Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(84)

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Detective Superintendent Kai Ostermann felt discouraged. He had to admit that the coded writing in Amelie’s diary was an insoluble riddle to him. At first he’d thought it would be easy to decipher the hieroglyphics, but now he was about to give up. He simply couldn’t see any system. Obviously she had used different symbols for the same letters, which made it almost impossible to crack the code. Behnke came in the door.

“Well?” Ostermann asked. Bodenstein had assigned Behnke to question Claudius Terlinden, who had been sitting in one of the detention cells since that morning.

“Refuses to say a word, that arrogant bastard.” In frustration Behnke sat down heavily on the chair behind his desk and clasped his hands behind his head. “It’s easy enough for the boss to say that I’m supposed to pin something on this guy—but what? I tried to provoke him, I was friendly, I threatened him—but he just sits there and smiles. What I’d really like to do is punch him in the mouth.”

“That probably wouldn’t do any good.” Ostermann sent his colleague a quick look. That got Behnke’s hackles up.

“You don’t have to remind me that I’m up shit creek!” he yelled, pounding his fist so hard on the desk that the keyboard jumped. “I’m starting to think the old man wants to harass me so much that I’ll quit!”

“That’s bullshit. Besides, he didn’t tell you to nail him. He just said to soften him up a little.”

“Precisely. Then he’ll waltz in here with his crown princess and make it look easy!” Behnke was red in the face with rage. “All I ever get to do is the shit work.”

Ostermann almost felt sorry for Behnke. He’d known him since the police academy; they’d done patrols together and both had joined the Special Assignment Unit until Ostermann lost his lower leg during a deployment. Behnke had stayed in the SAU a couple more years, then he was transferred to the criminal police in Frankfurt and landed right in K-11, in the very top echelon of the police hierarchy. He was a good cop. Or had been. Later, when everything went south in his private life, his work also suffered. Behnke rested his head in his hands and fell into a listless brooding.

Then the door flew open. Kathrin Fachinger marched in, her cheeks glowing with anger.

“Tell me, have you completely lost it?” she snapped at her colleague. “You leave me alone with that guy and just take off! What’s the deal here?”

“You always think you can do better than me, anyway!” Behnke said sarcastically. Ostermann was looking back and forth between the two combatants.

“We had a strategy,” Fachinger reminded her colleagues. “And then you just roar off. But just imagine, he did talk to me.” Her voice took on a triumphant undertone.

“Oh, that’s just great! Why don’t you run to the boss and tell him, you crazy bitch!”

“What did you say?” Fachinger loomed up before him, her hands on her hips.

“Crazy bitch is what I said!” Behnke repeated loudly. “And I’ll make it even plainer: You’re an ambushing, egotistical little bitch! You snitched on me, and I’m never going to forget it!”

“Frank!” Ostermann shouted, getting up.

“Are you threatening me?” Fachinger wasn’t about to let herself be intimidated. She gave a contemptuous laugh. “I’m not afraid of you, you … you blowhard! All you know how to do is talk big and let everyone else do the work! No wonder your wife left you. Who’d want to be married to somebody like you?”

Behnke had turned beet red. He clenched his fists.

“People!” Ostermann admonished them anxiously. “Just cool it!”

It was too late. Behnke’s long bottled up rage at his younger colleague went off like an explosion. He jumped up, knocked over his chair, and gave Fachinger a strong shove. She crashed against the cabinet, and her glasses flew onto the floor. Behnke deliberately stomped on them, crunching the shattered glass under the heel of his shoe. Kathrin got to her feet.

“Well,” she said with a cold grin. “That’s it for you, my dear colleague.”

Behnke totally flipped out. Before Ostermann could stop him, he threw himself at Kathrin and punched her in the face. Reflexively her knee shot up and hit him in the balls. With a stifled moan of pain Behnke hit the floor. At that moment the door opened, and Bodenstein appeared in the doorway. His gaze shifted from Fachinger to Behnke.

“Can somebody please tell me what’s going on here?” he asked, his voice carefully controlled.

“He attacked me and knocked my glasses off,” said Kathrin Fachinger, pointing at the mangled glasses frames. “I was just defending myself.”

“Is that true?” Bodenstein looked at Ostermann, who raised his hands helplessly and, after a brief glance at his colleague huddled on the floor, nodded.

“Okay,” said Bodenstein. “I’ve had enough of this kindergarten. Behnke, get up.”

Frank Behnke obeyed. His face was contorted with pain and hatred. He opened his mouth, but Bodenstein didn’t let him speak.

“I thought you understood what Dr. Engel and I told you,” he said icily. “You’re suspended, effective immediately.”

Behnke stared at him mutely, then went to his desk and grabbed his jacket hanging over the back of the chair.