’t bring himself to call his colonel anything other than ‘sir’.

Wolf saw the saucepan and plates. ‘You ate here?’

‘I sent the boy out for sauerkraut and sausage for two.’

‘What boy?’

‘An orphan who helps in the stables.’

‘Where does he live?’

Herr Engels answered. ‘No one knows much about him other than he turns up here every day. We buy him lunch and give him a few marks at the end of the week. One of the drivers told me he’d seen him in the old town. I assume he lives there.’

‘He saw Helmut?’ Wolf questioned.

‘He would have when we came in,’ Dolf agreed.

‘He got the food from where?’

‘The Green Stork.’

‘Did he tell anyone in the Green Stork you’d brought Helmut back here?’

‘He might have,’ Dolf conceded. ‘I didn’t ask him.’

‘Would it have been unusual for him to buy two meals?’

‘Three,’ Dolf corrected. ‘He bought two all of last week. One of which he ate in the Stork while he was waiting for them to pack mine.’

‘You’ve been eating alone here?’ Herr Engels demanded of Dolf.

‘Once I finish at the end of the day I don’t want to go out again, especially in my working clothes.’

‘You didn’t introduce Helmut to the boy, or mention his name?’ Wolf persisted.

‘No,’ Dolf answered.

‘Why so many questions, Herr von Mau?’ Herr Engels asked.

‘I’m trying to work out if whoever attacked Helmut thought he was Dolf.’

Wolf monitored Dolf’s reaction. He was certain Dolf knew more than he was telling him. The question was, what?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Carriage House, Engels’s Brewery, Hoker Strasse, Konigsberg, Morning of Sunday January 12th 1919

‘Take your lamps and search every inch of this carriage house and stables. Turn over the hay in the mangers, the straw in the stalls. Crawl under and into the back of every waggon and check each barrel. You’re looking for anything that doesn’t belong here. If you find weapons or blood-stained items, alert me immediately. Go!’ Dorfman watched the officers who’d accompanied him scatter before going in search of Georg.

He found the kriminaldirektor with the ambulance crew and the kriminalassistents who’d been detailed to guard the victim. Georg was issuing orders.

‘Kappel, Henz, accompany the victim to the hospital. Plewe, go with them. Don’t let him out of your sight. Two of you will remain with him at all times, even when he is being medically examined. Notify me the moment he wakes.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Peter climbed from the cart to make room for the ambulance orderlies to lift in their stretcher.

When they saw Dorfman all the junior officers snapped to attention.

‘You will contact me not the kriminaldirektor the moment the victim regains consciousness, Kriminalobersekretar … it is Plewe?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Kriminaldirektor Hafen’s son-in-law?’ Dorfman looked for confirmation.

‘Yes, sir,’ Peter acknowledged.

‘Kappel, I will interview the victim the moment he recovers. If he talks before I arrive, remove everyone except yourself from the room and that includes medical personnel. If the victim says anything – even something that makes no apparent sense before my arrival, write it down and show it to no one except me. I am making you responsible for the victim’s safety and entrusting you with full authority over your colleagues. Understood!’

‘Understood, sir,’ Kappel reiterated.

Peter looked uneasily at Georg.

‘Do not look to the kriminaldirektor, Kriminalobersekretar Plewe. I’m in charge of the force and this investigation. You report directly to me and no one else.’

Georg’s nod to Peter would have been imperceptible to anyone who didn’t know him.

Peter clicked his heels. ‘Kriminalrat.’

Dorfman moved so the orderlies could hoist the loaded stretcher from the back of the brewery waggon. Peter, Kappel and Henz followed it to the door. Georg and Dorfman walked behind them.

The ambulance attendants lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. Kappel and one of the attendants climbed in alongside it. Peter and Henz closed the door on the vehicle before joining the driver on the front box.

Dorfman confronted Georg after they’d driven off. ‘Kriminaldirektor, don’t try to exercise an authority you no longer possess. Not if you wish to continue working for the Konigsberg police.’

Georg was taken aback by Dorfman’s vehemence. ‘Is that a threat, Kriminalrat?’

‘A warning from your superior.’

‘Am I, or am I not still working on this case?’

‘You’re working on this case at my discretion and under my direction.’

Georg braced himself for another outburst. ‘Can I assume you will now be releasing Lilli Richter, Kriminalrat?’

‘On what grounds?’ Dorfman demanded.

‘She was in police custody when Helmut Norde was attacked.’

‘We have absolutely no idea what time Norde was attacked …’ Dorfman faltered. He raised his hand and pointed to the office. Wolf was standing in clear view behind the glass door of the office. ‘What’s that man doing here?’

‘Herr Engels …’

‘Not Herr Engels, he has every right to be here as he owns this brewery. I’m talking about von Mau.’

‘Herr Mau was at the Richters’s when I picked up the latest note from Plewe. As Herr Mau knows the Engels, I invited him to act as liaison officer between us and them.’

‘Is the Konigsberg police force so short of officers you have to recruit civilians?’

‘Not recruit, sir. I am not paying Herr Mau.’

Dorfman approached the office.

‘Kriminalrat Dorfman …’

Dorfman ignored Herr Engels and went directly to Wolf. ‘What are you doing here, Mau?’

‘Three of my men have been murdered and one attacked.’

‘Your men, Mau? The war is over, we lost. All the victims were serving police officers?’

‘With the exception of the last, Kriminalrat,’ Wolf pointed out.

‘You have no business here, Mau …’

Georg broke in. ‘I asked Herr Mau to establish a timeline of the events of the evening so Plewe and I could attend to the victim.’ Georg crossed his fingers again. ‘Have you established a timeline, Herr Mau?’

