“So, he lived not far from here?”
“Yes. He once came with his dog, for a quickie.”
“A dog?”
“He took his dog for a walk and came to see me. The dog lay beside the bed, while on the bed we …”
“Well, I should hope the dog wasn’t in there with you … And has a fat man called Julius ever been to see you? He had nasty eczema on his neck …”
“My clients don’t introduce themselves … And I don’t recall anyone with eczema … No … There hasn’t been anyone like that … Besides, I wouldn’t take anyone like that on …”
“You’re demanding, Kitty.” Mock got to his feet. “And would you take me on?” He went to the window and watched Mühlhaus questioning the would-be lovers while Lasarius squatted beside the corpse. Mühlhaus asked Smolorz something, and the latter pointed to the hotel. The commissioner strode briskly towards the building, as if he had seen Mock standing at the net curtain.
“Any time, Mr Mock,” Kitty smiled flirtatiously. It pained Mock to think that this beautiful woman in a crooked wig had once been a child, cuddled and kissed by her parents. “Naked or dressed up? I’ve got a Roman outfit too … And all sorts of lingerie accessories … For the clients, too …”
Mock studied the girl in silence. In his head thundered the words: “Dressed up …”, “outfit …”
“Listen Käthe,” he said, addressing her by her rightful name. “I’ve not been here for a long time. I didn’t know queers came here. I didn’t know anything about dressing up … Who thought all that up? Your new boss?”
“Yes, Mr Nagel.”
“And August, does he dress up for his clients, too?”
“Rarely.” Käthe smirked. “But some do ask.”
“And what does August dress up as?”
“A gladiator, a worker,” she mused. “Oh, I don’t know what else … Usually it’s a gladiator … There was one client who yelled” – and here Kitty shouted, imitating a drunkard’s gibberish – “I want a gladiator!”
Mock believed in the promptings of intuition and in the automatism of thought – a recent fashion in avant-garde art – and he appreciated the notion of a chain of even the most extraordinary associations. He believed in the prophetic value of a sequence of images, and he did not consider Duchamp’s manifestos to be inauthentic or degenerate. He believed in premonitions and in a policeman’s superstitions. He knew that now, too, it was intuition which had prompted him to ask about August dressing up. He closed his eyes and tried to conjure up associations. Nothing. Thirst. A hangover. Tiredness. A sleepless night. Kitty imitating a drunk and shouting: “I want a gladiator!” A lady in an alcove yelling, in a voice distorted by alcohol: “I want a carter! Now! Immediately!” Mock heard the sounds of a foxtrot. A few days ago, heavy with gin, he had wrapped his arms round the waist of a slim dance-hostess. In the Hungarian King. A young waiter, who was helping him carry Rühtgard, had explained to him: “Our manager, Mr Bilkowsky, doesn’t allow the hiring of fiacres. The horses foul the pavement in front of the hotel.” The lady had shouted: “I want a carter!” The waiter had then replied … What had he replied? Yes, he had replied: “Right this minute, at your service, my lady.”
“Tell me, Käthe,” – Mock could sense the trail he was going to follow – “does August dress up as a carter? Or a sailor, perhaps?”
Kitty shook her head and watched in surprise as Mock, despite her negative reply, smiled gleefully and ran from the room, almost breaking the high mirror sprinkled with powder.
BRESLAU, THAT SAME SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1919
SIX O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING
Mock bumped into Mühlhaus in the hotel entrance. The new chief of the Murder Commission was crushing the mouthpiece of his pipe in his teeth and twirling his grey beard in his fingers. He took Mock by the arm and very slowly led him to where the corpse had been found. The birds, lost in song, announced another hot September day. Above the plane trees rose the yellow circle of the sun.
“Let’s take a little walk, Mock. Do you like taking early-morning walks in the park?”
“Only when there are no corpses hanging from the trees.”
“I see you’re in a good mood, Mock. Nothing like gallows humour.” Mühlhaus took the pipe from his mouth and squirted brown saliva into the bushes. “Tell me, are we dealing with a serial killer?”
“I’m not well up on criminal theory, and anyway, I don’t know whether such a thing exists, or how serial killings are defined …”
“And according to you …”
“I think we are.”
