Hidden Depths

by Ally Rose

  ‘Behind bars they wouldn’t be able to hurt kids either,’ Martha said, in a matter-of-fact way.

  ‘I’m not trying to defend myself or condone what I did but I’m glad I did it. Does that shock you?’

  Martha nodded. ‘I didn’t think you were capable of such violence.’

  ‘Everyone is capable of violence when pushed to their limits,’ Felix stated.

  Martha thought for a moment. ‘I suppose that’s true. If anyone touched my daughter…’ She stopped in mid-sentence, traumatised at the thought.

  Felix took her hand. ‘When you’ve been violated as a child, it takes away all your happy childhood memories and robs you of a future. I wanted to move on but I couldn’t. Once I’d got rid of the Musketeers, only then did I really feel free.’

  ‘I’m trying to understand,’ Martha told him, ‘because I love you, but it’s hard.’

  ‘I love you too. I never meant to hurt you but I’m glad you know.’

  ‘That’s what I have to get my head around. I understand your motives but I can see you’re not sorry. In fact you’re rather proud you’ve killed your abusers.’

  ‘I’m not proud, how could I be? Martha, I can’t lie and say I’m sorry, because I’m not, and Axel is safer because of what I did, and I’m no longer stuck in limbo.’

  ‘No!’ said Martha. ‘You are stuck in limbo again, we all are. We’re all waiting for the day when the police figure out it was you. What do we do now?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Felix replied candidly. ‘Pray for a miracle.’

  Chapter Forty-two: Brothers in Arms

  KRUGER WAS IN A foul mood early on Monday morning when he called Glockner and Hanne into his office.

  ‘I’ve got the Commissioner breathing down my neck,’ Kruger began. ‘What progress was made with this case last month? None!’

  Glockner was defensive. ‘It’s not an easy case to solve…’

  Kruger interrupted him. ‘Crap! Glockner, get your arse in gear and help me solve this fucking Musketeers case by the end of the month. Is that clear?’

  Hanne took umbrage at Kruger’s outburst. ‘With due respect, sir, Glockner’s been working hard to solve this case but can only go on the leads given, and events from 12 years ago aren’t fresh in anyone’s memory, not even yours. It doesn’t help that records in East Germany are practically defunct and deny us vital information.’

  Kruger admired Hanne for standing up to him but he wasn’t about to relent. ‘Haven’t either of you got any fucking leads to go on?’

  ‘Yes, as a matter of fact,’ Glockner announced. ‘You didn’t give me a chance to speak. I got a call from Uwe Muller, the old man at the nursing home in Dresden late last night. He remembered the politician who came for Susanne Waltz – he saw him recently on television, said he looked older but was sure it was him.’

  ‘Well, who the hell is it?’

  Glockner looked pleased with himself. ‘It’s the Burgermeister of Zossen.’

  Kruger scratched his stubble. ‘What? The Mayor at Gwisdek’s motor home?’

  ‘Yes, Bernd Felker,’ Hanne began. ‘But he’s not Marine Boy. He can’t be, he doesn’t fit the age group, the height or the profile of the Torgau boy.’

  ‘But he’s connected to Torgau and the Waltz girl who died, so he must know what happened to the child, Axel,’ Glockner replied.

  Kruger’s mood lightened. ‘Lotte Holler couldn’t be sure of the age of her attacker – he might have told her a pack of lies. It could be the Mayor or his brother as revenge for their niece’s death. Get him in. I want his fingerprints to see if they match those on the knife. And find out his shoe size. Tell the Mayor to bring his brother, too.’

  Much to his surprise, Bernd received a call from the police asking him to come into Berlin for questioning and to bring Klaus.

  On hearing the disconcerting news, Klaus cried out. ‘Mein gott !’

  Bernd nodded. ‘Sorry, I wish it wasn’t true. I don’t know what’s going on but they want to speak to you as well.’

  Klaus’s heart sank. ‘Are we suspects?’

  ‘How the hell should I know?’

  ‘Bernd, I think I know what’s it’s about and you’ve got to trust me. They’re on a trail, and it leads to Felix,’ Klaus confessed.

  Bernd was concerned. ‘What’s he done?’

  ‘I’ll tell you on our journey to Berlin, but whatever you do, don’t tell the police about Felix. As far as the police know, Felix Waltz died in Torgau in 1989 and they have no record of his new name. I’ll tell Felix to stay away from the golf club for the time being because I’m hoping the police don’t know about our link to the lake. He’ll be safe here.’

