Hidden Depths

by Ally Rose

  ‘I agree. As a mother, this case has me quite torn,’ Hanne confessed.

  Wolfgang was curious. ‘If you find Marine Boy, would you let him go?’

  ‘I’m afraid that’s unrealistic,’ Hanne replied.

  ‘But morally, you’d want to let him go, isn’t that right?’ Wolfgang insisted.

  Hanne dodged the issue. ‘Most parents would.’

  Wolfgang smiled. ‘For his sake, I hope you don’t catch Marine Boy. But it would help my case if he was caught because he’d be another witness against that bitch, Fraulein Holler.’

  ‘We’ll do our best to catch him,’ Hanne promised. ‘Here’s my card, you can call me if you remember anything else of significance.’

  Wolfgang nodded. ‘I hope it was worth the flight from Berlin.’

  ‘You’ve helped, more than you know.’

  They took a little break whilst Wolfgang went to speak with his partner, who was waiting for him in another room. Hanne found Kruger and Glockner going through paperwork in the police canteen and filled them in on all the details.

  ‘What now? Lotte’s not well enough yet to be confronted about her past. Besides, we’ll have to wait and see what Wolfgang decides,’ Hanne said.

  ‘Maybe we should let the judges decide, not Wolfgang or anyone else from Torgau who comes forward,’ Glockner replied.

  Hanne thought about a different vision of democracy. ‘The victims are usually the best judges,’ she said, echoing Wolfgang’s sentiments.

  Kruger agreed with Hanne. ‘Glockner, without witnesses it’s not so easy to build a case and get a guaranteed conviction. Drais is right, let the dust settle.’

  ‘So, we wait for Wolfgang to make a choice? Is that what you’re saying?’ Glockner said indignantly.

  ‘We all have choices,’ Hanne began, angry and overwhelmed. ‘In my opinion, Lotte should be made accountable for what she did at Torgau. According to Wolfgang, she never cared and wasn’t sorry for what she did. Lotte’s in denial and doesn’t want to admit she made the wrong choices. I think even when she’s well enough she won’t admit the truth but she’ll have no choice in avoiding police charges.’

  ‘That may be true, Drais, but don’t forget Marine Boy made the wrong choices too and he has to be caught and punished for his crimes,’ Glockner stressed.

  ‘Shut up the pair of you! You’re both right, so let’s celebrate our breakthrough today that the truth’s out about Lotte Holler. She was a go-between and she committed unforgivable crimes,’ Kruger said bluntly. ‘She collected the kids, held the doors open and led the kids to their doom with the Musketeers, as we’ll now refer to them. One way or another, justice will be done.’

  Hanne couldn’t listen to Kruger’s brutal summing up. She thought of Audrey and then imagined all those Torgau kids – Marine Boy and his sister, and now Wolfgang amongst others. There had been no one to hear their cries for help; they had had no voice and many of them still didn’t. Hanne had heard enough tales of cruelty for one day and she broke down and cried.

  Chapter Thirty-six: Audrey’s Birthday

  AUDREY’S 16TH BIRTHDAY FELL on Easter Saturday, a sunny, windy spring morning. Hanne got up early to take a short walk to the bakers to get some fresh rolls and pastries for breakfast for her still sleeping daughter. Returning home, she brought up Audrey’s birthday present from the cellar, a new mountain bike in deep purple. The previous night she’d tied a red and blue ribbon to each of the handlebars and a large, helium pink balloon with ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘16’ written on it.

  It was going to be a busy day. The visitors would be arriving at lunchtime, each bringing something to eat and drink, and she needed to clean the flat before they turned up. Whilst Hanne waited for Audrey to stir, she went over her agenda for Monday. There was a list of things she had to do regarding the case and details to follow up.

  After the devastatingly sad but insightful meeting with Wolfgang, Hanne had instructed the police clerks to look into all the births registered in Dresden between September and October 1989, hoping to find a young girl called Susanne Waltz and the whereabouts of the Torgau girl and her child, believed to be a boy, born just six months after Audrey. Hanne felt a statement from Susanne Waltz could only add to the case against Lotte Holler. She would also be fascinated by her story: a girl from Torgau who lost her twin brother and became an under age mother before she was 16. How on earth had she coped?

  Audrey crept up on her mother. ‘Mutti! Not today. We promised each other, you won’t work at the weekends and I’ll get all my school work done during the week.’

