JF04 - The Carnival Master (42 page)

She had been surprised to find a metal spoon in the bowl. When she finished the stew she licked it
clean and rubbed it against the stone floor next to the camp bed. After a minute or two she ran her thumb along the edge of the spoon: yes, she could sharpen it; create a weapon. She picked at the stitching of the mattress and concealed the spoon inside. She pulled the blanket over her eyes as a shield against the perpetual light from the neon strip. She couldn’t sleep. Her head buzzed as she conceived, elaborated and then rejected one plan of escape after another. She might not be fed again that day, but that was the only opportunity for escape. Even when she was fully fit she would have been no match for The Nose. She would have to take him by surprise and kill him quickly. If she worked at sharpening the edge of that spoon, she could maybe have a go at slashing the artery in his neck. She would have only one chance.

The door opened. Maria feigned sleep beneath the blanket. She heard the sound of heavy boots approaching. There would be no surprise attack now. It would need at least another day of preparation, of sharpening the spoon into a killing edge. The blanket was ripped from her head. She turned, blinking, to look up at The Nose who had collected her food bowl. He held out his hand, moving his fingers in a ‘give me’ gesture. Maria frowned as if confused. He repeated the gesture and she shrugged. The Nose sighed wearily, put the bowl back down and unholstered his heavy automatic. He snapped back the carriage, clicked off the safety and rammed the barrel of the gun into Maria’s cheek. He then repeated the ‘give me’ gesture with his free hand. Maria reached into the pocket she had fashioned in the mattress and removed the spoon. She handed it to The Nose
with a cynical grin, which he returned, simultaneously slashing her across the forehead with the barrel of his automatic.

Maria glared defiant hate at The Nose, focusing on staying conscious and feeling the blood from the gash on her forehead trickle down the side of her face. Neither of them were in any doubt that she wanted to kill him, but The Nose simply gazed back at her impassively before turning and leaving with the bowl and the spoon. After he left, the light went out. Maria remembered there was a switch just outside the door. She was grateful for the sudden total darkness. She could sleep without cowering beneath the stinking blanket. She lay back in the pitch black and vowed not to touch the wound on her head.

Something was happening to her. It was as if the pain was shaping her resolve, sharpening her mind. She felt new clarity, a new purity of thought. Mortification of the flesh, they called it. The pain became like a background noise: the further she placed herself from it the more dislocated from her physical being she would become. Maria focused all her energy on her thoughts. There had to be a way out of this.

‘You know Oliver Lüdeke?’

‘Yes …’ Andrea looked into the air as if seeing into the past. She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe it. Lüdeke. You’re sure?’

‘Yes,’ said Tansu. ‘There’s no doubt about it. How did you know him?’

‘We were medical students together.’ Andrea crossed
her legs and the hem of her skirt rode up a little. Fabel noticed that a few centimetres of the top of her thigh were exposed above her stocking, the skin tanned dark over a ripple of muscle.

‘Where are you going tonight?’ he asked. ‘I mean, if it’s an important appointment, then we could come back later, or even tomorrow.’ Fabel used the word ‘appointment’ just as she had. Not ‘date’. Not ‘meeting with friends’.

‘No, it’s fine. I’ve explained that I’ll be delayed.’ She turned back to Tansu. ‘When I say we were medical students together, I mean he was a couple of years ahead of me. But we all knew him. He was a bit of a heart-throb for a few of the female students.’

‘You too?’ asked Fabel.

Andrea fixed him with her hard, masculine stare. ‘I suppose. I was like that back then. Soft. But he never seemed to notice me. I can’t believe that he …’ Her expression hardened even more. ‘The bastard. Leave me alone with him for half an hour and I’ll save you all a lot of time and trouble. Why? Why did he do that to me?’

‘It would appear that Lüdeke is a very sick individual,’ said Fabel. ‘You’re probably not his only victim, and some of the others didn’t survive. But it looks like we’re going to have some difficulty proving that.’

‘But if we can convict him of the attack on you,’ said Tansu, ‘then we’ll be able to put him away for a long time. Hopefully long enough to build a case against him for the murders.’

‘Are you prepared to give evidence against him?’ asked Fabel.

‘Of course I am.’

‘It’s just that it may be an ordeal for you. In court, I mean.’

Andrea laughed bitterly. ‘Do you think that that shit can scare me now? I’ll look forward to facing him across a courtroom and telling everybody exactly what he did to me.’

