Death And The Maiden lp-6

by Frank Tallis

  Liebermann whistled through his teeth.

  ‘Engelberg or Saminsky?’

  ‘Frau Gardosh didn’t know. Names weren’t mentioned. But she must have been referring to the latter.’

  ‘Why not Engelberg?’

  ‘Engelberg isn’t a family man. He’s a widower. Further, when I met with Engelberg we discussed Fraulein Rosenkrantz’s gynaecological symptoms. I asked him if he had examined her, and he hadn’t. Indeed, he seemed horrified by the thought of doing such a thing! He said that a doctor must have good cause to compromise a woman’s dignity. His tone and manner were sincere. I do not believe that Engelberg would seduce a patient.’

  Liebermann lit his second cigar and adopted an attitude of one deep in thought. Turning to his friend he said, ‘Professor Freud has suggested that women are predisposed to find older men attractive because they harbour unresolved sexual feelings for their fathers.’ Rheinhardt grumbled into his brandy. ‘This natural inclination,’ Liebermann continued, ‘was obviously amplified in Fraulein Rosenkrantz, and one must suppose that this amplification was due to her history. You will recall that her father died when she was young, she was rejected by her female cousins — and even her mother eventually abandoned her to begin a new life in Italy. Her talent was discovered and nurtured by older men. Her schoolteacher and the choirmaster, Peter Helbing. What, we must ask ourselves, might older men have come to represent for such a person?’

  ‘Kindness, protection, security?’

  ‘Exactly, and, at a deeper level, the recovery of that precious relationship, lost so tragically early. As a sexually mature woman, when she fell into the arms of an older man she did so as much in the role of a daughter as that of a lover. Her needs were complicated.’

  ‘I find that thought rather … distasteful.’

  ‘The unconscious, the seedbed of our desires, has scant regard for conventional morality. It finds satisfaction however it can.’

  ‘All of which suggests that she would have been easy prey for Saminsky.’

  ‘Indeed. The relationship between doctor and patient has much in common with the relationship between parent and child. Saminsky would have made a powerful appeal to Rosenkrantz’s need for a surrogate father.’ Liebermann flicked his brandy glass, producing a soft chime. ‘And there is another factor which should be taken into consideration when assessing the plausibility of Gardosh’s allegation.’ Liebermann paused before adding: ‘The nature of Saminsky’s treatment. It was one which provided him with ample opportunity to err, necessitating — as it does — prolonged physical contact.’

  ‘Electrotherapy? I thought it was administered with a machine.’

  ‘During general faradisation the patient is nude or partially clothed. The current can be delivered through electrodes or passed through the doctor’s hand. The electrical hand method is recommended for sensitive persons, and given what we know of Rosenkrantz — her artistic temperament, her globus hystericus — I think it safe to assume that Saminsky would have identified her as a member of that group. Which means that he would have spent a great deal of time stroking her throat,’ the young doctor paused before adding on a knowing cadence, ‘and chest.’

  Liebermann suddenly thought of Amelia Lydgate as he had first seen her, as a patient in the general hospital. This memory, which trespassed onto the hitherto uncluttered terrain of his deductions, took the form of a mental picture. He remembered her white cotton gown, the subtle curve of her small breasts beneath the thin material, and the sight of her exposed feet on the tiled floor. This image aroused in him a discomfiting mixture of concupiscence and guilt.

  Rheinhardt stood up and walked over to the mantelpiece. He flicked some ash into the fire and said, ‘Saminsky told us that the mayor was to blame for Rosenkrantz’s pregnancy.’

  ‘He was trying to divert attention away from himself.’

  ‘Yes, but to implicate the mayor …’

  ‘Lueger and Rosenkrantz were lovers.’

  ‘I know, but such a strategy is fraught with dangers.’ Rheinhardt raised his hands in disbelief.

  ‘Indeed, but the boldest lies are often the most effective. We are obliged to believe them on account of their magnitude. No one — we reason — would dare make up such a thing.’

  ‘The man must be some kind of fool.’

  ‘That was my impression also.’

  Rheinhardt began to pace in front of the fire.

