Grantville Gazette 37 gg-37

by Коллектив Авторов

  Grantville Gazette 37

  ( Grantville gazette - 37 )

  Коллектив Авторов

  Paula Goodlett

  Grantville Gazette 37

  Blood in Erfurt

  Bjorn Hasseler

  Astrid Schaubin was standing guard duty outside the University of Erfurt, out front with Neustatter. Freedom of religion is a good thing, she mused. But guaranteeing it is a little more exciting than civics class suggested it ought to be.

  "More students," Neustatter identified the two young men approaching.

  "An honor to meet you, Fraulein. I am Matthias von Spitzer. And this is my fellow student, Friedrich von Alvensleben."

  "Miss Astrid Schaubin of Neustatter's European Security Services."

  They stumbled over the name of the firm. Astrid explained. Von Spitzer and von Alvensleben followed up.

  "Why is your company guarding the university?"

  "We're guarding the Bibelgesellschaft," Astrid explained. "Erfurt is a little tense right now."

  Von Spitzer nodded. "The townspeople were celebrating the Congress of Copenhagen's recognition that both the city and the hinterland are formally independent of the archbishop of Mainz. The city has been a Stadt since early '32, of course, but it's nice that the captain-general made it official." He laughed harshly. "But there are unanticipated consequences."

  "Oh?" Astrid asked, even though she already knew what they were.

  "The Catholics quickly realized that freedom of religion means no religious tests for public office. They lost no time nominating the archbishop's former bailiff for the city council. A lot of the townspeople aren't at all happy about that."

  "What do you think about it?" Astrid asked.

  "I think if we all get behind one experienced candidate, we could elect a good Lutheran. But the Committee of Correspondence insisted on running their own."

  "Who did you find who is willing to take on that challenge?" Astrid asked. She tried to project a very concerned tone.

  Von Alvensleben spoke up. "Actually, Matthias's uncle is willing to run."

  "Really? That's very civic-minded of him." Astrid was sure there a large dose of self-interest there, too, but she didn't see any reason to bring it up.

  "He's going to make sure that the Catholics don't take over again," von Alvensleben began.

  Before he could say more, von Spitzer cut in. "There's been some pushing and shoving, of course, but nothing we can't handle. Say, this Bibelgesellschaft, you'll be backing von Alvensleben, of course?"

  "None of them are from Erfurt," Astrid answered. "Neither are any of us from Neustatter's European Security Services."

  "Excuse me, gentlemen," she requested several questions later. "I need to get back to work."

  "Yes, she does."

  Von Spitzer turned and appeared to notice Neustatter for the first time. "Who are you?"

  "I'm Neustatter."

  "Thank you," Astrid told Neustatter once the two students were out of earshot.

  Neustatter nodded once. "What did you learn about them?"

  "Niederadel. Probably in the arts curriculum. Not serious political players in Thuringia. Just here in Erfurt."

  "Explain," Neustatter directed.

  "If they were Hochadel, we would have recognized their names. The theology students are mostly inside with the Bibelgesellschaft. Law students probably would have asked at least one question about security consultants, and they would have asked you. And law students probably wouldn't have made so many assumptions about the uncle's chances in the election. So they were probably arts. And they didn't ask anything about Grantville or Thuringian politics. Their world revolves around their town."

  Neustatter nodded again. "Remember that your conclusions are only likely, not certain, and didn't rule out medical students. But I agree with you. Anything else?"

  "I think you had a good idea convincing the BGS to send Dr. Gerhard instead of Father Kircher or Brother Green."

  "I've heard about those scuffles von Spitzer mentioned. They sound more serious to me than he seems to think. Having Kircher around in clerical robes would just set Lutherans off. And Green would get in an argument."

  Without pointing, he said, "There's Phillip across the street. Let's check the guards, Miss Schaubin." Neustatter stretched, which Astrid knew was a signal to Phillip to stick around for a few minutes.

  They left Phillip out loitering out front and generally blending in with the rest of Erfurt. He was one of Neustatter's new hires. Neustatter had assigned the other two to Ditmar and Hjalmar's teams and taken one of each of their regulars.

