“Good.” Hannes took in what he had just heard. “What did you—”
“Wait, one more thing: these calls began around the time Ms. Ternheim started to change. As I said before, she was a little rattled after that. But lately she sometimes seemed even . . . Maybe I’m interpreting this all wrong. But she seemed downright scared. She sometimes had this look of terror in her eyes. Especially after she had spoken to this man. But maybe I’m imagining it.”
Hannes took her observations seriously. “You mentioned something professional as well. What might have upset her at work?”
“Well, it’s only indirectly professional. But it has something to do with Lagussa.”
“Were there any issues with customers or business partners?”
“No, not at all. I mean, there are always issues, but nothing out of the ordinary. On the contrary, it was pretty calm. It’s not about the company today, but about its past.”
“I don’t understand,” he said, but he already had an inkling.
“Lagussa is a very old company. However, it’s been incorporated under several names. There was a drug scandal sometime in the mid-nineties, long before I joined the company. It was around that time the company changed its name to Lagussa. That’s not unusual after a scandal.”
“What kind of scandal?”
“I don’t know the details. Apparently there was a drug which had serious and unexpected side effects. There were even some deaths. Ultimately, it was settled out of court and the victims were compensated. The story still remains taboo at the company. Back then, it probably made the headlines, so it should be easy to find out more.”
It was clear Anna did not want to go into further detail about this. “And you think this story might have something to do with Ms. Ternheim’s behavior?”
“No, that was all settled. There was no trial, because everyone involved had to waive the right to sue in order to accept payment. Since the compensation turned out to be very generous, everyone accepted. What I’m talking about is even further in the past.”
“And what’s that?”
“I don’t know exactly. I’ve never heard anyone talk about it. It must be a well-kept secret. Some sort of shocking story from the time of the Third Reich.”
Hannes remembered his conversation with Ben. “What makes you say that?”
“As Ms. Ternheim’s assistant, I’ve always had to go into her office, sometimes even when she wasn’t there. For example, when she called from a meeting and demanded some numbers or other information, I would have to search her desk.”
“Aha! And that’s when you saw something that wasn’t meant for your eyes?”
Anna nodded. “I knocked over a bag under her desk a few weeks ago. I was going to put everything back until I noticed the contents.”
She took a break from telling her story when the bartender came over with more cocktails. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she kept folding and unfolding a napkin. After the bartender left, Anna took a deep breath and continued. She lowered her voice so Hannes could barely hear her and had to lean in, which didn’t bother him.
“There were two books that dealt with the role of industry in the Nazi era, one of them explicitly on pharmaceutical companies. There were also a lot of photocopies, mostly of old documents. A few bore the letterhead ‘North German Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works,’ which at some point or another I had heard was Lagussa’s initial name when it was founded. Afterward, I looked it up in the company history. The information on the early period is pretty brief and monosyllabic, but the company name is there.”
“What kind of documents were they?”
“I didn’t look too closely. I was sweating bullets under that desk. If Ms. Wagner had walked in on me . . . What I saw was handwritten correspondence with official authorities and the Nazi Party, and then lists of employees and purchase orders. And some black-and-white photos.” Anna gulped, and goose bumps ran down her arms. “Some photos seemed harmless. They showed men shaking hands with other men in Nazi uniforms. But there . . . there were also really horrifying photos. Of people who were totally disfigured being presented by doctors. Or emaciated people on an assembly line with the company logo emblazoned on the wall in the background.” She put her head in her hands. “I will never forget those images. And you know what I noticed over and over again? Many of these people had tattoos on their forearms.”
For a while there was silence. Hannes also had to collect himself. His theory seemed to be confirmed. So was that the reason for the tattoo on Ms. Ternheim’s arm? Did the numbers on her forearm represent a connection to a dark chapter in Lagussa’s past? Anna couldn’t have known anything about the tattoo—it hadn’t been mentioned in the press.
“What makes you think it has to do—”
“Well, because she probably didn’t know about these things and only found out by accident. After all, it was members of her family who must have somehow been connected to the Nazis. Lagussa constantly presents itself as a responsible and clean company. Its employees, patients, and business partners don’t know anything about this. I searched the Internet and found nothing.”
“You mean, the shock of this discovery could have unsettled her?”
“Not just the discovery! I had already said that she and her brother saw eye to eye when it came to the company, and that is no exaggeration, even if they were never warm with each other. But their relationship got even frostier toward the end. There were several times when I overheard them fighting.”
“And do you think these fights were about the company’s history?”
“I’m certain of it! Only last week, they shouted so loudly that they could be heard with the door closed. Fortunately, my coworker, Ms. Maler, was away from her desk. She would have immediately started gossiping about that.”
“What could you hear?”
“I can’t repeat it to you verbatim, but she accused him of shutting his eyes to the truth, and that it was their duty to deal with this Nazi shit. He replied with something along the lines of ‘And even if it is true, no one cares about that today! Why do you want to ruin our reputation?’ She replied that he was a self-righteous asshole and that she’d deal with it on her own if he continued to refuse. And . . .”
“And?”