Wolf produced Georg’s notebook but didn’t offer it to Dorfman.

‘Kriminaldirektor.’ Herr Engels backed towards the door. ‘My son and I have to prepare for work …’

‘You live nearby?’

‘Number 14.’

‘You may go but come at once if I should send for you. Mau, let’s look at this timeline.’ Dorfman sat behind the desk effectively taking over the office.

On the point of collapse after twenty unbroken hours of duty Georg sank into the visitor’s chair. Wolf remained standing.

‘The timeline, Mau,’ Dorfman prompted.

Wolf opened the book and read, ‘Dolf Engels picked up Helmut Norde in the Lobenich area of the city between five and six o’clock.’

‘First rule of police work, Mau, establish the exact time,’ Dorfman sneered.

‘Dolf couldn’t be more precise as he didn’t look at his watch. He said it was obvious Norde had nowhere to go, so he invited him to spend the night here, in the office.’

‘Does young Engels make a habit of picking up homeless veterans and housing them in his father’s business premises?’

‘That I couldn’t tell you, sir. I didn’t ask about his previous encounters with homeless veterans.’

‘You should have. Continue, Mau.’

‘Dolf Engels drove straight here. Dolf unhitched the horses and sent a stable boy to fetch food for him and Norde. After he’d seen to the horses Dolf ate with Norde and stayed with him until a few minutes before eight o’clock. Dolf is certain of the time as he went directly home. It’s a two-minute walk and Herr Engels confirmed his son walked into the family home as the clock was striking eight.’

‘Norde was left alone here?’

‘Correct, Kriminalrat,’ Wolf acknowledged.

‘What about the boy who fetched the food and beer?’

‘He went home after he brought it.’

‘Where does he live?’

‘In the old town. He’s a casual worker. Herr Engels said he’d need time to track down his address.’

‘Norde was attacked here sometime between eight o’clock and a quarter to four. That’s when I arrived here with Plewe and Mau,’ Georg said.

‘Almost eight hours, Hafen.’ Dorfman commented. ‘A great deal can happen in that time and Lilli Gluck’s house is what? A kilometre away?’

‘As the stork flies, Kriminalrat,’ Georg concurred.

‘She could have walked here in less than half an hour, driven in five to ten minutes if she found a sleigh or carriage for hire.’

‘I arrested her at a quarter past ten o’clock. Frau von Braunsch and Frau von Mau were in the house with Lilli Richter, as were the Richters’s servants and Herr Richter’s nurse.’

‘That proves nothing. She could have gone out at seven thirty, attacked Norde just after eight o’clock, and returned by the time you arrived to arrest her.’

‘Not possible, Kriminalrat Dorfman,’ Wolf contradicted. ‘I escorted my sister, Frau von Braunsch, and sister-in-law Frau von Mau to the Richters’. We arrived shortly before eight o’clock and paid our condolences to Lilli Richter. I left after a few minutes to meet with the family lawyer after arranging to return with my brother’s carriage at ten thirty to fetch my sister and sister-in-law who remained with the Richters.’

‘Frau von Braunsch and Frau von Mau were at the Richters’s house when I arrived to arrest Lilli Richter. They had been with Lilli Richter all evening,’ Georg added.

‘Where were you when the kriminaldirektor arrived at the Richters’s, Mau?’ Dorfman asked suspiciously.

‘The Richters’s apartment. I arrived early to pick up my sister and sister-in-law.’ Wolf was determined the kriminalrat wouldn’t find out from him that Georg had fetched him from Johanna Behn’s, or that he’d rented an apartment in the Richters’s house. ‘My sister told me that she and my sister-in-law would be staying overnight in the Richters’s to care for Lilli’s father and daughter. I decided to remain with them in case they needed help.’

‘What kind of help did you think you could give them, Mau?’ Dorfman looked sceptical.

‘Lifting Herr Richter who is bed-bound, or conveying a message.’

‘I understand Lilli Gluck employs nurses to care for her father rather than look after him herself. And what possible message were you envisaging that could be so urgent it would need sending at night?’

‘As Lilli Richter had been arrested, I wouldn’t like to guess,’ Wolf answered.

‘What is important, sir, is that Lilli Richter couldn’t possibly have attacked Norde,’ Georg intervened. ‘She was in her apartment all evening from eight o’clock onwards and has witnesses to prove it.’

‘She might have witnesses to prove her whereabouts from eight o’clock onwards yesterday evening, Kriminaldirektor, but her whereabouts are immaterial. The nature of these murders suggests more than person is involved. Circumstantial evidence, including the letters, points to Lilli Richter as one of a number of perpetrators.’

‘The man’s a complete ass,’ Georg raged when the kriminalrat left him and Wolf in the office to see if the search had yielded anything.

‘There are a few questions begging answers, and one is: why is the kriminalrat so determined to implicate Lilli?’

‘You think the kriminalrat is involved?’

‘I have no idea whether he is or isn’t. Peter keeps telling me the police deal in facts not supposition. Let’s look at the facts,’ Wolf suggested.

‘I’m too tired to look at anything.’

‘You look mostly dead,’ Wolf agreed.

‘Thank you for that.’

‘Go home, get some sleep.’

‘You’re not tired?’

‘The army taught me how to survive without sleep.’

Georg pulled his pocket watch from his waistcoat. ‘It’s almost five. I’ve re-arranged the breakfast meeting in the Green Stork for seven.’

‘That gives you two hours more sleep than I’ll have.’ Wolf pulled on his gloves and wrapped his muffler around his neck.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To see someone who hasn’t told me everything he knows.’