  ‘I have a bad feeling about all this,’ Bernd said.

  Klaus put on his coat. ‘I’m not telling Ingrid or Felix where we’re going.’

  ‘I’m haven’t told Ute, or the girls.’

  ‘Good. Let’s hope by going there and answering their questions, it’ll keep them from paying us a visit here,’ Klaus said, crossing his fingers.

  ‘You’ve got some explaining to do,’ Bernd told his brother.

  When the Felker brothers arrived at the Berlin police station they voluntarily offered to have their fingerprints taken. Bernd now knew the whole shocking truth about Felix and was taken first to the interview room. Glockner and Kruger sat opposite Bernd, who tried to look calm even though he was nervous. In an adjoining room, Hanne watched the interview through a one-way mirror.

  Glockner turned on a tape recorder. ‘11.42 a.m., 3rdMay 2005. The interviewing officers are Glockner and Kruger. Bernd Felker is willing to be interviewed without his lawyer present.’

  ‘What’s this all about?’ Bernd asked.

  ‘Please, just answer the questions,’ Glockner told him. ‘In December 1989 you and your brother Klaus Felker visited a nursing home in Dresden. You took your niece, Susanne Waltz home with you. Is that correct?’

  Bernd was surprised. ‘Yes.’

  ‘The owner of the nursing home remembered you. He said you told him you were a politician in East Berlin.’

  ‘Yes, I was a functionaire in the Politburo.’

  ‘And after the Wall came down?’ Glockner asked.

  ‘I stayed in politics and became the Mayor of Zossen in 1990.’

  ‘What happened to your brother’s niece?’

  Bernd recalled sadly. ‘Susanne died not long after leaving the nursing home.’

  ‘How did she die?’

  ‘In an accident. She fell from a height, hit her head and broke her neck.’

  Kruger probed without sensitivity. ‘What was she doing? Climbing trees?’

  Bernd knew he had to be careful with his answers so as not to compromise himself or his brother and in particular, Felix and his crimes.

  ‘I don’t know, I wasn’t there. It’s a long time ago and we’ve never spoken about it again because it’s still too painful,’ he told them.

  ‘Susanne was at Torgau youth prison in East Germany. Is that correct?’ Kruger asked.

  Bernd nodded.

  ‘For the benefit of the tape please answer simply, yes or no,’ Glockner instructed.

  ‘Yes, Susanne was sent to Torgau but she didn’t do anything wrong. It was simply because she was an orphan.’

  ‘But she had Onkels!’ Kruger said, trying to provoke Bernd into reacting. ‘And when you collected your niece, she had a child, a boy called Axel.’

  Bernd ignored Kruger’s provocation. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did that make you feel angry? Your brother’s niece, a mother at 14?’

  Bernd nodded. ‘Angry and sad. Klaus’s wife, Ingrid, fell out with her sister, Susanne’s mother, who subsequently died but we didn’t know that, or that Susi and Felix had ended up in Torgau.’

  ‘Where’s Axel?’

  ‘Axel? Klaus and Ingrid adopted him,’ Bernd stated plainly.

  Kruger nodded and changed the direction of his questions. ‘What’s your shoe size?’

 
Bernd looked puzzled. ‘Eleven. Why?’

  Kruger held out his hand. ‘Herr Burgermeister, may I see your shoe?’

  Bernd handed over one of his shoes.

  ‘Size 11.’ Kruger repeated aloud. ‘For the benefit of the tape, it’s confirmed that Bernd Felker’s shoe is size 11.’

  Glockner’s mobile phone on the table vibrated. It was Hanne, texting a question. Glockner read her text and turned to the Mayor. ‘You’ve been careful not to mention Susanne’s twin, her brother Felix. Why’s that?’

  Bernd felt under pressure and sweat began to trickle down the back of his neck. ‘Felix… We don’t like being reminded that as a family we failed those kids.’ Bernd hoped he’d given a satisfactory answer.

  ‘No more questions for the moment,’ Kruger informed him.

  Glockner switched off the tape and left the room with Kruger. Bernd was escorted out by a police officer.

  Kruger was interested to hear Hanne’s take on the Mayor’s interview.

