‘Oh, excuse me!’ he said as he collided with the woman. He raised his hands in front of him, as if trying to reduce the impact. He then put his left hand on the cleaner’s shoulder while his right went down to her hip, where her card was hanging. It was attached to her trousers by a carabiner. Nik pushed the lever with his thumb and lifted it upwards quickly. At the same time, he applied some pressure to the woman’s shoulder, distracting her attention away from her hip.
‘Excuse me,’ said the woman in a delicate Eastern European accent. She took a step backwards and let her head fall submissively.
‘Oh no, please.’ Nik raised his left hand in a motion of peace while he quickly put his right hand behind his back. ‘Really not a problem.’ He smiled at her. He felt terrible that he’d had to use the weakest link in the clinic’s hierarchy, but in his experience, cleaners had access to most rooms.
Nik moved on. Even if the woman did notice her card was missing, she’d never dare blame a patient, so Nik would have enough time to get on with his plan. Even assuming Alois used up the whole hour for his lunch break, it still wouldn’t be enough to crack open the cabinet, look through hundreds of files and lock the cabinet again. He needed more time. And this was where some of Nik’s previous preparation would come in handy.
Beside the door in Alois’s room hung a large whiteboard with an overview of employee shift times. Alois had completely forgotten to cover it up on Nik’s first visit, so he’d had plenty of time to study it. He’d gone down the list of employees until he’d found the word ‘holiday’. It was beside the name ‘Silke Tinz’.
As soon as security were all sitting down in the canteen, he went around to the back entrance again. There was a sign on the counter that read ‘Back at 1 p.m.’. Obviously, the room with all the cards was locked but even this room had to be cleaned sometimes. Nik held the cleaner’s card up to the reader and a green light blinked. Smiling proudly, he went into the room. There were lots of named cardholders. Some of them had cards in them, others had letters or little notes. He took Silke Tinz’s card out of the holder and replaced it with a piece of paper folded to the same size as the card. Silke would be on holiday for another eight days, so this way, it would take longer for anyone to notice the card was missing. As long as the cardholders weren’t checked regularly, he’d be able to use it for the whole time she was away.
Nik left the room and hurried back towards the patients’ area. When he got there, he hid behind a cleaning trolley, washed his fingerprints off the cleaner’s card and put it on the floor to make it look as if she’d dropped it there. He then headed back to his room and ate a highly nutritious cereal bar. He lay on his bed and closed his eyes. He needed to rest before the busy night ahead.
There was no curfew in the clinic and as long as the patients didn’t leave the premises, they were allowed to walk around freely at night. Nik had uncovered three cameras inside the building. One at the front entrance, one at the staff entrance and one at the main reception. He hadn’t seen any in the corridors or in front of the rooms, but knowing how easy it was to hide them, he would just have to hope the corridor in front of Alois’s room wasn’t being monitored.
It had just gone two in the morning. Most patients were normally sleeping at this time and in terms of staff, it was just the reception that was covered. Nik put on a warm jacket, a thick scarf and a hat, as if he was about to go out for a walk in the snow. He didn’t meet anybody on his way to Alois’s room and couldn’t hear any footsteps or voices. He took out Silke Tinz’s card and opened the door to Alois’s room. All the blinds were down and barely any light was getting through from the hallway, so Nik turned on a table lamp. He took out his lock pick and opened the cabinet.
Thankfully, the psychologist was pedantic. He’d labelled all the files and arranged them alphabetically. Nik rifled through, looking for the Gs. Bingo! He grunted in satisfaction. They’d been right. Kathrin had been a patient here. Using his phone and the light from the lamp, he took a photo of every document. He then browsed through them to see what was there.
Kathrin Glosemeier had been in the clinic between 19 April and 14 May. On two occasions she’d been caught driving under the influence of alcohol, and on another the police had found her in a confused and drunken state near to Marienplatz. Alois had concluded that Kathrin was highly unstable when she arrived. Her first few days in the clinic had not gone well. She refused all treatments, lashed out at nurses and threw a plate of food on the floor in the dining room. After that, she suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be under twenty-four-hour observation.
