The Weeping Girl (20 page)

Or was everything already cut and dried?

Wasn’t everything decided as soon as he’d overstepped the mark, a month ago? Decided irrevocably? Six weeks ago, to be precise. Hadn’t everything since then been no more than a
slowly ticking time bomb?

Had he ever expected anything else? That he would get away with it? That he wouldn’t have to pay for such a catastrophe?

He registered that he was almost running along the dimly lit Sammersgraacht. No sign of another soul, not even a cat.

He turned off right along Dorffsallé, and continued along Gimsweg and Hagenstraat. Past the school.

The school? he thought. Would he ever . . . ?

He didn’t follow that thought through. Passed by the north-west corner of the playing fields and increased his speed further. Only a couple of hundred metres left.

What’s going to happen now? he thought. What will happen when I get up there?

He suddenly stopped dead. As if the thought had only just struck him.

Why don’t I go home and look after my daughter instead? he asked himself. Why not?

He hesitated for five seconds. Then made up his mind.

Interrogation of Ludwig Georg Heller, 2.8.1983.

Interrogator: Chief Inspector Vrommel, Chief of Police.

Also present: Inspector Walevski.

Location: Lejnice police station.

Interrogation transcript: Inspector Walevski.

Heller:
Ludwig Heller. Walders steeg 4.

V
Here in Lejnice?

H
Yes.

V
What is your relationship with Arnold Maager?

H
We are colleagues. And good friends.

V
How long have you known him?

H
Since we were sixteen years old. We were at school together.

V
Have you been in close communication ever since then?

H
No. We studied at different universities, and lived in different places. But we resumed our friendship when we ended up as teachers in the same school. About
three years ago.

V
Would you claim to know Maager well?

H
Yes, I think one could say that.

V
Think?

H
I know him well.

V
His wife as well?

H
No. We have only met once or twice.

V
Once or twice?

H
Three times, I think. We acknowledge each other if we meet in town.

V
Do you have a family?

H
Not yet. I have a girlfriend.

V
I see. You know what has happened, I take it?

H
Yes.

V
You know that Maager had a relationship with a schoolgirl, and that the girl is dead?

H
Winnie Maas, yes.

V
Did you teach her as well?

H
Yes.

V
In what subjects?

H
Maths and physics.

V
What marks did you give her?

H
Marks? I don’t see what relevance that has.

V
You don’t? Please answer my question even so.

H
I gave her a six in physics and a four in maths.

V
Not especially high marks, then.

H
No. I still don’t see the relevance.

V
Was she pretty?

H
I beg your pardon?

V
I asked you if Winnie Maas was pretty.

H
That’s not something I have an opinion about.

V
Did Arnold Maager think Winnie Maas was pretty?

H
/No answer/

V
I suggest you make an effort to answer that question. In all probability you’ll be asked it again during the trial, so you might as well get used to
it.

H
I don’t know if Maager thought that Winnie Maas was pretty.

V
But you know that he had an affair with her?

H
I’d hardly call it an affair.

V
You wouldn’t? What would you call it, then?

H
She offered herself up to him on a plate. He made a mistake. It only happened once.

V
So you think his behaviour is defensible, do you?

H
Of course I don’t. All I’m saying is that you could hardly call it an affair.

V
Were you present in the flat when Maager and Winnie Maas had intercourse?

H
No.

V
But you know about it?

H
Yes.

V
Did you know about it before the girl’s death as well?

H
Yes.

V
How and when did you hear about it?

H
Some colleagues talked about it.

V
Who?

H
Cruickshank and Nielsen.

V
Two of those who were present at the party after the disco on the tenth of June?

H
Yes.

V
And they said that Maager had sexual intercourse with Winnie Maas?

H
Yes.

V
When was that?

H
A few days afterwards. The last week of term. Maager said so himself not long afterwards.

V
In what connection?

H
We’d gone out for a beer. At the very beginning of the summer holiday – round about the twentieth.

V
Where?

H
Lippmann’s. And a few other bars.

V
And that was when he told you that he’d had intercourse with a pupil?

H
He told me a bit about how it had happened – I already knew about the basic facts.

V
What did he say?

H
That he’d been as pissed as a newt, and regretted what had happened. And he hoped there wouldn’t be any repercussions.

V
Repercussions? What did he mean by that?

H
That neither he nor the girl would get into trouble as a result, of course.

V
I see. But the other pupils must have known what had happened?

H
I assume so. Although I didn’t hear anything about it from pupils. But then it was just before the summer holidays, of course.

V
So perhaps the main thing was that none of the parents got to hear about it?

H
That’s one way of looking at it, yes.

