Mind's Eye (6 page)

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“Because…because I didn’t do it.”

“You mean that you didn’t kill her because you didn’t kill her?”

Mitter allowed himself a couple of extra seconds’ thinking time before replying. Then he said, calm and restrained, “No, I
know
I didn’t kill her, because I didn’t kill her. Just as I’m sure that you
know
you are not wearing frilly knickers today, because you aren’t. Not today.”

The gallery exploded. Ferrati sat down. Havel hammered away at his desk. Rüger shook his head, while Mitter stood upright in the dock and then bowed modestly to acknowledge the applause.

Now he was in an excellent mood, albeit dying for a cigarette. Nevertheless, his next comment came as a surprise to himself, not to mention everybody else.

“I admit everything!” he yelled. “Provided somebody gives me a cigarette!”

When Judge Havel was eventually able to make himself heard, he announced, “The court will adjourn for twenty minutes! The prosecuting and defending attorneys will report to my room immediately!”

And with a resounding blow of his gavel, he concluded the proceedings for the time being.

12

“Excuse me.”

Van Veeteren elbowed aside two reporters and forced his way into the telephone kiosk. Slammed the door shut so as not to hear the curses and protests…Who did they think they were? Surely the police took precedence over the press?

While he was waiting for a reply he observed the grotesque face glaring at him from the shiny surface above the telephone. It was a few seconds before it dawned on him that he was looking at his own reflection. There was something unusual about it, evidently, and it took him a few more seconds to realize what it was.

He was smiling.

The corners of his mouth were raised to form a generous curve and gave his face an expression suggesting a touch of lunacy.

Like a posturing male gorilla, he thought glumly, but that didn’t help much. The smile stayed in place, and deep down inside himself he began to feel vibrations, a sort of muffled purring, and he realized that all this must combine to form an expression of satisfaction. Warm and grateful satisfaction.

He couldn’t recall having experienced anything funnier; not since the former chief of police ran over his wife on a pedestrian crossing, in any case. The image of the prosecuting attorney, Ferrati, in frilly knickers was something he could hide in the innermost recesses of his mind, to be dug out whenever it suited him for the rest of his life. Ponder over it, and enjoy it.

Not to mention the sheer pleasure to be derived from entering Ferrati’s office on Monday mornings and saying:

“Hi there! What color are your knickers today, then?”

It was priceless. As he stood there glowering at the gorilla, it struck him that his present state was something reminiscent of a kind of happiness.

Measured by his own standards, at least.

It didn’t last long, more’s the pity; but at least it was real.

However, the problem at the moment was Münster. The badminton match scheduled for noon would have to be postponed. Van Veeteren would have to blame his foot.

“It’s this damned awful weather. I don’t think it feels stable enough yet. I’m sorry, but it’s just not on.”

Münster understood. No problem. He could take on PC Nelde instead. The chief inspector didn’t need to worry.

Worry? Van Veeteren thought. Why the hell should I worry? Who does he think he is?

But then he turned his mind to the real reason.

The fact was that he had no desire to leave the courtroom for the sports hall. Not yet.

Mitter.

This damned Mitter.

Those vibrations were starting up again, but he suppressed them. Anyway, this case. He had come here this morning because he didn’t feel like starting on anything new. An arsonist was lying in wait on his desk, he knew that; and if there was anything he hated, it was arsonists.

He had thought he would hang around for an hour or so. Just to see how the schoolteacher coped with being in the dock, and with Ferrati. He wouldn’t stay very long—he would just fill in an hour or two before it was time for badminton and lunch.

But now he was hooked. Couldn’t bring himself to leave. Not yet. It wasn’t the line about Ferrati’s knickers that compelled him to stay, despite the fact that on grounds of pure courtesy he’d have been prepared to hang around for hours simply to have had the privilege of being there at that moment. No, it was something else. Even before the palaver and the adjournment, it had become clear to him that he would have to stay on and see how the trial developed—not because he thought that Mitter had a cat’s chance in hell in the long run: that wasn’t the point. He had no doubt that Mitter would be found guilty in the end.

But had he done it?

Had this crazy schoolteacher really pressed his wife’s head down under the water and held it there until she was dead?

