In Matto's Realm: A Sergeant Studer Mystery by Friedrich Glauser Page B

interested?"
    Two volunteered: a long, skinny fellow with "alcoholic" written all over him and a short man with an
asymmetrical face who turned out to be an extremely
pedantic, slow and irritating card player.
    Studer partnered Gilgen. There was not much worth
saying about the jass, apart from one game where
Gilgen passed with a run of four to the ace of spades,
three clubs and the nine of hearts, forcing Studer to
play the game with hearts as trumps. Since he had
spades as well, they managed to make all nine tricks,
but secretly he found Gilgen's style of play a bit much,
though that served only to increase his liking for the
red-haired nurse.
    Then Gilgen announced he had to go and eat, but
first, he said, he'd take Studer down to the ground
floor, to get the keys from Weyrauch. Another nurse
came to relieve him, but before he could open the
door to the stairs Schiil came hurrying past with a tray
loaded with soup plates.
    "Just wait till I catch whoever created the world," he
called out to them with a laugh on his scarred lips that
revealed his toothless mouth.
    And it was with a laugh that the two of them went
down the stairs to the ground floor. At the bottom the
stairs continued. "To the basement," Gilgen explained.
    Another corridor. At the end leading to D Ward
some alterations were being carried out. Another day
room with brightly coloured furniture, Gilgen
explained. Dr Laduner had managed to push through
a certain amount of renovation work on the clinic. It was he, too, who had set up the decorating and bricklaying groups, usually a dozen patients with a nurse
who had worked at the trade before going in for
nursing.

    "You liked Pieterlen?" Studer suddenly asked.
    Gilgen halted, playing with his bunch of keys. "You'll
give Pieterlen time, won't you, Sergeant?" he asked,
with an expression like a anxious mouse. "You won't
arrest him straight away?"
    "Arrest him? Who said anything about arresting
him? Pieterlen isn't even on the official wanted list. It's
just because he disappeared at the same time as the
Director that Dr Laduner asked the police to send me
to ... No, no, an arrest doesn't come into it ... But
what do you know about Pieterlen?"
    "Nothing, nothing at all," said Gilgen, putting his
keys away again. "But I felt sorry for him. He was a nice
chap, much too nice."
    They were standing in the middle of the corridor. As
on the floor above, here, too, there was a narrower
corridor branching off. One voice rose above the babble of conversation coming from it, declaring, "If the
cops start poking around all the wards with their
grubby fingers, that'll be just great. . ."
    It was the voice of Staff Nurse Jutzeler, and it didn't
sound half as respectful as it had an hour ago. Gilgen
quickly hurried the sergeant on till they came to a
door. He knocked. The senior nurse, Herr Weyrauch,
took his lunch in his own room. He sat there, content
with himself and the world; the bacon joint he had just
been eating had left a shiny ring round his mouth.
    "Oh, the keys for Herr Studer? Of course. Pardong."
He got up and rummaged around. "Yes, Herr Dr
Laduner gave me instructions ... Ah, here we are,
Sergeant."

    On the table by the window, to which Studer had
followed him, were some nudist magazines. "Ha-haha," Weyrauch laughed. "Very artistic, eh, Sergeant?"
he said, giving Studer a gentle dig in the ribs.
    Artistic! Well, if Weyrauch insisted. Studer had
nothing against that kind of thing, but that didn't stop
him finding Weyrauch a rather unpleasant character.
Perhaps he was just prejudiced.
    Gilgen was waiting patiently outside. He followed
Studer to the door of 0 Ward that led out into the
courtyard, opened it, then stopped. He had his hands
inside the bib of his apron, which was like a thin white
muff round them.
    "By the way," Studer said, "what's wrong with Schul?
Has it anything to do with his injuries?"
    Gilgen shook his head, like an expert. "No, his
mental