Hidden Depths

by Ally Rose

‘No, he said he got it from a science lab,’ replied Kruger. ‘But we had some good news first thing this morning. Rutger called and said he’d found traces of blood in Witzig’s cellar. He must have taken other girls there, so we’re checking the house and the garden for buried bones.’

  ‘How did Witzig escape being caught in the paedo ring of 1992?’ Hanne asked.

  ‘There was a Bruno Witzig on the list, at a flat in the centre of Potsdam,’ said Kruger. ‘When we did a dawn raid the flat had been abandoned. Witzig was never caught because it was Bruno Lankwitz we should have been looking for.’ Kruger sounded bitter and regretful.

  ‘Oskar, it’s not your fault that some paedophiles got away,’ Hanne told him. ‘The police were chasing a nickname.’

  The irony of this statement was not lost on the three of them.

  ‘Audrey had a lucky escape,’ Kruger said.

  ‘I know,’ Hanne replied. ‘Actually, Audrey wants to tell you something herself.’

  Audrey had told Hanne everything about her brief but traumatic ordeal. The details of her kidnapping would provide vital information that would help convict Bruno ‘Witzig’ Lankwitz.

  ‘This foot that I found under the bed in the cellar,’ Audrey began. ‘Herr Lankwitz told me he was proud of it. I think he kept it as some sort of trophy and to remind others not to mess with him.’

  ‘Did he tell you why he had this foot in his possession?’ Kruger asked.

  Audrey nodded. ‘He said, and I quote exactly: “One crazy, blue-eyed, orphaned wonderkid from Torgau turned up in Caputh, a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, having already killed and disposed of roughly half a dozen of his former Torgau colleagues”.’

  ‘Then this Torgau kid ran out of luck at Caputh,’ said Glockner.

  ‘The Torgau boy was called David and he had size 9 feet. Lankwitz said he’d “stepped on his toes”,’ Audrey told them.

  Kruger scratched his chin. ‘Did you believe him or did you think it was Lankwitz boasting of his deeds to scare you?’

  ‘I was scared, but yes, I believed it. Lankwitz said the rest of David was in the lake behind the house.’

  ‘If this David’s in the lake, police scuba divers will find him,’ Glockner stated.

  ‘Thank you, Audrey. Your evidence will help put Lankwitz away.’

  ‘I’ve had a lucky escape, thanks to the GPS tracker on my watch. I’ve never been so glad Mutti was able to spy on me!’ Audrey said, kissing her mother and leaving the room.

  ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Kruger asked Hanne and Glockner.

  Hanne thought she steer the conversation in a certain direction. ‘I’m thinking that this David could be our Marine Boy.’

  Kruger nodded. ‘Maybe we can match the DNA from the foot with the fingerprints on the Herbertz knife found at Lotte’s Holler’s crime scene.’

  ‘With respect, Oskar, the knife found at Lotte’s crime scene could be a red herring,’ said Hanne. ‘Maybe someone dropped it or left it there after being out on the lake.’

  ‘It’s possible,’ Glockner mused. ‘But the shoe fits. David’s size 9 foot is the same size as the aqua shoe found in Plaumann’s car.’

  Hanne agreed. ‘David planned to run Witzig into the lake at Caputh. That widens our search area beyond the Spreewald if David is, or was, Marine Boy.’

  Kruger’s eyes held a satisfied glint. ‘I’d like to believe this Torgau David got rid of even more paedos than the three Musketeers, to make up for those I didn’t catch, back in 1992. Even one more sick bastard would make this scheisse more palatable. Hanne, I’d hate to profit from Audrey’s misfortune or at her expense but if we solve the Lotte Holler case this way it’ll be fucking amazing!’

  ‘Hanne, you need to get a written statement from Audrey and that Jens fellow from Caputh,’ added Stefan.

  Hanne nodded.

  ‘Who is this Jens?’ Kruger asked. ‘All I’ve heard is that he came out of nowhere and was the hero of the day.’

  ‘He volunteered to help me,’ Hanne began. ‘When I arrived at Caputh lake he was passing by. He saw what a state I was in and when I told him why I was outside Witzig’s home he said he practised boxing and could take care of himself, and that he would help me out until the police arrived.’

  ‘Why didn’t you wait for the police to arrive?’ Kruger asked. ‘That would have been the more prudent thing to do.’