  ‘Happy Birthday, sweetheart,’ Hanne said, and kissed her daughter. ‘I was just keeping busy whilst waiting for you to wake up.’

  Audrey looked at the pile of unopened birthday cards and breakfast treats on the table. ‘Thanks, Mutti. Can’t see any presents?’

  Hanne smiled. ‘Your father, Oma and the guests will bring you lots of presents. Your present from me is in my room. I lied, we can afford it.’

  Audrey was an excitable child-woman and ran into her mother’s room. It was the bicycle she’d shown Hanne when they were out shopping a while back and had been told it was too expensive.

  ‘Thank you. I love it!’ Audrey declared and hugged her mother.

  Bicycles seemed to be the theme of the day. Hanne’s mother, Traudl was the first guest to arrive bringing an enormous 16th birthday cake in the shape of a bicycle. Traudl Drais was very proud of her descendants from Heidelberg, despite the fact they were from her late husband Kurt’s side of the family. In 1817, Karl Jasper Von Drais had invented the first known bicycle and called it the Draisine, or hobbyhorse. It had a front wheel that could be turned for steering but had to be pushed along with the feet and for many years people in Germany, France and England, especially, were enthusiastic about this new activity of hobbyhorsing. The bicycle industry really began later in the century when other entrepreneurs added cranks and pedals onto the wheels of the hobbyhorse. However, nine generations or so later, Traudl Drais unfortunately had never seen any financial profits from the bicycle industry.

  ‘Happy Birthday, mein schatz ,’ Traudl said and kissed her granddaughter.

  Audrey feigned surprise. ‘Oma, what a lovely cake! Thank you.’

  Hanne embraced her mother to ease any tensions. ‘Mutti, lovely to see you.’

  Hanne looked nothing like her mother; Traudl dressed for the male admirers in her life and at 62 was a tall and very attractive woman. Hanne rarely wore a skirt or dress or make-up yet was attractive in a different way. However, in character they were similar: stubborn, impatient and wanting to be right.

  Kurt had died several years ago and after an acceptable period of mourning, Traudl tended to divide her time flitting between the men at her social club, not wishing to be tied down to marriage again.

  ‘It just had to be a bicycle cake, given our family invented the bicycle,’ Traudl said, adding, ‘Such a pity the nobility of Von in the title was dropped somewhere along the line. Traudl Von Drais has a nice ring to it. Nobility opens doors. Maybe Kurt should have made a claim on the Heidelberg fortune. I asked him many times but he wouldn’t. He always said there’s no shame in being a proletariat.’

  Hanne bit her lip. Traudl bought a bicycle cake every year for family occasions and always said the same thing.

  ‘You and Papa, you did all right without a fortune. Or a title. You were happy and you can’t buy that.’

  Traudl nodded. ‘Yes, we were happy. Audrey, I see you’ve a brand new bike.’

  ‘Mutti’s present,’ Audrey told her.

  Traudl smiled. ‘I’ve got your presents in the car, I couldn’t carry them all in. One of them is a GPS watch which I thought would be useful for your bike trips. It means you can plot your routes more easily.’

  Audrey put her arm around Traudl. ‘Thank you Oma, that’s a fantastic present, though the cake would have been more than enough. But there’s something you can do for me.’

  Traudl rais
ed her eyebrows. Her granddaughter never asked for much. ‘Yes, anything?’

  Audrey looked at Hanne and Traudl. ‘It’s my birthday so, you two, promise me you won’t have any silly arguments today.’

  Hanne nodded in agreement and Traudl followed suit. Hanne thought her 16-year-old daughter had the measure of both of them.

  The guests arrived in dribs and drabs. Half a dozen of Audrey’s friends, who would later be going out together once the family celebrations were over, mingled mostly amongst themselves alongside a few of Hanne’s friends. Even Kruger and Stefan Glockner turned up.

  ‘Oskar, lovely to see you,’ Traudl said, offering a limp hand to shake. ‘And you, Stefan.’

  Kruger humoured her and kissed Traudl’s outstretched hand. Glockner followed suit.

  ‘How many criminals did you catch last week?’ Traudl asked them.

  ‘Not as many as we’d like,’ Kruger replied.

  ‘We stay on a case ‘til it’s solved,’ Glockner added.