Two minutes? No, that wouldn’t have been long enough. Three, three and a half?

Van Veeteren doubted it. And he didn’t like doubts.

And was Mitter in his right mind?

He certainly had been at the time of the murder.

But now?

You’re not wearing frilly knickers. Not today!

I’ll admit everything if somebody gives me a cigarette!

In court. That was brilliant.

And then, when all was said and done, if Mitter hadn’t killed his wife, who had?

He recalled Reinhart once saying that no two professions were more similar than those of teachers and actors.

If he was wrong, the winners would have to be police officers and mud wrestlers, Van Veeteren thought as he elbowed his way back to his seat in the public gallery.

13

“Would you please tell us as much as you can remember about the evening and night between October second and third.”

Havel had opened the session by warning all concerned: there would be new adjournments and proceedings behind locked doors if there were any further interruptions or indiscipline. Nevertheless, there was a murmur from the gallery in anticipation of Mitter’s answer.

“Where would you like me to begin?”

“From when you left school.”

“By all means.” Mitter cleared his throat. “I finished at three-thirty. Eva only had lessons in the morning, so we didn’t go home together. I had the car. Called in at Keen’s and bought a drop of wine.”

“How much wine?”

“How much? A case. Twelve bottles.”

“Thank you. Please go on.”

“I got home at half past four, or thereabouts. Eva had started preparing the evening meal, a casserole we were going to eat later on. She paused when I arrived, and we had a glass of wine and a cigarette on the balcony instead. It was very pleasant weather, and I suppose we sat outside for an hour or more.”

“What did you talk about?”

“Nothing special. School, books…”

“You didn’t have any visitors?”

“No.”

“Any telephone calls?”

“Just the one, Bendiksen.”

“Who’s Bendiksen?”

“A good friend of mine. We’d planned a fishing trip for that Sunday. He rang about some detail or other.”

“What, precisely?”

“I can’t really remember. What time we should leave, I think.”

“No other telephone calls?”

“No.”

“Or visits?”

“No.”

“As far as you can remember?”

Ferrati smiled.

“Yes. As far as I can remember.”

“Okay, so you sat out on the balcony until about…half past five, is that right?”

“Roughly.”

“How much did you drink?”

“I don’t know. A bottle, perhaps.”

“Each?”

“No, between us.”

“Not more?”

“Well, possibly.”

“And then? Please go on.”

“We went indoors and finished preparing the casserole. Then we had a shower.”

“Separately, or…?”

“No, together.”

“Go on!”

“We watched television for a while.”

“What program?”

“The news, and then a film.”

“What was the film?”

“I don’t remember. French, from the sixties, I think. We switched it off.”

“And then?”

“We went to the kitchen and started eating.”

“What time was it by now?”

“I don’t know. Presumably about half past eight…nine o’clock…something like that.”

“Why are you guessing that time?”

“The police showed me the TV program for that evening. A French film started at eight o’clock.”

“But you don’t remember yourself?”

“No.”

“Thank you. Let’s assume that it’s correct even so. You and your wife are sitting in the kitchen, eating, round about nine o’clock. What happens next?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. I have no memory of what happens after that.”

“You remember nothing more from the whole evening?”

“No.”

“But you have told the police that you had sexual intercourse with your wife as well…”

“Yes.”

“Is that correct?”

“Yes, but it was the same time.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was at the same time as we were eating dinner.”

“You had intercourse while you were eating dinner?”

Somebody sighed in the gallery. Ferrati turned his head.

“Yes. More or less the same time.”

More muttering, and Havel picked up his gavel. But this time he didn’t even need to raise it. It was clear that he had the situation under control.

“What else do you remember from that evening?” Ferrati asked.

“Nothing, as I’ve already said.”

“Nothing?”

“No.”

“You don’t remember getting undressed and going to bed? Or that your wife took a bath?”

“No. Would you kindly refrain from asking the same question over and over again!”

“Now, let’s get this straight, Mr. Mitter: you are accused of murder. I think it’s in your best interests for us to be a bit more precise. Just one more thing, before we move on to the next morning. How much did you drink during the course of the evening?”

