Hidden Depths (13 page)

He turned the key in the ignition. It wouldn't start. ‘
Scheisse
!' he cursed.

Felix looked at Lotte, lying comatose in the back and tried the ignition again. Flat battery. ‘Stupid bloody car!' he shouted and pummelled the steering wheel.

He stopped to think about a solution. Luck had been with him previously, on the banks of Muggelsee with all three Musketeers. Had his luck deserted him? He could give Lotte a few more whacks on the head or hold her face down in the water to finish her off? But she was a female and it went against all he knew.

Felix had never hit any female before. The crack on the head he'd administered was simply to stun her and make it easier to get her into the car. He looked at Lotte. Blood from her head wound seeped onto the back seat and her body now had a strange blue hue. She looked pitiful and although Felix tried to suppress and dismiss it, he began to feel sorry for her.

What if she wasn't lying and she was pregnant? Then he'd knowingly be killing an unborn baby. He thought of Axel and how, despite the circumstances surrounding Susi's pregnancy and birth, he was glad he'd been born. Felix realised then that he could do no further damage to Lotte Holler. He'd inflicted enough pain and punishment and felt he'd got a satisfying revenge. Whether she lived or died didn't really matter any more.

Felix put on his clothes again and collected what was left of Lotte's garments from the jetty. He dressed her as best he could with the rags he'd shredded and put her thick coat over her body. The cold mist on the car windows predicted a long, hard night. He left her mobile phone beside her should she wake up, so she could phone for help.

Felix tried to start the car again, thinking about driving to a place where it would be quickly discovered, but there wasn't even a sputter from the engine. He found himself hoping she would survive the night and an early morning dog walker would discover her in the abandoned car. He then walked for about half an hour from the lake into the town of Kopenick, wondering if anyone would remember him and pass on his description to the police once Lotte was discovered.

As a precaution, he decided not to travel south in the direction of Motzen but to go north. He caught the train back to Berlin and stayed the night at one of most expensive hotels in Berlin, Hotel Adlon by the Brandenburg gate. He signed in under a false name and paid for the luxurious accommodation in cash. It cost him 200 marks, money he felt was well spent. But as he unpacked his rucksack in the privacy of his room, he realised his boat knife was missing. The only time it could have fallen out was when he was changing at the lake, which meant it would be found near Lotte's car.

Felix berated himself for his carelessness. He'd left another clue at another crime scene – his aqua shoe – but that couldn't be helped and was safely hidden in the depths of Harald's watery grave. Although he'd used gloves to handle his victims and their belongings, his boat knife had his fingerprints on it. He would have to ensure the police never got hold of his fingerprints to put in their data base files and tried to put this fear to the back of his mind.

The end of his successful quest was celebrated with a few beers in the alabaster marbled bathroom as he soaked away the chills and mental torments in a long, hot bath. He wished Martha were lying there with him and sharing the king size bed. It wasn't long before he would be with his beloved Martha, he thought, smiling, and now he could get on with the rest of his life. As for Lotte Holler, luck would decide her fate.

Part Two

Chapter Eighteen
: January 2005. Lotte Remembers

L
OTTE
H
OLLER LOOKED IN
the mirror. The last time she looked at her face, a young reflection had smiled back. Now, a woman of 41 stared at her, a woman she only half recognised. She swore. Twelve years, she said to herself, twelve years of my life wasted lying in a bed, comatose.

She steadied herself on the Zimmer frame and took a deep breath. Her muscles were still weak even though the hospital physiotherapists had massaged her regularly over the past few weeks. They had helped improve her walking skills in the specially-equipped therapy studio where she had exercised in the warm waters of the hydrotherapy pool. Tentatively, she shuffled out of the bathroom in her room towards her armchair by the window, hearing the sounds outside of children's boisterous voices resonating in the school playground below. She looked out of the window and watched these children, apparently oblivious to the cold, running about in the snow, some of them making snowballs to throw at one another. They had their whole lives in front of them, she thought, as the painful memory of losing her own baby flooded back.

‘You're not fit to be a mother!' Her assailant's words resonated in her head.