“Victims of serial killings have something in common with each other. Firstly, the murderer leaves them in a place where they’re bound to be found. The sailors’ corpses at the dam, a body hanging from a tree in a popular walking spot … And secondly, what do these victims of ‘Mock’s enemy’, as the perpetrator is widely known, have in common?”
“‘Widely’ meaning where?”
“For the time being where we work, in the Police Praesidium … Before long in the Breslau newspapers and across the whole of Germany. Despite the secrecy of the operation, sooner or later there’s going to be a leak to the press. We can’t hold everybody in quarantine, like that maid in the park and her lover. You’re going to be famous …”
“What was it you asked me?” Mock wanted to slap Mühlhaus as he had August, and then to run, fly to where pimps offer up male prostitutes dressed in sailors’ outfits; instead of which he had to traipse along beside Mühlhaus with the acrid, smoky aroma of Badia tobacco in his nostrils. His fingers and his back itched; he knew that no amount of scratching would relieve him. The sensation overwhelmed him quite frequently, and he could never find quite the right word for it. A fragment from Livy came to mind in which a Latin adjective perfectly expressed the present state of his spirit: impotens – out of one’s mind with impotence.
“I asked you what the victims of ‘Mock’s enemy’ have in common with each other?”
“That singular name given to the perpetrator is an answer in itself. Why are you asking something we’ve already known for so long?”
“I could give you the cutting answer that I’m the one asking questions here, Mock, but I won’t. I’ll play at being Socrates and you’ll arrive at the truth yourself …”
“I haven’t got time …” said Mock, leaving Mühlhaus abruptly and walking resolutely alongside the pond.
“Halt!” shouted Mühlhaus. “That’s an order!” Mock stopped short, turned towards the pond, knelt on the grassy bank and scooped some water into his hands. “No time, eh? Well then, as from today you’ll have plenty of time. There isn’t much going on in the Vice Department. You don’t work for me any more. You’re going back to Ilssheimer.”
“Why?” Trickles of water ran down Mock’s face, and through them he could see the slits of Mühlhaus’ squinting eyes. He conjured up his future in the Vice Department: bisexual Ilssheimer sacking the man who had exposed him, giving as his reason “dereliction of duty due to alcohol abuse”.
“I took you on for two reasons. Firstly, the murderer wants something from you. I thought you knew what he wanted; I thought you would make after him like a rabid dog avenging the death of innocent people …”
“The rabid dog of vengeance.” Mock wiped the water from his cheeks. “Are you acquainted with Auweiler’s poetry?”
“Whereas you have no idea what the murderer wants. The psychotherapy session with Doctor Kaznicz certainly hasn’t moved the investigation …”
“And that’s why you’re dismissing me?” Mock saw columns of magnesium shoot into the sky several metres away, where the body had been discovered. Smolorz had just left the spot and, carrying the notes he had taken when questioning the unfulfilled lovers, was making his way over to Mock and Mühlhaus. “The rabid dog of vengeance no longer proved necessary, right?”
“That’s not the reason, Mock.” Mühlhaus took him once again by the arm. “That’s not the reason. You haven’t answe
red me. I’m not going to play at being Socrates and you’re not going to be my Alcibiades …”
“No, especially as the latter came to a sticky end …”
“Secondly, what do the victims have in common? Their murderer’s hatred of Mock. That’s what all six have in common. But what do the last two victims have in common?” Mühlhaus raised his voice and glanced at Smolorz as he approached. “Well, tell me, damn it, what do the last two victims have in common? The old sailor Ollenborg and Wohsedt, the river port director?”
“They were both questioned by Criminal Assistant Mock,” Smolorz said.
“Correct, Sergeant.” Mühlhaus looked approvingly at Smolorz. “That swine wants to tell us: ‘I’m going to kill everyone you question, Mock. So don’t question anyone. Don’t conduct the investigation.’ Now do you understand why I’m taking you off the case? Who else did you question, Mock? Who have you poisoned? Who else is going to die in this city?”
