Epilogue
The English Garden was full of sun worshippers enjoying the warm autumn day. Nik sat on a park bench watching Simon and Aaron playing rugby. Simon tucked the ball under his arm and started running up the field, while Aaron tried to catch up with him. Not far away, Daniela was leaning on a tree, also watching the game and smiling serenely.
‘You were right,’ said Nik, without looking at Mira. She was sitting beside him on the bench.
‘I didn’t say anything.’
‘No, but that’s what you wanted to hear, wasn’t it?’
She ran her fingers through her hair. ‘I’ll admit, I’m slightly proud of myself for convincing you not to give up the case.’
Nik smiled.
‘It’s what saved Simon’s life in the end,’ she continued. ‘And on some level, it saved Aaron as well . . . Or his soul at least.’
‘He has no idea what kind of man his grandfather really was,’ said Nik. ‘And if it was up to me, he’d never find out.’ Aaron had caught up with Simon and was hanging on to his leg, trying to pull him down. ‘The memories of that night at the villa will gradually disappear. And for the moment he’s just happy to have a big brother. Officially too.’
‘How did you manage to swing that?’
‘As chance would have it, the registry office found a birth certificate stating Daniela Haas was Simon’s mother and Elias van Berk was his father.’
‘That was a stroke of luck.’ Mira smiled and raised an eyebrow.
‘Yeah, well . . . Balthasar on his own is a fantastic forger, but in combination with Jon’s hacking skills, things take on a whole new dimension,’ said Nik. ‘And it means Simon can live with his mother now and not in the home.’
‘And why did you register Elias as the father? Now Simon’s reeled into Olaf van Berk’s inheritance dispute.’
‘I talked about it for a long time with Simon and Daniela,’ explained Nik. ‘Aaron doesn’t have any living relatives now that his grandfather’s dead. We’re hoping that if Simon and Aaron are linked by having the same father, Daniela will be able to foster him.’ He nodded towards the woman, her eyes full of love as she watched the children. ‘The boy likes being with her and she’s really taken him to her heart.’
‘Must have been awful for her; being around Simon but never being able to tell anyone he was hers.’
‘All those years, she was so afraid van Berk’s men would find her,’ Nik explained. ‘And if Simon had been with her, they would’ve found him too. Daniela knew from the start what van Berk would’ve done with her son if he’d got his hands on him.’
Mira sighed. She and Nik both looked over at the boys, who were now romping around on the grass. ‘Has any lawyer come forward to represent Aaron yet?’
‘Van Berk would have made arrangements before he died. There’s no doubt about that. But as long as the investigations are still underway, nobody’s going to appear. And Jon’s lawyers are ready to support Daniela when they do.’
‘And what about the charges against her and Simon?’
‘All been dropped. We managed to turn it around to make it look like Simon and Daniela had been kidnapped. Their actions were seen as self-defence. I put my fingerprints and the bodyguard’s fingerprints on to Daniela’s gun and told them it was a second weapon that I’d taken off him. Luckily, Daniela was wearing gloves so they couldn’t find any gunpowder on her fingers.’
‘And the security guard didn’t refute that?’
Nik shrugged. ‘It was his statement against those of the victims and a former CID agent. Olaf van Berk woke up after the blow from the poker but he wasn’t able to speak. Two days after his death the doctors said the lack of speech had been down to a rapidly growing brain tumour.’
‘So . . . everything’s fine then.’
‘We’ll still need to be cautious – van Berk’s legacy might follow us from the grave. But the prosecutor confiscated all the files in the villa and is inspecting them with a large team of analysts. Munich’s underworld’ll be a bit nervous about that.’ He looked at Mira with a smile. ‘Could have turned out a lot worse.’
‘Hey!’ Simon called over to Nik. ‘You gonna sit around on your own all day?’
‘Better go,’ he told his sister. He stood up, crouched down like a rugby player and charged towards the boys.
‘Get him!’ cried Aaron, storming towards Nik. A second later, all three of them were scrapping after the ball on the grass.
Evening arrived and it was time for the English Garden to close. The three of them were sodden with sweat and covered in green stains but it had been a long time, far too long, since they had all smiled like they did that afternoon.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people helped me greatly in the production of this book. My first word of thanks, of course, goes out to the wonderful team at Amazon Publishing. Your help is indispensable and it’s always so much fun to see you at the book fairs.
Furthermore, I would also like to mention my two ‘readers’ and discussion partners, Oliver Schmitz and Ryo Takeda, without whom my readings wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining.
And in terms of specialist support, my thanks go out to Sandra Utt and Mark Fahnert, who, with their expertise, always help me to create a more believable book, as they have done again with Blood Ties.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © Oliver Bendig, 2014
Alexander Hartung was born in 1970 in Mannheim, Germany. He began writing while he was studying for a degree in economics and soon discovered a passion for crime fiction. He topped the Kindle Bestseller List with his Jan Tommen series and with Broken Glass he introduced us to Nik Pohl, the Munich detective at the centre of a gripping new investigation series. Alexander lives in his hometown of Mannheim with his wife, son and daughter.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Photo © Fiona Beaton, 2019
Fiona Beaton was born in 1984 in Dundee, Scotland. She received her degree in Translation and Interpreting with Spanish and German from Heriot-Watt University in 2007. After initially working for media monitoring companies and an investment bank, Fiona began pursuing texts of a more creative nature, where she could combine her linguistic skills with her interest in literature, film and theatre. She currently lives in Fife, Scotland.
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