  Karl Recker was supposed to be watching one of the building's other entrances, and that's exactly what he was doing. Karl carried a US Waffenfabrik flintlock rifle, and it was at order arms-butt on the ground, right hand grasping the barrel just below the muzzle. Recker's right arm was fully extended, holding the barrel at an angle pointed away from himself, and his left fist was on his hip. Most of the time, NESS was not into spit and polish, but Neustatter made an exception for standing static guard duty. Recker's stance was flashy but not impractical. His rifle could be at port arms diagonally in front of him in two movements and aimed with only one more. And because nobody in Erfurt had gotten around to forbidding it, he had a bayonet fixed.

  "Carry on, Herr Recker," Neustatter said formally.

  Neustatter and Astrid rounded the building to where Lukas Heidenfelder was supposed to be. Lukas was not guarding the back door. Astrid suspected that Neustatter wouldn't have lost it if Lukas had merely been slouched against the building with weapon in hand, but he wasn't even watching his area of responsibility. In fact, he was kissing a woman. He had one arm around her-the one holding his U.S. Waffenfabrik.

  Neustatter closed in at a lope and threw a right cross into the back of Heidenfelder's neck. Lukas's head bounced off the woman's, somebody's tongue got bitten, and Lukas whirled around. Neustatter grabbed Heidenfelder's rifle with one hand and threw a couple quick jabs with the other.

  The woman started screaming and flailing at Neustatter. Astrid darted past him with her left arm up to protect her head and her right hand firmly covering her holster. She shouldered the woman away.

  Neustatter hauled Heidenfelder to his feet. "Lukas!" he roared. "What do you think you are doing? A passing student could have killed you with a penknife!"

  Heidenfelder babbled.

  Astrid glared at the woman. "Who are you?"

  "Trudi Groenewold. You are in so much trouble when my pimp . . ."

  Neustatter's laughter cut her off. Still holding Lukas up with one hand, he fished a card out of a shirt pocket with the other. "A pimp who hasn't been run out of town by the Committees? Really? Do you seriously expect me to believe that? Here, give him my card. Since we're telling lies, his second can use it to contact me."

  "So he's not . . ." The woman closed her mouth, clambered to her feet, and ran off.

  "Look, I know you and Lukas have been seeing each other. Just stay away when he's on duty." Neustatter turned to Astrid. "Miss Schaubin," he directed in a perfectly calm voice, "make sure no one got past Heidenfelder. Then take the front and send Phillip back here."

  "Yes, sir."

  Astrid checked the inside of the building. The Bibelgesellschaft meeting was still going strong, and she could hear them discussing Jewish scholars. Apparently they'd moved on to the Old Testament. She kept going. She encountered three students, two of whom tried to chat her up. She stepped outside, spotted Phillip, and jerked a thumb over her shoulder. He sauntered across the street and around the building.

  Neustatter came around the other side of the building about fifteen minutes later.

  "Al
l clear, Miss Schaubin?"

  "All clear, Neustatter," she answered.

  "Lukas is at the same door as Karl."

  Astrid nodded. In a guard position that was both flashy and uncomfortable, she suspected.

  "I considered firing him. He considered quitting. He still may. He considered fighting me. That won't happen."

  Astrid sucked in her breath. "Neustatter, Lukas is angry much of the time. He might decide not to fight fair."

  "Of course he wouldn't fight fair. First of all, I train all of you not to. Second, Lukas knows he wouldn't win a fair fight with me. What he's trying to decide right now is whether he can sneak up on me."

  Astrid didn't think so, but she felt she had to caution her boss. "Neustatter, he does have a rifle. What if he just decides to take a shot at you?"

  Neustatter grunted. "I've had to discipline Heidenfelder before. In Wallenstein's army, a lot of men did things. The men from our village knew there were certain things they couldn't do. Heidenfelder tested the limits a couple times."

  "What happened?"

  "I disciplined him. The captain disciplined me. I blew the captain's brains out at Alte Veste."

  "Herr Neustatter, you scare people."

