Hidden Depths

by Ally Rose

‘Will I? Who’s going to pay for all this?’ Lotte inquired.

  ‘The lawyer says it will come out of the compensation fund.’

  Lotte shook her head in disbelief. ‘So, are you telling me, out of this tragedy that I’m going to be rich?’

  Julia nodded. ‘All you’ve been through and all the publicity has, perversely, pushed up your price. The lawyers are confident that you’ll be a millionaire.’

  Chapter Twenty-eight: Leipzig

  HANNE DRAIS AND STEFAN Glockner arrived in Leipzig at midday to meet Monica Hirsch, who had worked with Gunther Schukrafft at the library after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Recently retired, she was happy to be of help.

  ‘We’re hoping you’ll help us with our investigation by giving us a picture of Gunther’s life, his daily habits, whom he mixed with, that kind of thing,’ Glockner began.

  ‘Gunther was my boss from 1990 to the time he went missing in the autumn of 1992,’ replied Monica. ‘I never thought he’d killed himself because he wouldn’t have left his Mutti. Nobody at the library suspected a thing. I’m not the only who found it shocking to read that he was involved in a paedophile ring and ended up at the bottom of Muggelsee.’

  Stefan resisted the temptation to be flippant and say, ‘It’s the quiet ones you have to watch’. Instead he said, ‘Did he get on with his colleagues?’

  Monica was defensive. ‘Nobody had a bad word to say about him until… Yes, Gunther was a good boss and got on with everyone in his own quiet way. Some people mistook his shyness for being aloof but he was always polite.’

  Hanne phrased her next question carefully. ‘Do you know if Gunther was in a relationship at the time of his disappearance?’

  Monica shook her head and began to waffle. ‘Not to my knowledge. Marlene – his mother – used to say that Gunther took after his father and was just shy, that he’d never found the right girl. When the police came looking Gunther, I’m sure Marlene died from the shock. It was such a tragedy. She was a nice old lady.’

  Trying to get Monica back on track, Hanne asked: ‘Can you remember if Gunther had any friends outside of work?’ ‘It’s a long time ago. Let’s see, there were two friends Gunther went on trips with.’

  ‘Trips? What sort of trips?’ asked Glockner, knowing full well.

  ‘Fishing, hunting, that sort of thing, but for the life of me I can’t remember their names. I can picture the three of them, passing me in the motor home. Don’t you two get old, the mind and body decays, it’s very frustrating. Now, what were they called?’

  Glockner thought he’d give Monica a gentle reminder. ‘Horst and Harald?

  ‘Yes, that’s right, Horst and Harald. Gunther spoke of them from time to time.’

  Then it dawned on her. ‘Genau ! Weren’t these the names of the other men discovered in the lake alongside Gunther?’ Monica was visibly shocked.

  Glockner nodded. ‘All three men died due to homicidal drowning.’

  ‘Someone had a vendetta against Gunther, Horst and Harald because of what they did to the kids when they worked as wardens at Torgau,’ Hanne told her. ‘Did Gunther ever mention his job at Torgau?’

  Monica shook her head. ‘Only that he ran the library there. He had to tell us that because it was on his CV.’

  ‘Any other friends you remember Gunther hanging out with?’ Stefan asked.

  Monica’s memory lit up. ‘Gunther had a male friend who used to visit.’

  Stefan sat upright.’ Can you recall his name?’

  ‘Yes, Gunther called him Witzig. I never knew his real name.’ Monica told them.

  ‘Did this friend, Witzig, work at Torgau?’ Hanne asked.

  Monica was growing tired. ‘Sorry, I don’t remember.’

  Glockner and Hanne mulled over their meeting with Monica Hirsch.

  ‘Glad we won’t need to interview her again,’ Glockner said.

  ‘We can’t dismiss her as some dotty old girl because she remembered Horst and Harald, and that matches Ina Selge’s evidence. I’m wondering about the Witzig connection?’

  ‘Maybe this Witzig is a gay friend of Gunther’s?’

  ‘For the record, Stefan, paedophiles aren’t necessarily homosexual. You have to be human to be gay and paedophiles lack humanity,’ Hanne said, emphatically.

  Glockner nodded. ‘Point taken.’