“And then he threatened her. He said, ‘If you feel that’s really what you have to do, I can’t be held responsible for the consequences of your actions. Our family built this company into an empire, and I will not let your bad conscience destroy it!’”
LATE THURSDAY EVENING
For once, Hannes was very pleased with himself. His suspicion that Anna Stahl had important information had been confirmed, and then he had actually managed to extract the information from her. Since he didn’t want to unsettle her or interrupt her train of thought, he had barely written anything on his notepad. But the conversation was burned in his memory.
He now had three new leads. The first was Ms. Wagner, the jealous or at least jilted lover. Although Hannes could not imagine that the older woman was capable of murder, let alone physically able, it was still possible she had hired someone. At the very least, she knew more about Ms. Ternheim’s life than she had initially let on and could further contribute important information—if she was willing.
The second lead was more nebulous, but at least he had a name. First thing tomorrow morning, Hannes would look for Mark von Wittenberg, who had recently met with Ms. Ternheim and had frequently called her.
The third lead clearly pointed to Ms. Ternheim’s brother. As managing director of Lagussa, he felt enormously pressured by his sister and had threatened her. Could her death be one of the consequences of her actions? Was Mr. Ternheim trying to shield his company from potentially irreparable damage, even if it meant sacrificing his own sister?
Hannes would have preferred to drive back to the station to look at the photos of the tattoo on Ms. Ternheim’s arm in greater detail. He felt the numbers had to be an important clue to solving the cas
e. Instead, he looked over at Anna in the passenger seat.
“I’m sure no one’s following us,” he said.
Anna turned toward him, exhausted. “That’s good,” she said, yawning. “Tomorrow will be extremely busy; I can’t wait to get to bed.”
Back at the bar, she had called her friend Tina, who had immediately offered her pull-out couch. All the parking spots were taken on Anna’s street. Hannes decided to double-park the police car, which he still needed to return to the station, and turned on his hazard lights.
“Take your time packing,” he said, “I’ll wait here.”
“You can come up if you want,” she said. “I need some spare clothes for tomorrow because I won’t be able to make it home before the gala. You can help me carry my things.”
Hannes was a bit uneasy about this, but he also didn’t want to come across as ungentlemanly. He followed her into the three-story building. The hallway was well maintained but dimly lit.
“The light’s broken down here,” said Anna. “The super was supposed to call someone a long time ago. Normally it looks much more civilized.”
“I was recently made homeless,” he said and told her about the snake and how he had sought asylum in Ben’s garden cottage.
“And you want to protect me?” Anna said, then giggled, sounding slightly drunk.
“Hopefully it wasn’t a python that stuck the note on your bike,” Hannes joked.
She opened the middle door on the second floor and flipped the light switch. Hannes entered behind her and stood in an open hallway which led to a living room.
“Wait here on the sofa, you can leave your shoes on.” Anna disappeared into the bedroom.
“It’s best if you take enough clothes for two nights,” Hannes called out to her from the other side of her bedroom door. “You shouldn’t come back here alone after the gala. To be on the safe side, you should spend another night at Tina’s. Oh, and please remember not to tell anyone you’re staying there. Don’t even talk about it in the cafeteria.” He was unable to keep his eyes from wandering to the gap in the doorway.
“Sure, of course,” she said from her room.
She stood behind the open closet door, so Hannes couldn’t see her. However, he could not overlook the fact that she had just put on fresh clothes. Her skirt, blouse, socks, and underwear flew onto the bed. Hannes escaped with his tomato-red ears into the living room. He sat down on the white couch and looked around the tastefully decorated room. No signs of a boyfriend.
“What is it?” asked Anna. Hannes looked toward the door. She was now wearing dark-blue jeans and a white top. Her outfit emphasized her slender figure. He realized he was looking at her for too long without saying anything.
“Oh, it’s nothing! I was just thinking about last night and how pathetic I must have seemed.”
“Well, if someone lost his tarantula here, I’d be the first one to leave. It’s more eight-legged creatures that I’m afraid of. Let me quickly pack my bag and then we can go.”
A few minutes later, she entered the living room with a sports bag and a garment bag. Hannes took them from her and threw them over his shoulder.
“Hey, be careful! My dress for tomorrow night’s in there. It can’t get wrinkled.”
Hannes held the garment bag in his outstretched arm. Anna snorted.
“What?” he said. “This way your dress won’t get wrinkled!”
“That’s true, but you look silly.” She grabbed the garment bag from him and pushed him out the front door into the hall.
“You probably don’t iron clothes that often, do you? Otherwise you would have been more careful,” she said.
“I rarely iron my workout clothes. There are no points for presentation in canoeing, fortunately.”
“But if there were, you’d shoot for the stars. Damn it! I forgot my shoes for tomorrow night.” She quickly turned around and hurried back to her apartment.
Hannes stood in the stairwell and listened as she rummaged through her shoe rack.
“Here they are!” she shouted and presented him with black high-heeled shoes.
“But they’re a little scuffed at the toe,” said Hannes. “Do you want to get some polish?”
“No need. I’m done.”