  Hanne was adamant. ‘I couldn’t leave Audrey alone with Witzig another minute.’

  ‘I understand,’ said Kruger softly.

  ‘Jens is a hero, he saved my daughter’s life,’ Hanne began. ‘And the irony of heroism is that it’s at its noblest when it’s anonymous.’

  ‘I guess this means we’ve been looking for a phantom, if Marine Boy is already dead,’ Glockner surmised.

  ‘So, do you really think this David is Marine Boy?’ Kruger asked Hanne.

  Hanne fudged the truth with her answer. ‘This David would fit the profile of Marine Boy… and the truth is often stranger than fiction,’ she replied.

  Chapter Forty-nine: Mother and Daughter

  HANNE AND AUDREY SPENT the week following the abduction together at home. They received free counselling and a female psychologist came daily to help them come to terms with the trauma. They agreed not to constantly discuss what had occurred outside of their therapy session in an attempt to return to normality sooner rather than later.

  Their family rallied around them, visiting and bringing them food. It was a week of international eating – Rafael brought South American cuisine and treats from the restaurant whilst Traudl cooked traditional German food. Hanne told her mother, Traudl, how grateful she was that her present of a GPS watch had helped save Audrey’s life. A truce was declared between Hanne and Traudl, which made a nice change. For, Audrey, this was the best outcome of her trauma.

  Brigitte visited Hanne and Audrey intermittently, understanding that mother and daughter needed precious time to recover from their ordeal. She was sensitive enough not to interfere in this process. Hanne began to feel a renewed sense of happiness. She had her family, her girlfriend, a job that she loved and her daughter, healthy, safe and on the road to recovery.

  On the following Sunday after a week of visitors, mother and daughter nestled together on the sofa watching television.

  ‘When I go back to school tomorrow, I want to go on my own,’ Audrey announced.

  Hanne looked concerned. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Mutti, it’s been great, I’ve had a week off school. The best bit has been you and Oma getting on, but I can’t take any more family lovey-dovey time or it’ll get claustrophobic.’

  Hanne laughed. ‘OK, little Miss Grown-up, I know you’re right.’

  ‘And I’ll text you, but if you don’t hear from me, don’t worry. You can always track me on my GPS watch.’

  ‘Audrey! Don’t joke about it.’

  ‘Mutti, there’s something that’s been puzzling me. Who was that man, Jens, who helped rescue me? You haven’t wanted to say and I don’t think you even wanted to tell Stefan and Oskar and it’s not like you to be evasive. You can trust me. Who is he?’

  Audrey didn’t normally ask too much about Hanne’s police work but this time it was different. Her daughter had been abducted and was the victim of a crime and had given evidence against the perpetrator. Hanne felt it was important to help Audrey heal, and besides, she knew her daughter wouldn’t stop until she had unearthed the truth. Hanne weighed up her options: lying to her daughter, breaking police protocols or unburdening her own thoughts, but decided the truth was the only answer.

  Hanne smiled. ‘You and your observations. You’d make a good detective. Audrey, if I tell you, it must be kept a secret?’

  Audrey nodded. ‘Cross my heart and hope to die,’ she promised.

  ‘Don’t say that,’ Hanne told her and took Audrey’s hand and led her into the kitchen to view Felix’s photo.

  ‘It’s him, the man who rescued you at Caputh. Tha
t’s him as a boy.’

  ‘No! That’s Jens, that’s incredible,’ Audrey exclaimed.

  Hanne nodded. ‘His real name is Felix. I didn’t believe in coincidences but now I’m not so sure.’

  ‘Mutti, why does it have to be a secret?’

  Hanne couldn’t bring herself to tell the entire truth. ‘Because Felix was a Torgau boy. He’s done things and the police are after him.’

  ‘What sort of things?’

  ‘He went after the paedophiles who abused him,’ Hanne told her.

  Audrey was shocked. ‘Mutti, you wanted to kill Witzig, so now you really know how that feels.’

  ‘Yes. But it doesn’t make it right. Felix is a criminal,’ Hanne replied.

  Audrey frowned. ‘But Felix is a hero, he saved my life.’

  ‘I know. And there’s my predicament,’ Hanne confessed.

  ‘Mutti, how did Jens – I mean Felix – come to be there?’

