The Body on the Beach

by Anna Johannsen

  ‘Fear of being found out: better to give away a small part of the truth than to be caught with a big fat lie. She may very well have a motive. She’d have had ample opportunity, and we don’t know the means for any of them. To me, she’s just as much a suspect as the other three.’

  ‘Which leads me on to the fourth woman: Anna Bauer. Right from the outset, her sudden disappearance rang alarm bells with me. But back then we thought she was in Spain and out of the question, and now we know she was on Föhr – different story.’

  ‘But then she would’ve had to spend the night on Amrum. There’s no ferry late at night and she couldn’t have walked.’

  ‘Actually, she might have, at low tide,’ Lena said and went to fetch the tide chart from the wall. ‘Bingo!’

  ‘In the middle of the night? How long would that take?’

  ‘You could easily do it in three hours – less if you know your way around. But that’s just it. Anna Bauer would basically have to be a trained Wadden guide to do the trip at night.’

  ‘Shouldn’t be hard to find out,’ Johann said, picking up his phone to call the children’s home. He gave a short whistle when he hung up. ‘She took the children out on regular hikes around the Wadden and completed a special training course.’

  ‘Well, look at that – not such a crazy idea after all then, though staying the night would have been so much easier. It would be utter madness to try crossing the Wadden in the dark, but then murder’s a fit of insanity as well. So we can’t cross her off the list until we know whether or not she was on the island that evening.’

  ‘I’ve emailed you the interviews with the casual staff. I don’t see anything suspicious there at all.’

  ‘I’ll take a look later. Let’s assume for now that the two casuals are out of the picture. Now what about the wider circle of contacts? The accountant seems only to have a professional interest in the home and in Bohlen. He was reasonably fast in cooperating, even though he could have refused. The funeral director had nothing to do with Bohlen until he was dead. The GP had no relations with Herr Bohlen outside of his practice either.’

  ‘Although he’s the only one so far who might be able to get his hands on poison,’ Johann suggested. ‘But then, what would his motive be?’

  ‘Is he married?’

  Johann grinned. ‘You could say so. He’s in a civil partnership with another man – just in case you thought he might be interested in Sabine Bohlen.’

  ‘Yes, I had wondered – clutching at straws right now, I guess. Never mind. Right, next we have our colleague Reimers, who can’t explain those missing twenty minutes, and finally, the list of friends and associates. Anything useful there?’ When she noticed Johann’s look, she added quickly, ‘I know, I was supposed to read your report.’

  ‘Yes, you were, but no, there’s nothing. Like I said, I was going to visit five of them in person today, but I’ve already spoken with them on the phone. Still, it won’t hurt to see them face to face.’

  ‘The eight hundred thousand and the large cash withdrawals bother me. The money’s most likely dodgy and practically untraceable now. If Hein Bohlen wasn’t a gambler, then he may have been blackmailed – not unthinkable in view of what we know of his character. Perhaps one of the women has evidence of being raped by him and was blackmailing him, although we’ve found no evidence to that effect. On balance, I think it’s more likely the withdrawals were late repayments for the original loan.’

  ‘Tricky. There must be some other leads we can chase up on that.’

  ‘Great – and then we have Herr Bergendorf and his massive mansion.’

  Johann raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s not a crime, as far as I know.’

  ‘DS Grasmann, honestly, you should have become a lawyer or a judge. No, being wealthy in itself is not a crime, but—’

  ‘Wait and see,’ Johann said, finishing her sentence for her.

  Lena grinned. ‘At last!’

  16

  ‘Ben, hi!’ Lena had just picked up her phone. ‘What have you got for me?’

  ‘How are you?’ he asked in return. Ben knew about Lena’s history with the island.

  ‘Good. I’m doing fine.’

  ‘Glad to hear it. Can’t be easy, after all those years?’

  ‘Well, do you have anything for me?’ she asked impatiently.

  ‘I think so. I visited Frau Bauer and tried to interview her. When she wouldn’t talk, I took her over to the station. Interrogation room, nice and dark, you know the deal. After an hour we finally started getting somewhere. I’ve sent you the link – listen to the recording if you get the time. I also emailed you a list of time stamps for the important bits.’