  "Fraulein Schaubin, that way there are fewer I have to shoot."

  ****

  Astrid spent the next hour or so fairly angry with Lukas Heidenfelder for complicating the assignment. Neustatter had circled the building a couple times, leaving her alone out front. Being the sole guard out front took some getting used to. Neustatter was back soon enough, though.

  He had just returned from his second circuit when they both heard raised voices down the street.

  "Stand ready," Neustatter directed. "Our men are all in place, and the BGS meeting is still going."

  Whatever was going on down there seemed to have a crowd forming. After a few minutes, the crowd started moving their way.

  "Miss Schaubin, send Phillip, Karl, and Lukas out here. Then you take position right outside the room where the BGS meeting is. You'll have to watch your back."

  Astrid ran for Karl and Lukas's door. After she'd sent all three of the others to Neustatter out front, she took position outside the lecture hall.

  Not ten minutes later, the front door was wrenched open. Astrid could hear a ruckus outside. One man strode in, questioned a student near the door, and made straight for the lecture hall.

  Astrid drew her pistol but kept it pointed down. "Who goes there?"

  "Town watch. We're here to question the heretics."

  "Why?"

  "For murder!"

  Astrid swiftly considered and rejected several options. Neustatter wouldn't want her to shoot the town watch. Besides, he was carrying only a cudgel and a short sword. Instead she stepped back.

  "Sir, if you are referring to the Bibelgesellschaft, they're inside. They've been inside all day. I'm sure Dr. Gerhard and the Erfurt professors will confirm that, and I'll stay right here."

  The watchman looked her over. "Fraulein, you and your pistol may stay between the heretics and me, but I can't have you armed and behind me."

  "That's reasonable," Astrid agreed and preceded him into the lecture hall.

  "Doctors, please?" the watchman requested. "I'm Watchman Meinhard, investigating a murder."

  The professors, the Bibelgesellschaft, and the Erfurt theology students all poured out of the room. She fell in beside Katharina Meisnerin and Barbara Kellarmannin.

  "What is happening?" Katharina asked.

  "I don't know," Astrid answered. She was concerned that the watchman had gotten past Neustatter. But once they stepped outside she almost laughed in relief.

  The watchman had left his partner outside, uncomfortably parked between the mob on one hand and Neustatter, Karl Recker, and Lukas Heidenfelder on the other. As the theology faculty, students, and BGS crowded through the door, one of the good citizens of Erfurt took the opportunity to swing his quarterstaff at Neustatter's head. Neustatter ducked the staff and delivered a side kick to the man's midsection. As he doubled up, Neustatter quickly relieved him of the quarterstaff. A second Erfurter jumped in. Neustatter faked a swing at his head and used the other end of the quarterstaff to sweep his legs and dump him unceremoniously in the street.

  Neustatter spun the quarterstaff with practiced ease as Karl and Lukas's rifle butts came up. The good citizens of Erfurt backed off.

  "What is going on here?" Watchman Meinhard demanded.

  A dozen people started talking at once.

  "Silence!"

  That must be his dean voice, Astrid surmised. It certainly worked.

  "Watchman Meinhard?" the theology dean invited in a normal tone.

  "These citizens found blood a couple alleys from here. They believe someone has been murdered by the heretics."

  "When did this murder take place?"

  "Within a few hours," a deep voice called from the crowd. "I walked through there this morning, and there wasn't any blood there then."

  "The Bibelgesellschaft has been inside since eight o'clock this morning," Neustatter stated. "We've been watching the doors."

  "Clearly you and your men were in on it!"

  "Nonsense," Neustatter stated. "Who was killed, anyway?"

  "You know! You did it!"

  Neustatter planted one end of the quarterstaff in the dirt and spoke very slowly. "No, I don't know who was killed. If I did, I wouldn't have asked. And I haven't hurt anyone except these two fools in the dirt who decided it would be a good idea to attack a security consultant without being sure of the facts. Perhaps the town watch could identify the body before we move on to such minor considerations as motive."

  "There's no body," a voice called out.

  "Yeah, the heretics took it!" a nasal tone added.