‘Good …’ Fabel paused for a moment. ‘You say you knew him by sight. As a student, I mean.’

‘Yes.’

‘But you didn’t recognise him that night?’

‘No – he was all made up. As a clown.’

‘I have to ask this,’ said Fabel. ‘There’s no way Lüdeke is going to be able to claim consensual sex, is there? I mean, if you knew him and had a thing for him.’

‘Are you mad?’ A vein throbbed visibly in Andrea’s neck. ‘He nearly killed me. Didn’t you see the state he left me in?’

‘Listen, Frau Sandow …’ Fabel made his tone as conciliatory as possible. ‘You have to trust me when I say I know exactly how sick and perverted this creep is. But I just need to know if things had maybe started off consensual and then got out of hand. It’s an angle his defence may take.’

‘No. I was at that party that I told you about. When I came out there was a clown in the street. He seemed to just stare at me, not moving. I started to walk home, then I realised he was following me. I ran and he ran after me. I thought I’d lost him in the crowd, then he appeared out of nowhere at the church. St Ursula’s. Then he raped me, beat me, then raped me again. All the time he had his tie pulled tight around my neck, half strangling me.’

‘And he bit you?’

‘Over and over again.’

‘We’ve got the forensic photographs of the bites,’ said Fabel. ‘We’ll get a match from an impression of his teeth. Trust me, Frau Sandow, he’s going to prison for a long time.’

‘I would never have thought of him. I thought it was a stranger. Some psychopath who happened to pick on me.’ Andrea looked as if she was lost in her memories, then she became galvanised as a thought hit her. ‘Maybe he was at the party! When I was questioned, they asked me for the names of all the men there but I couldn’t give them many. I mean it was Karneval and everybody was in disguise. You know, fancy dress and stuff. So he could have been there. I know they questioned all the male students in my year.’

‘It was a medical student party?’ asked Tansu.

‘Mainly. But not exclusively. Tell me, will he be released pending trial?’

‘Not if we can help it,’ said Fabel.

‘Don’t worry, Andrea,’ said Tansu. ‘We’ll keep him away from you.’

‘I’m not worried,’ said Andrea, again with the hard, male stare. ‘Like I said, it’s he who should worry if we were ever to come across each other again.’

On the way back to Tansu’s car, Fabel looked back at Andrea’s apartment building as if he could read an answer from it.

‘What’s up?’ asked Tansu.

‘Did you see the way Andrea was dressed?’

‘She looked like she was going out on a date. To be honest, without the muscle behind it I would have called that outfit almost tarty. What about it?’

‘That’s it,’ said Fabel. ‘She looked as if she was
dressed for a date but she kept on talking about an appointment. Like it was business. I have the weirdest idea … Don’t laugh, but I think our musclewoman moonlights. As a hooker.’

The world had gone mad by the time Fabel walked into the Cologne Police Presidium. Today was Women’s Karneval Day and even the security officers were wearing fancy dress. In the Murder Commission, Benni Scholz was sitting behind his desk wearing full uniform – except, Fabel noticed, it was a female officer’s uniform.

‘Now, Principal Chief Commissar Fabel,’ said Scholz in warning. ‘Don’t start getting ideas …’

Tansu Bakrac came in wearing an all-in-one catsuit, complete with fluffy ears and painted-on whiskers. Fabel found himself noticing her curves. Kris Feilke was dressed as a Wild West sheriff. The rest of the officers were similarly attired, including – rather inappropriately, thought Fabel – several dressed as clowns.

‘I must say, Jan,’ said Tansu in mock reproach, ‘you could have made an effort.’

The truth was that Fabel did feel rather out of place without a fancy-dress outfit. Instead, he was dressed in his usual Jaeger sports jacket, black roll-neck and chinos. At least he’d remembered not to wear a tie.

The team assembled in Scholz’s office.

‘Okay,’ Scholz said, summoning as much seriousness as his outfit would allow. ‘All of you are on duty until midnight, after which we’re all going to the pub where we’re going to show our Hamburg colleague here what a real party is like. Until then, however, I want you to stick to the routes you’ve been allocated and keep your eyes peeled. The Karneval Cannibal has always struck before midnight on Women’s Karneval Night. Of course, we have our number one suspect banged up and if we make it until midnight without incident, then it proves we’ve got the right man.’