  ‘Can you fill me in?’

  ‘Course. That’s why I called.’ He sighed. ‘Among other reasons. All right, I focussed on three points: the abrupt resignation, the affair with her boss, and her alibi for the night of the murder. To put it in a nutshell, she admitted that her successor . . .’

  He paused. Lena guessed he was searching his documents for a name.

  ‘. . . Yes, this is it. Isabel Müller got in touch and persuaded her to give up her job. It took a while before she admitted that any money had changed hands – she wouldn’t say how much, though – and I can only guess as to whether Frau Müller found other ways to put on the pressure too.’ He paused again. ‘She’d already admitted to her affair with Herr Bohlen on the phone to you. To me, it sounded like things weren’t always smooth sailing between the two of them. She wanted him to leave his wife; he wanted sex with no strings attached. She hinted that Herr Bohlen could turn rather forceful to get what he wanted – but I couldn’t get to the bottom of quite what that meant exactly. She seemed to realise all of a sudden that she was landing herself with a motive. She backtracked at that point and said she hadn’t meant it the way it sounded. All in all, I’d say she was glad to be rid of him. Her new job on Mallorca sounds like her dream come true – her eyes literally lit up when she talked about it. And she’s shit-scared we might cancel her flight and force her to stay put. I told her that’s your decision and she’d better tell us the truth. Right, as to her alibi . . . She said she spent the whole evening with a friend. I guess you’re still checking it out, but it sounded real enough to me. She bitched about Isabel Müller at least three times, blaming her for everything.’

  ‘What was your impression? Do you reckon she could have done it?’

  ‘I kept asking myself the same thing. Every now and then I had the feeling she was play-acting, but the next minute she’d sound completely genuine. I couldn’t vouch for her, though. If her friend confirms her alibi, she’s in the clear for now, in any case – unless they’re particularly close friends. Föhr isn’t far from your crime scene, is it? I guess you’ll be questioning her yourself.’

  ‘Definitely.’ Lena told Ben about their speculation that Anna Bauer could have walked back over to Föhr at low tide.

  ‘No way!’ Ben said. ‘Listen, I don’t know much about the case, but if you think you might be on to something, good luck with proving it.’

  ‘Back to the original and right now most important point: Isabel Müller paid her to quit her job?’

  ‘Yep, though she didn’t put it that way. Compensation, she called it, although that would usually be paid by your employer, not your successor. Like I said, I think there might have been something else behind all this. Do you think Frau Müller could have known that Anna Bauer was sleeping with Bohlen?’

  ‘I doubt it. Unless she had the home under surveillance – but even then it would have taken a huge bit of luck to catch them in the act. I think we can safely assume she didn’t know. Did Anna Bauer say anything as to why Isabel Müller was so keen on the job?’

  ‘I kept asking precisely that but she wouldn’t give me a straight answer. Either she doesn’t know or she won’t say. Personally, I think it’s the former, but there’s no guarantee.’

  ‘Great work, Ben, and thank you so much. Perfect timing as well.
We’ll head straight to the home now and ask Isabel Müller a few more questions.’

  ‘No trouble at all. And how’s our boy doing? I bet he’s head over heels in love with you by now.’

  Lena laughed. ‘Do I detect jealousy? Don’t you fret – he’s not making eyes at me yet. I’m not even sure he’s into women.’

  ‘Is that right? I hadn’t noticed. Grasmann keeps himself to himself.’ Ben paused. ‘And yes, of course I’d be jealous. What did you think?’

  ‘Drop it, Ben. But thanks again for all your help. Did you make it clear to Frau Bauer that she’s not to leave the country before my say-so?’

  ‘I just told you.’

  ‘I’m sorry. You did. Thank you for acting so quickly. I’ll be in touch when we’ve found out some more.’

  ‘Lena?’

  ‘Yes?’ she replied. Would there be another Look after yourself?

  ‘My marriage . . .’ Ben took a deep breath. ‘I tried, honestly, but it’s finished. As much as I wish it were otherwise.’

  Lena swallowed. This was the last thing she’d been expecting. ‘I’m so sorry to hear that, Ben, really I am.’

