Time was ticking away and Bonhoeffer was getting fed up. On this trip he’d been beaten to a pulp by a paranoid detective, his dear goddaughter had killed herself, for which the ex-wife of his best friend held him responsible, and in the ship’s morgue his security officer, a gunshot to his head, lay in one of the refrigerated cabinets that were now compulsory on board due to the large volume of pensioners the cruise line carried. Evidently the chain of crazy incidents hadn’t yet been broken.
‘Can’t you point your weapon somewhere else?’ he barked at the man calling himself Tiago Álvarez, who’d forced Daniel back into his cabin with a revolver and made him sit at his desk, while the dark-haired Latino prowled around the suite like a caged tiger, his gun permanently aimed at the captain’s chest.
‘Okay, I’ve been sitting here now for’ – Bonhoeffer said, checking his watch – ‘at least twenty minutes and you haven’t yet told me what you’re hoping to gain from this hold-up.’
Not that Tiago hadn’t had a huge amount to say. He’d spouted forth like a waterfall, revealing himself to be as perplexed as he was frightened. Now Bonhoeffer knew that ‘purely by accident’ – whatever that meant – he’d been party to a quarrel between an officer and a chambermaid, since when he’d been on the run from that officer, who at the end of his account turned out to be Veith Jesper.
‘Are you now going to kill me like you did him?’ he asked Tiago.
‘I didn’t kill that man,’ the dark-haired Argentinian protested, making every effort to remain composed. ‘It was he who shoved the gun in my mouth.’
‘But decided against it at the last moment and instead shot a bullet through his own head?’ Bonhoeffer laughed. This was clearly a madman before him. Anouk’s kidnapper, perhaps?
He wondered whether the revolver in the man’s hands actually worked. The section behind the barrel looked as if it had burst somehow, while the trigger seemed to be missing too.
‘Did you abduct the girl?’ he asked Tiago straight out. Maybe Veith had caught him in the act. In such circumstances there was every reason to get him out of the way. But what the devil does he want from me then?
Even if you couldn’t tell a criminal’s deeds just by appearance, Bonhoeffer doubted very much that he had a perverted rapist before him. On the other hand, the man had managed to smuggle a weapon through security and presumably killed the officer with it, for whatever reason.
‘I haven’t laid a finger on anyone,’ Tiago protested. ‘I was the one about to be killed. I’m the one who needs protection.’
Bonhoeffer smiled and said, ‘Perhaps you ought to repeat what you’ve just said, but without brandishing that revolver.’
The phone rang in his pocket, but before the captain could take the call Tiago ordered him to put it on the table.
‘Listen here, I’m needed on the bridge,’ Bonhoeffer lied. ‘You don’t have much time left to tell me your demands. They’ll soon notice I’m missing.’
‘I don’t have any demands. Who do you think I am?’
A fucking awful combination, Bonhoeffer thought. Mad and armed.
Veith must have discovered Tiago’s hiding place, cabin 2186, the love nest where he’d held Anouk prisoner. Yes, that made sense – after all, the girl had been found near there.
‘Where’s the mother?’ Bonhoeffer said, venturing a direct confrontation with the man.
‘The mother?’ Tiago asked. He sounded bewildered, but that might just be acting.
‘Anouk’s mother. Is she in the blue shelf? If so, your hideaway’s been busted. My people are on their way there as we speak.’
‘What the hell are you babbling on about?’ Tiago asked. ‘I don’t know any Anouk. Only a Lisa.’
‘Lisa?’ Now Bonhoeffer was lost for words. ‘How…?’
‘Here,’ Tiago said, pulling an enveloped from his back pocket. With one hand he shook out two pieces of paper.
‘What’s that?’ Bonhoeffer asked.
‘A plan,’ Tiago said. ‘I’ve been meaning to hand it over for ages.’ He passed Bonhoeffer the first of the two pages.
The captain smoothed out the paper on the table and started to read.
Plan:
Step 1: Put security camera out of order.
According to Querky’s list Nr 23/C. Access via outside steps on deck 5.
Step 2: Put farewell note in Mama’s cabin.
Step 3: Lock cabin door and connecting door.
Bonhoeffer looked up. ‘Where did you get this?’
Tiago couldn’t cope with the captain’s stare. Clearly he found it too uncomfortable to answer, and when he finally did, Bonhoeffer finally knew why the Argentinian had been umming and erring for so long. He was a thief. A common crook specialising in the plundering of passengers’ safes. A description that fitted the troubled and distraught young man far better than that of a murderer and rapist.
‘So it’s only by accident that you came into possession of this… this…’ Bonhoeffer searched for the right words and then used Tiago’s. ‘This plan.’
Tiago nodded. He looked genuinely contrite. ‘You don’t know how much I’ve been blaming myself. If only I’d plucked up courage to tell someone earlier. But this killer, this officer…’ Tiago shook his head. ‘I was in fear of my life. I still am. Till now I’ve had no idea what I got into. Don’t know how it all hangs together. Who can assure me, for example, that it wasn’t you who set this Veith on me?’
‘Do you know what?’ Bonhoeffer said, standing up from the desk. He couldn’t care less about the revolver any more. ‘You can go fuck yourself! I don’t give a shit about you or Veith. Lisa Stiller was my goddaughter. I loved her. Her suicide is worse than any bullet you could stick in me.’
Tiago, who’d just been about to grab his revolver with two hands, froze.
‘Lisa killed herself?’ he asked, confused.
Bonhoeffer was at a total loss. ‘Is this supposed to be a joke?’ he asked, shaking the piece of paper in his hand. ‘You read the bloody plan yourself!’
‘Yes, I did.’ Tiago passed him the second sheet. ‘But it doesn’t talk about Lisa’s death!’