Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(32)
“Well, just think how it must be for Manfred and Andrea to see their daughter’s murderer walking down the street!”
Amelie began drying the wet glasses, polishing them carefully.
“What happened anyway?” she asked casually, but her boss needed no urging, since she was in a mood to gab.
“Tobi was going steady with Laura first, then with Stefanie. They were both new in Altenhain. It was the day of the village fair when they disappeared. The whole town had gathered in the big tent. I was fourteen then and thought it was great that I was allowed to stay out all evening. Honestly, I didn’t even notice what happened. Not until the next morning when the police showed up with dogs and a helicopter and everything else. That’s when I realized that Laura and Stefanie had disappeared.”
“I never would have thought something that exciting could happen in a dump like Altenhain,” said Amelie.
“It was exciting, all right,” said Jenny, staring pensively at the cigarette smoldering between her sausage-like fingers. “But afterwards nothing was ever the same in this town. Everything came to an end. Tobi’s father ran the Golden Rooster. There was something going on there every night, much more than here. They still had a gigantic hall, and at carnival it got pretty wild. The Black Horse didn’t even exist back then. My husband used to work as a cook at the Golden Rooster.”
She fell silent, abandoning herself to her memories. Amelie shoved over an ashtray.
“I do know that the police questioned J?rg and his friends for hours,” Jenny suddenly went on. “Nobody knew a thing. And then someone said that Tobi had killed the two girls. The cops had found Laura’s blood in Tobi’s car and Stefanie’s things under his bed. And the tire iron that Stefanie had been beaten with was found in Sartorius’s cesspool.”
“How awful. Did you know Laura and Stefanie?”
“I knew Laura. She was in the clique with my brother Felix, Micha, Tobi, Nathalie, and Lars.”
“Nathalie? Lars?”
“Lars Terlinden. And Nathalie Unger has become a famous actress. Today they call her Nadia von Bredow. Maybe you’ve seen her on TV.” Jenny stared into the distance. “They both turned out to be successful. Lars must have a super job at some bank by now. Nobody knows what exactly he does. He left Altenhain. Yes, I’ve always dreamed of the big wide world. But usually things don’t turn out the way you expect…”
It was hard for Amelie to imagine her chronically ill-tempered fat boss as a happy fourteen-year-old girl. Was that why she was often so mean? Because she’d had to stay in this dump of a town, with three eternally moaning little kids and a husband who contemptuously called her “Micheline” in front of everybody, referring to her rotund shape?
“And Stefanie?” asked Amelie, as Jenny threatened to sink back into her memories. “What was she like?”
“Hmm.” Jenny stared contemplatively into space. “She was beautiful. White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony.”
She looked at Amelie. Her bright eyes with the blond lashes looked like a pig’s.
“You look a little bit like her.” It didn’t sound like a compliment.
“Really?” Amelie stopped what she was doing.
“Stefanie was of a whole different caliber from the other girls in the village,” Jenny went on. “When she moved here with her parents, Tobi fell for her right away and broke up with Laura.” Jenny gave a scornful snort. “So my brother saw his chance. The boys were all crazy about Laura. She was really pretty. But really bitchy too. She got mad as hell when Stefanie was chosen Queen of the Fair and not her.”
“So why did the Schneebergers move away?”
“Would you stay in a town where something so awful happened to your child? They stayed here for about three months, then one day they were gone.”
“Hmm. And Tobi? What kind of boy was he?”
“Oh, all the girls were in love with him. Me too.” Jenny smiled sadly at the memories of those days, when she was still young and full of dreams. “He was handsome and simply … cool. And yet not conceited like the other guys. If they were going to the swimming pool, he didn’t mind if I tagged along. The others would all moan about what a little nuisance I was, telling me to stay home. No, Tobi was really sweet. And smart too. Everybody thought he would do something great someday. Yep. And then this. But alcohol changes people. When Tobi had something to drink, he wasn’t himself anymore…”
The door opened and two men came in. Jenny quickly put out her cigarette. Amelie cleared away the washed glasses and then went over to the customers and handed them menus. On the way back she grabbed the daily paper off one of the tables. It was open to the local section and she quickly scanned the page. The police were searching for the man who had pushed Tobias’s mother off the bridge.
“Oh shit,” Amelie muttered, and her eyes grew wide. Even though the photo was of poor quality, she recognized the man at once.
* * *
Bodenstein had been dreading the moment when he would have to face Cosima. He sat in his office and pondered the dilemma until it couldn’t be put off any longer. She was upstairs in the bathroom when he came home, lying in the tub, to judge by the splashing he heard. Feeling at a loss, he was standing in the kitchen when he noticed her purse hanging over the back of a chair. Never in his life had Bodenstein searched through his wife’s purse. Nor would he consider snooping through her desk—because he had always trusted her and assumed that she wouldn’t try to hide anything from him. But now things were different.