Dead Woods (17 page)

Lina nodded. “And what is your relationship with Daniel Vogler?”

Shrugging, Franziska Leyhausen said, “A few years ago we were an item for a short time, but now we’re just good friends.”

“And you met Philip Birkner through Daniel Vogler?” Lina asked.

“Yes. But ‘met him’ is saying too much. I was Daniel’s guest at the company’s fifth-anniversary party. We were a couple then,” she explained. “The party was at the Steigenberger Hotel—everything superchic and elaborate—but the employees had to drag along all their friends so the place wouldn’t look so empty. At least half of the guests had nothing to do with computers, or at least nothing with that company.” Franziska Leyhausen fell silent, seemingly remembering things from that evening.

“And that’s where your former boyfriend introduced you to Philip?” Lina asked, prodding her gently.

“Exactly. He shook my hand and we exchanged a few words, and that was it.” She grimaced. “I tried very hard for the rest of the evening not to be too bored. They had a cocktail bar and the bartender pushed an absolutely awful drink on me—probably prohibitively expensive, but absolutely gross.” She frowned. “Sorry, I’m sure that’s of no interest.”

“Do you know Frank Jensen?” Lina asked.

“Who?” The woman was frowning again.

“A colleague of Daniel Vogler, another computer scientist.”

“Oh, I know who you’re talking about. At the celebration we briefly said hello, but not more. I don’t think I’d recognize him if I ran into him on the street.”

Lina considered asking Franziska Leyhausen if she knew anything about the events leading to the bankruptcy of the software company, but decided against it. That topic had to wait. “So, let’s talk about Thursday night. You’re in the Waldschänke, Philip is sitting next to you, and you establish that you’ve met before. What happened then?”

Franziska Leyhausen closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she started to speak, she was looking at the desk in front of her. She bent forward, placed her hands between her knees, and raised her shoulders. “As long as the music was going, not much happened, other than Philip offering me a glass of wine. He offered one to Babsi, as well, of course, but she declined. She can’t tolerate alcohol.” Frau Leyhausen told Lina that when the music was over, her girlfriend left. She explained that her friend was a sick woman suffering from Crohn’s disease and never knew when her symptoms would occur. That evening something was imminent.

“I had a bad conscience for letting her drive home alone, but she assured me she’d be all right.” She was silent. “Well, she saw that I was having a good time.”

And the fun had continued. Philip ordered one glass of wine after the other and then grappa to top it off. They got on well together, at least in the beginning when they still could conduct a more or less normal conversation. But toward the end, she had been quite drunk. Franziska Leyhausen blushed and her voice got softer and softer.

“At one point we started to make out quite wildly, and then we had to go. It’s quite possible that the people at the Waldschänke threw us out. I don’t remember at all how we got out of there. Total blackout.” She was silent. “All I remember is that at one point we stood outside the joint. It was pleasantly cool and I thought a walk would do us some good—fresh air, exercise . . . I remembered this Aaron’s rod I’d found the day before and suggested a little walk. I would show him an Aaron’s rod, something he’d surely never seen before.” Lina thought of the witness who had watched the two in the parking lot and who stated the woman wanted to show Birkner “her rod.”

“Philip was totally into it,” Franziska Leyhausen said and shook her head. “We were really goofy. We kidded around, smooched, and staggered into the woods like two teenagers.” She was blushing again. “Don’t think that’s something I usually do. I know it was idiotic, but . . .”

Lina nodded sympathetically. “But sometimes one is in a mood like that,” she said.

Franziska Leyhausen looked at her and then shook her head. “I just wish I’d said good-bye to him then, or switched on my brain at least.” She took a deep breath. “So we stumbled through the woods. Even though I was quite drunk, I did find the spot with the Aaron’s rod. Philip tried to kiss me the whole way there and now he began to seriously feel me up.” She shook her head. “I’m thirty-four years old and nevertheless had imagined I could walk in the woods with a plastered man in the middle of the night, talking about the flora and fauna of middle European mixed forests.” She shook her head again. “How stupid can you be?” She was silent for a moment. “When we got to the Aaron’s rod, I showed the plant to Philip, who wasn’t interested in it at all, of course. I think he said at one point, ‘Come here, I’ll show you my rod,’ but I’m not certain. He kissed me again. He pinned me against a tree, kissed me, and pushed his hand under my jacket, under my blouse, and under my bra. I said no and pushed him away, but he simply tried again. At one point I was so angry that I rammed a knee into his balls, with full force.”