Was he right? Most children irritated her but maybe she'd have been different with her own. She'd never know now, because this option had been taken from her. How dare he, a Torgau boy, decide this for her? Lotte was full of hatred for what he'd done to her. If only she could work out his identity. She needed time to think and the children outside disturbed her with their joviality. Play quietly, she grumbled inwardly, wishing these school children were as obedient as those at Torgau. They were quiet, sombre and hardly ever playful when they were outside in the prison's exercise yards.

Lotte's thoughts drifted to Julia's diluted yet diverse summary of 12 years of world events. Gerhard Schroeder was now the German leader, following Helmut Kohl who had stepped down in 1998. The Deutschmark had disappeared, replaced by a single European currency called the Euro. Germany was the figurehead in Europe now, having sufficient fiscal strength to dominate European politics. When Julia had told her Germany had bailed Greece out of debt a few years ago, Lotte found this amusing.

‘We didn't have to invade Greece this time,' Lotte had replied. ‘We just bought it!'

Julia had continued with her news. Around the world there had been an aerial attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in September 2001 and the Towers collapsed with the world looking on. The new American President, George W. Bush, with the co-operation of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the backing of the United Nations Security Council, then went to war in Iraq for the second time within a decade under the premise that weapons of mass destruction were being manufactured there. The access to oil may have played its part but Saddam Hussein was their main target and eventually he was toppled from power.

‘Is oil any cheaper?' Lotte had asked her sister, tongue in cheek.

‘As expensive as ever,' Julia replied, with a wry smile.

‘Tell me something funny or unusual,' Lotte asked.

Julia thought for a moment. ‘Well… scientists cloned a sheep in 1997.'

Lotte shook her head in disbelief. ‘Whatever next? I don't think I've missed
too
much.'

Julia had concluded her brief update by telling Lotte that Boris Yeltsin had been replaced by Vladimir Putin but the Germans had long left the Russians in their wake since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Modern technology had led the way forward, especially the advancement of mobile phones and computers, and communication had never been easier with the invention of a world wide web of instant information.

‘Computers! I've got to learn how to use a computer?' Lotte asked.

‘I'll help you. Frank and Tomas helped me. They use them all the time in schools and colleges and we've got a laptop at home.'

Frank and Tomas: Julia's children. This was the most important news she'd been given. Julia had become pregnant not long after Lotte had fallen into a coma. Lotte would have liked to see her sister's sons grow up but now they were eleven and nine and she'd missed so much. As yet, she'd only seen photos but Lotte didn't feel she should meet them until she felt stronger.

‘Good looking boys,' Lotte had stated, looking at a photograph of her nephews.

‘I think so too. But then, I'm their Mutti,' Julia said with pride.

‘Thankfully they take after you and not Jurgen.'

‘I think Tomas takes after Jurgen, Frank's more like our side of the family.'

‘I'll be their Tante… Tante Lotte.'

‘They'll love you like I do,' Julia had assured her.

Lotte smiled at the memory of her conversation with her sister. If it wasn't for Julia, she thought, she wouldn't want to be alive.

The door opened. Half hidden behind a bunch of flowers was Julia. Lotte was now strong enough to put her arms around her sister. It touched her deeply, not only to have the strength to hold her but to be held in Julia's warm and safe embrace.

‘Not more flowers,' Lotte began. ‘Don't waste your money on flowers.'

‘The room needs a bit of colour,' said Julia.

‘You aside, I can't remember being shown such kindness,' Lotte began. ‘In here, I'm treated like royalty. I'm wondering if it's a case of mistaken identity and they think I'm Princess Diana in disguise.'

‘Princess Diana died in a car crash about eight years ago,' Julia said.

‘That's tragic,' exclaimed Lotte.

‘London was full of flowers for her. It was very sad. I took the boys to London a few years ago,' Julia replied.

‘You did?'

Julia nodded. ‘When Jurgen and I separated, we needed to get away. The boys and I had our first holiday in years and we went on the train, through the Tunnel.'

‘The Tunnel?'

‘The Channel Tunnel between England and France. It opened about ten years ago. You can take a train direct from Paris to London. We went from Berlin to Paris, had a few days there and went on to London. The boys loved it and so did I.'

