‘So he couldn’t have killed anybody…’
‘That’s why we have him under surveillance.’
‘As if it makes any difference to you if a man like Red Hugo is taken out of circulation…’
‘Or Rudi the Rat…’
‘Leave that idiot out of this. Now, what have you found?’
Rath told Marlow what he knew. As far as possible, he had pieced together Red Hugo’s movements on the day of his disappearance. It appeared that after leaving his house, Hugo Lenz had eaten lunch in Amor-Diele, where he had received a number of fresh complaints about the Nordpiraten. They had destroyed a kiosk whose owner paid protection to Berolina since time immemorial; thrown a cocaine dealer out of a nightclub on Berolina’s patch; and put two bookkeepers in hospital. Rath had made contact with all four men. Apparently Red Hugo had assured each one in turn that the Pirates would soon be eating humble pie, and that all wrongs would be set right in a matter of days. Then he had given his driver and bodyguard the rest of the day off and headed to a meeting alone. Marlow’s people had found Lenz’s red-black Horch on Stralauer Allee, just by the Osthafen.
‘Do you have any idea what he might have been doing there?’ Rath asked. Marlow shook his head. ‘When did you last see him yourself?’
Marlow took a cigar from a case on his desk and snipped off its end, a gesture that appeared threatening somehow. ‘Last week,’ he said, exhaling little clouds of cigar smoke into the room. ‘At the hospital. We were visiting one of our men. Kettler. You know, the one the Pirates crippled.’
‘You visited a minor drug-dealer in person?’
‘People need to know they’re being looked after. Otherwise they succumb to the promises of the Prussian Police.’
‘Which hospital and when?’
‘Last Friday. In Friedrichshain. We don’t see each other too often. Mostly we talk on the telephone.’
‘So when was the last time you spoke to him?’
‘Monday morning. Before he left.’
‘Did you know of his plans for the day?’
‘Only that we were due to meet in Amor-Diele that evening. Krehmann’s back room is Hugo’s study, so to speak. Mine too sometimes.’
‘What was the meeting about?’
‘Is that relevant?’
Rath shrugged. ‘I won’t know until I find him.’
‘It was about the Nordpiraten. Countermeasures we could take without triggering all-out war. To regain respect for Berolina, and yours truly as well.’ Marlow balanced the ash of his cigar, and let it drop into the tray. ‘Lenz was optimistic that morning. He seemed to have a plan. Unfortunately he vanished before he could tell me what it was.’
‘Could this plan have something to do with Rudi Höller’s disappearance? Could Lenz have eliminated him before going underground?’
Marlow shook his head. ‘I’d know about that. I’m afraid Hugo’s plan had something to do with his own disappearance.’
‘Because the Pirates got wind of it, and got to him first…’
‘That would be the most obvious explanation, but I don’t buy it. It would mean the Pirates declaring war on Berolina.’
‘Is that so unlikely?’
‘It would suggest that either the Pirates are unbelievably stupid or…’ Marlow paused thoughtfully, ‘…that they have an ace up their sleeve which I know nothing about.’
‘What kind of ace?’
‘It’s your job to find out. Perhaps it’s this American gangster, or someone in uniform.’
‘A police officer? What makes you think that?’
Marlow pushed a button under the desk and a door opened, granting Rath a fleeting glimpse into the artists’ dressing room – or whatever it was called in Venuskeller. At any rate it was the room where the girls got changed, which, in most cases, meant getting undressed. The blonde who emerged wore only a white bathrobe and glittering tiara. She seemed to have been waiting for this moment, and made quite an entrance, her light bathrobe fluttering elegantly to reveal tantalising glimpses of her body. Rath was stunned into silence.
‘Christine, this is the inspector I was telling you about.’ He gestured towards the leather chair.
Christine’s cheeky Berlin-girl face gazed at Rath so provocatively that he felt a tingling sensation between his legs. Perhaps it was also because leaning over to stretch out her hand, she just happened to display her breasts. Rath tried to think of something else, before finally alighting on the flabby arms of Frau Lennartz, the caretaker’s wife at Luisenufer, as she wrung out a cleaning rag over a metal bucket filled with dirty water.
‘A pleasure,’ he said, standing up and taking her hand.
‘So I see,’ Christine replied.
Rath sank back in his chair.
The girl sat on the desk and crossed her legs so that the bathrobe no longer concealed any part of them. Without asking she fiddled a cigarette out of the case on the desk and lit up.
‘You haven’t been here for a long time, Inspector,’ Marlow said, clearly amused. ‘Christine has been our main attraction for half a year now.’
Rath reached for his whisky. Liang had topped him up again. ‘How well do you know Hugo Lenz?’ he asked.
The main attraction drew on her cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke into the room. ‘Better than you could stand, believe me.’
‘Oh, I do. When did you last see him?’
‘Sunday evening. In Amor-Diele. In his office.’
‘You mean the back room…’
‘His office.’
‘What did you do there?’
‘Any number of things. Stay for a moment and I’ll give you a taste on stage.’
‘No need to go into detail.’ Rath cleared his throat. Christine seemed to enjoy discovering how Catholic he was. ‘What I would like to know is, did you notice anything about him? Did you talk about anything that could be linked to his disappearance?’
‘He always talked a blue streak. Afterwards.’ She cast him a glance that ought to have been made illegal. ‘There is something that might interest you – he didn’t talk about it explicitly, but he was pretty euphoric. He thought he’d found a way of sewing the Pirates crosswise.’
‘Go on.’
‘That was all he was prepared to say while he still hadn’t discussed it with his boss.’ She glanced at Marlow.
‘Do you have any idea what it could have been?’
‘Maybe what I’ve already told the boss: that Hugo had met a police officer of whom he expected certain things.’
Marlow shook his head gruffly. ‘I always told the idiot to leave that sort of thing to me.’
‘Was Lenz planning to meet this police officer on Monday?’ Rath asked.
‘I’ve no idea what he had planned that day.’
Rath turned back to Marlow, a move Christine met with an insulted expression. ‘Have you already been to his flat?’ he asked.
‘Of course, but if we’d found him, you wouldn’t be here.’
‘Clearly you didn’t find him, but perhaps some leads, a few clues…’
‘Inspector, we’re not police officers.’ Marlow’s gaze was almost reproachful. He gave the girl a nod and she disappeared back into the dressing room. Marlow waited until the door was closed. ‘I can give you the keys. As long as you promise to forget that you’re a policeman.’
‘I can be very forgetful.’
‘You seem tired,’ Marlow said.
‘I have a lot on my plate.’
Dr M. must have given Liang a sign. The Chinese stood next to Rath’s chair, and opened a silver jar containing white powder.
‘Might I offer your something?’ Marlow asked. ‘Guaranteed to perk you up.’