by Nele Neuhaus
“Wrong,” said Pia soberly. She now understood all the connections in the story. “It wasn’t you, but Daniela Lauterbach. You were only a pawn in her game, and she pushed you here and there at will.”
Terlinden’s smile vanished.
“You’d better hope that my boss catches her at the airport. Otherwise you’re the only one who’ll get the big headlines and you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison.”
* * *
“Unbelievable.” Ostermann shook his head and looked at Pia. “If I understand things correctly, it means that Tobias’s mother legally owns half of Altenhain.”
“Precisely.” Pia nodded. Before them on the table lay the three-page last will and testament of Wilhelm Julius Terlinden, signed and notarized on April 25, 1985, in which he disinherited his wife Daniela Terlinden, née Kroner, and his brother Claudius Paul Terlinden. Amelie had handed the document in a thick envelope to an officer before she got into the ambulance that would take Tobias Sartorius to the hospital. The young man had been very lucky. The gun Daniela Lauterbach had used to shoot him hadn’t caused a fatal wound because of its low penetration power. Still, Tobias had lost a lot of blood, and even after the emergency operation he was not entirely out of danger.
“I don’t really understand completely why Wilhelm Terlinden’s will was in Hartmut Sartorius’s possession,” said Pia. “It was drafted only a couple of weeks before he died.”
“That’s probably when Wilhelm first learned that the two had been cheating on him for years.”
“Hmm.” Pia did her best to suppress a yawn. She had lost all sense of time and was dead tired, yet in high spirits. Tobias and his family had been the victims of evil intrigues and the greedy lust for money and power. But thanks to the will that Hartmut Sartorius had kept in his safe, Tobias and his mother could look forward to a relatively happy ending, at least financially.
“Go on, get out of here,” Ostermann told Pia. “The paperwork can wait till tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t Hartmut Sartorius ever make this will public?” asked Pia.
“He was probably afraid of the consequences, or maybe he had skeletons of his own in the closet. Somehow he’d gotten hold of this will—most likely not in a legal manner,” Ostermann replied. “Besides, in a village like that, other laws apply. I know all about it.”
“What do you mean?”
Ostermann grinned and stood up.
“Don’t tell me you want to hear my life story now, at three thirty in the morning.”
“Three thirty? My God…” Pia yawned and stretched. “Did you know that Frank’s wife left him? Or that Hasse was friends with the cultural minister?”
“Yes to the first one, no to the second,” said Ostermann, turning off his computer. “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know.” Pia shrugged. “But we seem to spend more time with our colleagues than with our partners, and yet we know nothing about each other. Why is that?”
Her cell rang with the special ringtone reserved for Christoph. He was waiting for her down in the parking lot. Pia got up with a groan and reached for her purse.
“I’m really having a tough time with this.”
“Now, don’t go getting all philosophical,” Ostermann said from the doorway. “Tomorrow I’ll tell you everything about me that you need to know.”
Pia gave him a weary grin.
“Everything? Really?”
“Sure.” Ostermann switched off the light. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
* * *
On the short ride from Hofheim to Unterliederbach, Pia’s eyes closed from exhaustion. She didn’t notice when Christoph got out to open the gate. When he shook her shoulder gently and kissed her cheek, she opened her eyes in confusion.
“You want me to carry you inside?” Christoph offered.
“Not a good idea.” Pia yawned and grinned. “Then I’d have to drag the feed sacks myself all next week because you gave yourself a hernia.”
She got out and staggered to the front door. The dogs greeted her with happy barking, demanding to be petted. After she hung up her jacket and pulled off her boots, she suddenly remembered the appointment with the zoning office.
“What actually happened at the meeting today?” she asked Christoph. He turned on the light in the kitchen.
“Nothing good, I’m afraid,” he answered seriously. “Neither the house nor the barn were approved when they were built. And it’s next to impossible to obtain retroactive approval because of the overhead power lines.”
“But that can’t be!” Pia felt like the rug was being pulled out from under her feet. This was her house, her home! Where was she supposed to go with all these animals? She stared at Christoph, shocked. “Now what? What happens now?”
