Snow White Must Die (53 page)

“… hurry. If it starts snowing any harder the plane might not even start.”

Tobias and Amelie exchanged a glance. Terlinden seemed to be on the phone. Apparently they had arrived in the nick of time, because it sounded as though he wanted to take off in a plane for parts unknown. They went closer. Suddenly they heard a second voice. Amelie gave a start when she heard it and grabbed Tobias’s hand.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Dr. Daniela Lauterbach. “Why are you just standing around like this?”

The door opened all the way and bright light flooded into the hallway. Tobias managed to open the door of an office behind him just in time. He shoved Amelie into the dark and stood next to her, his heart pounding.

“Shit, what’s she doing here?” Amelie whispered in bewilderment. “She tried to kill me and Thies! And Terlinden knows that!”

Tobias nodded nervously. He was trying to figure out how he could stop the two. He had to prevent them from getting on that plane and disappearing forever. If he were alone he would have simply confronted them. But there was no way he was going to put Amelie in any danger. His eyes fell on the desk in the room.

“Hide under there,” he said softly. Amelie tried to protest, but Tobias insisted. He waited until she had crept under the desk, then he lifted the receiver of the telephone and pressed it to his ear. In the faint glow from the exterior lighting he could hardly see a thing. He pressed a button and hoped that it would get him an outside line. And it did. With shaking fingers he dialed the police.

*   *   *

Terlinden was standing in front of the open safe, absentmindedly massaging his sore neck with one hand and staring into space. He hadn’t really recovered from the accident at the hospital. He still felt like his heart was going to stop for a couple of beats. Could it be the result of having his supply of oxygen cut off for a few moments? Hartmut Sartorius had attacked him like a madman, choking him with unexpected power until he saw flashes of light before his eyes. For a few seconds he was sure that his last hour had come. He had never been physically attacked before, and the idea of being “scared to death” had been an empty cliché until today. But now he knew how it felt to look death in the eye. He couldn’t remember how he managed to escape from the viselike grip of that maniac, but suddenly Sartorius was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. It was horrible, absolutely horrible! Claudius Terlinden realized that he was still in shock.

His gaze fell on Daniela, who was kneeling under his desk and screwing the computer housing back together with an expression of concentration. The hard drive, which she had replaced with another one, was already in one of the suitcases. Daniela had insisted on doing this, although he thought it was unnecessary. He hadn’t saved anything on his computer that would interest the police. Everything was turning out differently than he had planned. In hindsight Claudius Terlinden had to acknowledge that the cover-up of Lars’s involvement in the murder of Laura Wagner had been a grave mistake. He hadn’t sufficiently considered what the consequences might be if he took the boy out of the line of fire. This single decision, which he’d thought so insignificant, had made dozens of others necessary. The web of lies had become so tangled and confused that it had resulted in regrettable but unavoidable collateral damage. If those stupid farmers had only listened to him instead of taking matters in their own hands, nothing would have happened. Then the tiny rip in the fabric that occurred after the return of Tobias Sartorius rapidly turned into a huge hole, a yawning black abyss. Terlinden’s whole life, his rules, the daily rituals that gave him security—all of it was swept along by this maelstrom of infernal events.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you just standing there?”

Daniela’s voice tore him out of his musings. With a groan she got to her feet and looked him up and down with a contemptuous expression on her face. Claudius Terlinden noticed that he was still holding his throat, and he turned away. She must have realized long ago that everything might fall apart one day. Her escape plan was perfect and had been worked out to the tiniest detail. But it left him cold. New Zealand? What would he do there? This was the center of his life, here in this village, in this building, in this room. He didn’t want to leave Germany, even if the worst-case scenario meant he’d spend a couple of years in jail. The thought of sitting in some foreign country with a false identity made him uncomfortable, even afraid. Here he was somebody, people knew him and respected him, and he was sure that everything would eventually calm down. In New Zealand he would be a nothing, a nameless refugee, forever and ever.

He looked around the big room. Was he really seeing all this today for the last time? Never again to walk into his house, visit the graves of his parents and grandparents in the cemetery, look out at the familiar panorama of the Taunus? The prospect was unbearable and actually brought tears to his eyes. He had fought so hard to take the life work of his forefathers to even greater heights. Could he really leave it all behind and walk away?