“I don’t know. Six or seven bottles, perhaps. Between us, that is.”

“Wine?”

“Yes.”

“But surely you hadn’t managed to get through six bottles of wine when you were having your, er, intercourse dinner?”

Somebody giggled, and Rüger protested.

“Overruled!” Havel roared. “Answer the question!”

“No…. I don’t think so.”

“So I can draw the conclusion that you didn’t go to bed at about nine o’clock?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“In any case, you must have been pretty drunk—or what do you think, Mr. Mitter?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t hear you!” Havel bellowed.

“Yes, I was drunk.”

“Were you also drunk when you slapped your former wife a couple of times?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Surely you must understand why?” said Ferrati with a smile.

“Objection!” shouted Rüger, but it was in vain.

“Yes, I was drunk then as well,” admitted Mitter. “Being drunk is not a crime, I hope.”

“Certainly not,” said Ferrati amiably. “And your wife, Eva Ringmar that is, was she also drunk?”

“Yes.”

“Was it usual for you to drink such amounts, Mr. Mitter? Your wife had a blood alcohol count of over three hundred.”

“It happened.”

“Is it true to say that your wife had a drinking problem?”

“Objection!” shouted Rüger once more.

“Rephrase the question, please!” said Havel.

“Has your wife received clinical treatment for an alcohol problem?” asked Ferrati.

“Yes. That was six years ago. She received treatment at her own request. It was in connection with some very tragic incidents…. I think…”

“Thank you, that will do. We know the details. What is your next memory?”

“Excuse me?”

“What’s the next thing you remember after the casserole and the sexual intercourse?”

“Waking up.”

“What time?”

“Twenty minutes past eight. The next morning.”

“Tell me what you did!”

“I got up…and found Eva in the bathroom.”

“What about the state of the door—the bathroom door, that is?”

“It was locked. I opened it with a screwdriver.”

“Was it difficult to open?”

“No, not at all.”

“So you opened the locked door from the outside, no problem. Would you have been able to lock it from the outside as well?”

“Objection! My learned friend is forcing my cli—”

“Overruled! Answer the question!”

“I…I suppose so.”

“You could have drowned your wife in the bathtub and then locked the door from the outside, is that right?”

Rüger started to stand up, but Havel raised a warning finger.

“Will the accused please answer the attorney’s question!”

Mitter moistened his lips.

“Of course,” he said calmly. “But I didn’t.”

Ferrati stood for a few seconds without saying anything. Then he turned his back on Mitter, as if he could no longer bear to set eyes on him. When he started speaking again, he had sunk his voice half an octave, and spoke slowly, as if addressing a child. Trying to make it see reason.

“Mr. Mitter, you have no memories at all from that night, but nevertheless you maintain that you didn’t kill your wife. You have had a month to think about it, and I have to say that I’d expected rather more logic from a teacher of philosophy. Why can’t you at least admit that you can’t remember if you killed her or not?”

“I wouldn’t forget something like that.”

“Excuse me?”

“I wouldn’t forget having drowned my wife. I don’t remember having killed her…ergo, I didn’t kill her.”

Rüger blew his nose. It might have been an attempt to divert attention from Mitter’s last words. If so, it failed because Ferrati repeated them, albeit somewhat distortedly. Standing in front of the jury, only an arm’s length away, he intoned: “I don’t remember, therefore I’m not guilty! Might I request, members of the jury, that you consider these words carefully, and weigh their significance. What do you conclude? I can see that you know the answer already—they weigh less than air! And that is characteristic of the whole case for the defense! Air, nothing but hot air!”

He turned to look at Mitter again.

“Mr. Mitter, for the last time…why don’t you confess to killing your wife, Eva Ringmar, by drowning her in the bathtub? Why persist in being so stubborn?”

“May I point out that I’ve admitted it already, before the adjournment,” said Mitter. “Who’s being stubborn?”

The reply aroused considerable enthusiasm in the public gallery, and Havel was forced to resort to his gavel. Ferrati took the opportunity of consulting his assistant before confronting Mitter once again.

“Tell us what you did while waiting for the police!”

“I…tidied up a bit.”

“What did you do with the clothes that you and your wife had been wearing the previous evening?”

