Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(119)
“Why did you pick DI Jansen?”
“Spontaneous inspiration.” Pia shrugged. “I’ve often heard the boss say how pleased he is with Sven’s work.”
Nicola Engel nodded. Her inscrutable expression might have made Pia doubt her decision under other circumstances, but there was no time for that now. DI Sven Jansen came over to join them. As they all made their way downstairs, Pia quickly explained what she expected to achieve from the simultaneous questioning of the two suspects and how she intended to proceed. In the parking lot they separated. Bodenstein held Pia back for a moment.
“Well done,” he said. “And—thank you.”
* * *
Bodenstein and Nicola Engel waited quietly in the car until Pia’s call came in, saying that she and Jansen were standing at Terlinden’s front door. Then they got out and rang the Lauterbachs’ doorbell at the same second Pia rang the Terlindens’ bell. It took a moment before Gregor Lauterbach opened the door. He was wearing a terrycloth bathrobe, and on the chest was the logo of an international hotel chain.
“What do you want?” he asked, studying them with swollen eyes. “I’ve already told you everything.”
“We like to ask questions multiple times,” Bodenstein replied politely. “Isn’t your wife at home?”
“No. She’s at a conference in Munich. Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering.”
Nicola Engel was still holding her cell phone to her ear and now nodded to Bodenstein. Pia and Sven Jansen were standing in the foyer of Terlinden’s villa. As they had all agreed, Bodenstein now asked the cultural minister the first question.
“Mr. Lauterbach,” he began. “We’re still interested in the evening when you and your neighbor waited for Amelie in the parking lot of the Black Horse.”
Lauterbach nodded uncertainly. His eyes shifted to Nicola Engel. It seemed to bother him that she was on the phone.
“You saw Nadia von Bredow.”
Lauterbach nodded again.
“Are you quite sure?”
“Yes, I am.”
“How did you recognize Ms. von Bredow?”
“I … I don’t know. I just recognized her.”
He swallowed nervously as Engel now handed her cell to Bodenstein. Bodenstein scanned the text message that Jansen had written. Claudius Terlinden claimed—unlike Lauterbach—that on the Saturday evening in question he hadn’t seen any specific person in the parking lot of the Black Horse. Several people had entered the restaurant, and others came out. In addition, he had seen someone sitting on the bus stop bench but didn’t recognize who it was.
“I see.” Bodenstein took a deep breath. “You and Mr. Terlinden perhaps should have correlated your stories better. Unlike you, Mr. Terlinden says he didn’t recognize anyone.”
Lauterbach turned a deep red. He stammered for a bit, insisting he had seen Nadia von Bredow, and he would even swear to it.
“She was in Hamburg that evening,” Bodenstein cut him off. Gregor Lauterbach had something to do with the disappearance of Amelie. He was almost positive of that now. But at the same moment doubts popped up in his mind. What if Nadia von Bredow was lying? Had the two of them perhaps joined forces to get rid of the potential threat? Or was Claudius Terlinden lying? Thoughts whirled around in Bodenstein’s head, and suddenly he was filled with the shattering certainty that he’d overlooked something extremely important. He met Engel’s eyes as she gave him a quizzical look. What the hell was it he wanted to say? As if she sensed his hesitation, the commissioner took over.
“You’re lying, Mr. Lauterbach,” she said coolly. “Why? How did you decide that it was Nadia von Bredow who was supposedly in the parking lot?”
“Without my lawyer present I won’t answer any more questions.” Lauterbach’s nerves were frazzled, and he alternated between turning red and going pale.
“That is your right.” Dr. Engel nodded. “Call a car to take him to Hofheim. We’re taking you with us to the station.”
“You can’t just arrest me like this,” Lauterbach protested. “I have immunity.”
Bodenstein’s cell rang. It was Kathrin Fachinger. She sounded like she was on the verge of hysteria.
“… don’t know what to do! He suddenly had a gun in his hand and he shot himself in the head! Shit, shit, shit! Everyone here is going crazy!”
“Kathrin, just stay calm.” Bodenstein turned away as Dr. Engel presented Lauterbach with the arrest warrant. “Where are you now?”
In the background he could hear yelling and all sorts of commotion.
“We were going to arrest J?rg Richter.” Fachinger’s voice was shaking. She was totally out of her depth in this situation, which was obviously escalating. “Went to his parents’ house, showed him the arrest warrant. And all of a sudden the father went to a drawer, took out a pistol, held it to his head and pulled the trigger! And now the mother has the pistol in her hand and is trying to prevent us from taking her son! What should I do now?”
The panic in the voice of his youngest colleague yanked Bodenstein out of his own confusion. Suddenly his brain started working again.
“Don’t do a thing, Kathrin,” he said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”