Wolfgang Marquard looked at Gereon Rath as if he had seen a ghost. Gereon Rath, who was swaying in the door, with sweat on his forehead and a bottle in his hand, a monument to drinkers everywhere.
He turned towards Rath to cover him, and Paul seized the advantage. He made straight for the hand holding the gun and knocked it with a clatter to the floor, where it slid across the gleaming parquet towards the fireplace.
What did Gereon do? He gave Charly a blissful smile, as if she were everything he wanted from this life, and doubled up like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
What had they done to him? She had no time to think about that now. Paul and Marquard were rolling in front of her on the floor, dangerously close to the fire, each trying to gain the upper hand or get hold of the pistol. At one point it looked as if Paul had managed, but Marquard was strong and resisted stoutly. All the while Kirie danced round the two men barking.
Charly hated physical violence, but she had to intervene or things would come to a sticky end. She approached the tangle of arms and legs, waited until Wolfgang Marquard turned his face towards her and kicked as hard as she could.
Marquard threw his head backwards and stayed down, while Paul looked at her gratefully.
She ran to Gereon, whom Kirie was already sniffing and licking. It looked bad. There was sweat on his forehead, his skin was deathly pale and his pulse was alarmingly weak. She patted his cheeks, spoke to him and finally shouted and slapped him, but Gereon refused to stir.
She ran through the patio door into the dark garden, put the whistle to her lips, tried to orient herself in the direction of the road and blew, kept on running and blowing, running and blowing until, by the time she reached the gate, a group of uniformed officers came marching towards her. Pistols drawn, they stormed in the direction of the house.
‘We need a doctor,’ she cried and noticed how, for the first time that evening, she was on the verge of losing control. ‘Quickly, a doctor!’
Just then a shot rang out from inside.