“I washed them.”

“Where?”

“In the washing machine.”

Ferrati took off his glasses and put them into his inside pocket.

“While your wife was lying dead in the bath and you were waiting for the police to arrive, you took advantage of the opportunity to wash clothes?”

“Yes.”

New pause.

“Why, Mr. Mitter? Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Ferrati shrugged. Walked back and stood behind his chair. Stretched both arms out wide.

“Your Honor, I have no more questions to ask the defendant.”

Havel looked at the clock.

“We have half an hour until lunch. How long does my learned friend require?”

Rüger stood up and took the floor.

“It’s enough. My client is under intense psychological strain, and I shall be very brief. Mr. Mitter, what about the door to your apartment? Was it locked or unlocked that night?”

“Unlocked. We never lock—er, we never used to lock the door when we were at home.”

“Not even at night?”

“No, never.”

“What about the entrance door to the apartment block, the street door?”

“It’s suppose to be locked, but I can’t remember it being locked for as long as I’ve lived there.”

Rüger turned to Havel and held up a sheet of paper.

“I have a signed statement from the landlord confirming that the outside door was not locked on the night in question. Mr. Mitter, isn’t it true to say that anybody at all could have entered your apartment and murdered your wife during the night of October second?”

“Yes, I assume so.”

“If we take it that you fell asleep at, let’s say, ten o’clock or thereabouts, is it not possible that your wife might have left the apartment…”

“Pure speculation!” protested Ferrati, but Havel merely gave him a look.

“…left the apartment without your knowledge?” Rüger asked.

“I don’t think she did,” said Mitter.

“No, but it’s not impossible, is it?”

“No.”

“What other men friends did your wife have?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she must surely have had other men as well as you—I mean, you’d only been together for six months. She separated from her former husband, Andreas Berger, six years ago. Do you know anything about relationships she had in the meantime?”

“She didn’t have any,” said Mitter abruptly.

Rüger looked surprised.

“How do you know that?”

“Because she said so.”

“Do I understand this rightly? Are you saying that your wife had no relationship at all with another man for six years?”

“Yes.”

“She was a beautiful woman, Mr. Mitter. How is that possible? Six years!”

“She didn’t have any other men. Have you got that into your head? I thought you were supposed to be my attorney. My Lord, do I have the right to terminate this line of questioning?”

The judge looked somewhat confused, but before he had time to reach a decision, Rüger was speaking again.

“I apologize, Mr. Mitter. I merely want the matter to be clear to the jury as well. Allow me to take another approach. Everyone agreed that your wife, Eva Ringmar, was a beautiful and attractive woman. Even if she didn’t want to enter into a relationship, surely there must have been other men who, er, expressed an interest?”

Mitter said nothing.

“Before you came into the picture, at least. What about the situation at your school, for example?”

But Mitter had no desire to answer, that was obvious. He leaned back and folded his arms.

“You’ll have to ask somebody else about that, my learned friend. I have nothing to add.”

Rüger hesitated a moment before putting his next question.

“Your quarrel at the Mephisto restaurant, referred to by the prosecuting attorney—it didn’t have to do with another man, by any chance?”

“No.”

“You’re certain?”

“Of course.”

Ferrati suddenly intervened.

“Are you jealous, Mr. Mitter?”

“Stop!” bellowed Havel. “Erase that question! You have no right to intervene at this stage, that was…”

“I can answer it even so,” insisted Mitter, and Havel fell silent. “No, I’m no more inclined to jealousy than anybody else. Nor was Eva. And besides, neither of us had any need. I don’t understand what my attorney is getting at.”

Havel sighed and looked at the clock.

“If you have anything else to ask, please keep it short,” he said, turning to Rüger.

Rüger nodded.

“Of course. Just one more question, Mr. Mitter: Are you quite certain that your wife wasn’t lying to you?”

Mitter appeared to be pausing for effect before answering.

“One hundred percent certain,” he said.

Rüger shrugged.

“Thank you. No more questions.”

He’s lying, Van Veeteren thought. The man is sitting there and lying his way into jail.

Or…or is he extending the premise of telling the truth
in absurdum
?