Alois’s notes were extensive and exposed the inner conflict Kathrin had experienced. She had moments where she would blame others for her problems and moments when she simply sat and cried. Sometimes she blamed her mother, or ex-boyfriends, or teachers or business colleagues. But it was mostly her father who she saw as the source of all her issues. And it wasn’t only her mental health that had suffered; her body had also taken badly to the alcohol withdrawal. For two days she was too weak to even leave her room and was made to drink a high-calorie shake every day so she didn’t lose any more weight.
In the end, Alois administered disulfiram beta 3, which Kathrin took daily with her breakfast shake. There was nothing written to say the administration of the drug had been discussed with the patient, indicating the substance was being mixed in her food without her knowledge.
Nik let out a quiet whistle of disbelief. But that wasn’t everything. After Kathrin broke down physically and mentally, Alois wanted to test the effects of the disulfiram beta 3 when taken with alcohol, so he started adding that to her shake as well. Although he’d used a very small amount, the effects were disastrous. After just a couple of minutes Kathrin was complaining of hot flushes and itchy arms. Her face went red and sweat started pouring down her forehead. She was sent to the sick room, where staff discovered a significant increase in blood pressure and an abnormal heartbeat. She suffered a panic attack and threw up on the floor but four hours later she was stable again.
The results were collected in a scientific summary, which, considering Kathrin had almost died during the experiment, came to a very positive conclusion.
Nik put back the file and closed the cabinet, making sure he left no signs he’d been there. All set with the photos on his phone, he left the room. As he started walking along the corridor, he saw Gunnar coming towards him, his shoulders and head hanging down like a gorilla’s. Nik raised his hand to wave hello and as he did, Gunnar took a swing at his chin, hard. It felt like he’d been hit with a hammer. Nik fell to the floor and concentrated on not losing consciousness. He hadn’t expected Gunnar to attack him.
‘What the hell . . . ?’ he began, as Gunnar grabbed him powerfully by the throat, stopping any air from getting in. Nik tried to free himself, but the man held him down with the ease of a freestyle wrestler. Nik elbowed Gunnar in the head but it only made him grunt faintly. Nik stuck out his leg and used every last bit of strength to try and stand up, but it was no use. It was like trying to push a mountain. Gunnar kept him down on the floor and tightened his grip.
Everything went blurry, and finally he lost consciousness.
As Nik opened his eyes, he felt the ties on his wrists. He was sitting on a chair in a room with no windows. Apart from two white cupboards and a shelf with some towels, the room was empty.
‘Beginning to get used to this,’ Nik mumbled, his voice raw from being strangled. Gunnar was standing beside the door talking quietly to Leo, who was watching Nik closely, waiting for him to try and escape. His usual casual, charming manner was gone and he now seemed more like a judge preparing to charge the accused.
‘OK, Leo,’ said Nik. ‘What the hell?’
Leo moved away from Gunnar and sat down on a stool in front of Nik. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Well, this is a rehab clinic,’ replied Nik, ‘and I’m an alcoholic. So . . .’
Leo smacked him hard with the back of his hand. ‘Can do that
all night,’ he said. ‘The room won’t be used until tomorrow morning and no matter how loud you scream no one can hear you in here.’
‘Afraid I might tell someone about your drug business or someth—?’ Leo smacked him again, throwing his head to the side.
‘You clearly don’t get it, do you?’ Leo remarked. ‘It’s not a question of whether you tell me why you’re here. It’s a question of how much pain you can handle until you do.’ He spoke calmly and with conviction. He was prepared to beat Nik up until he gave him an answer he was happy with. Leo lowered his head until their noses were almost touching. He looked at Nik penetratingly, without blinking, as if trying to hypnotise him. ‘Why . . . are . . . you . . . here?’
‘OK, OK,’ said Nik, trying to placate him. He inhaled deeply and rammed his forehead into Leo’s face. Leo stumbled backwards and put his hand up to his face. Blood streamed between his fingers. Nik’s grin was swiftly put to an end by another smack from Gunnar, which sent him crashing to the floor, taking the chair with him. His chin was throbbing but hearing Leo swearing made up for the pain. Gunnar pulled Nik and the chair back up. The tissue Leo was holding up to his nose was already red with blood.