Lina didn’t look, but noticed that Alex flinched when she said that.

“At that point he started to puke and fell down. Quite a bit of it landed on my slacks.” She took a deep breath. “Man, was I furious! But at the same time it made me feel good.” She looked at Lina. “Do you understand what I mean? I mean, it wasn’t the first time I’d had an experience like that. There’s a man I like, we have a nice conversation, we share some drinks, and then, the moment we’re alone, the program starts and runs automatically. Step one: gentle kisses on the cheeks. Step two: tongue involvement. Step three: check out the boobs . . .” Franziska Leyhausen blushed and stopped talking.

“What did you do after you kneed Herr Birkner?” Lina asked quietly after a while.

“I went home. My bike was still at the Waldschänke, but I was too drunk to ride, so I pushed it the entire way. It took forever to get home. I live in Barmbek, in the Jarrestadt,” she added. That was, indeed, very far from the Niendorfer Gehege. She looked down. “When I heard on the news on Friday that Philip had been found dead in the forest, I suddenly questioned how harmless my kick had actually been. Can one die from such a thing? Sure, he was still alive when I left—I know that for sure—but . . .”

Lina looked at the woman in front of her for a long time. Franziska Leyhausen had started to cry and wiped away tears with her hand. Lina fished for a handkerchief in her desk drawer and pushed the entire package toward her.

“But he might still be alive if I hadn’t just left him alone.” She blew her nose.

“Why didn’t you come forward when you heard about it?” Lina asked.

Franziska Leyhausen shrugged. “I was afraid you’d arrest me. I was afraid you’d think I was responsible for Philip’s death.” She sobbed. “And in a way . . . I am guilty.”

The reception area of the emergency room in the university hospital at Eppendorf was very busy. Three people injured in a severe car accident had just been brought in. Doctors and nurses rushed, somehow reassuringly calm, along the corridors, and patients who—it was assumed—could tolerate a longer wait sat on plastic chairs in the waiting area. Max Berg went to the reception desk, showed his badge, and explained that he wanted to talk with the patient Niels Hinrichsen.

“You want to talk with him? Good luck with that,” the clerk said and gave him a room number. Max slowly walked along the long hallway. He was about to knock on the door, when his cell phone rang.

“Max, it’s Lina.” He went to a nearby window to talk in privacy. “The Leyhausen woman is our unknown lady from the Waldschänke. And in addition, she knows Daniel Vogler, Frank Jensen’s colleague.” She told him briefly what Franziska Leyhausen had testified to so far.

“And?” Max asked, “Are you keeping her?”

“We haven’t finished the interrogation.” Lina was silent for a moment. “Hanno wants her arraigned, but I think her story adds up. I believe her.”

“You have a strange gut reaction,” said Max.

After an irritated silence, Lina asked, “What do you mean by that?” She steeled herself.

“You have far less evidence against Katja Ansmann.” He heard her breathe in deeply and continued quickly. “Just a thought. Your gut reaction is usually on target.”

Slightly disgruntled, Lina said good-bye. Max returned to the room of a witness who, as he now knew, was also a suspect in the crime.

They had put Niels Hinrichsen in a private room. He wore one of the hospital-issued white gowns and had a huge bandage around his head where they had stitched up the wound to his temple. The man’s eyes were closed and he smelled disgusting. His mouth was moving as if he were chewing on something, and he groaned every now and then.

When Max quietly knocked on the door, Niels Hinrichsen had not responded. When Max now cleared his throat, the man turned toward him but seemed to look right through him. “Good morning,” Max said in a friendly tone. No response.

“Maybe you don’t remember me, but we met yesterday, in the forest, with Herr Barsfeld. Do you remember?” No reaction. But Niels Hinrichsen’s gaze followed Max as he pulled up a chair and sat down. Was Hinrichsen sedated?

“Some horses were on a visit in the woods, a young one and its mother.”

Hinrichsen’s eyes lit up for a second.

“You showed me the stone that a knight hit with his sword a long time ago. Do you know which one I mean? The one with the groove.”

“Yes, the knights. They fought.” The voice sounded hoarse but also strangely young, like a child’s voice. It did not match the wrinkly face with the gray beard.

