Fabel still did not look enlightened, so Elisabeth Marksen picked up the thread.
‘We all think we are detached from our history, but it has been discovered that we aren’t. There is a small town in northern Sweden called Overkalix. It is a very prosperous community and the quality of life and the standard of living are very high. Yet local doctors noticed that the population tended to develop health problems that were normally only ever associated with malnutrition. There were two other factors that also made Overkalix distinctive. Firstly, it lies north of the Arctic Circle and has been relatively isolated for all of its history, meaning that the population today tends to be descended from the same families that were there one hundred or two hundred years ago. Secondly, Overkalix is unusual in the detail of its church and civic records. They record not just births and deaths, but the causes of death as well as good and bad harvests. The town became the focus of a major research project and the results showed that a century to a century and a half ago the town, which relied on agriculture, suffered several famines. Many died as a result, but among the survivors an even greater number suffered malnutrition-related medical conditions. By using contemporary medical records and comparing them to the historical ones, it became clear that the descendants of famine victims were exhibiting exactly the same health problems, although they and their parents had never gone hungry in their lives. It was proof that we were wrong to think that we pass on only those chromosomes and genes that we are born with, complete and unaltered, to our children. The fact is that what we experience, the environmental factors that surround us, can have a direct effect on our descendants.’
‘Incredible. And this theory is based exclusively on this one Swedish town?’
‘Only to start with. The research net was cast wider and a range of other examples have been found. The descendants of Holocaust survivors have proved to be susceptible to stress- and trauma-related conditions. One, two, three generations on, they are suffering the post-trauma stress symptoms of an event they did not themselves experience. To begin with this was dismissed as the result of their parents or grandparents relating details of their experiences, but it was found that the same stress indicators, including elevated cortisol in the saliva, were to be found in descendants who had not been exposed to first-hand accounts from Holocaust survivors.’
‘I still don’t understand how it works,’ said Fabel. ‘How is this passed from one generation to the next?’
‘It depends on gender. In males the transgenerational response is sperm-mediated, in females it lies in foetal programming.’
Again, Fabel looked bemused.
‘These environmental and experiential factors that pass on are specifically those experienced by prepubescent and pubescent boys and by female foetuses in the womb. Basically the “data”, for want of a better word, is stored in the sperm that is formed in puberty. Girls are born with all their ova, so the crucial time for them is while the female is in the womb. What the expectant mother experiences during pregnancy or before is passed to the foetus which then stores the genetic memory in the forming ova.’
‘Amazing. And this is what Herr Dr Griebel was researching?’ asked Fabel.
‘There are a great many researchers working in this field worldwide. Epigenetics has become a major and growing field of exploration. You probably remember the great hopes that we all had for the Human Genome Project. It was believed that we could track down the gene for every disease and condition, but we were disappointed. An unimaginable amount of money, resources and computer time has been devoted to mapping the human genome only to find that it was not, after all, that complicated. The complexity lies in all the combinations and permutations within the genome. Epigenetics may provide the key we’ve been looking for. Herr Dr Griebel was one of only a handful of scientists worldwide leading the way in understanding the mechanisms of genetic transference.’
Fabel sat for a moment considering what the two scientists had told him. They waited patiently, birdlike Kahlberg behind the thick screens of his spectacles, Marksen with her flushed face empty of expression, as if understanding that it took time for a layman to process the information. Fabel found the information fascinating, but it seemed useless to his inquiry. What motive could Griebel’s killer have found in the man’s work?
‘Professor von Halen said something about Dr Griebel having pet projects that he indulged him with,’ he said eventually.
Kahlberg and Marksen exchanged a knowing look.
‘If the commercial application is not immediately apparent,’ said Kahlberg, ‘then Herr Professor von Halen sees it as a diversion. The truth is that Dr Griebel was looking into the wider field of genetic inheritance. Specifically the possibility of inherited memory. Not just on the chromosomatic level, but actual memory passed from one generation to the next.’
‘Surely that’s not possible?’
‘There is evidence for it in other species. We know that in rats, for example, a danger learned by one generation is avoided by the next
… we just don’t understand the mechanism behind that inherited awareness. Dr Griebel used to say that “instinct” was the most unscientific of scientific concepts. He claimed that we do things “instinctively” because we have inherited the memory of a required survival behaviour. Like the way a human baby makes a walking movement within minutes of birth, yet has to relearn the ability to walk nearly a year later – an instinct we learned somewhere in our distant genetic past, when we lived out on the savannah and immobility was potentially fatal. Dr Griebel was fascinated by the subject. Obsessed, almost.’
‘Do you believe in inherited memory yourself?’
Kahlberg nodded. ‘I believe it is perfectly possible. Probable, even. But, as I said, it’s just that we don’t understand the mechanics of it yet. The full science is yet to be done.’
Elisabeth Marksen smiled bleakly. ‘And, without Dr Griebel, it will have to wait longer to be done.’
‘You get anything?’ Werner asked when Fabel phoned him on his cellphone from the car park of the Institute.
‘Nothing. Griebel’s work has no bearing on his death, as far as I can see. Anything there?’
‘As a matter of fact, Anna has something. She’ll explain when you get back. And Kriminaldirektor van Heiden wants you and Maria to report to him this afternoon, at three.’
Fabel frowned. ‘He asked specifically for Maria too?’
‘Very specifically.’
11.45 a.m.: Police Presidium, Hamburg
Anna Wolff knocked on Fabel’s office door and entered without being asked. Fabel always made a conscious effort not to notice how attractive Anna was, but her skin shone in the morning light from his office window and the red lipstick emphasised the fullness of her mouth. She looked young and fresh and energetic and Fabel found himself resenting her youth and her insolent sexuality.
‘What have you got?’
‘I reinterviewed Sebastian Lang, Hauser’s friend… the one who found Kristina Dreyer cleaning up the murder scene. It would appear that he and Hauser were far from setting up house together. According to Lang the relationship faltered because of Hauser’s predatory promiscuousness. Apparently he was fond of casual encounters, whether he was in a relationship or not. And he liked them young. Lang really didn’t want to talk about it. I think he was afraid that his jealousy would be seen as a potential motive, but his alibi for the time of Hauser’s death seems tight.’
Fabel processed the information for a moment. ‘So it could be that it does have something to do with Hauser being gay. In which case, we should be looking more closely at Griebel’s sexuality. Where did Hauser pick up his casual encounters?’