Blood Ties

by Alexander Hartung

  ‘Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned,’ said Jon over the phone’s loudspeaker. He was still as nervous as he had been before the meeting. ‘It normally takes a lot to faze me, but that number he pulled with the finger and the threat against Balthasar really got to me.’

  ‘At least he didn’t shoot me.’ Nik took a sip of beer.

  ‘Yeah, and that’s where the good news ends,’ said Jon. ‘Now we’ve got The Collector on our conscience.’

  ‘Luca,’ said Nik quietly. ‘His name was Luca Marino.’ He sunk his head in regret. ‘I never intended any harm to come to Luca. But he paid us a last service and now we know for sure van Berk’s involved.’

  ‘And how can you be so sure?’ called Balthasar from the kitchen doorway.

  ‘Nobody knows I work with Jon,’ explained Nik. ‘When I met with Luca, I told him I wouldn’t leave him alone and that a hacker would help me make his life hell.’

  ‘OK. The only thing that proves is that van Berk interrogated The Collector before cutting him up into tiny pieces,’ said Jon.

  ‘But van Berk only said “a hacker”. He didn’t say Jon or Jonathan Kirchhof. So, he knows I work with a hacker but he doesn’t know who you are or where you live,’ said Nik.

  ‘OK,’ Jon replied, ‘but if you consider how quickly he managed to get your name, I’m not so convinced my cover’s bulletproof anymore.’

  ‘I still don’t understand why you’re convinced of van Berk’s involvement in the case,’ said Balthasar.

  ‘Because he knew about you.’ Nik turned to Balthasar. ‘And I never mentioned you to The Collector. There’s only one other way he could have known we’re working together.’

  ‘From Masannek. When he and his men caught me on my way to the Grohnerts’,’ said Balthasar.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Nik. ‘Van Berk must have hired them. Or in other words, Masannek was working on his behalf.’

  The pathologist nodded. ‘A logical conclusion.’

  ‘Then let’s start monitoring van Berk thoroughly,’ suggested Jon.

  ‘That would be useless,’ Nik responded. ‘Van Berk was out of the country during the kidnappings. If Masannek hadn’t been shot, he wouldn’t have come back.’

  ‘He’s looking for a new henchman,’ Balthasar realised.

  ‘There’s enough of them around if you’ve got the money,’ remarked Jon. ‘And someone like van Berk won’t even have to leave the house to find one.’

  ‘Can’t we use the finger to pin something on him?’ asked Balthasar.

  ‘I did a check on the box,’ said Jon. ‘No prints, and traces of bleach, which means they won’t find any of van Berk’s DNA on it.’

  ‘And the finger?’

  ‘Luca Marino’s,’ confirmed Jon. ‘The print was identified in the system. I sent it anonymously to the CID, so who knows . . . maybe they’ll find something I couldn’t.’

  ‘Another dead end then,’ said Balthasar. ‘What the hell should we do now?’

  ‘We need to understand what van Berk wants with these kids,’ said Nik. ‘The fact they were born on the same night, in the same hospital, and that one of their mothers disappeared is strange enough as it is.’

  ‘We’ve been looking for the connection for weeks and haven’t got a single step closer to finding one,’ said Jon.

  ‘I need to speak to the parents again,’ said Nik. ‘Maybe the incidents over the last couple of days will help them remember something. Or one of the teenagers might have seen something.’

  ‘All the commotion has calmed down,’ said Jon. ‘Police aren’t monitoring the premises as thoroughly anymore and the press have got new stories. Plus, the suspected kidnapper is dead.’

  Nik looked at his watch. ‘12.30. It’s too late to pay the Grohnerts a visit right now, but I’ll head over there early in the morning.’ He leaned back on the couch. ‘Unless we get another lead, we’ll never solve this case.’