BRESLAU, THAT SAME SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1919
A QUARTER PAST SIX IN THE MORNING
A prison wagon pulled up outside South Park Hotel. Two uniformed policemen climbed out and ran briskly into the building, swords clanking at their sides. A moment later they emerged holding Kitty by the arms as she thrashed about and tried to bite them in an attempt to break free. One of the men’s shakos was knocked askew. Mühlhaus, Mock and Smolorz watched attentively. Kitty stared at Mock, her eyes full of hatred. He walked up to her and whispered:
“Try to understand, Käthe, it’s for your own good. You’ll be put up in the best single, warm cell for a few days and then you’ll be able to leave.” He moved closer and whispered even more quietly: “Then later I’ll make it up to you …”
The promise did not impress Kitty in the slightest. She spat at Mock, her spittle landing on the sleeve of his jacket. He looked round. All the policemen were smiling to themselves, banking on a violent reaction from the Criminal Assistant. They were disappointed. Mock approached Kitty, removed the wig from her head and smoothed her somewhat greasy hair.
“I’ll visit you in your cell, Käthe,” he said. “Everything’s going to be alright.”
The policemen had no trouble loading Kitty into the wagon. One of them joined her under the tarpaulin while the other took a seat on the box and cracked his whip.
“Commissioner, sir.” Mock wiped his sleeve with a large leaf. “We can set a trap for the killer. He must be following me. Otherwise, how would he know who to kill? It should be enough for me to question someone and then for us to keep a close eye on that person. Kitty, for example. Let’s free her. If we don’t lose sight of her day or night we’ll get hold of that swine in the end. And besides … I want to work for you. Of course, I don’t have to lead this particular investigation, I could …”
“I’m not a street preacher. I don’t repeat myself.” Mühlhaus folded Smolorz’s notes in four. “Besides, we don’t have any other cases on apart from the Four Sailors. Every policeman in town is on the Four Sailors case or, to be precise, Six Sailors counting Ollenborg and Wohsedt. Wohsedt also held the honorary title of Rear Admiral. Goodbye, gentlemen.”
Mühlhaus set off towards the Horch which was just drawing up outside the hotel. He climbed in and Ehlers the photographer, laden with his tripod, tumbled in after him. Doctor Lasarius’ men heaved the stretcher bearing the corpse into their wagon. The engine of the Horch growled and shot a cloud of fumes from the exhaust. The car pulled away but did not go far, stopping beside Mock and Smolorz.
“Just explain one thing to me,” Mühlhaus said, leaning his beard out of the window. “Why are there no signs of torture on Wohsedt’s body when in the letter he wrote to you … I think he expressed it as ‘the man in the executioner’s hood tortured me’?”
“Maybe he meant mental torture.” Lines appeared on Mock’s face, mercilessly highlighted by the bright yellow sun. “Wohsedt wasn’t difficult to break …”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. One medical term was enough to get him to agree to work for me immediately. He nearly pissed himself in fright.”
“And what term was that?”
“‘Tuberculosis of the skin after being bitten by someone with tuberculosis’,” Mock said, and at that moment he paled. Smolorz knew why. There was one other person Mock had condemned to death because he had questioned her on the Four Sailors case.
BRESLAU, THAT SAME SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1919,
HALF PAST SEVEN IN THE MORNING
Thiemann & Co.’s cigar factory was located in the last of the inner yards on Reuscherstrasse. Since it was in full operation until all hours of the night, it gave out stinking fumes, and the clatter of its machinery disturbed the afternoon peace of everyone who lived in the tenements; they never stopped complaining, protesting, even demonstrating, and forming blockades at the gates of the establishment. Eventually the tenement landlords, descendants of Niepold, prevailed on the factory management to open up the establishment an hour later and shut it down an hour earlier. Having worked there for twenty years, even during the time of Mr Thiemann senior, Hildegard Wilck could not get used to the new working arrangements, and the clacking of her wooden clogs could invariably be heard in the inner yard before seven in the morning. And that day – as on every other day – fifty-year-old Miss Wilck stood outside the closed laundry gossiping with the concierge, Mrs Annemarie Zesche. Their interminable conversations drew facetious criticism from Siegfried Franzkowiak, a carpenter living on the ground floor, who did not cease to be amazed at the eloquence of both women. “Those wenches can go on and on about nothing!” he would say to himself.
That day Franzkowiak was in no mood for jokes. He had not slept half the night because little Charlotte Voigten, who lived above him, had been crying. The child’s wailing had been accompanied by the dog’s howling. Franzkowiak had knocked several times on the door of the bedsit which Charlotte’s mother, Johanna, had occupied with her daughter and dog for the past two months. The mother was not in, which did not surprise the carpenter since the entire tenement knew that the city at night was her natural place of work. Some kind person, however, would always look after the child – frequently it was Franzkowiak’s wife – and the exceptionally trusting little girl had always allowed herself to be comforted by her carers. Finally, at about four o’clock that morning, the child had fallen asleep. Silence had descended on the lodgings and Franzkowiak had happily laid his weary head next to that of his spouse. It was hardly surprising that he was truly angry now when, after only a few hours’ sleep, he heard the yapping of the two women.