  ‘What are you working on now?’

  ‘The Lady of the Lake case,’ Kruger replied.

  This was news to Traudl. ‘Really? My daughter never tells me anything.’

  ‘I never tell my wife, it keeps home and work life separate,’ Kruger replied.

  ‘I suppose it does,’ Traudl said. ‘I’m sure Hanne is a great help to you, with all her psychobabble.’

  Kruger smiled politely. ‘We wouldn’t solve cases as easily without her.’

  ‘Thank you, Oskar. That’s what a mother likes to hear,’ Traudl said, and moved off to greet her daughter’s new girlfriend.

  ‘Good thing that Drais is nothing like her mother,’ Glockner whispered when Traudl was out of earshot.

  Hanne introduced Brigitte to her mother and quickly left them alone to work out their own relationship. Audrey’s father Rafael was the last to arrive with a grand bouquet of flowers for his daughter. He always spoke in Spanish to Audrey because he wanted her to know and practise his language. Hanne watched their South American way of talking, with gesticulating arms all over the place: father and daughter were physically very alike.

  Hanne understood what they were saying but usually replied in German, to be polite and in deference to the others, especially her mother, who got quite annoyed when she wasn’t at the fulcrum of conversations.

  Traudl nudged her daughter. ‘What’s he saying?’

  ‘Mutti! Audrey is half Chilean and speaking Spanish is important.’

  Audrey suddenly flung her arms around her father. ‘Oh, Papa, please tell them.’

  Audrey tapped on a table and the conversations around the room came to a halt.

  Rafael cleared his throat to speak in German with a heavy Spanish accent. ‘My beautiful daughter wants you all to know… Audrey’s going to have a brother or sister.’

  Polite echoes of congratulations filled the room.

  Hanne quickly crossed the room to join Audrey and her ex-husband. ‘Rafa, that’s great. Where’s Clara?’

  ‘Morning sickness, only it lasts all day.’

  ‘When’s the baby due?’ Hanne asked.

  ‘Early October.’

  ‘Papa, why make me wait until I’m 16 to get a brother or a sister?’

  Rafael smiled and winked. ‘I’ve been trying for ages!’

  ‘And I wasn’t going to give you a sibling,’ Hanne exclaimed with a grin.

  ‘Mutti, just because you’re gay it doesn’t mean you couldn’t have another. You had me.’

  Hanne smiled. ‘One child is more than enough for me!’

  Brigitte joined them and Hanne introduced her ex-husband to her new flame.

  ‘Hi. Congratulations.’

  ‘Gracias, danke . Pleased to meet you,’ Rafael said.

  Traudl waved from the other side of the room.

  ‘Papa, I think Oma wants a word,’ Audrey said, nudging him.

  ‘Brigitte, my advice to you about Traudl – when she says jump, you jump, but she doesn’t get to say how high,’ Rafael said with a smile, before Audrey dragged him away.

  ‘You never told me you could be the heiress to a bicycle fortune,’ said Brigitte.

  Hanne shook her head. ‘Liebe Mutti. Have you seen the cake?’

  Kruger and Glockner sauntered over to Hanne and Brigitte.

  ‘So, you’re the lady who has put a smile on Drais’s face of late,’ Glockner blurted out.

  ‘Ignore him,’ Kruger said, deadpan. ‘I’m Oskar Kruger, Hanne’s boss.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Oskar,’ Brigitte said.

  ‘I’m Stefan, the sous chef. Oskar, Hanne and myself are the three… ‘

  Kruger interrupted. ‘Glockner, it’s Kruger to you.’

  ‘And I’m not having a nickname that’s associated with you two!’ Hanne instructed.

  ‘Quite right, Von Drais,’ Kruger said with a wink.

  ‘Thank you, Oskar,’ Hanne replied.

  ‘You see what Hanne has to put up with,’ Kruger told Brigitte. ‘Please excuse us, but we’ve got to go soon, there’s police business that won’t wait.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Hanne told Brigitte.

  ‘No problem. I’ll mingle.’

  ‘Don’t breathe a word to Audrey, I’m forbidden to work at weekends,’ Hanne said.

  Brigitte winked. ‘What’s it worth?’

  Hanne blew Brigitte a kiss and went outside with her police colleagues onto the balcony overlooking the river where Kruger felt sufficiently at ease to light a cigar.