Lotte took her sister's hand. ‘I'm glad you had a holiday. I hope you had lots of holidays in the last 12 years because if you'd never had a break from visiting me, I'd feel you were trapped in this room just as much as I was.'

‘I never left you for long, I couldn't. I know this sounds strange but I knew, I had no doubt at all, that you'd wake up one day.'

‘Must be all those candles you lit for me.'

‘Who told you that?' Julia enquired.

‘Never you mind who told me!' Lotte exclaimed. ‘I'm just sorry you had to wait so long.'

‘Can you remember any more details about what happened that night?' Julia asked.

‘I get flashes,' Lotte began. ‘I get so angry when I think about it. A Torgau boy took my life away from me. All those stolen years.'

Julia squeezed her sister's hand. ‘I hate him too, but you know what goes through my mind? He wanted to kill you but at the last moment he changed his mind and dressed you to keep you warm until the dog walker found you the next morning.'

‘Well, he obviously wasn't normal, attacking me in the first place. If he was here in the room with me, I'd know his voice and remember the athletic way he moved,' Lotte recalled suddenly. ‘He insisted I dance for him and got quite a kick out of it. I remember he charged at me like a bull.'

‘You've got to tell the police all this,' Julia urged. ‘With modern forensics and psychology they can catch criminals for past crimes from all sorts of clues.'

Lotte was fearful. ‘No! They'll rake up the past. What's done is done.'

‘Oh, Lotte, don't be so silly. You're not on trial just because you worked at some youth prison in East Germany. It was attempted murder. He tried to kill you! And if he told you he'd killed before then he's a serial killer and has to be caught.'

‘OK, OK, I'll talk to the police,' Lotte conceded. ‘I don't suppose I'll find peace of mind until he's brought to justice.'

‘Good. I'll pop out and speak to Jonas – I mean Dr Roth,' said Julia, trying to conceal her feelings for her sister's doctor. ‘I won't be long.'

Jonas Roth was in his office. The door was ajar and he sat up when Julia popped her head around the corner. ‘Frau Kessler. Do come in and take a seat.'

Julia sat down. ‘My sister is finally willing to talk to the police.'

Jonas smiled. ‘Good. Well, then, I'll arrange things.'

‘Thank you. I don't think this is going to be easy and I'm afraid the press will make life very difficult for me and my family. I've seen reporters sniffing around at the hospital entrance, asking if it's true about the Lady of the Lake waking up.'

‘Frau Kessler, my staff are sworn to secrecy.'

‘I trust you but when all this gets out, it'll be all over the news.'

‘I understand your concerns but I think it's the right thing to do. All this can't stay a secret for too long. Lotte's a victim and the criminal must be caught, or at least the police given the information that will give them a chance to catch him.'

Julia nodded. ‘You're right. My sister's a victim and she needs to tell her story.'

Chapter Nineteen
: The Psychologist

H
ANNE
D
RAIS PUSHED HER
hand through her short, cropped fair hair. The style gave her a fresh, impish look for a woman of 36. She stretched out her long arms, releasing the tension in her back. She thought about getting out of her trouser suit – her usual choice of work clothes – and back into her preferred casual wear of jeans or jog pants, sweatshirt and T-shirt. She was looking forward to doing her back exercises once she got home, it usually did the trick after a long day at work. She had just decided to call it a day and head home when there was a knock on her office door.

A whiff of cigar smoke blew into the room heralding the appearance of Detective Chief Inspector Oskar Kruger, who popped his head around the door. ‘You off?' her boss asked.

‘Just about, Audrey will be home from school soon and she's cooking me dinner,' Hanne replied.

Kruger smiled. He had a rugged, lived-in face for a man approaching 50 and a greying stubble to hide the pockmarks of youth. The white shirt that his wife of 30 years had pressed for him that morning looked crumpled.

‘Drais, give your daughter a call and tell her to have a meal waiting for you in the next hour or so. I need you for about half an hour, tops.'

Hanne looked at her daughter's photo on her desk. ‘I feel like a bad mother. I hardly ever cook for Audrey.'

‘She wants to be a chef like her father, doesn't she?' Kruger stated.

Hanne nodded. ‘Her father lets her help out in the restaurant where he works, but she's 16 in a few months. You've got kids, you know they change their minds all the time.'