“Come on, Claudius, let’s get out of here!” Daniela’s voice had a piercing sound. “It’s snowing even harder outside. We have to go.”

He shoved the documents that he wanted to leave into the safe. His hand happened to touch the box in which he kept the pistol.

I don’t want to leave,
he thought.
I’d rather kill myself.

He froze. Where had that thought come from? He had never understood how anyone could be so cowardly as to see suicide as the only way out. But everything was different now that death had grinned in his face.

“Is there anyone besides us in the building?” Daniela asked.

“No,” Terlinden croaked and took the box with the gun out of the safe.

“Then why is the outside line busy?” She bent over the telephone in the middle of his desk. “Extension twenty-three.”

“That’s bookkeeping. There’s nobody there.”

“Did you lock the door behind us when we came in the building?”

“No.” He snapped out of his paralysis, opened the box, and looked at the Beretta.

*   *   *

The restaurant above the Opel Zoo was crowded. The place was dark, warm, and loud, just the way Pia liked it, and she and Christoph were sitting at a table right by the front window. At the moment Pia was no longer hearing in her mind what the people from the zoning office had said, nor was she seeing the lights of Kronberg or the glittering skyline of Frankfurt in the distance. She could smell the enticing aroma of the perfectly grilled filet mignon on her plate, but her stomach seemed to be tied in knots.

She had driven straight home from the hospital and stuffed all her clothes in the washing machine. Then took such a long shower that she used up all the hot water, but she still felt dirty. Pia was used to corpses, but not to watching someone die right before her eyes. Especially not a man she knew, with whom she’d been talking only a minute before, and for whom she had felt a deep sympathy. She shuddered.

“Would you rather go home?” Christoph asked at that moment. The concern in his brown eyes nearly caused Pia to lose her self-control. Suddenly she was fighting back tears. Where could Tobias be? She hoped he hadn’t done anything to harm himself.

“No, it’s all right.” She forced herself to smile, but the sight of the juicy steak on the plate before her made her nauseous. She shoved the plate away. “I’m sorry I’m not better company today. I just can’t help blaming myself.”

“I know. But what else could you have done?” Christoph leaned forward, reached out his hand, and touched her cheek. “You said yourself that everything happened incredibly fast.”

“Yes, of course. It’s bullshit. I couldn’t have done anything, not a thing. But still…” She heaved a big sigh. “In moments like that I hate my job with all of my heart.”

“Come on, sweetie. We’ll go home, open a bottle of red wine, and…”

The ring of Pia’s phone cut him off. She was on call.

“Whatever was coming after ‘and’ interests me a lot.” Pia grinned feebly, and Christoph raised his eyebrows meaningfully. She grabbed her cell and took the call.

“A Tobias Sartorius called in an emergency seven minutes ago,” the dispatcher from the operations center told her. “He’s in the admin building of the Terlinden company in Altenhain and he says that a Dr. Lauterbach is there. I’ve already sent a patrol car—”

“Oh shit,” Pia interrupted her colleague. Her thoughts were racing. What was Daniela Lauterbach doing with Claudius Terlinden? Why was Tobias there? Did he want to take revenge? Without a doubt Tobias was a ticking time bomb after all he’d been through. She jumped up. “Radio the guys right away. And for God’s sake tell them not to go in with flashing lights and sirens. Tell them to wait for me and Bodenstein!”

“What happened?” asked Christoph. Pia explained it to him in a few words as she punched Bodenstein’s number into her cell. To her relief she reached him only seconds later. In the meantime Christoph signaled the restaurant owner, who knew him well since he was the director of the neighboring zoo. He promised to come by later and pay the bill.

“I’ll drive you,” he said to Pia. “It’ll take me three seconds to get our jackets.”

She nodded, went out front, and waited impatiently, staring at the snowstorm. Why had Tobias called in an emergency? Had something happened to him? She hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

*   *   *

“Damn,” Tobias whispered in helpless fury. Claudius Terlinden and Daniela Lauterbach had left the office. Loaded down with luggage and briefcases they were walking down the hall to the elevator. What could he do to stop them? How long would it take the cops to get here? Damn, damn! He turned to Amelie, who was peeking out from under the desk.