‘Why don’t you untie my wrists and send the gorilla outside?’ Nik suggested. ‘Then we’ll see what you can get out of me.’ He spat on the floor.
Gunnar came closer, getting ready to hit him again, but Leo lifted his hand. ‘Then I’ll begin, shall I?’ He sat back down in front of Nik. ‘I spiked your drink at the party and while you were sleeping I searched your room. I didn’t actually find anything interesting, but, you see, I’ve got a couple of mates over at the police station and, with Gunnar’s help, I managed to get your fingerprints over to them. And guess what they told me?’ He smiled. ‘Your name’s Nik Pohl and until not that long ago, you were with the Munich CID. But then you got suspended. And that brings us right back to the start.’ His smile disappeared. ‘So what’s a CID agent doing in a rehab clinic where one month costs more than his yearly salary . . . with a false name?’
‘I’m working undercover.’
‘Undercover?’ repeated Leo.
‘I’m investigating illegal medical trials in the clinic.’
Leo signalled to Gunnar. Nik and the chair were smacked on to the floor again.
‘Why are you making this so difficult?’ asked Leo. ‘My police mates told me about your work and there was no mention of any cases involving substance abuse. Plus, you never worked undercover. And yesterday you spent the whole day asking about Viola Rohe. Viola never worked here, she was never a patient here, and she never worked in the pharmaceutical industry. So I’m having trouble linking your questions to illegal medical trials in the clinic.’
‘Did you know Viola?’
‘Yes, I did.’ Leo’s hands were clenched together and his eyes were squeezed shut. ‘And I swear to God Gunnar will throttle you until I know why you’re asking about her.’ Leo seemed determined to find out what Nik was hiding and had become twice as tense at the mention of Viola’s name. Nik could tell it was the kind of anger that would only diffuse when he’d been told everything.
Nik considered the situation. Leo was basically a businessman who enjoyed overstepping his boundaries and getting what he wanted. But Nik could tell he lacked the typical attitude of a cold-blooded murderer.
‘So, all this isn’t about your drug business. It’s about Viola?’ asked Nik.
‘Correct.’
Nik bit on his lower lip and thought for a moment. Apart from this conversation, he’d got nowhere in linking Viola to the clinic. Nobody knew of her or flinched at her name. Maybe it was time to take a risk.
‘I’m investigating Viola’s disappearance.’
Leo stood up and took a step back. ‘Undercover?’
Nik shook his head. ‘I got suspended because I stuck my nose too deep into the case. There are people at the police doing everything they can to stop the case being investigated any further and I want to know why.’
Leo kept his eyes fixed on Nik and took a deep breath. He was unsure what to make of the information but something in his manner had clearly changed. After a moment of silence, he moved behind Nik and untied his wrists.
‘I knew something’d happened to her.’ His anger was dark. He seemed upset, almost distraught.
Gunnar gave Nik a glass of water and left the room.