  ‘What are we to make of this new intelligence? If the mayor did not make Rosenkrantz pregnant, then your previous speculations must be wrong. You imagined Rosenkrantz threatening the mayor with a scandal, the most significant element of which was his prior insistence that she terminate her pregnancy.’

  ‘She could have led him to believe that he was responsible for her condition, even if the guilty party was in fact Saminsky.’

  The inspector looked doubtful.

  ‘When we informed Lueger of Rosenkrantz’s pregnancy he was shocked. I am convinced that he wasn’t feigning surprise. He really didn’t know about her pregnancy until that precise moment. I am also inclined to believe that the mayor, as he suggested, would have been diligent in his efforts to avoid such an unfortunate eventuality.’

  ‘Oskar, the only prophylactic known to be completely effective is celibacy!’ Liebermann sat up in his chair. ‘Even so, let us — for the sake of argument — accept that Lueger was completely ignorant of Rosenkrantz’s condition. Does this really change how we should view the material facts? The mayor visited Fraulein Rosenkrantz, letters were destroyed, and the following morning she was found dead.’

  Rheinhardt resumed his pacing. ‘What if Rosenkrantz had threatened to expose Saminsky? He is a rich man and has much to lose. .’

  ‘Not as much as our illustrious demagogue.’

  ‘Men have killed for less.’

  Liebermann puffed on his cigar and after a few moments said, ‘Didn’t Saminsky say he was away when Rosenkrantz’s body was discovered — something about a religious maniac in Salzburg?’

  ‘Yes, he did. Be that as it may, I’d like to pay Professor Saminsky another visit. There are clearly some issues here that need to be clarified. Are you available on Monday?’ Liebermann nodded. ‘Good.’

  41

  On arriving at Saminsky’s Hietzing mansion, Liebermann and Rheinhardt had been received by a gaunt serving man who did not — as they had expected he would — show them into the drawing room. Instead, he had escorted them down a corridor and deposited them in a small but comfortable waiting area.

  They sat on leather armchairs, listening to the muffled sounds of voices that came through the double doors. A pile of men’s and women’s journals had been left on an oriental table. Liebermann picked up a fashion magazine and looked at the illustrations. A clock struck the quarter hour — twice.

  Like most physicians, Professor Saminsky saw a number of his patients at home. Before entering the mansion, Liebermann had registered an emblazoned coach parked on the road outside. He had supposed that the professor must be occupied with the care of an important person. Another fifteen minutes passed before the double doors opened, confirming Liebermann’s surmise. Standing next to Saminsky was an elderly woman whose sombre dress was countered by the glitter and flash of diamonds. She looked frail and her head drooped beneath a dowager’s hump, yet when she spoke her voice was loud and clear, each syllable precisely articulated. ‘Thank you, Professor. You have performed a miracle. I am feeling stronger already.’

  Saminsky’s palm was hovering close to her lower back. He was making small circular movements, impatiently willing her to move forward.

  ‘I am delighted to hear that, Countess.’

  ‘The same time tomorrow?’

  ‘Indeed, Countess, the same time tomorrow.’ Saminsky’s serving man was approaching from the opposite end of the corridor, his emaciated face a frozen mask of impassivity. ‘Ah, there you are, Hans-Peter.’

  The aristocrat offered Saminsky her hand. As he bowed to del
iver his kiss, she looked away, as if favouring him with a private moment in which to appreciate the honour.

  ‘Good evening, Herr Professor.’

  ‘Good evening, Countess.’

  The old woman followed Hans-Peter, affecting an air of languid indifference as she rustled past the two gentlemen who had respectfully risen from their seats.

  Saminsky made a dramatic supplicating gesture with open arms.

  ‘I am so dreadfully sorry, gentlemen. But there was nothing I could do.’ He glanced down the corridor to check that the countess was making satisfactory progress and muttered under his breath, ‘She just wouldn’t go.’

  ‘Never mind, Herr Professor,’ said Rheinhardt. ‘It is no matter.’

  ‘You are very kind, Inspector. Please, come this way.’