  The police cordon began thirty metres away from the front of the Grohnerts’ house. Two police cars with blinking blue lights were blocking the street, and the entrance to the driveway had been covered with fencing. The pavement was sealed off with a long stretch of tape and four police officers were guarding the area, despite the fact the streets were always dead at that time in the morning. There were no photographers, and no broadcast vans or camera crews, so whatever it was that had happened had yet to be reported.

  Casting his eye over the sealed-off area, Nik spotted his former boss walking along the length of the barrier. He was wearing dark trousers and a creased blazer. His black hair hadn’t been combed and he looked as if he’d jumped straight out of bed.

  ‘Naumann!’ called Nik. Naumann turned to Nik and rolled his eyes.

  ‘I really don’t have time for any hassle right now, Pohl,’ he said, walking over to Nik.

  ‘I come in peace.’ Nik raised his hands facetiously. ‘What happened?’

  ‘You know I’m not allowed to talk to civilians.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Naumann. It’s not like you don’t have me to thank for the last breakthrough.’

  ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

  ‘That lead on Buchwald’s hideout . . . that came from me.’

  ‘That was you?’

  ‘If you don’t believe me, I’ll happily tell you the details.’

  ‘Why are you getting mixed up in this case, Pohl?’ asked Naumann. ‘You don’t work for the CID anymore.’

  ‘Oh, please. Enough of the authority bullshit,’ replied Nik. ‘The lives of three children are at stake here. If it hadn’t been for me, they’d all still be camping out with Buchwald in the warehouse.’

  Naumann clenched his fist, close to losing it. But then he sighed loudly and his tension dissolved. He took a step closer to Nik and spoke quietly. ‘Greta Grohnert’s gone missing again.’

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘So that’s why this lot are here.’ Naumann tipped his head towards the police officers.

  ‘I heard she tried to defend herself when she was being rescued from Buchwald’s hideout,’ said Nik. ‘Maybe she just ran away.’

  ‘The security guard was shot,’ said Naumann, shaking his head. ‘Greta was definitely kidnapped again.’

  ‘How could that happen?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ replied Naumann. ‘All the windows and doors were secured. We’d replaced all the locks and installed new movement sensors. Then there was the security team hired by Grohnert and the police officers in front of the house.’ He shook his head. ‘Forensics are inspecting the crime scene right now, but if you ask me, it’s completely incomprehensible how the kidnapper managed to get inside the house without being seen. Her parents only noticed Greta was missing an hour ago; they wanted to let her sleep in.’

  ‘So it’s possible she was kidnapped yesterday?’

  ‘If we use rigor mortis on the security guard as a point of reference, then it must have been around midnight,’ said Naumann. ‘When the press get wind of this, the phones at police headquarters are going to explode. We’re getting every uniformed officer in Munich out of bed so we can put everyone on the search. Problem is, the kidnapper’s got a massive head start and—’ Naumann lifted his hand to the bud in his ear and turned away from Nik. He listened carefully to someone speaking. ‘Jesus Christ,’ he said, his voice shaking, as he lifted his hand across his mouth.

  A woman’s scream came from somewhere behind the wall surrounding the Grohnerts’ villa. The scream – loud and long – pierced the air with despair.

  Chapter 14

  Greta had been beautiful. Alert eyes and a magical smile. But the dead body lying on the bank didn’t resemble that girl in any way. Her dark, wet hair clung to her forehead, her skin was bereft of colour and her eyes stared lifelessly up at the sky. Her beige pyjama bottoms were ripped and her white T-shirt was covered in encrusted blood. There was a gaping wound in the middle of her chest, the edges of which were ragged, indicating the shot had been fired at close range.

>   Naumann sat on a rock near to where her body had been found and closed his eyes. In what kind of world does someone kidnap a young girl, shoot her and throw her dead body into a lake like a bag of rubbish? He thought about his own daughter. She was only two years older than Greta. Naumann didn’t even want to consider what it would be like if something like this happened to her; how meaningless his life would become without her – how hollow the days and how quiet his flat.

  He heard steps approaching. A CID officer was walking towards him. ‘We’ve searched the area but haven’t yet found a weapon or any evidence that could point to a possible offender,’ he began.