  ‘I just wanted you to hear it from me first. It’s got nothing to do with you, or only very little. Even couples therapy didn’t help.’ His voice sounded low and broken. ‘Yep, that’s how it is, sadly.’

  ‘You’re still living together?’

  ‘Yes, we’re trying. For the little ones’ sake. I don’t know how long we can keep it up.’ He groaned. ‘You’ve got to go, I know. Maybe we can talk sometime after the case. What do you think?’

  ‘Yes, sure.’

  ‘See you, Lena.’

  ‘Look after yourself, Ben.’

  Lena stared down at her phone display for a while. Why hadn’t she noticed Ben was miserable in their earlier conversations? Had she been focussed so entirely on herself and the case, or had she simply not wanted to know? Joe, Erck and now Ben – what a mess.

  And would Erck now have expectations she couldn’t meet either? Their night together had felt good and right and Lena didn’t regret a second of it. She’d once read somewhere that a woman’s first big love played a significant role throughout her life. She had never properly said goodbye to Erck – was that what last night had been about? She couldn’t tell. She wanted to hold on to the happy feeling for as long as possible and not worry about the future just yet. And Ben? She just didn’t have the heart to tell him over the phone that he’d only ever been a one-night stand to her. The right man at the right time. Nothing more, nothing less. She’d need to have a proper conversation with him as soon as she was free.

  Johann knocked at the door. ‘Ready to go?’

  ‘Just a minute!’ Lena called out and got up to arrange her hair and put on a touch of make-up in front of the mirror.

  On the way to the children’s home, Lena told Johann what she’d learned about Isabel Müller and Anna Bauer.

  ‘Quite the creative job search,’ Johann said. ‘I can’t wait to hear her explanation. Which one of us goes to Föhr to interview the friend?’

  ‘Let’s decide on that later,’ Lena said as they pulled up at the home. ‘I’d like to speak with Rosa Behrens first.’

  ‘On your own, I’m guessing?’

  ‘Probably best, I think.’

  ‘You’re the boss,’ Johann muttered, holding open the front door for her.

  A short while later, Lena was watching her former school friend as she prepared lunch in the kitchen.

  ‘You still have a few questions for me, Lena?’

  The DI nodded. ‘Unlike me, my colleague’s not one hundred per cent convinced you’re telling the truth regarding the harassment from your employer.’

  Rosa Behrens looked up with amusement. ‘Men!’

  ‘He finds it hard to believe Bohlen would have left you alone after just one attempt.’

  ‘I think your colleague’s trying to find a likely motive for me,’ Rosa said with a grin. ‘I’m sorry, but it really was just the one time.’

  ‘Why didn’t you report him?’

  ‘And then what? You know how ruthless the gossip factory can be on this beautiful island of ours. I didn’t want to risk ending up unemployed. It would have been my word against his. I’d have lost my job because of bad blood with the boss, and nothing at all would have happened to him. I’m right, aren’t I?’

  Lena knew Rosa had a point. Even though public awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace had grown significantly in recent times, the victim still had to face the torment of a court case, with no idea what the outcome might be – if it even came to that.

  ‘So you chose a different route?’ asked Lena.

  ‘So to speak. I told him crystal clear what to expect if he so much as looked at me again. Trust me – I was so angry, he believed every word I said. We had a deal: I wouldn’t tell and he’d leave me alone.’

  ‘And you’re absolutely certain that no one in the home knew what had happened?’

  ‘Absolutely certain? Well, I guess you can never be totally sure. You never can tell quite what’s going on with Sabine, for instance. And Anna? I don’t think so. I really don’t think the casual staff know anything, and I don’t reckon the children would notice something like that.’

  ‘Did you know that Anna Bauer and Herr Bohlen were having an affair?’

  ‘Let’s just say she didn’t tell me. I had a vague idea, but I really couldn’t care less what the two of them got up to. Is that why she ran off like that?’

  ‘I can’t tell you. How would you rate Isabel Müller’s relationship with Hein Bohlen?’