“Just tell me, Mrs Zesche, what sort of times do we live in? The child lies asleep behind a screen while the mother and some stranger …”
“She’s got to make a living somehow, my dear Miss Wilck. You do the laundry and she lives off men …”
“Animals, that’s what those men are, Mrs Zesche, all they want to do is have it off …”
“And all you want to do is natter!” Franzkowiak yelled, leaning out of his window. “You can’t let anyone sleep, can you, damn it!”
“What’s up with him!” Hildegard Wilck had come to her own conclusions about men. “I’ve seen him going up to her room! An animal, he is! No better than the others!”
“You look after your own arse, not someone else’s!” Now Mrs Franzkowiak had leaned out too, coming to her husband’s defence. “We’re both helping that poor woman! One has to be human, not a swine!”
The shouting in the yard had obviously woken the child because little Charlotte’s crying suddenly erupted again, followed by the rattling of a window being opened. The little girl’s head appeared above the sill. Still sobbing, she shouted something which was drowned out by the dog’s howling. People began to gather in the yard. Charlotte moved a chair closer to the window and stood on it. Tears had traced dirty furrows down her cheeks, and her nightdress was yellow with urine.
From the street came the drone of an automobile and a large Horch drove into the yard. The driver
, a sturdy, dark-haired man, squeezed the horn and jumped out. An ear-piercing sound filled the well of the yard, this time occasioned by the passenger, a red-headed man with a moustache. The child fell silent, everyone fell silent, even the dog fell silent. As the two men ran through the gate, Miss Wilck’s voice could clearly be heard in the silence:
“See, Mrs Zesche? That’s one of her suitors. Just look what drink’s done to his mug?”
The crash of a forced door resounded through the tenement, followed by the rustle of crumbling plaster and the shrill squealing of the dog. The dark-haired man ran to the windowsill and took the child in his arms. Charlotte looked at him in fright and tried to push him away with straight arms. Siegfried Franzkowiak, who was blessed with good hearing, detected sighs of relief in the child’s crying. He also heard Mrs Zesche’s commentary:
“See, my dear Miss Wilck, how the child has calmed down? That must be her father. See how alike they are? Tears are even running down that mug of his.”
“Her father died in the war, you idiot!” Franzkowiak yelled.
BRESLAU, THAT SAME SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1919
FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON
Mock woke up in detention cell number 3 at the Police Praesidium on Schuhbrücke 49. He felt heavy and tired. He closed his eyes and tried to remember his dream, and succeeded without difficulty. The dream was hazy, unreal and melancholic. A meadow and a forest, grass criss-crossed by streams of water. There was a person there, too: beautiful, red-headed, with gentle eyes and dry, soft hands. Mock reached for the jug of unsweetened mint tea which the guard, Achim Buhrack, had prepared for him. He swallowed and established with some relief that he did not need the beverage after all. His hangover had disappeared – and here Mock felt blood rush to his head – along with that morning’s events. He remembered the drop of blood which had dripped from Wohsedt’s head onto his cheek as he squatted by the pond in South Park; he recalled Commissioner Mühlhaus’ words: “Now do you understand why I’m taking you off the case? Who else did you question, Mock? Who have you poisoned? Who else is going to die in this city?” He remembered all too well the little girl’s despair as she first pushed him away, then snuggled into him; he remembered questioning the inhabitants of the dark inner yards on Reuscherstrasse: “Nobody knows anything, she often went out at night, but always came home – yesterday she came home at about four o’clock.” He remembered Smolorz forcefully tearing the child away from him and saying: “We’ll catch him. We’ll catch him with or without Mühlhaus. It’s too early now; we’ll do it this afternoon.” The last scenes he replayed were distorted and unclear – Smolorz pushing him into the car, saying: “You haven’t slept all night. Get some sleep, the carpenter’ll take care of the little one.” Then the jug of mint tea and cell number three.
Phantoms of Breslau Page 10