  ‘You know, it’s a pity Marine Boy didn’t go through the legal system and take Horst, Gunther and Harald to court and get them locked away to rot in a prison. That would be sweet revenge too, but he preferred the more complex option.’

  ‘Hanne, I’m a man and I can tell you if I’d been buggered by a bunch of sodomites, there’s no way I’d stand in front of a jury and give evidence in court.’ Glockner was emphatic.

  ‘Marine Boy probably came to the same conclusion,’ Hanne surmised. ‘Let’s get over to Gwisdek’s old residence.’

  On the other side of Leipzig they visited Horst’s last home. They found, not to their surprise, that many tenants had lived in this apartment over the past 12 years. Luckily, the landlord, a retired businessman called Detlef Biegel, had remained the same.

  A tenant in the building gave Glockner his mobile phone number. Biegel was out of town but he answered his phone. He told them that after a few months without any news of Horst and with the rent overdue and no relatives or friends to contact, he’d moved Horst’s belongings and his motor home to a timber yard near Zossen owned by Biegel’s family.

  Telling Biegel that the police would liaise with forensics and in the very near future would need to inspect the motor home, Glockner hung up. The case was beginning to get to him on a deeper level than usual. ‘Don’t know about you, but delving into the minds of paedophiles makes you feel worried for your own kids,’ he said to Hanne.

  She nodded. ‘I know exactly what you mean. How are your kids?’ she asked.

  ‘Fine. I have them alternate weekends and see them most days after school. Daniel’s into football, plays in the school team and on Saturdays I freeze my nuts off watching a bunch of nine-year-olds kick a ball around.’

  ‘What about Steffi?’

  ‘She watches her brother play – I think she’s got a crush on the football coach’s son. He’s 12 and suddenly my 11-year-old daughter’s into make-up. I’m glad my girlfriend’s around to help,’ Glockner confessed. ‘I can’t believe how fast they grow up.’

  ‘In the blink of an eye,’ Hanne said, thinking of her beloved Audrey.

  Chapter Twenty-nine: Axel

  AXEL FELKER WAS A strong, active young man of 15. He was a popular boy with many friends in the village, both male and female. His long fair hair and good looks meant he could have his pick of female admirers and he often dated one girl or another but never for very long. He had an independent, self-reliant streak and getting a good education was important to him because he hoped to go to university to study languages and travel the world. The annual foreign trips he made with Klaus, Bernd and Felix following the best golf tournaments gave him a love of languages, especially English, and served to whet his appetite for more travel.

  Throughout the tourist season, Axel was forever practising his language skills with visitors from England, France and Spain. Whenever Felix’s father-in-law, Dr Jens, came to Motzen, the two of them would go off to a corner together to converse in English. Most foreign visitors to the lake and golf club didn’t speak German but understood some English and this was the universal language adopted by the family when dealing with the tourists.

  Axel enjoyed working at the boatyard and the golf club outside of school hours and it earned him some pocket money to spend on his hobby: buying materials for building and fixing up motorbikes. Felix allowed him to ride his old Schwalbe on quiet roads and this opened his eyes to the joys of biking. Although finances were available to him from the coffers of the family business he had inherited the same work ethic as the rest of the family and he had learned that hard graft brings its own rewards.

  Klaus and Ingrid told Axel f
rom a young age that he was adopted as a baby and that Susanne – Felix’s twin sister – was his mother. He was nonchalant about his origins and saw Klaus and Ingrid as his Papa and Mutti even though they were in fact his great Onkel and Tante. However, Axel’s closest natural bond was with Onkel Felix, who had always been special to him. When the family thought Axel was old enough to understand about the death of his mother, they told him it was a tragic accident. Axel was 12. He asked some questions at the time but was trusting and accepted what he was told, apparently untroubled by the information. Until the spring of 2005.

  In early March, Felix was sanding down a boat in the boatyard when Axel suddenly appeared at the door, his long hair blowing about in the gusty wind. Felix was surprised to see his nephew and could see immediately that Axel’s mood was dark and potentially explosive.

  ‘Onkel, is it true?’

  ‘Is what true?’ Felix replied, putting his tools down.

  ‘That my mother didn’t fall in Das Kino. She jumped and killed herself!’