  ‘You mean, would she also have been . . . ? She’d definitely have been his type, and Isabel does like to act all mysterious. Sometimes the two of them did seem very close. But to me it just looked like Isabel wanted to suck up to the boss – God knows why. Would she go so far as to shag him, though . . . ? I’ve really no idea.’

  ‘Do you think Frau Bohlen knew of his affair with Anna Bauer?’

  ‘Maybe she had a suspicion, like I did, but maybe she wasn’t really bothered one way or the other either.’

  ‘She’d do just about anything to protect the home, wouldn’t she?’

  Rosa pondered the question a while. ‘Aren’t all women like that, though? Ready to fight tooth and nail to protect the ones we love?’

  Lena smiled. ‘Thank you for being so open with me, Rosa. I won’t keep you any longer or the kids’ll go hungry today.’

  Rosa grinned. ‘Don’t you worry, my love, I’ve never let anyone go hungry. As for you—’

  ‘I know,’ said Lena, ‘I’ll look after myself. Thanks.’

  ‘That’s right. Hey, I’m allowed to say that – remember how I used to protect you from those nasty boys in the other class?’

  ‘I remember – even though I was usually more the daredevil out of the two of us.’ Lena tapped the gun on her belt. ‘These days I can look after myself.’

  Rosa leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. ‘I’m so glad you’re in charge of the investigation and not some bloke who’d have arrested me long ago.’

  Lena left the kitchen and found Johann playing a board game with two boys in the common room.

  ‘Max and Jakob have the day off from school and invited me to join them,’ he said. Looking at the boys, he added, ‘Sorry, lads, I need to get on with some work now, but I reckon I’d have lost anyway.’

  The children beamed and proudly shook Johann’s hand in farewell.

  ‘I hope you weren’t interviewing those kids?’ Lena asked, once they were out in the corridor.

  ‘Not really. Or should I say, “Wait and see”?’

  Lena smirked. ‘Ready to brave the lioness in her den?’ She knocked at the office door and entered.

  Sabine Bohlen was sitting at her desk, looking through some files. ‘You again! I thought it was—’

  ‘Have you got a few minutes spare for us, Frau Bohlen?’ asked Lena as Johann followed her into the
room.

  ‘Do I have a choice?’

  Instead of replying, Lena sat down and waited for Johann to do the same. ‘How was your relationship with Anna Bauer?’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘Was she committed to her job?’

  ‘Of course. That’s expected of all our employees. The home couldn’t function otherwise.’

  ‘You were perfectly happy with her performance?’

  ‘I really don’t see your point. Anna hasn’t worked here in over six months. You know that.’

  ‘Would you please answer my question?’

  ‘I’d rather not.’ Sabine Bohlen gave her a challenging look.

  Lena took the voice recorder from her bag and placed it on the desk in front of Sabine Bohlen. ‘Frau Bauer has come under suspicion of being connected with your husband’s death. If you refuse to cooperate any further, I’ll be forced to assume you were in on it.’

  ‘DS Lorenzen, I—’

  ‘DI Lorenzen, if you please.’

  Sabine Bohlen seemed thrown. ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘My rank is detective inspector. If you must use it, please use the right one. One more time: were you perfectly happy with Anna Bauer’s performance at work?’

  ‘More or less,’ Sabine Bohlen said at last. ‘Her mind wasn’t always on the job, but that’s normal for young people.’

  ‘We’ve heard that you’d known about your husband’s affair for some time. Were you afraid your husband would divorce you?’

  ‘Who said that?’ hissed Sabine Bohlen.

  ‘That’s beside the point. Please answer the question.’

  Sabine Bohlen glowered at Lena. ‘No. No one was getting divorced. That’s utter rubbish.’

  ‘Was Frau Müller also sleeping with your husband?’

  ‘Why don’t you ask her?’

  ‘We will, but right now I’m asking you.’

  Sabine Bohlen said nothing for a moment. Finally, she looked into Lena’s face, then almost immediately stared down at her hands and whispered, ‘I don’t know.’

  Johann leaned forward and asked, ‘Frau Bohlen, did you notice any signs that suggested she might be?’

  She shot him a grateful look. ‘Maybe. He was very friendly with her – too friendly, perhaps. I really don’t know.’