  ‘I found Felix at his home near Zossen. I was looking for evidence about Marine Boy – you know I told you that was the name we gave the prime suspect in Lotte Holler’s case. Felix didn’t run away. He was quite calm, gentle even and willingly confessed. He was ready to give himself up and come with me to Berlin but when I found out you’d been kidnapped, all hell broke loose. Felix said he’d get you out of Witzig’s alive, and he kept his promise. I gave him a week of freedom with his family for risking his life to save you. Tomorrow Felix is coming to Berlin, to give himself up,’ Hanne announced.

  Audrey understood her mother’s predicament. ‘So that’s why you’ve lied to Oskar and Stefan. To help Felix.’

  ‘Maybe I’m not fit to work with the police any more.’

  ‘Mutti, you’re good at what you do. For what it’s worth, I’d want to help Felix too, whatever the risks.

  Hanne tossed and turned that night, going over the moral dilemma about Marine Boy, or Felix, as she now privately thought of him. She finally fell asleep in the early hours of Monday morning having made a decision she knew would bring her lasting peace.

  Chapter Fifty: The Berlin Memorial

  AUDREY CYCLED TO SCHOOL without a care in the world. Hanne felt glad her daughter was so resilient and could recover so quickly from such a trauma. It could have turned out so very differently if Audrey had been violated or if Felix hadn’t been there. How would the kids from Torgau have turned out if abuse and violence had not been so prevalent in their lives? Hanne thought about this all morning as she prepared herself for her meeting with Felix. Some Torgau survivors simply never came out of the darkness physically or mentally whilst others, probably in the minority, managed to find something resembling a normal life.

  The Mahnmal-Das Denkmal is the German National Memorial to the six million murdered Jews of Europe murdered by the Nazis, and the Holocaust victims in the concentration camps. In May 2005, 60 years after the end of World War II, it had just been completed in Berlin. At a cost of 25 million euros, it consisted of a 4.7 acre site covered with concrete slabs or, as the locals called them, ‘stelae’. It was located on the former ‘death strip’ where once the Wall stood, a short walk from the Brandenburg Gate. The 2,711 dark grey, rectangular stelae were arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field varying in height and size, like tombstones.

  Felix arrived before midday at Potsdamer Platz and stopped in an Irish bar for a glass of Guinness, his last drink as a free man, before walking the short distance to the Denkmal. He strolled through the field of stelae alongside the mass of tourists and had time to sit in the sunshine and contemplate his life in this symbolic place. A few hours earlier in Motzen, warm embraces but few words had been exchanged as he said goodbye to his family at the train station. The image of Martha, his tearful, pregnant wife holding Peonie in her arms on the platform, lingered in his mind as the train pulled away. Klaus, Ingrid and Axel were also there, bravely waving him off. The next time he would see them all would be from a prison cell.

  Within the hour, the scenery from the train window had changed from rolling countryside to the urban sprawl of Berlin. Felix was a wealthy man but now all he carried with him in his rucksack was a change of clothes, some toiletries, photos of his family, sandwiches, fruit and a bottle of water.

  Hanne arrived on her bicycle and found him sitting at the edge of the field of stelae nearest to the Brandenburg Gate. ‘You came,’ she said.

  ‘I always try to keep a promise. Besides, I wouldn’t want you turning up again at the lake. How’s Audrey?’

  Hanne smiled warmly. ‘She’s recovering well, thankfully – she’s so resilient. Felix, it’s thanks to you, you rescued her before any further damage was done. I really owe you big time and I mean that. How’s your arm?’

  ‘Fine. I had the sling off the following day. This is an amazing place,’ Felix said, trying to be enthusiastic but failing.

  ‘Yes. There’s an underground information museum here with all the known names of the Jewish Holocaust victims,’ Hanne told him. ‘Did you see it?’

  ‘Another time, maybe. I read in the papers this memorial has caused controversy within the German Jewish community, that it was unnecessary,’ Felix began. ‘How can anyone think a place like this is unnecessary? We must never forget the victims.’

  ‘You were a victim at Torgau. It shaped your life and your destiny.’

  ‘It’s hardly the same. I turned my abusers into victims,’ Felix admitted.

  ‘You took revenge, yes. When I was faced with Audrey’s teacher, Witzig, I wanted to take revenge too,’ Hanne confessed.