  Felix had been dreading this day. ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘Some new kid at school has picked up on some gossip. Is it true?’ Axel persisted.

  ‘Right, we’re going back to school to have a word with this boy. What’s his name?’

  ‘Alexander Blisse,’ Axel replied.

  ‘I’m going to talk to him and the principal,’ Felix said, indignantly.

  Axel was adamant. ‘I’m not going back to school today.’

  ‘They’ll be on the phone to Ingrid. Try saying no to her!’

  ‘I’ll tell her the truth. Onkel, am I the joke of the village? Am I the only one who doesn’t know the truth about my mother?’

  ‘I want Klaus and Ingrid to hear this,’ Felix stated. ‘Wait here!’

  ‘Onkel!’ Axel screamed. ‘I’m asking you !’

  Felix faced Axel. This was a defining moment where secrets and lies held no place. ‘Yes, it’s true.’

  Axel felt let down. ‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t anyone tell me?’

  Felix fudged the issue. ‘We told you Susanne died, falling in Das Kino.’

  ‘That’s not the same thing. My mother didn’t want me, that’s the truth, isn’t it?’

  ‘No! She wanted you – ask Dr Jens if you don’t believe me. We think Susanne was suffering from postnatal depression but nobody realised it,’ Felix told him.

  ‘Why the big secret? I knew from a young age that Klaus and Ingrid adopted me, so why didn’t you tell me about my mother?’

  ‘We thought you were too young and the truth would be too painful. It seems we were right.’

  ‘Secrets just cause more pain,’ Axel muttered.

  ‘We didn’t want you to grow up stigmatised,’ Felix told him. ‘We were only trying to protect you.’ Axel was adamant. ‘Onkel, you’re the person I trust most in the world. Please, I want some answers.’

  ‘You can talk to Klaus and Ingrid, they’re your parents.’

  Axel nodded. ‘Yes, but you’re closer to me in age.’

  ‘I can talk to them about anything and so can you. Axel, don’t shut them out.’

  ‘I’m conscious of having older parents. I don’t want them having heart attacks because of my troubles,’ Axel said. ‘Onkel, please, you were with my mother at that place in East Germany. I’ve heard stories about the abuse that went on there, I’ve even Googled it on my laptop.’

  ‘So, now the whole fucking Internet knows about our Torgau abuse!’ Felix yelled, instantly incandescent.

  ‘It’s true then, you and Susanne… you were sexually abused?’

  Felix nodded, his throat catching with the painful, suppressed memories.

  Axel’s anger subsided. ‘And this led to my mother’s depression?’

  ‘That and having a baby at 14.’

  Axel reached out and touched Felix on his arm. ‘Onkel, I can’t imagine how you must have suffered. It must have depressed you, too.’

  Felix nodded. ‘Yeah, I was a little crazy for a while.’

  ‘But, you’re OK now?’ Axel asked, eager to hear a positive answer.

  ‘Well, we’re all a bit crazy in this family, so I don’t tend to stand out.’

  ‘Onkel, you’re trying to laugh it off, as usual. These people who did this…’

  Felix interrupted his nephew. ‘Paedophiles, that’s the word you’re looking for.’

  ‘These paedophiles, we can bring them to court, make them pay for their crimes.’

  ‘Too late for that,’ Felix said. ‘It’s hard even talking about it with the family.’

  Axel was outraged. ‘I’d like to kill them for what they did to you and my mother.’

  ‘That’s what I thought you’d say.’

  ‘Onkel, you can’t let them get away with it and go unpunished.’

  ‘We all pay for our crimes, sooner or later. Trust me, they’ve been punished.’

  ‘I feel as if I should do something, in my mother’s memory. Please, let me help you bring these men to justice.’

  ‘Axel, please don’t try to rekindle a flame that has already been extinguished.’

  ‘Onkel, I don’t understand, you’re talking in riddles.’

  Felix felt his pulse race and his frustration rose. ‘You don’t need to understand. All you need to know is your mother Susanne loved you, your parents love you, your family loves you – and I love you.’ ‘I’m a lucky kid.’