  ‘You wouldn’t wear an aqua shoe two sizes too small: one size smaller maybe, to but not two, the shoe wouldn’t fit,’ Hanne told them.

  ‘Maybe the aqua shoe is a red herring and just happened to be in Plaumann’s car. Has anyone ever considered this?’ Glockner asked.

  Kruger agreed with both of his colleagues’ observations. ‘Whatever the truth is about the fucking aqua shoe, the Mayor’s a smooth operator. Let’s get Onkel Klaus in.’

  Klaus was not a smooth operator but was adept at hiding the truth to protect his family, even though he was nervous and less composed than his brother and rather overwhelmed by his surroundings.

  In the interview room, Glockner switched on the tape. Kruger stared at Klaus; it was his usual gruff look, which strangers often interpreted as intimidating, but Kruger was just being himself.

  Glockner spoke into the microphone. ‘Time, 1.23 p.m., 3rdMay 2005. Interviewing officers, Kruger and Glockner. Klaus Felker has agreed to be questioned without a lawyer present.’

  Hanne watched from the other side of the mirror. She felt some empathy for Klaus and had been happy to hear that Susanne Waltz’s son had been adopted. Axel was not a weggesperrt child, she thought, he wasn’t forgotten like the kids in Torgau. Ingrid had become his mother.

  Kruger began with a different approach. ‘Herr Felker, are you close to your brother?’

  ‘Yes, we’re a close family.’

  ‘And close families protect one another,’ Kruger suggested.

  ‘If necessary, yes,’ Klaus replied.

  ‘Did you take your brother in his official capacity as functionaire to get your niece Susanne Waltz out of a Torgau in the winter of 1989?’

  Klaus nodded. ‘I did, but it was in the process of closing down. Susanne had been sent to a nursing home in Dresden where she gave birth to Axel, her son.’

  Kruger was challenging in tone. ‘And you and your wife adopted Axel. Was that before or after your niece’s early demise?’

  Klaus felt his blood boil at the insensitive question but bit his lip. ‘Susanne was allowed to keep Axel, if that’s what you mean. Unlike the other pregnant girls that gave birth at the nursing home, he was a direct result of the systemised abuse that went on at Torgau.’

  Hanne listened intently. Klaus was standing his ground with Kruger.

  ‘But when she died, you adopted Axel?’

  Klaus nodded. ‘Yes. My wife and I never had children. We were approaching 40, a bit late for first-time parenting some might say, but there was no way Axel was going to be given away. He was all we had left of Susanne.’

  Klaus had taken the exact sentiments out of Hanne’s mind and mouth.

  ‘How did Susanne die?’ Glockner asked.

  Klaus felt the police already knew the answer to this question and were trying to catch him lying. Also, he didn’t have a clue how Bernd had answered this question, but knew if his brother didn’t know what to say, he’d usually be evasive or say he didn’t know.

  ‘She was suffering from post natal depression, only no one knew at the time,’ Klaus began. ‘It was snowing, Susanne climbed a tree and lost her footing, slipped and fell, and broke her neck.’

  Hanne texted Glockner.

  Klaus heard Glockner’s phone vibrate and saw the policeman glance towards the blackened mirror behind him. He guessed there was someone watching in another room.

  Glockner read the text and asked. ‘Was Dr Jens the doctor who helped you?’

  Klaus was surprised by this. The police had done their research. ‘Yes, Dr Jens was Susanne’s doctor in Torgau and he helped get her into the nursing home. Ingrid, my wife, rang Dr Jens when Susanne fell and he came straight away.’

  ‘How did you know his telephone number?’

  Klaus bluffed his way along. ‘Susanne told us about how kind he was and Dr Jens had given her his number if ever she should need him.’

  ‘I see,’ Kruger said. ‘What’s the doctor’s surname?’

  ‘No idea,’ Klaus lied.

  ‘Convenient,’ Kruger mused. ‘And the signature on Susanne’s death certificate is, illegible. Your niece’s death was recorded in Kopenick.’

  ‘Dr Jens said he’d take care of it and he lived in this area. I believe he posted us a copy of her death certificate,’ Klaus replied.

  ‘Are you still in contact with Dr Jens?’

  ‘No. It would only remind us of that tragic event,’ Klaus said, lying again.

  ‘Axel must be around 15 now. Does he know the truth about his mother?’