He came over to her and took her in his arms.
“The demolition order still stands. We can file an appeal that will delay it for a while, but unfortunately not forever. And there’s also another little problem.”
“Oh, please no,” Pia murmured, close to tears. “What else?”
“Actually the state of Hessen has the right of first refusal for the property, because at one time an autobahn exit was supposed to be built here,” Christoph told her.
“Oh great. Then I’m going to be dispossessed.” Pia wriggled out of his arms and sat down on the kitchen table. One of the dogs nudged her with his nose, and she patted his head absentmindedly. “All that money I paid goes down the drain.”
“No, no, listen to me.” Christoph sat down facing her and took her hand. “There’s actually some very good news too. You paid three euros per square meter. The state will pay you five.”
Pia looked up in disbelief.
“Who told you that?”
“Well, I happen to know a lot of people. And today I made a lot of phone calls.” He smiled. “And I learned something interesting.”
Then Pia had to smile too.
“If I know you, you’ve already found us a new farm,” she said.
“You do know me well, I’ll admit,” Christoph said, amused, but then turned serious. “The thing is, the vet who used to take care of our animals at the zoo wants to sell his former horse clinic in the Taunus. I went out to see the place a while back, because we were looking for someplace to house new animals under quarantine. The farm isn’t suited for that, but … for you and me and for your animals it would be a dream. I picked up the key today. If you want, we can drive out and see it tomorrow. What do you think?”
Pia looked into his brown eyes. Suddenly she felt overcome by a deep, warm surge of happiness. It didn’t matter what happened. Even if they had to tear down the house and leave Birkenhof. Because she wasn’t alone. Christoph would always stand by her, the way Henning had never done. He would never leave her in the lurch.
“Thank you,” she said quietly and reached out her hand to him. “Thank you, my darling. You’re simply incredible.”
He took her hand and held it against his rough cheek.
“I’m only doing all this because I want to move in with you,” he said with a smile. “I hope you realize that you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Tears welled up in Pia’s eyes.
“As if I’d ever want to,” she whispered, smiling too.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
It was a little after five in the morning when Bodenstein left the hospital. He felt deeply moved by the sight of Amelie patiently keeping watch by Tobias Sartorius’s bed until he woke up from the anesthesia. He put up the collar of his coat and made his way to the service vehicle. At the last second he had managed to arrest Daniela Lauterbach. She wasn’t on the plane going to South America, but on the one headed for Australia. Bodenstein walked around the hospital building, lost in thought. The fresh snow creaked under his shoes. It occurred to him that almost three weeks had passed since the day the skeleton of Laura Wagner had been found at the Eschborn airfield. Previously in his career he had viewed every case from the sober perspective of a
n outsider who was getting a look inside the lives of complete strangers, but this time he felt like he’d been personally involved in events. Something in his attitude had changed, and he knew that he would never again feel the way he had before.
He stopped when he reached the car. He felt as though on the slow, calm river of life he’d suddenly gone crashing over a waterfall and was now sailing on stormy waters in a whole new direction. This image was alarming and yet exciting at the same time.
Bodenstein got into the car, started the engine, and waited until the windshield wipers had shoved the snow aside. Yesterday he had promised Cosima to drop by for breakfast and talk over everything in peace and quiet, if his work permitted. He was astounded to realize that he no longer harbored any anger toward her and felt fully able to discuss the whole situation objectively. He drove out of the parking lot and took the Limesspange expressway toward Kelkheim. His cell phone, which hadn’t worked inside the hospital, beeped. He took it out of his pocket and pressed the message symbol. A callback from 3:21 A.M. with a cell number he didn’t recognize. He pressed the number on the display at once.
“Hello?” said a sleepy female voice he didn’t recognize.
“Bodenstein,” he said. “Please excuse me for bothering you so early, but I had a callback number on my cell and thought it was urgent.”
“Oh … hello,” said the woman. “I went with my sister to see Thies at the hospital and got home really late. But I wanted to thank you.”
Now he finally realized who he was talking to, and his heart leaped with joy.
