and never looked inviting, not even when the weather
was fair. Hamburg’s detention center stood right next to the criminal court with which it was connected by subterranean corridors. A number of conference rooms were available for consultations between pris-oners and their attorneys or with police investigators.
Lina and Max had to wait in one of those rooms for a short time
until an enforcement officer brought in Daniel Vogler. Lina looked at him with mixed feelings. He not only was a murder suspect but also
the victim of severe abuse. It wasn’t the first time Lina asked herself when the transformation had started, when the victim had become
a perpetrator, and when someone who deserved empathy had turned
into someone who brought suffering.
Daniel Vogler had been brought before a judge shortly after noon,
was transferred to the detention center, and was interrogated by their colleagues from Team 5, and all of that had left traces. His pale face showed a dark five o’clock shadow and his hair fell into his face. As on the day before, he was looking down, studying his fingernails. Nobody said anything for a long time, which left Vogler unruffled at first, but 260
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the longer the silence lasted, the more nervously his fingers began to move. But he remained silent.
Max looked at him calmly and took a deep breath. “Herr Vogler,
we just talked with a witness, with someone who saw how Philip
Birkner and some others attacked and abused you in City Park seven-
teen years ago.”
“Excuse me?” Daniel Vogler lifted his head. He sounded genuinely
surprised. “Where did you get that information?”
Max’s voice became softer. “Herr Vogler, our witness is absolutely
reliable. We know what Philip Birkner and Julia Munz did to you then, about a year before you graduated.”
Daniel Vogler frowned. “Sorry, can’t help you there. They teased
me, sure, but ‘abused’? That, I can’t remember.”
Max looked thoughtful. “You were alone; there were six of them.
It happened next to the large meadow in City Park. You really can’t
remember?”
Daniel frowned. “Oh that . . . I think I know what you’re refer-
ring to. I hate to disappoint you, but Philip didn’t rape me; he raped a friend of mine.”
Lina raised an eyebrow and Max tilted his head.
“I only listened to what was going on. My friend was in City Park
when that gang ambushed him. He had a cell phone already then;
he was one of the first. He had just called me. At one point he said,
‘Listen, Julia and Philip and their entourage are here. Can you hold on for a moment?’ He didn’t turn off the phone and so I could hear
everything.” Daniel Vogler swallowed. “There was nothing I could do.”
Lina leaned back and took a deep breath. Was it possible? Could
Björn Boysen have identified the wrong boy as the victim? It wasn’t
completely out of the question since he went to a different school and, according to his statement, didn’t even know the last name of the boy who was raped that night. But there were also the statements of Lukas and Sonja Birkner, which indirectly confirmed the doctor’s testimony.
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“What’s your friend’s name?” Max asked gently.
“Holger Thies,” Daniel Vogler said. “He died thirteen years ago of
muscular dystrophy.”
“Was he a classmate of yours?”
‘No. We both were interested in computers. That’s how we got
acquainted.”
Max nodded. “Did you later discuss the incident with your friend?”
Vogler shook his head. “No. He didn’t want to talk about it. I tried to have him go to the police, but he didn’t want that, either.”
Max nodded again. “Do you know exactly who was there that
night?”
Vogler frowned. “Philip Birkner and Julia Munz, Miriam and
Maike—I don’t know their last names—Christian Bischoff and some-
one else, a friend of Miriam’s. Holger knew him by sight only.”
“He told you that?”
It was the first time Daniel Vogler seemed uncertain. “Yes . . . No, well, I heard their voices over the phone.”
Lina tried to imagine the scene: a meadow in City Park dark-
ened by twilight, a chaotic swirl of howling, giggling, and shouting.
The cell phone. Where was it? In the grass? In the boy’s knapsack?
How good were the microphones of those first cell phones? And now
Daniel Vogler claimed he could identify voices. Lina straightened up and was about to confront Vogler with all these improbabilities, when she caught a warning glance and an almost imperceptible gesture from Max. She kept her mouth shut and instead picked up her notebook.
“All right, Herr Vogler. We have no further questions right now,”
Max said in a friendly tone and got up. Lina did the same.
Vogler just shrugged.
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On the way