On the spot indicated by Sigart, a raspberry bush and mulberry bush were fighting for supremacy.
‘Papenberg just wanted to get away. She thought the “arsehole in the checked shirt”, as she called Estermann, was repulsive and the situation made her feel sick. Liebscher agreed with her, but said they should make sure the woman from the cabin wouldn’t report them. He was a teacher, and his principal didn’t take any nonsense when it came to disciplinary actions. He hit a sore spot with Nora by saying that, because she had just started her job at the ad agency and there was no way she wanted to risk being involved in something unpleasant. They decided that as soon as Estermann left, they would talk to Miriam and try to find a way to compensate her for the damaged mobile phone.’
A good idea, thought Beatrice. So what went so terribly wrong?
‘Estermann cursed and grumbled for a little while longer, trying to provoke Miriam, ruffling his feathers – but he was close to letting it go and leaving. “She can’t report you,” Beil kept saying to him. “She doesn’t know your name.” In one of our long conversations, he said that Miriam must have heard him. She came out of the house, pale with rage, and ran up the hill saying that she was going to fetch help from the neighbours.’
Sigart’s voice started to falter. Suddenly he looked smaller, hunched, as if he had sunk into himself. The gun was still aimed at Beatrice; he was supporting it in the crook of his left elbow, where it lay peacefully. Just one shot would be sure to reach its target.
But still. This is the first viable opportunity.
She took a breath, tensing her muscles, but Sigart’s attention snapped back to her, almost palpably. ‘No,’ he said. ‘We’re not finished yet.’
‘Of course. I know that.’
‘At the beginning, when I only had Liebscher with me and he told me how Miriam had stormed off, I wondered whether he had made it up, or at least exaggerated things. To reduce his own responsibility. But later all of them described it the same way, every one of them. I always knew it was true deep down. Miriam was like that. Always so impulsive, with no consideration for what the consequences might be. If she had calmed down and waited until they were all gone, or if she had at least not told them what she was planning to do—’
If.
If I hadn’t driven to Sigart’s alone.
If the children weren’t with my mother, if…
She hated this game. ‘Did Estermann stop her?’
A cold look swept momentarily across Sigart’s features. ‘No. He grabbed Oskar and put a thumb against his eye. He said he would push it in if Miriam didn’t come back to the cabin. The others said they pleaded with him to stop. Apparently Melanie Dalamasso started to cry, loudly – too loudly for Estermann’s taste, and he ordered her to shut her mouth, saying that she could start sewing an eye patch for the little one if she didn’t.’
An eye for an eye. Pushed in or corroded away. Beatrice’s stomach cramped up. Estermann had children himself, how could he be capable of something like that? ‘So did Miriam come back?’
‘Of course. Estermann locked all four of them in the cabin and pulled down the window shutters. Wooden shutters, painted green and white. You could pull them down from the inside, but they were secured on the outside. He sealed the whole place tight, then sat down next to the well. Beil said it was the first time he looked truly content.’
She had only seen Estermann as a corpse, that horrifically disfigured body, but now she had to actively fight against the hate welling up inside her. No, don’t let yourself be manipulated. Even though he was the one who locked them in, Estermann is still a victim along with the other three.
‘By that point, it was all too much for Papenberg. She said she was leaving, and ran off right away without paying any attention to Liebscher, who she had come with and who wasn’t as swift to react. Melanie called after her to contact the police as quickly as she could. According to Beil she was clamping her hands against her ears to block out the sound of the hammering on the wall and the children’s cries. But as soon as anyone took a step towards the cabin, Estermann positioned himself in between. “They can come out once the old bitch has learnt her lesson,” he said. And he reminded Beil that it was in his interest too to put this unpleasant event behind him without any outside interference. “Or do you think your wife will be pleased when she finds out you’ve found yourself a younger woman?” Beil told me he hadn’t thought of that. He was suddenly in just as much of a hurry to get away as Nora had been.’ Sigart looked over at the narrow path that ran above them, the path Beatrice kept glancing at in the hope that the blue light of the squad cars would make itself seen through the trees.
‘Nora had shouted out a few words of reassurance to them as she ran off, saying she would get help, and not to worry, that she would hurry. Beil took the same line, but Melanie thwarted his plans. She wanted to stay until the children were safely out of the house. And then Liebscher joined in. He had stood on the sidelines the whole time, Nora said later, as if he was in denial about what was happening. When he rejoined the others, he was clearly nervous. He tried to convince Estermann to open up the cabin, saying that there must be some sensible way of resolving the argument. In response, Estermann took the key from his trouser pocket, pulled the cache out of the well and put the key in it. Then he lowered the tin back down almost two metres.’
‘But they could have brought it back up, couldn’t they? If it was on a wire?’
‘Yes. I think Melanie would have done that if there had been enough time.’
Another ‘if’. She couldn’t bear to hear any more.
‘Liebscher was still talking to Estermann, using all his usual teacher’s tricks, but he was just running up against a brick wall. While he was talking, he lit a cigarette. He told me later at least a hundred times how much he regretted that afterwards. He was concentrating only on Estermann, he said. Beil, on the other hand, realised at once how dry the forest and surrounding area were. He tore the cigarette from Liebscher’s hand and threw it on the ground to stamp it out.’
Beatrice guessed what had happened. ‘On the spot where Miriam had emptied out the schnapps?’
‘According to what they all said, yes. When I held the glass of acid to his lips, Estermann cried out that he was completely innocent. After all, Liebscher was the one who had lit the cigarette, and Beil had caused the fire. Until the very end, he was convinced I was doing him an injustice.’
Because he hadn’t meant for that to happen, at least. Beatrice felt sick, from Sigart’s story, from her own fear, and from the images of charred and corroded corpses she was picturing in her mind. ‘My colleagues’ reports made no mention of fire accelerants. But alcohol is one.’
Sigart shrugged. ‘And that surprises you? It must be obvious to you by now that the police weren’t exactly thorough in their investigations.’
Something threatening flashed up between his words, something that applied directly to Beatrice. ‘So did none of them try to put out the fire?’ she asked hastily, trying to change the subject.
‘The well wasn’t in use any more. There wasn’t a bucket they could have drawn up. They tried to put out the flames with their jackets, but that just wasted valuable time. It must have got very hot very quickly, and the flames were so close to the well that no one dared to go after the key. Apparently Melanie tried, but Beil pulled her away with him.’