V
Anyway, let’s go on. This wasn’t the only time you discussed the Winnie Maas business with Maager, was it?

H
No.

V
Let’s hear details.

H
We met in the middle of July as well.

V
When and where?

H
We made a trip out to the islands. One Saturday afternoon. It must have been the fifteenth or sixteenth, I think. Arnold rang me and said he’d like to have
a chat. I had nothing else on at the time.

V
So what was it all about this time?

H
Winnie Maas. She was pregnant. Maager had just heard.

V
What sort of state did he seem to be in?

H
He was worried, of course. More than just worried, in fact. Winnie evidently wanted to have the baby.

V
And what about Maager?

H
You’d have to ask him about that.

V
We already have done. Now we want to hear what you have to say, herr Heller. No doubt Maager made his own views clear during your trip to the islands.

H
He wasn’t his normal self.

V
I didn’t ask you if he was his normal self. I want to know what he said in connection with the fact that the girl was pregnant.

H
He wanted her to have an abortion, of course. That’s understandable, surely. She was too young to be a mother, and he was worried about how his wife would
react.

V
Really? So he hadn’t told her about his, er, indiscretion?

H
No, he hadn’t.

V
Was he afraid that Winnie Maas might do so?

H
That’s possible. I don’t understand the point of all this. Why are we sitting here, discussing whether—

V
It doesn’t matter whether you understand or not. The police have to do their duty, no matter what. Do you think there was anything else that Arnold Maager
was afraid of?

H
Such as what?

V
Think about it. What did you talk about, in fact?

H
Everything under the sun.

V
How many islands did you visit?

H
Doczum and Billsmaar. We just sailed round them. We didn’t go ashore at all.

V
Did you come up with a solution to Maager’s problems?

H
Solution? What kind of a solution?

V
If you spent several hours on the ferry, you must surely have discussed this and that? Toyed with various thoughts?

H
I don’t understand what you’re talking about.

V
I’m talking about escape routes. Possible escape routes to enable Arnold Maager to wriggle out of the awkward situation he found himself in. I hope
you’re not pretending to be more stupid than you really are – I thought you had a university degree.

H
/No reply/

V
Surely that’s why he wanted to meet you? To get some help.

H
He didn’t only want to talk. He was desperate, for God’s sake.

V
Desperate? Are you saying that Arnold Maager was desperate when the pair of you made that trip round the islands on Saturday, the sixteenth of July?

Vrommel:
Did you have any further contact with Arnold Maager during the weeks before Winnie Maas’s death? After July the sixteenth, that is.

Heller:
He phoned me a few times. Before it happened, I mean.

V
A few telephone conversations. What did you talk about?

H
All kinds of things.

V
About Winnie Maas as well?

H
Yes.

V
And what did Maager have to say?

H
He was worried.

V
Explain.

H
What do you mean, explain?

V
Did he say anything about what he intended to do? How did you assess his state of mind?

H
He said he was having trouble sleeping. He didn’t know whether or not he should tell his wife.

V
Did you give him any advice?

H
No. What could I say?

V
Did you think he was unbalanced during these telephone calls?

H
Not really unbalanced. Worried and tense, more like.

V
Do you know if he had much contact with the girl?

H
They’d talked things over. He’d tried to persuade her to have an abortion. He’d offered to help her out financially.

V
And what did she say to that?

H
She stuck to her guns, it seemed. She wanted to have the baby.

V
And what about the financial side?

H
I don’t know.

V
You don’t know?

H
No.

V
All right. When you heard what had happened, that the girl had been found dead on the railway line, how did you react then?

H
I was shocked, naturally.

V
Yes, naturally. We were all shocked. Were you surprised as well?

H
Of course I was surprised. It was horrendous.

V
So you hadn’t expected that development?

H
No, of course I hadn’t. He must have taken leave of his senses. It’s horrendous.

V
Do you think it’s surprising that he took leave of his senses?

H
/No reply/

V
I’ll ask you again. Bearing in mind all the circumstances, do you think it’s surprising that Arnold Maager took leave of his senses?

H
I don’t know. Perhaps not.

V
Thank you, herr Heller. That will be all for now.

19 July 1999

For a brief moment – just a fraction of a second – she thought he was going to hit her.

But nothing happened. Not even a gesture. But the very fact that such an image appeared in her mind’s eye must mean something, of course. Not necessarily that he was that type of man
– somebody who would start using his fists when he’d run out of words: but something nevertheless. A suspicion? A warning?

Or was it just a distorted figment of the imagination? A projection of her own dodgy emotional life?

In any case, it stayed there. And would continue to stay there, she knew that even before the moment had passed.