  ‘The difference was, you didn’t go through with it but I did. That stopped me being a victim and turned me into something else,’ Felix said honestly.

  ‘And if you spend the next 15, 20 years in jail, justice would be served but you’d miss out on seeing your daughter and your new baby growing up. Wouldn’t that be a crime? I’m sure your time at Torgau was enough of a life sentence,’ Hanne told him.

  Felix was confused. ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘I’m saying, by the craziest twists of fate, there was a Torgau boy – a bit like you, out for revenge – called David. He turned up at Caputh around the same time you were disposing of the Musketeers. Do you remember a kid called David at Torgau?’

  Felix shook his head. ‘Not really. There were so many coming and going.’

  ‘Well, this David said he’d killed a few Torgau paedophiles and he wanted to add Witzig to his list, only Witzig got the better of him.’

  Felix found this unbelievable. ‘No! You mean, I wasn’t the only Torgau vigilante,’ he said gleefully.

  ‘You’ve a doppelganger ,’ Hanne said with a smile. ‘With a profile to match yours, and even size 9 feet. Witzig kept one as a trophy when he killed poor David. His remains are supposedly in the lake at Caputh.’

  ‘Is your police team thinking this David could be Marine Boy?’

  Hanne nodded. ‘I want them to believe it. It seems by rescuing Audrey, Witzig has provided you with, shall we say, a window of opportunity and hope of a possible way out.’

  ‘If the police discovered I survived Torgau and my family hid me to protect me, that’s not a crime,’ Felix said. ‘But how would I explain the fingerprints on my knife at Lotte Holler’s crime scene?’

  Hanne sighed. ‘Then all the lies come tumbling down. Let’s hope it never comes to that, because your fingerprints still aren’t on record anywhere. Felix, I can’t promise the police won’t ever turn up on your doorstep but the Jens that saved Audrey’s life – you – will forever remain anonymous as far as I’m concerned.’

  ‘Thank you. I’ll take that little ray of hope and I’m used to living with uncertainty. Are you sure you want to do this?’ Felix asked.

  Hanne nodded. ‘I’ll lie and say I believed David was Marine Boy. If someday my deception ever comes to light, please deny all knowledge of my ever having found you at Motzen. We’d have to convince others it was just some freaky coincidence that it was you who rescued Audrey and that would
possibly give some credence to why the hero of Caputh disappeared.’

  Felix was concerned. ‘You’re compromising your integrity for me? Why?’

  ‘It may be politically incorrect, but I think I agree with the majority of people who don’t really care what happens to paedophiles. Well, maybe their mothers find it hard to stop caring about them. The Musketeers got what they deserved,’ Hanne said bluntly.

  ‘And Lotte Holler?’ Felix asked.

  ‘At Nuremburg, complicity was a crime,’ Hanne stated. ‘Besides, the Musketeers and Lotte Holler are dead and I say let sleeping dogs lie. Your actions and your anonymous list helped catch paedophiles. That’s invaluable.’

  ‘You’d better be good at keeping secrets,’ Felix told her.

  ‘Everyone has secrets, everyone lies,’ Hanne said with a wry smile.

  ‘I’ve been keeping secrets all my life and they’ve a habit of coming back to haunt me,’ Felix said. He was on tenterhooks, praying she really meant it.

  ‘Some things should be left unsaid. This will be our secret,’ Hanne promised.

  ‘I can never thank you enough,’ Felix told her.

  ‘We are both in one another’s debt. I got my daughter back and you get your freedom. The slate is wiped clean,’ Hanne said. ‘Felix, go back to your family and your life.’

  ‘They know the truth about me,’ Felix confessed. ‘They’ve known for a while. To outsiders I’m a murderer but to them I’m just Felix.’

  Hanne smiled. ‘Unconditional love. That’s rare.’

  At the edge of the field of stelae, Hanne and Felix faced one another. The warmth between them was a mixture of compassion, gratitude and forgiveness that would forever connect them.

  Felix took a banana out of his rucksack. ‘Hanne. We’ll never forget each other but here’s something to remember me by.’

  Touched by his gesture, Hanne took the banana and put it in her bag. They shook hands as they had done when they met in the crowd at the Brandenburg Gate more than 15 years ago. This time Felix did not run off into the crowds. Instead he hugged Hanne warmly and strolled away.