“Thank me for what?” he asked.
“You saved Thies’s life,” said Heidi Brückner. “And probably my sister’s too. We saw on the TV that you’ve arrested my brother-in-law and the Lauterbach woman.”
“Hmm. Yes.”
“Well then.” She sounded suddenly embarrassed. “That was what I wanted to tell you. You … you’ve been working hard, and you’re probably tired so…”
“No, no,” Bodenstein said quickly. “I’m wide awake. But I haven’t eaten anything in ages and was about to get some breakfast.”
There was a brief pause, and he was afraid the conversation might have been cut off.
“I could do with a little breakfast myself,” she replied. Bodenstein could imagine her smiling, and he smiled too.
“Why don’t we meet for coffee somewhere?” he suggested, hoping it sounded casual enough. Inside he was all nerves. He thought he could feel his heart beating in his fingertips. He almost felt like he was doing something forbidden. How long had it been since he had made a date with an attractive woman?
“That would be nice,” Heidi Brückner said to his relief. “But I’m already at home. In Schotten.”
“Better than in Hamburg.” Bodenstein grinned and waited in suspense for her reply. “Although for coffee I’d be willing to drive all the way to Hamburg.”
“Then why don’t we meet here in Vogelsberg?” she said. Bodenstein slowed down for a snowplow in front of him. In one kilometer the B8 veered to the right. To Cosima.
“It’s a big area,” he said, although he actually had her address on her business card. “I could drive all over Vogelsberg looking for you.”
“Oh, it’d be a shame to waste your time like that.” She laughed. “Schlossgasse 19. In the middle of the old town.”
“Okay. I’ll find it,” he said.
“Great, I’ll be expecting you. And drive carefully.”
“I will. See you soon.” Bodenstein ended the call and sighed. Was this a good idea? There was a pile of paperwork waiting at the office, and Cosima was waiting at home. The snowplow was still crawling along in front of him. Right turn to Kelkheim.
There would be plenty of time for the paperwork later. And the discussion with Cosima could wait too. Bodenstein took a deep breath and put on his blinker. To the left. Toward the autobahn.
Acknowledgments
From the initial idea to the finished book is always a long, yet exciting process. I’d like to thank my husband Harald for his understanding, my sisters Claudia Cohen and Camilla Altvater, my niece Caroline Cohen, Simone Schreiber, Anne Pfenninger, Vanessa Müller-Raidt, and Susanne Hecker for reading the manuscript and offering helpful suggestions at various stages of its genesis. I thank Christa Thabor and Iska Peller for their wonderful collaboration.
My thanks to Professor Hansjürgen Bratzke, director of the Center for Forensic Medicine at the University of Frankfurt, for advice and support in all matters of forensic medicine.
I also have to thank the team from K-11 of the Regional Criminal Unit in Hofheim, which kindly allows Bodenstein, Pia & Co. to make use of their workplace. Without the advice of KOR Peter Öhm, EKHK Bernd Beer, KOK Jochen Adler, and above all KOK Andrea Schulze, I could not present the work of the criminal police as realistically as I here tried to do.
Many thanks also to all the residents of Altenhain. I hope they won’t hold it against me for making their village the setting for this book. I can assure everyone that all characters and events arose from my own imagination.
My most heartfelt thanks go to my German editors Marion Vazquez and Kristine Kress. Marion because she encouraged me to write this book and followed the entire process, and Kristine Kress because she gave the book its final polish. Working with you both was extremely enjoyable.
And last but not least I would like to thank all my wonderful readers and booksellers who enjoy my books and have motivated me to keep writing.
—Nele Neuhaus, November 2009
About the Author
International bestselling author NELE NEUHAUS is one of the most widely read German mystery writers. More than three million copies of her books are currently in print. She lives near Frankfurt, Germany.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SNOW WHITE MUST DIE. Copyright © 2012 by Nele Neuhaus. English translation copyright © 2012 by Steven T. Murray. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
ISBN 978-0-312-60425-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 9781250012098 (e-book)
First Edition: January 2013
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Prologue
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