‘I met her at one of our Wednesday parties,’ Leo explained, sitting back down on the stool. He was looking at the floor, as if he’d find the memory of that day down there. ‘She didn’t stand out next to the hot prostitutes, but she had something special. Don’t know if it was her posture, or the way she laughed. Or how she politely hid her intelligence from the customers. She was pretty wary and shy at the start. Didn’t want people to think she was a hooker. But when I left that night to go back to my room without making any moves on her, she started to trust me. I even helped her out with the dishes at the second party, just so I could be near her.’ He looked at the tissue he’d been using for his nose. The bleeding had stopped. ‘It was a mild October night. Already late. Most of the patients had gone to bed or headed off with a girl. She stopped clearing away the glasses and went outside. It had started to rain a bit and there was this cool breeze because a storm was coming. Felt fantastic after the stuffiness of the room. She took off her shoes and started walking on the grass with her hands up in the air. She was swaying softly . . . like she was doing a slow dance . . . and humming a tune.’ Leo closed his eyes. It was clearly painful for him to think about the night. ‘She was so beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘Her hair got wet and it started sticking to her back. And her dress was clinging to her body. And that smile . . . My God, that smile was beautiful . . .’ He shook his head. ‘I asked her what she was doing, and she said, “Don’t you hear the song?” And I said, “No, which song?” And she said, “The rain’s singing a litany. About its journey down from the sky to earth, along the rivers into the sea.” She waved me over to her and when I closed my eyes, I really did hear it. At first it wasn’t loud . . . more like a large crowd of people whispering. And then . . . all the voices kind of came together and started to sing.’ Leo wiped away a tear. ‘She was at one more party after that. Told me about uni, her plans for the future, her dreams. But then two weeks later, another woman had taken her place at the bar. I asked where she was, but nobody knew. And that was it. We never saw her again.’ He looked up. ‘Do you know anything about her?’ he asked hopefully.
‘Where do I start?’ Nik answered, before taking a sip of water and telling Leo everything he knew about Viola, including the similarities between her and Kathrin’s cases. It took a long time and it was warm and muggy inside the room, but Leo listened intently until Nik had finished.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Leo said. ‘Who the hell is powerful enough to get three investigations completely wiped?’
‘Isn’t necessarily just the one person. Might be a group,’ Nik replied. ‘How much d’you think you could make from a drug that got rid of alcohol addiction and didn’t have any bad side effects?’
‘Oh, you’re easily into the double-digit millions. Definitely enough that lots of people would be willing to harm three women. Can’t believe the police are in on it too though. Never would’ve expected that.’
‘You can get people to do whatever you want if you’ve got enough money,’ said Nik. ‘Whether through paying them, or blackmailing them or threatening to hurt their family.’
Leo sighed loudly. ‘So what can I do?’
‘I need to find out more about these tests,’ Nik replied. ‘They might be the key. And to do that, I need to get on the computers.’
‘I thought Alois wrote everything by hand?’
‘He does. All the notes from the sessions are done by hand. But basic details are put into the system at the reception.’
‘Makes sense,’ said Leo. ‘Staying in a beauty resort isn’t exactly a big deal, but nobody wants a treatment plan for alcohol a
ddiction on their record.’
‘Exactly. But if the clinic is producing or testing a new drug, then there have to be some digital records. They can’t be working on a project this size with a slide rule. But I’ve been walking around a lot and the only computers I found were the one in Alois’s room, the one at reception and the one in the key card room.’
‘That’s because they’re in the basement,’ Leo remarked.
‘The basement?’ Nik repeated. ‘I thought it was just the loading dock and sick room down there.’
‘Yeah, well, I was down in the sick room three months ago when I fainted. Looks like an intensive care ward. All the latest high-tech equipment . . . and a medicine cabinet that would make a junkie’s eyes water. And then, when it was time for me to go back upstairs, we were waiting for the lift and I saw this door open. Behind it was a long corridor with four labs. All made of glass and full of massive, state-of-the-art pharmaceutical machines. There were two men in lab coats standing in the corridor pointing to a tablet.’
‘Who were they?’
‘I only knew one of them. Dr Rafael Gawinski. Specialises in treating alcohol addiction. He’s pretty much Alois’s counterpart. And you only get out of here when both of them say you can.’
‘I’ve never seen this Gawinski.’
‘Yeah, nobody ever does, because his staff do all the tests. He just interprets the results. Apparently, he doesn’t like being around patients.’
‘Maybe because he’s illegally pumping drugs into them.’
‘Sounds about right,’ Leo agreed. ‘But anyway, we need to get into the basement.’
‘I can use the card I stole to get in there but I’ve no idea how we’re supposed to get at the computer data.’
‘Don’t look at me,’ said Leo. ‘I’m pleased if I can save a number to my contacts.’
‘I know a computer guy. I’ll get hold of him on my mobile and he can put something together. But we’ll need a way of getting whatever he makes into the clinic. How d’you get your drugs in?’
Broken Glass Page 17