Dead Woods - maria c. poets Page 0,82

the people whose addresses and telephone

numbers were found in her apartment had seen her or knew where she

might be—if one assumed they all told the truth and weren’t cover-

ing for her. The phone records had been requested and would prob-

ably arrive soon. Then they could establish whom else she had called Thursday night besides Barbara Schönbek.

After this short summary, Hanno looked at his colleagues assem-

bled around the large table in the conference room. Reiner Hartmann

from forensics and the district attorney, Brita Michaelis, had joined the regular team, so his office was too small for the meeting. Photos of the crime scene and the dead man hung on the wall behind Hanno. Next

to them were photos that had been taken of Franziska Leyhausen the

day before yesterday.

Forensics had confirmed with almost absolute certainty that both

Franziska Leyhausen and Niels Hinrichsen had been at the crime scene.

Their shoes matched tracks at the scene. Furthermore, hair from Philip Birkner had been found on Frau Leyhausen’s jacket and her slacks,

Dead Woods

even though they had been washed at least once since Thursday. There were traces of vomit, most likely from the dead man, but it would take a couple of days for forensics to get the test results. Niels Hinrichsen’s clothes were a treasure trove of traces, which they were still examining: ordinary dirt, dead skin tissue, soil, milk, food particles . . . Reiner Hartmann’s list didn’t sound very appetizing.

“And whether you believe it or not,” he said, “we even found traces

of Aaron’s rod, the plant that was replanted at the crime scene.” He reported that evidence from the weapon secured at the scene, the one with which Birkner had received two blows, though not the fatal one, was being compared to evidence related to Hinrichsen and Leyhausen.

“Did you find out anything more about the other footprints?”

Max asked. “Can you tell us who they belong to?”

Hartmann shook his head. “No, but we still cannot rule out that

in addition to the dead man there were three people at the scene of the crime.”

“And we have two of them,” Sebastian added.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” Hanno said, somewhat peeved. “One

is on the lam and the other’s in the nuthouse and can’t be approached.”

“We actually don’t know whether Franziska Leyhausen really went

underground,” Max replied. “She could have killed herself.”

“There’s no report from hospitals and no female corpses have

turned up,” Hanno replied.

Lina spoke up. “Maybe it just hasn’t been found yet. Or she’s left

Hamburg and is looking for a quiet place in the countryside.”

Nobody around the table commented.

“By the way, how’s Hinrichsen doing?” Hanno finally asked.

Max took a deep breath. “He’s still in the secure psychiatry unit

and is kept heavily sedated because he starts to scream that he wants to go home whenever he’s awake. They’re arranging for someone to

become his legal guardian. The doctors can’t understand why that

hasn’t happened before.”

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Maria C. Poets

“So our second suspect is mentally incapacitated, and no one can

get a straight answer out of him,” Hanno said with a sigh.

“Suspect or possible witness,” interjected the DA, “if Frau

Leyhausen told the truth and Birkner was still alive when she left, and if it wasn’t Hinrichsen who killed him. Just consider the tracks of the third person.”

“That’s if we assume those tracks belong to the killer,” Hanno said.

“There’s always the possibility that someone discovered the dead man, looked him over, and then took off without telling us about it.”

Brita Michaelis was checking her files. “The weapon that actually

killed him hasn’t shown up yet either, has it?” When Hanno shook his head, she made a note and continued, “So that’s what we have about

the crime scene. What about the victim’s social circle?”

Alex and Hanno looked at each other. Max looked at Lina.

“Apart from the evening in the Waldschänke that Franziska

Leyhausen spent with Philip Birkner, she really should be counted

among the very remotest of his friends, if that,” Max explained. “Her ex-boyfriend was a former employee of the dead man and she met

Birkner at least once before, at his company’s anniversary celebration.”

“And who else?”

“There’s another former employee of Birkner, Frank Jensen,”

Hanno said. “He has an alibi, though a rather flimsy one, but he does have a rather plausible motive.”

“And, of course, his partner, Katja Ansmann,” Lina said. “She has

a strong motive and a weak alibi.”

“I don’t consider it very likely, however, that she killed Birkner

herself,” Max added. “It could be that she ordered the murder.”

Brita Michaelis frowned, not convinced. Women who kill their

men, whether married or not, were a rarity. Of course, it couldn’t be completely ruled out that this