  They stepped from the waiting area into a very spacious consulting room. It was unusually large, with high windows overlooking a parterre and medical charts mounted on the walls — the human body, in different poses, excoriated so as to expose the underlying muscle groups. Among these anatomical drawings was an oil painting of the late empress, based on the famous portrait by Winterhalter.

  In addition to Saminsky’s desk and a trolley bed there were numerous pieces of technical equipment: a mechanical chair for strengthening wasted legs, several batteries for the administration of electrotherapy, and an octagonal wooden frame (large enough to admit a standing person) around which hoops of conducting wire had been wrapped.

  ‘Ah,’ said Saminsky to Liebermann. ‘You are interested in my D’Arsonval Cage. It was constructed by Richard Heller in Paris. Beautiful workmanship, don’t you think?’ Saminsky tugged a strut, demonstrating that one of its eight sides was a door. He held it open, smiling.

  There was something about Professor Saminsky’s appearance that reminded Liebermann of a showman. With his pointed beard and colourful waistcoat he might have been a stage magician, inviting a member of the audience to inspect an apparently empty box.

  ‘Yes,’ Liebermann agreed. ‘It is very well made.’

  Saminsky closed the cage and marched towards his desk. ‘This way, gentlemen. Would you like some tea?’

  ‘No, thank you,’ said Liebermann.

  ‘How about you, Inspector?’

  ‘No, thank you,’ Rheinhardt replied.

  ‘A shame. I have some very fine black tea from Ceylon. Please …’ He gestured towards some chairs. Like Professor Freud’s, Saminsky’s desktop was littered with ancient artefacts, including several glass and clay unguentaria. ‘Now, gentlemen, how can I help you?’

  Rheinhardt made some preliminary remarks about the purpose of their visit and produced his notebook. He asked Saminsky to confirm a few details from their earlier interview, none of which were, in reality, terribly important. He then requested the precise dates of all Rosenkrantz’s treatment sessions, which Saminsky supplied after perusing her case notes. Occasionally, the professor’s eyes showed a trace of suspicion, otherwise his manner was relaxed and confident. In due course, Rheinhardt said, ‘The night Fraulein Rosenkrantz died, you were away in Salzburg — is that correct?’

  Some lines of consternation appeared on Saminsky’s forehead.

  ‘No. I’m afraid it isn’t. Why do you say that?’

  ‘When we were here before you said that you were recently returned from Salzburg.’

  ‘Well, yes, that’s true. I’d just been to see von Kroy. But the night when Fraulein Rosenkrantz died, I was still here in Vienna. I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to mislead you.’

  ‘Where were you, then, that evening?’

  ‘I was with a patient called Kluge, Udalbert Kluge, an elderly gentleman who suffers from hallucinations.’

  ‘Did you go to his residence?’

  ‘Yes. It was something of an emergency — his wife was most upset.’

  ‘And where does Herr Kluge live?’

  ‘Not very far. Near the train station.’

  Rheinhardt continued questioning the professor for a few more minutes, then looked at Liebermann.

  ‘Herr Professor,’ said Liebermann, ‘I have been giving some considerable thought to Fraulein Rosenkrantz’s history.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘I know that you believe symptoms originate in the body; however, would you accept that some aspects of character are shaped by experience?’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Fraulein Rosenkrantz’s father died when she was very young. Is it not possible that this loss might have produced in her a predilection for the company of older men? That she sought in her relationships with them not only the satisfaction of her physical needs but a surrogate?’

  ‘I suppose so, although, as I have already made clear, I did not discuss her private life very much. I only learned of her relationship with … the mayor, when she told me of her predicament.’

  ‘But the other men she mentioned, you must have formed a general impression of their age?’

  ‘They were, I believe, more established gentleman. Yes.’

  ‘Father figures …’

  ‘Yes. Possibly.’

  Liebermann paused for a moment before continuing.

  ‘Professor Saminsky, did you treat Fraulein Rosenkrantz’s globus hystericus using the electrical hand method.’

  ‘Yes. As a matter of fact I did.’

  ‘Inspector Rheinhardt was asking me about the procedure as we travelled here. Would you please explain it to him?’