  ‘What couldn’t wait till Monday?’ Hanne asked.

  ‘That’s just it,’ Kruger began. ‘I’m telling you now so you as well as Glockner know where you’re going first thing Monday morning.’

  ‘Dresden,’ Glockner told her. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll drive.’

  Kruger announced. ‘Wolfgang was right. A baby boy called Axel was born to Susanne Waltz on 30thSeptember 1989 at a nursing home in Dresden. She would have been 14 at the time.’

  Hanne frowned. ‘What do you mean? She would have been?’

  ‘Our clerks at police HQ checked for records of births, marriages and deaths. Susanne Waltz died in December 1989. Her death was registered in Kopenick.’

  ‘Nein! How sad,’ Hanne sighed.

  ‘We’ll go to the nursing home to speak with the staff. Apparently there’s someone still working there who remembers her,’ Glockner said.

  Hanne looked out onto the water and for a few minutes was deep in thought.

  ‘But there’s no record of an Axel Waltz,’ Kruger said. ‘He seems to have disappeared along with his mother but we’ll keep looking.’

  Hanne had a brainwave. ‘Susanne Waltz left Dresden with her son and two months later her death was registered in the Kopenick area, so let’s assume the baby was alive and was taken into care or even adopted,’ she said.

  Kruger nodded. ‘Good thought. I’ll get the team onto that.’

  ‘I want a check made on Susanne’s birth certificate because it’ll state the names of her parents and her mother’s maiden name. Then we can check for any living relatives,’ Hanne said. ‘But even if we find Axel Waltz’s birth certificate, I’m sure the name of the father will be recorded as unknown.’

  ‘She was fucking 14! No one would admit to fathering a kid with a minor,’ Kruger exclaimed.

  ‘There has to be someone alive in the Waltz family,’ Hanne suggested. ‘Or what about the doctor who got her out of Torgau, he might still be around? Maybe he even signed the death certificate.’

  Kruger was annoyed with himself. ‘Damn! I’ve left the copies of the certificates in files, back at HQ.’

  Glockner volunteered. ‘I’ll pick them up before we go to Dresden.’

  ‘What did Susanne Waltz die of?’ Hanne asked.

  ‘Multiple head injuries from some kind of fall. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure,’ Glockner informed her.

  Hanne sighed. ‘Poor kid, sent to Torgau after losing her parents and her brother, she gives birth
and dies so young. How unlucky can you get?’

  ‘I wonder if Lotte Holler remembers the Waltz girl or Wolfgang?’ Glockner mused.

  ‘Let’s ask her. I’m told Wolfgang’s prints don’t match those on the Herbertz knife, plus he’s a size 11 shoe, so he’s in the clear,’ Kruger said. ‘Hanne, I forgot. Rutger sends his apologies to you and Audrey, his wife has had a fall and he’s with her at the hospital.’

  Hanne was concerned. ‘Nothing too serious, I hope.’

  ‘Twisted her ankle,’ Kruger explained. ‘But he asked me to pass on some news for you regarding Lotte Holler’s fingerprints.’

  Hanne was a little embarrassed. ‘Oh, sorry. It was a spur of the moment thing, I was waiting for the right moment to tell you.’

  Kruger raised an eyebrow. ‘That moment is now. So, you illegally collected fingerprints. Drais, you’re as underhand as Glockner and me! Unfortunately, Lotte Holler won’t lose any sleep on it because her fingerprints weren’t found in Gwisdek’s motor home, so her activities and connection to the Musketeers seems to have ended at Torgau’s closure.’

  Traudl came out onto the balcony.

  ‘There you are! Come inside, I’m about to make my speech,’ Traudl announced.

  ‘Did I ever tell you, Drais, you’re nothing like your mother.’

  Hanne kissed Glockner on the cheek. ‘Stefan, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.’

  Inside, the guests quietened their conversations and Audrey and Hanne linked arms to give each other moral support as Traudl’s unscripted speech began.

  Traudl cleared her voice. ‘Today is Easter Saturday and my granddaughter is 16. Audrey was born on Easter Sunday, on 26thMarch 1989, and that’s not the only reason she’s a special child. She was my first grandchild and she’s a direct descendant of Karl Jasper Von Drais, the inventor of the first known bicycle in 1817, the Draisine.’

  Chapter Thirty-seven: Uncle and Nephew