The restaurant above the Opel Zoo was crowded. The place was dark, warm, and loud, just the way Pia liked it, and she and Christoph were sitting at a table right by the front window. At the moment Pia was no longer hearing in her mind what the people from the zoning office had said, nor was she seeing the lights of Kronberg or the glittering skyline of Frankfurt in the distance. She could smell the enticing aroma of the perfectly grilled filet mignon on her plate, but her stomach seemed to be tied in knots.
She had driven straight home from the hospital and stuffed all her clothes in the washing machine. Then took such a long shower that she used up all the hot water, but she still felt dirty. Pia was used to corpses, but not to watching someone die right before her eyes. Especially not a man she knew, with whom she’d been talking only a minute before, and for whom she had felt a deep sympathy. She shuddered.
“Would you rather go home?” Christoph asked at that moment. The concern in his brown eyes nearly caused Pia to lose her self-control. Suddenly she was fighting back tears. Where could Tobias be? She hoped he hadn’t done anything to harm himself.
“No, it’s all right.” She forced herself to smile, but the sight of the juicy steak on the plate before her made her nauseous. She shoved the plate away. “I’m sorry I’m not better company today. I just can’t help blaming myself.”
“I know. But what else could you have done?” Christoph leaned forward, reached out his hand, and touched her cheek. “You said yourself that everything happened incredibly fast.”
“Yes, of course. It’s bullshit. I couldn’t have done anything, not a thing. But still…” She heaved a big sigh. “In moments like that I hate my job with all of my heart.”
“Come on, sweetie. We’ll go home, open a bottle of red wine, and…”
The ring of Pia’s phone cut him off. She was on call.
“Whatever was coming after ‘and’ interests me a lot.” Pia grinned feebly, and Christoph raised his eyebrows meaningfully. She grabbed her cell and took the call.
“A Tobias Sartorius called in an emergency seven minutes ago,” the dispatcher from the operations center told her. “He’s in the admin building of the Terlinden company in Altenhain and he says that a Dr. Lauterbach is there. I’ve already sent a patrol car—”
“Oh shit,” Pia interrupted her colleague. Her thoughts were racing. What was Daniela Lauterbach doing with Claudius Terlinden? Why was Tobias there? Did he want to take revenge? Without a doubt Tobias was a ticking time bomb after all he’d been through. She jumped up. “Radio the guys right away. And for God’s sake tell them not to go in with flashing lights and sirens. Tell them to wait for me and Bodenstein!”
“What happened?” asked Christoph. Pia explained it to him in a few words as she punched Bodenstein’s number into her cell. To her relief she reached him only seconds later. In the meantime Christoph signaled the restaurant owner, who knew him well since he was the director of the neighboring zoo. He promised to come by later and pay the bill.
“I’ll drive you,” he said to Pia. “It’ll take me three seconds to get our jackets.”
She nodded, went out front, and waited impatiently, staring at the snowstorm. Why had Tobias called in an emergency? Had something happened to him? She hoped they wouldn’t be too late.
* * *
“Damn,” Tobias whispered in helpless fury. Claudius Terlinden and Daniela Lauterbach had left the office. Loaded down with luggage and briefcases they were walking down the hall to the elevator. What could he do to stop them? How long would it take the cops to get here? Damn, damn! He turned to Amelie, who was peeking out from under the desk.
“Stay here,” he said in a voice rough with tension.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to get them involved in a conversation to stall for time until the police get here.”
“No, please don’t do that, Tobi!” Amelie slipped out from her hiding place. In the faint glow from the exterior lights her eyes looked huge. “Please, Tobi, let them go. I’m scared.”
“I can’t just let them take off after everything they’ve done. You have to understand that,” he replied vehemently. “Stay here, Amelie. Promise me that.”
She crossed her arms and nodded. He took a deep breath and put his hand on the door handle.
“Tobi!”
“Yes?”
She went over to him and touched her palm to his face.
“Be careful,” she whispered. A tear rolled down her cheek. Tobias stared at her. For a fraction of a second he was tempted to take her in his arms, kiss her, and simply stay with her. But then the fierce wish for revenge, which was what had brought him here, took precedence. He couldn’t let Terlinden and Lauterbach escape.
“I’ll be right back,” he murmured. Before he could have second thoughts he stepped out into the hall and took off running. The elevator was already on the way down, so he tore open the fire door and dashed down the stairs, taking three or four steps at a time. He reached the lobby at the very moment they were getting out of the elevator.
“Stop!” he shouted, and his voice echoed through the lobby. As if stunned they both spun around and stared at him in disbelief. Terlinden dropped his suitcase. Tobias was shaking all over. Although he would have liked to hurl himself at them, he had to control himself and stay calm.
“Tobias!” Claudius Terlinden was the first to recover. “I … I’m terribly sorry about what happened. Really, you have to believe me, I didn’t mean to—”
“Shut up!” Tobias screamed, fixing his eyes on them as he slowly moved in a semicircle. “I’m not going to listen to any more of your shitty lies. You’re to blame for everything. You and this … this devious bitch.”
He pointed his finger accusingly at Daniela Lauterbach.
“The two of you have always pretended to be so understanding, but you knew the truth all along. And you let me go to prison. And now you’re probably trying to make your escape, right? But there’s no chance in hell I’m going to let that happen. I’ve already called the police, and they’ll be here any minute.”