“Stay here,” he said in a voice rough with tension.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to get them involved in a conversation to stall for time until the police get here.”

“No, please don’t do that, Tobi!” Amelie slipped out from her hiding place. In the faint glow from the exterior lights her eyes looked huge. “Please, Tobi, let them go. I’m scared.”

“I can’t just let them take off after everything they’ve done. You have to understand that,” he replied vehemently. “Stay here, Amelie. Promise me that.”

She crossed her arms and nodded. He took a deep breath and put his hand on the door handle.

“Tobi!”

“Yes?”

She went over to him and touched her palm to his face.

“Be careful,” she whispered. A tear rolled down her cheek. Tobias stared at her. For a fraction of a second he was tempted to take her in his arms, kiss her, and simply stay with her. But then the fierce wish for revenge, which was what had brought him here, took precedence. He couldn’t let Terlinden and Lauterbach escape.

“I’ll be right back,” he murmured. Before he could have second thoughts he stepped out into the hall and took off running. The elevator was already on the way down, so he tore open the fire door and dashed down the stairs, taking three or four steps at a time. He reached the lobby at the very moment they were getting out of the elevator.

“Stop!” he shouted, and his voice echoed through the lobby. As if stunned they both spun around and stared at him in disbelief. Terlinden dropped his suitcase. Tobias was shaking all over. Although he would have liked to hurl himself at them, he had to control himself and stay calm.

“Tobias!” Claudius Terlinden was the first to recover. “I … I’m terribly sorry about what happened. Really, you have to believe me, I didn’t mean to—”

“Shut up!” Tobias screamed, fixing his eyes on them as he slowly moved in a semicircle. “I’m not going to listen to any more of your shitty lies. You’re to blame for everything. You and this … this devious bitch.”

He pointed his finger accusingly at Daniela Lauterbach.

“The two of you have always pretended to be so understanding, but you knew the truth all along. And you let me go to prison. And now you’re probably trying to make your escape, right? But there’s no chance in hell I’m going to let that happen. I’ve already called the police, and they’ll be here any minute.”

He saw the quick look that Terlinden and Lauterbach exchanged.

“I’m going to tell you everything that I know about you. And it’s a lot, believe me. My father is dead so he can’t be a witness anymore, but I know what you did in 1997.”

“Now just calm down,” said Daniela Lauterbach, giving him the friendly smile that always fooled people. “What exactly are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your first husband.” Tobias came closer and stood right in front of her. Her cold brown eyes bored into his. “About Wilhelm, Uncle Willi, Claudius’s older brother, and what he put in his will.”

“I see.” Daniela Lauterbach kept smiling at him. “And why do you think the police would be interested in any of this?”

“Because it wasn’t his real will,” said Tobias. “Dr. Fuchsberger gave the real one to my father after Claudius got him drunk and promised him a hundred thousand marks.”

The smile on Daniela Lauterbach’s face froze.

“Your first husband was deathly ill, but he wasn’t happy about the fact that you’d cheated on him with his brother Claudius, so he changed his will two weeks before he died. He disinherited both of you. Instead he stipulated that the daughter of his chauffeur would be his sole heir, because shortly before his death he found out that Claudius had gotten her pregnant in May 1976. And that on his orders you made her abort the child.”

“Did your father tell you this nonsense?” Claudius Terlinden broke in.

“No.” Tobias didn’t take his eyes off Daniela Lauterbach. “He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. Dr. Fuchsberger gave my father the will and he was supposed to destroy it, but he never did. He kept it hidden in his safe, until today.”

Now he looked at Claudius Terlinden.

“That’s why you made sure my father stayed in Altenhain, isn’t it? Because he knew everything. Actually the company doesn’t belong to you, or the villa either. And Dr. Lauterbach would never have inherited her house or all the money from her first husband. According to the will, it all belongs to the daughter of Wilhelm Terlinden’s former chauffeur, Kurt Cramer…” Tobias snorted. “Unfortunately, my father never could bring himself to tell anyone about the real will. It’s a shame, really.”