  ‘Were there any witnesses?’

  ‘A walker found the body at 8.24 a.m. and called the police immediately. According to his statement, he didn’t see another person or any vehicles. It was, however, misty at the time so visibility would have been limited.’

  ‘Do we know anything about the man?’

  ‘Going by initial information, he’s a sixty-seven-year-old pensioner who is neither linked to the case nor to the people involved in any way. He’s got a clean record and walks his dog along the bank three times a week.’

  Two men lifted Greta into a black body bag and zipped it up. Naumann looked away.

  ‘I’ll drive back to the station and inform the chief of police.’ He stood up. There was nothing else he could do there. ‘Keep me up to date.’

  On his way back to his car, he took out his phone. ‘Hi, honey, it’s Dad,’ he said when his daughter picked up the phone. ‘Yes, everything’s fine, darling. I just wanted to see how you were doing . . .’

  Naumann listened as his daughter talked. ‘Hey, that’s great.’ He smiled. ‘Listen, I’m afraid I’m going to have to work late again today, OK? But I’ll take some time off at the weekend and we can head over to the stables so you can finally show me your new horse. How’s that?’ He opened his car door. ‘No, really. Everything’s fine,’ he repeated, wiping his eyes.

  Nik balanced himself on the edge of the roof with a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other. He was wearing an old pair of jeans and a dirty T-shirt, and his feet were bare. It was a cloudy, drizzly night and the city was quiet. Only a couple of cars were to be seen on the streets.

  He stood still and looked down; the brightly lit street was only six floors away.

  ‘So, you want to kill yourself?’ he heard Mira ask.

  ‘Still not sure,’ he answered without turning around. He swayed slightly and his left foot slipped a little over the edge. He waved his arms and almost lost his balance but finally managed to throw himself backwards. He giggled and took a swig from the bottle, as if it was all just a silly game.

  ‘It wasn’t your fault, Nik,’ said Mira.

  ‘Do you know how many times I’ve heard that in the last couple of hours?’

  ‘Words can’t describe such a tragedy, but . . .’

  ‘Stop!’ Nik screamed. ‘Stop being so compassionate, and understanding, and fucking thoughtful!’ He smashed the bottle on the ground. ‘Greta is dead! Luca is dead! And no amount of consolation can change that.’

  ‘And neither would your suicide.’

  ‘Yeah, but nothing changes if I live either.’ He turned to look at Mira. She was wearing a pair of lightweight trousers, a white blouse with a frilled collar and a thick jumper, as if she was preparing for the winter to arrive. ‘I’ve been on this case for weeks now and I haven’t understood a single thing. I still don’t even know why Greta was murdered.’

  ‘Then come down and find out who killed her. Van Berk is a suspect. You understand that, don’t you?’

  ‘I don’t want to get van Berk convicted,’ said Nik. ‘I want to go to his house with a baseball bat and break every bone in his body. I want to hear him screaming . . . feel his desperation and watch him die! I want to see blood!’ Nik yelled over the city.

  ‘I’m surprised you’ve not done any of that already.’

  ‘Only because I still don’t have a solid way of getting to him, but as soon as I do, you’ll know where to find me.’

  ‘And what if you don’t find a way?’

  Nik stretched his arms out in front of him like a cliff diver. ‘Then I’ll dive on to the yellow Mustang that’s parked down there – you know, the one that wakes us all up every morning with its thundering engine? Consider it a last good deed for my neighbours.’

  ‘So that’s it? You’re just giving up all hope?’

  ‘Hope, in reality, is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.’

  ‘Nietzsche doesn’t suit you, Nik.’

  ‘Today it does.’

  ‘And what about the two other kids?’

  ‘They’ll be better off without me.’

  ‘Don’t forget you still managed to get Hannes and Greta rescued from the warehouse.’

  ‘If I’m honest, I’m not sure whether I got them rescued or just signed their death warrants,’ said Nik. He was walking along the building’s edge with his arms stretched out to the sides. ‘If they were in Buchwald’s hideout, Greta would still be alive.’

