When they entered the Homicide office, Reinhold Gräf was at the duty officer’s desk reading the evening paper. Behind him a young officer Charly didn’t recognise sat brooding over files.
Gräf put his paper aside and stood up. ‘Charly,’ he said, and cast her companion an inquisitive glance.
‘Paul Wittkamp,’ she said. ‘Gereon’s old school friend from Cologne – Reinhold Gräf, Gereon Rath’s colleague and partner.’
The men shook hands.
‘Delighted to meet you,’ Gräf said. ‘Partner isn’t quite right though. Böhm broke us up, and for the time being Gennat hasn’t done anything to change it.’
‘Then you don’t have any idea where he could be?’
Gräf shrugged apologetically. ‘He isn’t in his office anyway. I just telephoned, but there was no one there.’
‘Do you still have a key?’
‘Do you think he’s fallen asleep over a mountain of files?’
Charly laughed. ‘I’d be very surprised, but you never know.’
Gräf went to the hatstand and rummaged in his coat pocket until a key ring jangled in his hand.
‘Here,’ he said. ‘Should I come with you?’
‘Not necessary. I still know my way around.’
The office was locked. ‘He even has his name on the door,’ Paul said appreciatively. ‘I never knew Gereon was so important.’
Entering, Charly turned on the light. The secretary’s desk was tidy in a makeshift way. She went straight into Gereon’s office and Paul followed. One desk was a gaping void; the other was submerged in chaos.
‘Let me guess where Gereon sits,’ Paul said.
Charly looked at the desk. On top of the desk pad was a piece of paper with a note written in pencil. It was an address. Sandwerder had to be down by the Wannsee. A name was circled several times.
She tried to remember, hadn’t Gereon mentioned the name recently?
‘You hold the fort in case he turns up,’ she said to Paul and took the note from the desk. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’
Gräf was surprised that she was back so soon.
‘Are there any ongoing investigations in which the name Marquard features?’ she asked.
Gräf shook his head.
‘Marquard?’ The man at the desk sat up and took notice. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘I don’t know.’ She displayed the note. ‘From Gereon…Inspector Rath. Perhaps it means something.’
‘Show it here. Ah,’ he stammered and stretched out a hand. ‘Lange’s the name, Andreas Lange.’
‘Ritter, Charlotte Ritter.’
‘I know,’ Lange said and blushed. He looked at the note and opened a folder. ‘I knew it! Wolfgang Marquard is the owner of the film distribution company Lichtburg. The address is identical to his private residence.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I don’t know if I can say.’
‘Come on, Andreas! Charly’s a colleague. Just on a temporary sabbatical.’
‘So: Lichtburg is one of the four companies that had keys to the cinemas in which we found the bodies of two dead actresses…’
‘Had keys?’
‘Supposedly they were recalled when the cinemas were forced to close, but you never know, perhaps they weren’t all returned. Besides, you can copy keys like that easily enough.’
Charly nodded thoughtfully. ‘That was how you limited the circle of people who could have planted the actresses.’
‘Correct. There are hardly any other clues.’ Lange looked at the note again. ‘I’m surprised Inspector Rath came across this name; as far as I know he’s investigating the Winter murder.’
‘If we assume that Gereon wasn’t working on your list of keys,’ Charly said, ‘it can mean only one thing. He came across the same name while investigating another lead.’
‘Yangtao,’ Lange said.
‘Pardon me?’ Charly asked.
‘It’s here on the note. Above the address.’
‘What does it mean?’
‘Some crazy idea of Gereon’s,’ Gräf explained. ‘Yangtao is a kind of Chinese fruit. That’s why he spent half of yesterday traipsing around the Chinese quarter.’
‘Why?’
‘This Chinese fruit was in Winter’s stomach and Fastré’s fruit bowl.’ Gräf shook his head. ‘Coincidence if you ask me. The Winter case doesn’t have the slightest thing to do with the cinema killings.’
‘Who knows?’ Charly shrugged. ‘Is there really no connection there? What about this Oppenberg who also appears in both cases?’
‘Coincidence.’
‘Do you know where Manfred Oppenberg received the news of Vivian Franck’s death?’
The two CID officers looked at her curiously.
‘In Wolfgang Marquard’s villa,’ she said. ‘Isn’t that rather a lot of coincidences?’
‘You think Oppenberg is the cinema killer?’
‘Or Wolfgang Marquard. Or someone they both know. No idea. At any rate, something isn’t right and Gereon has smelled a rat.’
‘I don’t think he’s gone out there. He didn’t say anything to anyone. Surely you’d take someone with you.’
‘Who knows? If he thought it wasn’t dangerous because he didn’t know the name Marquard had cropped up as part of the cinema killer investigation… Was he familiar with the list, Herr Lange?’
Lange shook his head. ‘No. He can’t have been. The list was here the whole time.’
‘Holy shit,’ Charly cried inadvertently.
‘Are you saying that Gereon Rath has unwittingly stumbled upon the trail of the cinema killer?’