‘How do I know you’re not tricking me?’ he asked weakly.
‘I won’t record our conversation. Today, it’s just you and me. You can deny everything tomorrow. Your word against mine. In the morning, we go to Kiel and we settle the deal there. You’ll be taken straight to a safehouse, where you’ll be guarded until your trial date. You know the procedure.’
Lübbers closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them and spoke. ‘Martin Woltershausen, Münster, chairman of Maschen Incorporated. Jürgen Wiesner, Hanover, member of the local parliament.’
Lena noted down the names and stood up with her phone in her hand. ‘I’ll be right back.’
Epilogue
Two weeks later
Lena stood at the railing with her face turned towards the sunshine. The ferry left the terminal and gradually gained speed.
The last two weeks had been hard work. A thirty-strong special commission had picked up where she had left off. Twenty-two men had been arrested so far. Bergendorf had survived and would be transferred to prison in around a week. He’d shown little emotion when Lena interrogated him. The only time he’d looked a tad insecure was when he heard that Lübbers had confessed everything, sung like a veritable canary, but he soon regained the cockiness he’d been practising for decades and refused to make any further statement. Lena felt certain that even the most senior prosecutors would find him a tough nut.
The attorney general was preparing one of the biggest trials Kiel had seen in decades. The media response had been huge, with new reports still coming in daily.
The special commission would work on this for months to come. Experts on child abuse cases had been called in from all constabularies in Schleswig-Holstein, together with special investigators from the Federal Criminal Investigation Department. They would carefully check out thousands of leads and interview hundreds of witnesses. Lena had already written countless reports and – at her own request – taken part in the interviews of all the core members of the child-trafficking ring. The extensive confession of the now ex-Chief Prosecutor Lübbers helped the investigators target their activities to force suspects into a corner. House searches, which had taken place simultaneously right across Germany, had produced irrefutable evidence. The attorney general was convinced they’d busted an international ring of child traffickers and that many more investigations and trials would now ensue worldwide. Everyone was aware that this job could stretch on for years and that despite the diligence of the investigators, some of the criminals would still manage to evade justice.
Lena’s conversation with DSU Warnke had lasted only ten minutes. He had congratulated her, while she had asked for two things: a week off, and for four colleagues to assist her in reopening the case of the missing boy from the Lübeck area. Warnke had given her two weeks for the investigation and said she needed to come back with new evidence.
Once Reimers had sent in the note in support of his sick leave, he was questioned at the clinic where he’d been staying and then admitted to having informed Bergendorf about Hein Bohlen’s death. When he confessed to other dealings with the criminal gang, he was suspended from his job and was also now awaiting trial.
Isabel Müller had been taken into custody on her release from hospital. She’d admitted to swapping the medication and was awaiting trial for this, as well as for attacking Herbert Bergendorf. Lena felt sure that the judge would consider her personal history and that of her brother as mitigating circumstances, but she wasn’t sure if Isabel would get away with probation rather than a custodial sentence. Lena had spoken with the prosecutor in charge of Isabel’s case and urged him to place her under compulsory psychiatric care where she could access the therapy she needed.
The last few clouds in the sky had burned off. Lena took out her phone and called the familiar number. Erck picked up after the second ring.
‘And there was I, beginning to think you’d forgotten all about me. Not much fun only being able to read about you in the news.’
‘OK, well, how are you fixed over the next six days?’
‘Are those seagulls I hear in the background?’
‘Could be.’
‘The next six days, you said? Hmm, I’m not sure – let me just check my diary. Oh look, that’s weird – absolutely nothing over the next six days. I’ve never had that happen before.’
‘I missed you.’
‘Not half as much as I missed you.’
‘You can tell me all about it in a couple of hours. I bought a bottle of wine.’
‘And I’ve got the key to the beach chair.’
‘You seriously never gave it back?’
‘Did you think I was joking?’
‘No, not really.’
‘Lena?’
‘I’m still here!’
‘You’d better get a move on!’
‘I’ve got blue lights and a siren.’
‘That’s good.’
‘See you in a bit, Erck.’
‘See you in a bit, Lena.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna Johannsen has lived in Northern Friesland since her childhood. She loves the landscape and the people of the region and is especially fond of the North Frisian islands that provide the setting for her Island Mystery novels starring DI Lena Lorenzen. The Body on the Beach is a #1 Kindle bestseller.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Photo © 2017 Danice Hamilton
Lisa Reinhardt studied English and linguistics at the University of Otago and lives with her family in rural New Zealand.
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