  "So, ah, what makes you think there's actually been a murder?" Neustatter asked as condescendingly as possible.

  "There's blood all over the alley!" Several other people shouted contributions, too, but that was the gist of it.

  Neustatter looked at the town watchmen. "Have you seen the alley?"

  "Ah . . . just a glance. But we left Jost there."

  "Yes, take the heretics back to the scene of the crime." That nasal voice from the crowd was getting really annoying.

  "The heretics have been inside the classroom with us all day," one of the Erfurt professors said. Astrid thought about it and finally dredged up a name-Niclas Zapf. Nicolaus Zapfius when he was writing.

  "Yes, they have," another professor agreed.

  "And who are you?" the watchman asked.

  "I'm Dr. Johann Gerhard, dean of the theology faculty at the University of Jena. And who, good sir, are you?"

  "Uh, Watchman Heinkel."

  The crowd quieted down quite nicely, Astrid observed.

  "It probably would be a good idea to view the scene," Meinhard stated loudly enough for everyone to hear him. "Let's go."

  "One moment, please," Neustatter requested. He reached out a hand to one of the men he dropped. "Are you willing to let the watchmen sort this out?"

  "As long as they make the right decision." He accepted a hand up.

  The other man didn't. "I want your name!"

  "Edgar Neustatter. Neustatter's European Security Services. You're with the Committees, aren't you?" When the man didn't answer, Neustatter sighed loudly. "A quarterstaff is your weapon of choice. You jumped in ahead of the watch. Tell Dieter Strauss hello from me."

  "You know Strauss?"

  "Of course I know the head of the Erfurt Committee of Correspondence, What kind of a security consultant would I be if I didn't know the important people in cities I operate in? If I give you your quarterstaff back, do you think you could refrain from taking a swing at me?"

  "He'd better," Meinhard warned.

  The Committeeman nodded sullenly.

  ****

  The townspeople and a good chunk of the university congregated at the mouth of the alley. "Jost, we brought everybody," Meinhard to
ld the watchman who had remained there.

  "That is a lot of blood," Dr. Zapfius acknowledged.

  Astrid couldn't see any of it. She, Karl, and Lukas were sticking to Katharina and Barbara who were in the center of the group of BGS students staying on the edge of the crowd. Phillip was mingled into the crowd.

  "It was that one!" a woman shrilled.

  Astrid snapped around to see a woman pointing at Neustatter.

  "I saw him! He was sneaking off!"

  "When was this?" Neustatter shouted over the hubbub.

  "Yesterday."

  The watchman who had stayed at the scene-Jost-poked at Neustatter with his cudgel "Where were you going?"

  "Martial arts lesson," Neustatter replied with a grin. "Do that again. I'll demonstrate. It'll be fun."

  Watchman Meinhard stepped in. "Knock it off, Jost. I'm not sure what a martial arts is-" He repeated the English term. "-but I saw him take Huber's staff away from him and trip up Goren with it."

  "Why haven't you arrested him?" Jost demanded.

  "Because it was self-defense on Neustatter's part and stupidity in the first degree on Huber's part," Meinhard answered. Huber glared at him.

  Neustatter laughed. "You got that one from Dan Frost, didn't you?"

  "I did. You know Herr Frost?"

  "He helped me set up my security company."

  "I see. And these martial arts lessons?"

  "Fighting styles from Japan and China that a few up-timers know. Sometimes it's nice to have a surprise."

  "So I see. Which up-timer teaches the lessons?"

  "Gena Kroll."

  Seeing Meinhard's blank look, Neustatter added, "Gordon Kroll's daughter. Dennis Stull's secretary. They all work for military procurement."

  "Oh, right. I've met Herr Kroll. His daughter . . . isn't she more or less betrothed to Sergeant Hudson?"

  Neustatter was grinning again. "Yes."

  "He and his friend Sergeant Allen don't like Germans. They call us Krauts when they've been drinking."

  "Gena is dating one of the no-Kraut men?" Katharina asked.

  Meinhard looked her way. "Why does that surprise you? And who are you?"