She pulled the door shut and hurried down the stairs, with Hannes chasing her. Suddenly, she stopped and he almost ran into her. He instinctively dropped the bag and grabbed hold of Anna before she fell down the stairs. For a moment, her eyes locked on his muscles.
“That was close,” she said, and Hannes could feel her warm breath on his face. It still smelled faintly of the fruity cocktail.
“Why did you stop so suddenly?” he asked.
“I left the garment bag lying in front of the shoe rack.” She bounded up the stairs again. “Go on down, I’ll be right there!”
Hannes picked up her bag and placed the black shoes on top. When he got to the police car, he opened the trunk and threw the bag and shoes in. When he turned around, a green tricycle was parked behind him and a wide-eyed little boy stared at him.
“Are you a policeman?” he asked with excitement.
“Well, what are you doing out here so late? Yes, I’m a policeman.”
“How come you don’t have a uniform?”
“I only need my uniform when I’m chasing bad guys.”
“Have you caught a lot?”
Hannes laughed and knelt down. “Not yet. You know, there aren’t too many bad guys. Most times people do silly things, but really bad things don’t happen too often.”
“I’ve done silly things before,” the boy said. “Mommy was making pancakes, and I wanted to taste the bowl. Then it fell on my head, and we had to eat sandwiches.”
A loud laugh came from beside Hannes. “Finn, what are you doing outside? It’s getting dark.”
“Nah, it’s not dark yet at all,” said the boy.
“Right,” Hannes said and grinned. “You’ve still got five minutes. Besides, you’re a big boy!”
“Exactly!” Finn said. “And you know what? When I get bigger, I want to be a policeman too! But I’m always going to wear a uniform, because I’m going to catch a lot of bad guys.”
Anna ruffled his light-blond hair. “I think so too. You’ll definitely catch a lot of bad guys.”
“How come you have one blue eye and one green eye?” Finn asked Hannes.
“You know, my mother has really great green eyes and my father really nice blue ones. I couldn’t decide which color, so I have a green right eye and a blue left eye.”
“Makes sense,” Finn said. “Then no one has to be sad, because Daddy always says that I have his eyes, and then Mommy looks sad.”
“Finn! Finn, where are you?” came a voice from across the street.
“He’s here, Sandra!” Anna shouted. “I’ll bring him over!” She handed Hannes the garment bag. “I won’t take long. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” Hannes said and made a show of carefully laying the garment bag on top of the sports bag. “I wouldn’t want him to run into some bad guy on his way home.” He leaned forward and whirled an excited Finn into the air.
“Finn?” came the voice from across the street, this time clearly worried.
“Don’t worry,” Anna said, laughing. “Finn’s having a blast!”
Hannes put the little guy back on his tricycle. “Okay, safe journey home. And remember, always pay attention to the traffic rules! Otherwise, I’ll have to write you a speeding ticket.”
Finn giggled and rode off. “I always—I mean, almost always—drive very carefully. Bye-bye!” He turned his tricycle around and waved with both hands while pedaling. He almost crashed head-on into the police car, but Anna stopped him at the last second.
Anna returned a few minutes later. “So, is that true?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Your eyes. Can you actually inherit one color from each parent?”
Hannes laughed. “No, I just made that up for him. It’
s a pigment disorder called heterochromia iridis. There’s only pigment in one eye. It’s rarer in people than dogs, for example. As you can imagine, it wasn’t always easy going to school with different-colored eyes. My nickname was ‘Alien.’ I hated my eyes back then.”
“I hope you don’t hate them now,” Anna said. “After all, they suit you. They give you an air of mystery.”
Hannes searched for a more innocuous topic. “I hope your neighbor didn’t want to know why a police car was waiting for you?” he asked.
“Of course she wanted to know! But don’t worry, I didn’t tell her the truth.”
“So what did you tell her?”
“That you’re my new boyfriend! I had to tell her something. And that’s the most harmless explanation. Now she’s even more curious. And as for Finn, I’m his favorite neighbor.” She climbed into the passenger seat. “Once you catch this bad guy who stuck the note on my bike, I’ll tell her we broke up because I can’t cope with your dangerous lifestyle.”
On the way to Tina’s, Anna talked about her yearlong trip backpacking around the world. Hannes was fascinated, because he had always dreamed of doing the same. He had always put it off, however, for the sake of canoeing, which probably also served as a convenient excuse for him to avoid traveling by himself through foreign countries.
“I don’t mean to pry, but how did you afford it? You don’t make a ton of money when you’re a trainee, right?” he asked, amazed at the variety of countries and attractions she had visited.
“My parents didn’t give me a single cent. I’d work, and as soon as I made enough money, I’d travel somewhere else. There are various agencies that specialize in work and travel. Of course, not all the jobs were great. Once, I worked on a garlic farm in Australia. I reeked of garlic for days, even long after I’d quit. I then flew to Vietnam and was afraid I’d be kicked off the plane because of the smell.”
Hannes enjoyed listening to her travel stories. His own life suddenly seemed small and unexciting. Obviously he had underestimated Anna when they’d first met at the office. And she probably overestimated me, he thought.
Time Heals No Wounds (A Baltic Sea Crime Novel) Page 18