‘Can't remember, my kids left home years ago,' Kruger said. ‘You're not much of a cook anyway.'

‘That's true. I'll text her, she hates me calling when she's with her friends,' Hanne said, picking up her mobile phone. ‘So, what can't wait?'

‘I've just been assigned a new case. You're going to love this one. You remember the “Lady of the Lake” assault, back in 1992? I just got a call to reopen the case. She's woken up! Fucking miracle, eh, Drais?'

‘Good God!'

‘The family are keen not to create a media circus but you know the press, they'll have a field day once we release an official statement. The “Lady” in question, Lotte Holler, woke up on New Year's Eve. She's all there mentally and it's as if nothing has happened. She's been having intensive physiotherapy and psychotherapy at St Engel's hospital in Templehof to cope with her new life.'

‘So you're opening the cold case file and opening a new investigation?'

‘Damn right we are, Drais. The doctor we're liaising with said Lotte Holler heard loud music – some song the nurses were playing – and woke up, freaking out at the music.'

Hanne was curious. ‘What was the song?'

Kruger looked at his notes and laughed as he read aloud. ‘God, I hate opera. It was the Toreador song from the opera Carmen.'

Hanne ventured. ‘This music must have great significance or trauma attachment deep in her psyche.'

‘Well, you're the criminal psychologist, you should know.'

‘Has she got any family?'

‘A sister. Apparently she's devoted to Lotte.'

Hanne's mobile chimed and she read her daughter's text. ‘I'll need to talk to both sisters. Let me have the doctor's contact details and get me a copy of the cold case file and I'll do a preliminary profile of the assailant,' she said. ‘OK, I'm out of here… Audrey's cooking won't wait.'

Hanne took her bicycle from the police yard and set off through the snowy Berlin streets along the city's cycle paths adjacent to the gritted roads. She was into keeping fit. When she had turned 30, she'd decided the years of smoking, not enough exercise and fast food were taking their toll on her tall, lean frame. Her new fitness regime coincided with the break up of her long-term relationship with her girlfriend, Claudia. In the past, Hanne had lacked energy and vitality but when she turned to yoga, walking, swimming and cycling it gave her a new lease of life. She fitted her new fitness regime around Audrey and juggled them both with her work as a criminal psychologist.

Neu Kolln was about half an hour cycle from police HQ. It was one of the most run-down areas in Berlin but rents were cheap and this made it fashionable for artists who had moved into the area. The gay community was at its largest here alongside neighbouring Kreuzberg as well as being home to Berlin's largest Turkish quarter and a wonderful array of Turkish food and delights.

Hanne had lived in this area since the fall of the Wall, when many buildings were empty and abandoned, squatting with groups of political females whilst attending Berlin's prestigious Humboldt University. As a young and socially conscious woman, similar to the rest of the group who married men without papers to assist their entry into Germany, Hanne wed a short, dark and handsome Chilean refugee called Rafael Solares but kept her own name.

At this point in her life Hanne was discovering her sexuality and when Rafael moved in with her at the squat they put up a united but false front as ‘husband' and ‘wife' for the authorities. A brief fling produced Audrey, and then Hanne met Claudia and fell in love. Rafael continued to see his daughter on a regular basis and after three years and an amicable divorce, met his future wife, a German woman his own height. This time he married for love. Once Hanne received her psychology degree she began her police training and moved with Claudia, who worked as a nurse, and baby Audrey, into a three-bedroom flat over looking the River Spree.

Three years ago, though, Claudia had moved out, ending their 13-year relationship. She quickly met a new girlfriend and moved in with her, keeping in touch with Hanne intermittently, more for Audrey's sake than her own. Hanne was devastated at the split and Audrey had mourned the loss of her second mother.

Hanne arrived home to the smell of ginger and spring onions wafting through the flat. Audrey was in the kitchen. A much shorter version of Hanne, she took her height from her father's side, although mother and daughter were similar facially. Both had fair hair but Audrey had exotic hazel eyes in contrast to Hanne's blue ones.