Scholz spent a further ten minutes confirming which teams were covering which routes and repeating his order that no one was to touch a drop until they got the all-clear from him.

‘You sure you want to take the duty you’ve asked for?’ Scholz asked Fabel afterwards. ‘I could put a uniformed unit on that.’

‘No … all I ask is that I can borrow Tansu for her local knowledge,’ said Fabel.

‘So long as that’s all you borrow her for,’ said Scholz and nudged Tansu. ‘She looks pretty sexy in that cat outfit.’ For a moment Fabel couldn’t think of a response and there was an awkward silence. ‘Anyway, keep in touch,’ said Scholz. ‘If you need anything just shout. I hope to God we’ve got the right guy, Jan. Women’s Karneval Night is insane – it’s the first big event of the climax of Karneval. There’s a dozen processions throughout the city, along with more parties than you can shake a stick at. From tonight until Rose Monday the city will be crazy. Not the ideal conditions for catching a psycho on the loose.’

‘Everything points to Lüdeke,’ said Fabel. ‘The cannibal fetish, the necktie used to strangle the victims, the violent aggression towards women …’

‘Why do I get the feeling that you’re not convinced?’ Scholz frowned.

‘There’s clearly a link between his attack on Vera Reinartz and the killings. It’s just that something’s missing. Why rape one victim and none of the others?’ Fabel sighed. ‘Forget it, I’m just overthinking things. I’m sure Lüdeke’s our guy.’

‘So am I,’ said Scholz. He winced and pulled at his skirt. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to adjust my tights before I hit the streets.’

Tansu parked across the street from Andrea’s apartment.

‘You still think this is necessary?’ asked Tansu.

‘Just a feeling I’ve got. If we keep an eye on her for Women’s Karneval Night I’ll feel a lot happier.’

‘Well, I suppose it won’t do any harm and we’ve got a party to go to afterwards. I think we’ll feel like celebrating.’

The street began to fill with revellers moving from party to party. Fabel was glad to have Tansu’s protection as he noticed bands of gaudily clad women roaming the street. He felt strange to still be in his own country yet have everything around him seem so foreign.

‘You find this all a bit much, don’t you?’ Tansu read his thoughts.

‘No … well, yes.’ Fabel laughed. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘Well, you’re not a
Jeck
, you’re not even an
Imi
. It takes getting used to.’ Tansu read the confusion on Fabel’s face. ‘It’s
Kölsch
dialect. A
Jeck
is someone
born in Cologne. A true Cologner. That would be me or Benni. There’s an expression in
Kölsch
that defines what it is to be a Cologner:
Mer sinn all jet jeck, äver jede Jeck es anders
… it means that all Jecks are crazy but each in his own way. An
Imi
is someone who lives in Cologne but was born somewhere else in Germany or abroad – like Andrea up there.’

‘So what am I?’ asked Fabel with a smile.

‘You’re a
Jass
, a guest.’

A group of women came down the street, singing loudly in
Kölsch
. Fabel had heard the song before but couldn’t place it. They passed the car noisily and stopped at the corner of the street where they ritually accosted a group of young men.

‘This is nothing, by the way,’ said Tansu. ‘Wait until Rose Monday. That’ll really confuse you. Nothing is what it seems and nobody is who you think they are. For example the whole of Karneval is headed up by the Three Stars … there’s the
Prinz Karneval
, the Master of the Carnival who’s addressed as His Craziness, the
Kölsch
Peasant and the
Kölsch
Virgin. And, of course, the Virgin is always a man in drag.’

Fabel laughed. ‘I’ve noticed you’re big on that down here. I thought Benni looked less than virginal.’ He looked up at Andrea’s apartment. The blinds were up and the lights were on. ‘That’s one person who’s not going to get into the spirit of things tonight. No matter what she’s done to herself physically or her aggressive attitude, Andrea Sandow is still Vera Reinartz. A broken individual.’ Fabel’s gaze fell back to the street.

‘What is it?’ asked Tansu.

‘Over there … that man.’ Fabel nodded in the
direction of a figure standing across the street from Andrea’s apartment. He too was looking up at the lit window and was all the more conspicuous because of his lack of any Karneval attire. ‘I’ve seen him before.’

‘Yes, you have,’ said Tansu. ‘That’s Ansgar Hoeffer. He’s the chef at the Speisekammer. He was hanging around outside the café when we first talked to Andrea. Now this is more than a coincidence.’