  ‘And what if Greta’s death wasn’t the end of all this?’ asked Mira. ‘What if Hannes and Simon are still in danger?’

  ‘I just don’t fucking get it!’ Nik’s thoughts were going in circles. ‘I’ve got no idea what makes these three teenagers so special or why someone wants them dead. I could go through my files a hundred times and I still wouldn’t get any further. The investigations into Greta’s case haven’t thrown even a glint of light on to the case.’ He turned to Mira. ‘I’m just not good enough. Maybe there’s a better investigator at the CID, because this case is beyond me.’ Nik turned back to look at the drop in front of him. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to absorb the moment.

  ‘Then don’t help the two of them as an investigator. Help them as a bodyguard,’ said Mira.

  Nik opened his eyes and blinked.

  ‘You might have no idea who’s behind all this or why they want the kids, but you do know they might be in a position to get hold of Hannes and Simon.’

  ‘Nobody has a clue where Simon is.’

  ‘No. But Hannes is with his parents at their house.’

  ‘I know . . . It’s unbelievable,’ said Nik. ‘They should be leaving the city as quickly as possible and going underground.’

  ‘Not with an autistic kid, they shouldn’t,’ said Mira. ‘I can’t begin to imagine how Hannes must have suffered during the kidnapping. He needs to be in a familiar environment now. Somewhere he feels safe.’

  ‘Well, Greta showed us just how safe home is right now.’

  ‘Then get your gun and stand at his front door.’

  ‘The flat will be under police surveillance. They won’t let me anywhere near the place.’

  ‘That’s a terrible excuse,’ remarked Mira. ‘You’ll find a way to protect Hannes and hide from the police.’

  ‘I don’t even know if he’s in danger.’

  ‘Have you got anything better to do, Nik?’ She signalled with her head and eyes towards the broken glass bottle.

  Nik bent forward until he could see the yellow Mustang, then squatted down and screamed as loudly as he could. It would have been so easy to jump. He closed his eyes and waited as his racing heart slowed down.

  Nik had parked the hire car across the street from the Leppers’ home. The car had tinted rear and side windows and he had mounted a barely visible camera lens on to the bonnet. He now sat on the back seat watching the Lepper household on a small screen that was attached to his rear-view mirror. The lens was light-sensitive and he was able to zoom in on the target if he needed. The terraced house looked exactly like all the others on the street: narrowly built, with stone steps leading up to the entrance and a bin shelter to the side. There was one large and one small window on either side of the front door, two windows on the first floor and a sloping skylight at attic level. The family kept the light at the front door on all nigh
t, while a police car with two patrolling officers was constantly parked on the other side of the street across from the house.

  By using an aerial photo of the house and surrounding properties, Nik had managed to think up possible attack situations that a kidnapper might use. In addition to that, the CID had surveyed the building and Jon had downloaded all the information for him.

  ‘Why don’t they realise how stupid it is to stay in the house?’ Nik asked Jon over the phone. He was looking at a photo of the rear of the house with a small torch. ‘Both sides of the garden connect to properties that are easy to enter. The windows are made of standard glass and the doors aren’t properly secured.’

  ‘Right, but that’s why the blinds are down. And the patio door and basement windows have all been bolted shut,’ said Jon. ‘You’d need brute force to get into that house and the police across the street would hear that.’

  ‘One police car isn’t enough.’

  ‘A second car is patrolling the estate, keeping an eye on cars and people out walking. They’d be there in a minute.’

  ‘The Leppers should be sent to a safe house until Greta’s murderer has been found.’

  ‘And the police suggested that, but the parents said no.’

  ‘Idiots,’ mumbled Nik.

  Jon decided to change the subject. ‘Did you notice anything new when you went through the files?’

  ‘Nope. Not drunk or sober.’ Nik took sip of coffee. ‘Did Balthasar get the autopsy report back?’