Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(118)
On the radio Amy MacDonald was singing a song that Pia had initially liked. But the station had been playing it around the clock and now it made her want to puke. Just before eight o’clock she spied the orange warning lights of the tow truck flashing on the opposite side of the road in the gradually brightening gray light of morning. What was left of Bodenstein’s BMW was being loaded onto the flatbed. She turned around at the Westkreuz and a couple of minutes later pulled up in front of the tow truck and a patrol car. Bodenstein sat on the crash barrier, his face pale and his elbows propped on his knees as he stared into space.
“What happened?” Kirchhoff asked one of the uniformed officers after she introduced herself. She was watching her boss out of the corner of her eye.
“Apparently he swerved to avoid an animal,” replied the officer. “The car is totaled, but he doesn’t seem to be hurt. At least he doesn’t want to go to the hospital.”
“I’ll take care of him. Thanks a lot.”
She turned around. The tow truck moved off, but Bodenstein didn’t even raise his head.
“Hey.” Pia stopped in front of him. What should she say to him? He certainly wouldn’t want to go home—wherever that might be these days. Apart from that, now was not the time to be absent from the investigation. Bodenstein heaved a deep sigh. There was a forlorn expression on his face.
“She’s going with him on a trip around the world, right after Christmas,” he said tonelessly. “Her work is more important than me or the kids. She already signed the contract in September.”
Pia hesitated. A dumb cliché like It’ll turn out all right or Chin up would be out of place here. She felt really sorry for him, but there was no time to waste. Nadia von Bredow was waiting at the station, along with every available officer in the Regional Criminal Unit.
“Come on, Oliver.” Although she would have liked to grab him by the arm and drag him into the car, she forced herself to be patient. “We can’t stay here sitting on the side of the road.”
Bodenstein closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
“Twenty-six years I’ve been dealing with murderers and killers,” he said in a hoarse voice. “But I could never really imagine what would drive a person to kill someone else. This morning I understood for the first time. I believe I would have strangled her in the parking lot if my father and brother hadn’t intervened.”
He hugged himself as if he were freezing, and looked at Pia with bloodshot eyes. “In my whole life I’ve never felt so shitty.”
* * *
The conference room could barely hold all the officers that Ostermann had ordered to come in to the Regional Criminal Unit. After his accident Bodenstein didn’t seem in any shape to take over the lead of the team, so Pia took the floor. She asked for quiet, outlined the situation, enumerated the facts, and reminded her colleagues of their highest priority, which was to find Amelie Fr?hlich and Thies Terlinden. Since Behnke wasn’t there nobody questioned Pia’s authority, and everyone listened attentively. Pia’s gaze fell on Bodenstein, who was leaning against the wall in the back of the room next to Commissioner Engel. She had gotten him coffee at the gas station and added a little bottle of cognac. He drank it without protest, and now he seemed to be doing somewhat better. But he was obviously still in shock.
“The prime suspects are Gregor Lauterbach, Claudius Terlinden, and Nadia von Bredow,” Pia now said, stepping over to the screen on which Ostermann had projected a map of Altenhain and vicinity. “These three people have the most to lose if the truth comes out about what really happened in Altenhain in 1997. Terlinden and Lauterbach came from this direction last Saturday evening.” She pointed to the Feldstrasse. “Before that they were in Idstein, but we’ve already searched that house. We’re concentrating now on the Black Horse. The owner and his wife are in cahoots with Terlinden, so it’s entirely possible that they did him a favor. Possibly Amelie didn’t leave the restaurant at all. In addition, every resident around the parking lot has been questioned again. Kai, do you have the arrest warrants?”
Ostermann nodded.
“Good. J?rg Richter, Felix Pietsch, and Michael Dombrowski will be brought here; Kathrin will handle that, along with several colleagues from the patrol units. Two two-man teams will question Claudius Terlinden and Gregor Lauterbach simultaneously. We also have arrest warrants for both of them.”
“Who’s going to take on Lauterbach and Terlinden?” asked one of the officers.
“Detective Superintendent Bodenstein and Commissioner Engel will take Lauterbach,” Pia replied. “I’ll go see Terlinden.”
“With whom?”
Good question. Behnke and Hasse weren’t around any longer. Pia looked at the colleagues sitting before her, then made a decision.
“Sven will go with me.”
The officer from SB-21 who had been selected opened his eyes wide in surprise and pointed at himself. Pia nodded.
“Any more questions?”
There were none. The meeting adjourned with the hubbub of voices and scraping chairs. Pia jostled her way over to Bodenstein and Nicola Engel.
“Was that okay, that I included you?” she asked Engel.
“Yes, of course.” The commissioner nodded and then took Pia aside.