He saw the quick look that Terlinden and Lauterbach exchanged.
“I’m going to tell you everything that I know about you. And it’s a lot, believe me. My father is dead so he can’t be a witness anymore, but I know what you did in 1997.”
“Now just calm down,” said Daniela Lauterbach, giving him the friendly smile that always fooled people. “What exactly are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your first husband.” Tobias came closer and stood right in front of her. Her cold brown eyes bored into his. “About Wilhelm, Uncle Willi, Claudius’s older brother, and what he put in his will.”
“I see.” Daniela Lauterbach kept smiling at him. “And why do you think the police would be interested in any of this?”
“Because it wasn’t his real will,” said Tobias. “Dr. Fuchsberger gave the real one to my father after Claudius got him drunk and promised him a hundred thousand marks.”
The smile on Daniela Lauterbach’s face froze.
“Your first husband was deathly ill, but he wasn’t happy about the fact that you’d cheated on him with his brother Claudius, so he changed his will two weeks before he died. He disinherited both of you. Instead he stipulated that the daughter of his chauffeur would be his sole heir, because shortly before his death he found out that Claudius had gotten her pregnant in May 1976. And that on his orders you made her abort the child.”
“Did your father tell you this nonsense?” Claudius Terlinden broke in.
“No.” Tobias didn’t take his eyes off Daniela Lauterbach. “He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. Dr. Fuchsberger gave my father the will and he was supposed to destroy it, but he never did. He kept it hidden in his safe, until today.”
Now he looked at Claudius Terlinden.
“That’s why you made sure my father stayed in Altenhain, isn’t it? Because he knew everything. Actually the company doesn’t belong to you, or the villa either. And Dr. Lauterbach would never have inherited her house or all the money from her first husband. According to the will, it all belongs to the daughter of Wilhelm Terlinden’s former chauffeur, Kurt Cramer…” Tobias snorted. “Unfortunately, my father never could bring himself to tell anyone about the real will. It’s a shame, really.”
“Yes, what a shame,” said Daniela Lauterbach. “But that gives me an idea.”
Terlinden and Dr. Lauterbach were standing with their backs to the stairwell and couldn’t see Amelie, who had come into the lobby, but they did notice that Tobias’s attention was distracted for a moment. Daniela Lauterbach grabbed the box that Terlinden had stuck under his arm, and Tobias suddenly found himself looking into the barrel of a gun.
“I’d almost forgotten about that dreadful evening, until you reminded me of it. You remember, Claudius, the way Wilhelm suddenly stood in the doorway of the bedroom, holding this very pistol and aiming at us?” She smiled at Tobias. “Thank you for giving me the idea, you little idiot.”
Without hesitating another second, Daniela Lauterbach fired the gun. An ear-splitting boom shattered the silence. Tobias felt a violent jolt and then his chest seemed about to explode. In disbelief he stared at the doctor, who had already turned away. He heard Amelie desperately calling his name in a shrill voice. He wanted to speak but couldn’t get any air, and his legs gave way. Tobias Sartorius hit the granite floor but didn’t feel it. Everything around him was black and deathly still.
* * *
They were discussing how to get onto the hermetically sealed grounds of the Terlinden factory when from the other side of the gate a dark limousine approached with its high beams on. The gate slid silently to the side.
“There he is!” shouted Pia, motioning to her colleagues. Claudius Terlinden, behind the wheel of the Mercedes, had to brake abruptly as two patrol cars suddenly blocked his way.
“He’s alone in the car,” said Bodenstein. Pia stepped up next to him, her weapon drawn, and motioned to Terlinden to roll down the window. Two uniformed officers lent weight to her demand as they took up position on the other side of the car, weapons at the ready.
“What do you want from me?” Terlinden asked. He was sitting stock still, his hands gripping the steering wheel. Despite the cold, his face glistened with sweat.
“Step out of the vehicle, open all the doors and the trunk,” Bodenstein ordered. “Where is Tobias Sartorius?”
“How should I know?”
“And where is Dr. Lauterbach? Now get the hell out!”
Terlinden didn’t move. Naked panic showed in his wide-open eyes.
“He’s not getting out,” said a voice from inside the car behind tinted windows. Bodenstein leaned forward and saw Daniela Lauterbach in the back seat. She was holding a gun pressed to the back of Terlinden’s neck.
“Now clear the road at once, or I’ll shoot this man,” she threatened. Bodenstein began to sweat. He had no doubt that Daniela Lauterbach would do as she said. The woman had a gun in her hand and nothing left to lose—an extremely dangerous combination. The doors of the Mercedes had automatically locked by the time the car reached the gate, so neither Bodenstein nor the officers on the other side could have yanked open the doors to overpower the doctor.
“I think she means it,” Terlinden whispered tensely. His lower lip was quivering, and he was obviously in a state of shock. Bodenstein was frantically considering the options. There was not much chance they could escape. In this weather even an S-Class Mercedes couldn’t do more than seventy-five miles an hour with snow tires.
“I’ll let you go,” he said at last. “But first tell me where Tobias is.”
“Probably with his daddy in heaven,” replied Daniela Lauterbach with a cold laugh.
* * *