  ‘Certainly,’ said Saminsky. ‘The patient sits on a chair with feet placed on a large flat electrode, which is connected to the negative pole of a magnetic coil. The positive pole is held in the physician’s left hand. The current passes through his body and he touches the patient with the right hand, thus delivering the charge.’

  ‘I see,’ said Rheinhardt.

  ‘The patient must remove her shoes and stockings?’ asked Liebermann.

  ‘Obviously,’ said Saminsky.

  ‘And her other garments?’

  ‘Of course, although a lightweight gown is provided to preserve modesty.’

  ‘Which muscles did you stimulate?’

  ‘The sternocleidomastoid — the splenius capitis and cervicis — the levator scapulae — the trapezius — the pectoralis major …’

  ‘The muscles of the neck and chest?’

  ‘And upper back, yes.’

  The professor reached out and picked up one of his unguentaria — a clay bottle, the neck of which was pinched, creating a shape vaguely reminiscent of the female form.

  ‘We are agreed that Fraulein Rosenkrantz had a weakness for father figures. Therefore the therapeutic situation you describe must have had a particular but predictable effect on her.’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘Did she not become … excited? After all, you, a distinguished psychiatrist, must have appealed to all her expectations of what a father figure should be. Successful, suave, cultured, caring.’

  Saminsky’s mouth dropped open.

  ‘Doctor Liebermann, what are you suggesting?’

  ‘She became aroused, did she not?’ The professor was speechless. ‘It must have been an extremely testing situation. Fraulein Rosenkrantz was a renowned beauty. You are a physician, but being medically qualified does not make you inhuman. We understand this. You are still a man, with a man’s needs. Yes, it must have been very testing indeed to touch her and feel her responding, to feel the soft warmth of her flesh beneath your fingers, to observe the quickening of her breath: a kind of torment.’ Liebermann found that his words had conjured in his mind an image of Amelia Lydgate. He had meant to build towards a condemnation, but when he reached his final sentence it was forgiving. ‘More than a mere mortal man could reasonably expect to resist.’

  ‘That is enough!’ cried Saminsky. He directed a fiery look at Rheinhardt. ‘What is the meaning of this outrage, Inspector?’

  Rheinhardt produced a cigar, lit it, and said calmly, ‘We have reason to believe that the mayor was not
responsible for Fraulein Rosenkrantz’s pregnancy.’

  ‘What?’ said Saminsky.

  There was an odd cracking sound. Saminsky opened his clenched fist. The tiny bottle had been snapped in half.

  The carriage rolled past the Kaiser Pavillion and followed the railway line towards the centre of Vienna. For most of the journey Liebermann and Rheinhardt were isolated from each other by the heavy folds of a contemplative silence. It wasn’t until they crossed from Funfhaus into Neubau that the inspector stretched his legs and said. ‘Well?’

  Liebermann removed his spectacles from his pocket, cleaned the lenses with a handkerchief, and put them on.

  ‘I am inclined to believe,’ he began with scholarly aplomb, ‘that when Fraulein Rosenkrantz confided in the angel maker she was telling the truth.’

  Rheinhardt made a grumbling noise, the elements of which eventually came together as speech: ‘I suppose I should go and see Herr Kluge.’

  ‘If you discover that Professor Saminsky does not have a satisfactory alibi …’ Liebermann allowed the incomplete sentence to terminate at a precipice beyond which there existed a host of possibilities.

  ‘Then that will definitely complicate matters.’ Rheinhardt blew out his cheeks and let the air escape slowly. ‘I couldn’t help noticing that you were unusually direct with Saminsky.’

  Liebermann shrugged.

  ‘It seemed the right approach to take.’ He didn’t want to discuss Saminsky or the illicit goings-on between doctors and patients. Turning to gaze out of the window he produced a jarring non sequitur. ‘Is it very difficult to get a corpse exhumed?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I suppose there are forms to be filled.’

  Rheinhardt’s expression darkened. ‘Quite a few of them, actually.’

  ‘You could get permission, though — I mean, as a senior detective you have the authority.’

  ‘If an exhumation is pertinent to a murder inquiry, yes.’

  Liebermann spun round to face his friend. ‘I would like you to get authorisation for the exhumation of David Freimark’s body.’