  Klaus nodded. ‘He’s known he was adopted since he was old enough to understand.’

  Kruger could see Klaus was guarded. The silence in the room was broken by Glockner’s mobile vibrating again. He tried to hide a smile reading Hanne’s text. This question would probe deeper.

  ‘And the house Susanne was to inherit from your wife’s mother,’ Glockner began. ‘Do you live in this house, with your wife and son?’

  Klaus was taken aback but tried not to show it, thinking about whether they knew there was a link to the lake and the boatyard.

  ‘Yes, we’ve kept it but it will belong to Axel someday.’

  ‘Where is this house?’ Glockner asked.

  ‘At Motzen, near our golf club,’ Klaus said, trying not to sound perturbed.

  Glockner continued probing. ‘And what do you do for a living?’

  ‘I’m a carpenter by trade. After the Wall came down, Bernd and I invested our savings and bought the Motzen Mayor Golf club. It’s a family business – even Axel works for us at weekends on the driving range, collecting golf balls.’

  This rang a bell in Glockner’s head. ‘Do you remember a security guard working for you in September 1992, a man called Horst Gwisdek?’

  Klaus could have kicked himself. He’d told them about the golf club to divert attention away from the Felix, the boathouse and the lake. ‘I’ve already told the police clerk who rang me at the club. Do you know how many security guards we’ve employed over the years? No, I don’t recall him,’ he said, hoping his answer was convincing enough.

  Hanne texted Glockner another question.

  ‘Herr Felker, like your brother, you’ve said nothing about your nephew, Felix Waltz. I find this a bit strange,’ Glockner told him.

  Klaus was prepared for this question. ‘My wife has lived all her life with the guilt of falling out with her sister Sofie but she died before they were reconciled. To discover our twins ended up abused at Torgau was heartbreaking. Felix jumped into the River Elbe trying to escape. Those bastards at Torgau didn’t even bother recording his death. To them, our Felix was just a forgotten kid. No, we don’t talk about Felix, it’s too painful, it reminds us how we failed him.’

  Kruger butted in. ‘Like you said, you protect your family. How do you feel about the people that abused your niece and your nephew?’

  ‘I hate them. Wouldn’t you?’ Klaus replied honestly.

  ‘I guess I would,’ Kruger replied. ‘What if I told you Horst Gwisde
k was a paedophile and a Torgau warden who abused Susanne and Felix?’

  This was the opportunity for Klaus to release the tension he was feeling without raising suspicion. ‘Scheisse ! And I had him within my grasp. Good job that bastard ended up dead in some lake or I’d have given him a taste of his own medicine!’ he shouted.

  ‘You’ve a temper on you, Herr Felker!’ Kruger observed.

  ‘Giving you and your brother a motive,’ Glockner added.

  ‘What shoe size are you?’ Kruger asked, going off at a tangent.

  Klaus thought this was an odd question. ‘Size 11.’

  ‘Same size as your brother,’ Kruger said, under his breath. ‘A size 11 shoe was found at the scene of the crime,’ he lied, to see how Klaus responded.

  Klaus banged his fists on the table. ‘And you think Bernd and I have something to do with it? Don’t waste my time! Find the real culprits,’ he barked.

  Rutger came into the room where Hanne was watching Klaus being interviewed.

  ‘Hanne, I’ve done the fingerprint checks on the Herbertz knife. The Mayor and his brother are in the clear as far as the knife is concerned,’ Rutger told her.

  Hanne seemed pleased. ‘Thanks. Kruger will be disappointed. Look at this, Klaus Felker is giving Kruger a run for his money.’

  Rutger smiled. ‘That’s a first. Who’s going to tell him, you or me?’

  ‘You go in and put them all out of their misery. Wolfgang told us about the twins and that is Klaus Felker’s unfortunate connection to Torgau,’ Hanne said.

  Rutger left Hanne and quietly entered the interview room, handing over his findings, and creeping out of the room. Kruger scanned Rutger’s notes. ‘Interview terminated,’ he barked, storming out.

  Klaus wondered what evidence Kruger had received but breathed a sigh of relief, feeling he’d performed well and matched the abrasive Kruger. Hanne continued watching through the mirror and saw Klaus visibly relax. She smiled, thinking that thanks to Onkel Klaus, Susanne Waltz’s little boy had hopefully had a happy childhood.

  Chapter Forty-three: Serendipity