Max hesitated for a moment. “You’ve also fought today, haven’t you?”

Hinrichsen turned his head away. “Done nothing wrong.”

“I didn’t say you did.” Max paused again. “Fighting isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes you have to do it.”

“The man was evil.”

Max tilted his head. “Which man?”

“The woman scolded him and clobbered him because he was so nasty.”

“Do you mean the woman with whom you fought today?”

“Didn’t fight. Not like knights. I’ve got no sword.” Niels Hinrichsen looked at his dirty hands, which contrasted with the sparkling white blanket. He seemed to ask himself for the first time where he was. He lifted his head and looked around.

“What man was the woman angry with?” Max said, trying again, but the moment had passed.

Niels was scanning his surroundings more and more frantically, as if he were trying to figure out how he had landed here. “Where’s my cap? I wanna have my cap. I need it!” He got louder, sat up, and was about to get out of bed.

“Herr Hinrichsen, you better lie down again. You’re injured. Have you forgotten?”

The man no longer seemed to notice him. He burst into tears and awkwardly fingered the clean cotton of his gown. “Where’s my jacket?” he screamed. “Who took away my jacket?” He started to shake and his lower lip protruded, like a toddler’s when he’s about to start bawling. He clumsily removed the blanket.

Max took a deep breath and exhaled slowly again. Without saying anything, he watched the man in the bed before him. Thinking of nothing, he felt himself becoming completely calm. He was breathing regularly and continued just being there and looking at the man.

Niels Hinrichsen slowly calmed down. He started to sob quietly and dropped his head. His entire gaunt, naked body was still trembling. Exhausted, he fell back on the pillows and closed his eyes. Just as Max was covering him with the blanket again, the door was flung open and an orderly and a nurse stormed in.

“What’s going on here?” the orderly asked. Startled, Niels Hinrichsen opened his eyes and suddenly began to scream at the top of his lungs. He jumped up and wildly flailed his arms. Max just barely avoided being hit. When the orderly tried to grab his arm, Hinrichsen screamed even louder, without ever articulating anything specific.

“What have you done to him?” the nurse asked irately. He just raised his hands.

“I—”

“Are you a relative?” the nurse demanded.

“No, but—”

“Then be quiet and leave at once. What in the world do you think you’re doing here?”

Another man, apparently a doctor, and another nurse hurriedly entered the room. Max was pushed aside as all four focused on Hinrichsen, who resisted with all his might and violently thrashed around. Max stood there, feeling helpless. His strength was tranquility, but there was nothing he could do against this onslaught. He saw the doctor give the raging man an injection. Hinrichsen went limp and collapsed. The screaming turned into wailing and then into desperate whining, which again reminded Max of a child. Finally he fell asleep. The sudden quiet was deafening. Everyone straightened up slowly and smoothed their clothes and hair.

“You’re still here?” said the first nurse, who, Max could now tell by reading her name tag, was actually a doctor. “What did you think you were doing? You . . .”

“That’s all right, Rita. I’ll take care of it,” the other doctor said. The nurse and the orderly disappeared quietly, while the doctor stopped for a moment in front of Max, clearly enraged, her lips pressed together, before she hurried away.

The other doctor inhaled audibly, wiped his face with a sleeve of his coat, and nodded at Max without smiling. “Dr. Schubert. I admitted the patient this morning and stitched his wound.” He was tall and had thick blond hair and blue eyes. He was pale and looked tired, as if he’d been working a longer shift than was good for him or his patients. “Are you a relative?”

Max shook his head. “No.” He introduced himself. “I’m investigating a murder. Herr Hinrichsen is an important witness.”

The physician glanced at the sleeping man. “Is he? You’ll have your hands full with him.” He yawned, covering his mouth. “Do you know whether there are relatives, or a caregiver?”

“No idea.” Max also looked at Niels Hinrichsen’s relaxed face. “What going to happen to him now?”

“He’ll sleep, first of all.” The physician checked his watch. “Until at least tomorrow morning. Then we’ll see what we can do.”

“But as far as his injuries are concerned . . .”

Dr. Schubert waved it aside. “A cut like this is a piece of cake. It bleeds like hell but is harmless as long as it’s treated and doesn’t get infected. If it were just that, he could go home today.”