‘I believe your story. It’s just dirty enough to smell right. Naturally, Sergeant Kuhr will pay you the same compliment you paid him: that it was all your idea. But that’s the thing about three stripes and a first class hero badge. It’s generally assumed you’re not so easily led.’
‘I’m telling you the truth.’
‘Let me ask you something, corporal. Almost two weeks ago – on March thirteenth – two army telephonists from the 537th Signals Regiment were murdered near the Hotel Glinka.’
‘I heard.’
‘Their bodies were found on the riverbank. Their throats had been cut from ear to ear. With a German bayonet. A witness reported a possible suspect leaving the scene on a BMW motorcycle and heading west along the road to Vitebsk. Which might easily have taken him to Krasny Bor.’
Corporal Hermichen was nodding.
‘You can see why I’m asking,’ I said. ‘The obvious similarity between those murders and the murders of the Eltsinas.’
The corporal frowned. ‘The who?’
‘The two women who were raped and murdered. Did you forget why I’m here? Don’t tell me you don’t know their names?’
He shook his head, and then seeing the look on my face, said: ‘Does it make it worse if I don’t?’ The sarcasm in the corporal’s voice was obvious and perhaps understandable. He was right: it shouldn’t have made it worse and yet somehow it did.
‘Ever go to that brothel at the Hotel Glinka?’
‘Every enlisted man in Smolensk has been to the Hotel Glinka,’ he said.
‘What about on Saturday March thirteenth? Did you go there then?’
‘Nope.’
‘You seem very sure of that.’
‘March thirteenth was the weekend of Hitler’s visit,’ said Hermichen. ‘How could I forget? All leave was cancelled.’
‘But after he’d flown back home?’
He shook his head. ‘Needed special permission of the CO, didn’t you? Those two fellows from the 537th must have been the classroom favourites. Most fellows stayed in the barracks casino that weekend.’ He shrugged. ‘Easy enough to check my story, I’d have thought. I played cards until late.’
‘And Sergeant Kuhr?’
Hermichen shrugged. ‘Him, too.’
‘Being a sergeant, could he have slipped out without permission?’
‘Maybe. But look, even if he did, the sarge just isn’t the type to murder two of our own. Not over a whore. Not over anything. Look, he hated Jews – well, everyone hates the Jews – and he hated Ivans, but that was it. He’d have done anything for another German. He certainly wouldn’t have cut some Fritz’s throat. Kuhr may be a bastard but he’s a German bastard.’ Hermichen smiled and shook his head. ‘Oh, I can see how tempting it would be to bolt a couple of unsolved murders on the end of these ones – kind of like making a new tapeworm German word. Well, it won’t work. Take it from me, Captain Gunther, you’re carving the wrong piece of wood.’
‘Maybe,’ I said.
‘As a matter of fact, I’m certain of it.’
‘How so?’
‘Look, sir, I’m in a tight spot, I can see that now. I appreciate you trying to help me. Who knows, maybe I can help you in return. For example, maybe I can give you some information that might help you catch your murderer – the one what really killed those two army telephonists.’
‘What sort of information?’
‘Oh no. I couldn’t tell you while I’m in this place. I’d have nothing to trade if I told you what I know now.’ He shrugged. ‘You know, the way I heard it, they weren’t killed by partisans.’
‘What did you hear?.’
‘The field police like to keep a tight lid on the pickle jar in case some of the vinegar spills. The Gestapo hanged some locals just to make the Ivans think we thought they did it. Doesn’t do to let the Ivans know how easy it is to kill us. Something like that. But it wasn’t the partisans, was it?’
‘So I get you out of here and you tell me some important truth you claim you know, is that it?’
‘That’s right.’
I smiled. ‘Suppose I don’t care for the truth? Suppose all I care about is police housekeeping? After all, it suits everyone at headquarters if we can hang you both for those murders at the same time as we hang you for these new ones – it looks a lot tidier that way. Generally I don’t approve of that sort of thing, but I might make an exception in your case, corporal. Alibi or not, I bet I can make another charge of murder stick against you and your sergeant. In fact, I’m sure of it.’
‘Can you? My alibi is solid silver, sir. Lots of other men saw me that night because I played skat until about two a.m. Everyone knows I’m good at skat. I won three grand hands in a row. Almost sixty marks. The losers won’t forget that evening in a hurry. So, good luck trying to prove I was somewhere else.’
‘It’s not me who needs the good luck. Maybe I didn’t mention the gallows they’re building in the yard for after your fair trial, and the rope with your name on it.’
‘I been thinking about nothing else since you got here.’
‘What if I get you out of here and I’m disappointed? Generally speaking I don’t much like disappointment. I might find it hard to get over that. No, the best I can do for you is to plead your case to the field marshal. You have my word on it.’
‘Your word? Didn’t I already say? That isn’t good enough.’
I stood up to leave.
‘Forget it, Hermichen. I’m not selling any life insurance today. My book is full. You’re all risk, sonny. And I can’t see the profit in it.’
‘The profit ought to be obvious. You solve the case, your career advances, you draw down a bigger pay cheque, and your wife gets to buy a nicer coat. That’s how it works with you people, isn’t it?’
‘I’m not the ambitious type. My career – such as it is – went down the toilet a long time ago. My wife is dead, soldier. And I really don’t care very much who killed those two telephonists. Not any more. What’s two more dead Germans after Stalingrad?’
‘Sure you care. I can see it in your blue eyes and on your clever cop’s face. Not knowing something eats away at guys like you. Sometimes it gets to be an illness. It’s like the crossword puzzle in the paper. Solving crimes, arresting murderers – it’s the only way that bulls like you can live with yourself. Almost as if you have to show you’re better than anyone else on account of how you figured out whodunit.’
I called for the guard and he came back to unlock the door.
‘This isn’t over between you and me, copper,’ he said. ‘You know it and I know it.’ He stayed where he was and sneered some more. ‘So go ahead and walk. We both know you’ll be back.’
‘I might come back at that. Just to see you on tiptoes.’
‘Well, don’t count on any last words. Because there won’t be any. Until then, my deal is on the table. Got that? The day I’m out of here I talk.’
I shook my head and walked out and tried to laugh off Corporal Hermichen like a bad joke. Him, thinking he could make me feel dizzy. Only he was right, of course, and I hated him for it. I didn’t like it that someone – a German – had murdered those two men and thought he was probably in the clear by now. That was understandable in a place like Russia where everyone else was getting away with murder every day. And I wouldn’t have minded an Ivan doing it. After all, we were at war. Killing Germans – that was what they were supposed to do. But a German killing Germans was something else. That was uncomradely.
Outside in the prison yard they were adding some timber to strengthen the uprights of the gallows so they could hang the two NCOs side by side, like partners in crime. It was only Ivans they hanged in public; these two men were going to be hanged in private. Everyone – soldiers and citizens alike – would get to hear about it, of course. Just to ensure that everyone in Smolensk – German and Russian – behaved themselves. The Wehrmacht was thoughtful that way.