  ‘Axel, you’ve got a lot going for you and I imagine that that boy in school, Alexander, wants to compete with you in some way and found out some information about you to try and weaken you. No one else in the village would do that because you’re well liked. Remember, criticism usually stems from jealousy.’

  ‘I gave him a black eye for his troubles,’ Axel said proudly.

  ‘Good for you! Just don’t show him you’re sensitive. It’s your Achilles heel.’

  ‘Onkel, what’s your Achilles heel?’

  ‘I think you already know the answer: Torgau.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be,’ Felix said. ‘I’m a survivor. My dear Axel, I know you need answers but let me tell you something, it’s the here and now that counts, that’s all we’ve got. We can never go back and change anything. It is as it is.’

  Axel nodded, seeming to understand. ‘Onkel, one last question,’ he began and took a deep breath. ‘Who is my father?’

  Felix had been dreading that question for years. ‘I can’t answer that,’ he replied.

  Axel frowned. ‘Can’t – or won’t?’

  Felix had sent off the Musketeer’s hair samples to various DNA experts many years ago to determine Axel’s parentage but could not and would not reveal the identity of Axel’s father to anyone. If he did, he’d have to explain how he got the hair clippings in the first place and that would mean confessing to three murders – and only Ingrid knew the truth there. But he had to give an answer, so he chose to tell his nephew a version of the hard and tragic truth. ‘Axel, I’m sorry. With all the abuse that went on at Torgau, no one can be sure who your father actually is,’ he said, gently.

  This upset Axel so much he covered his ears. ‘Scheisse !’ he screamed and ran out.

  Felix ran out after him. ‘Axel!’

  Axel ran into Das Kino, where Felix caught up with him.

  ‘Did she jump from up there?’ Axel cried, pointing to the balcony in the rafters.

  ‘Axel, please, let’s not do this.’

  ‘Tell me!’

  Felix saw the pain in the young man’s eyes. They reflected his own pain, which he now was reliving. ‘Yes.’ he nodded. ‘Yes. She jumped from up there.’

  ‘And you? Couldn’t you have stopped her?’

  ‘Are you blaming me?’ Felix asked, incredulously. ‘It all happened so quickly, I was halfway out of the door.’

  ‘What did she say? What were her last words?’ Axel asked, needing to know.

  ‘I don’t remember.’

  Axel was livid
. ‘Don’t lie to me! You must know!’

  ‘I don’t want to remember!’ Felix shouted. ‘It’s too painful. It wasn’t my fault. And nothing I say or do will bring her back.’

  ‘Onkel, please, I know it’s not your fault but I need to know.’

  ‘OK. We’ll do this now but we’ll never talk about it again. Agreed?’

  Axel nodded in tacit agreement. Felix was shaking, visualising Susi standing up in the rafters, on the brink of jumping. The image had never left him, it was indelibly printed in his mind. They had exchanged harsh words and regrets and he’d ended the argument by walking outside.

  ‘Almost the last thing your mother said before she jumped was, “I can’t live like this… I can’t do this any more”.’

  Axel looked puzzled. ‘What couldn’t she do any more?’

  ‘Torgau haunted her, it was all she ever thought of. She said she couldn’t live with it going around in her head any more.’

  ‘Is that all she said?’

  Felix could see Axel desperately needed a few comforting words and even though he knew he was omitting specific details, he tried to oblige and say something his nephew could always take great consolation from.

  ‘Susi’s last words were, “Look after Axel, tell him I love him.” Then she jumped.’

  ‘You’re just saying that, to make me feel better.’

  ‘It’s true, I swear! Your mother told me to look after you,’ Felix insisted. ‘She loved you, and when she lay crushed on the floor, I cradled her in my arms.’

  Axel and Felix threw their arms around one another and wept but it was difficult to tell which one of them was more in need of comfort.

  Chapter Thirty: Evidence and Concepts

  KRUGER CALLED AN IMPROMPTU meeting with Rutger, Glockner, Hanne and the administrative team at police headquarters to review the case.

  Rutger opened the discussion. ‘Forensics have been working day and night.’

  Kruger faked a yawn. ‘Just like the rest of us.’

  Rutger continued regardless. ‘The cause of death of all three men at Muggelsee was drowning. They were all alive before they entered the water – dazed, but alive.’