Audrey was a fashion-conscious, self-assured and independent teenager who knew her own mind. Sometimes she seemed more grown up than her mother, possibly because of Hanne's estranged relations with her own mother, Traudl. Though Hanne had a degree in criminal psychology, it was easier to work out other people and their motives than fathom her own relationships. Audrey understood her mother's complex personality and they got on reasonably well, both playing to each other's strengths and nurturing one another.

Hanne greeted her daughter with a kiss. ‘Something smells good.'

‘It's chicken in spring onion and ginger sauce, with coconut rice.'

‘Fab!' Hanne said with enthusiasm. ‘Did you have a good day in school?'

‘I've got a new maths teacher, Herr Lankwitz. He seems friendly enough.'

‘Being friendly with the students isn't always a good thing. Is he a good teacher?'

Audrey shrugged her shoulders. ‘Dunno. He's offering after-school maths classes.'

‘Sounds as if he wants to make a good impression for his head teacher. I think you should go.'

‘Mutti! Are you saying I'm rubbish at maths?'

‘Audrey Solares Drais, your maths is about as good as my cooking!'

Later that evening mother and daughter sat on the sofa, nestled close to one another after watching
Wallander
, one of their favourite programmes, when Audrey brought up the touchy subject of Claudia.

‘Claudia phoned today,' Audrey began, watching her mother's face showing signs of discomfort. ‘She's got a spare ticket for the Banda Aceh relief concert at the Olympic stadium next week. Every German band or singer you can think of, past and present, will be there and Claudia wondered if I'd like to go.'

Hanne sat up. ‘Really? Then you must go.'

‘Mutti,' Audrey began. ‘I know you still like her but it has been three years. Claudia has moved on.'

Hanne sighed. ‘Easier said than done. I wanted to be with Claudia for the rest of my life, then one day she woke up, took a look at me and didn't like what she saw. Said she didn't love me, said she'd made a mistake. How do you think that felt after 13 years? How can I ever trust anyone else again?'

Audrey delivered some tough love. ‘You've got to! Mutti, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Claudia hurt me too by leaving.'

‘Well, you're obviously better at forgiving than me,' Hanne said.

‘I'm not as stubborn as you or Oma. You two won't forgive each other for past mistakes and I have to tiptoe around the pair of you whenever we get together.'

Hanne laughed. ‘My mother and I enjoy arguing!'

‘I know it's easy for me to say but there's plenty of people out there who've been hurt yet still go looking for love. Why can't you?'

‘Hey! Who's the adult here?'

‘I wonder that myself,' Audrey said, pouting her mouth in mock disapproval at her mother. ‘Mutti, when was the last time you went on a date?'

‘Cheeky! I had a few dates last year but it's all too much bother. I've got you, a few friends, my work and I'm into keeping fit,' Hanne told her.

‘I won't always be here, living with you. I don't want you to be lonely.'

Hanne put her arms around Audrey. ‘Thank you, sweetheart, you've a wise head on young shoulders, but don't worry about me. If you must know, my friend Karin has arranged a blind date for me next weekend. A group of us are going to see “Kill Bill, Two” at the cinema, followed by a meal.'

Audrey's face lit up. ‘That's great.'

‘Her name is Brigitte, and I'm probably not her type.'

‘Mutti, you're beautiful. Promise me you'll leave Claudia's ghost well hidden before you meet Brigitte,' Audrey told her mother. ‘Even if she's not your type, give her a chance – she could grow on you. Now, I'm off to bed. Don't sit and wallow too long.'

Audrey kissed and hugged her mother goodnight. Hanne thought how lucky she was to have such a lovely daughter: bright, sensitive, and full of insight. And feisty, just like all the women in the Drais family.

Hanne went into the kitchen and started on the pile of washing up. Covering the walls were framed collages of photos from various stages of Hanne's and Audrey's lives. She perused the photos, trying not to be over sentimental and her attention was drawn to the photo taken on the night the Berlin wall came down. Hanne called this her ‘banana' photo. Four people in a time capsule: Audrey, her beautiful baby, a younger, punky version of Claudia, herself – and the boy in the photo, holding a banana, wasn't he called Jens? He was a funny little thing, she remembered, with his wig and scarred ears. ‘I wonder what happened to him?' she asked herself.