The Killing of Emma Gross by Damien Seaman Page A

he couldn't try his little trick again.
    'You were raised a Catholic, Peter?'
    'My dear Thomas, that's my file you have in your hand there?' He nodded at the paperwork I was holding.
    I nodded back at him.
    'Well then you know perfectly well that I wasn't raised at all.'
    'So why a Catholic church?' I said.
    'I'm sorry?'
    'Why give yourself up in a Catholic church?'
    'I thought it best to meet at a church so big even Düsseldorf Kripo could find it.'
    I stood and crossed to the window. I patted the brick work and turned back so the light silhouetted me. In the corner, the mould was gone, replaced with a damp patch like someone had tried sponging the wall since the day before.
    'Wasn't anything to do with your need to confess?'
    'What need to confess?'
    I tapped the wall again. 'You know what this place used to be before it became police headquarters?'
    He shrugged.
    'Jesuit monastery,' I said. 'You could say that confession, guilt, it kind of runs through the bricks and mortar. Suitable, wouldn't you say?'
    'Suitable for what?'
    'For a man like you with such a...need to get it all out in the open,' I said. He was shaking his head. His denial riled me and I felt the heat rise in my face. 'You told me about Christine Klein within two minutes of meeting me.'
    He looked puzzled. 'Well of course I did.'
    'You gave yourself up to us. Willingly.'
    He waggled a finger at me. 'That's where you're wrong, Thomas. You turned up at my apartment with a woman I'd raped. What, I was supposed to go on the run? At my age? With a wife to support?' He snorted. 'No, it was only a matter of time before you locked me up. And with my record.' He shivered.
    'So you thought you'd confess to being the Ripper? Peter, you could face the death sentence!'
    'With this bunch in office? You really think so?'
    I most certainly did. Granted, Social Democrat law and order policy tended towards pinko-liberal sludge, what with its anti-capital punishment bent. But not even the SPD state government would hesitate to cut public anger off at the knees by cutting the Ripper off at the neck.
    'Even so,' I said, 'you'll get longer behind bars this way than for a rape, record or no. How does this support your wife?'
    He straightened his tie, moving his chair to face me before leaning back and crossing his legs. 'There's a reward for information leading to my arrest, isn't there?'
    'Conviction, yes.'
    'So, who gave you the information that led to my arrest?'
    Then I got it. Although his logic was so warped, I still wasn't sure. 'You mean, you got her to rat you out so she could get the reward money?'
    He winked at me.
    'You really think they'll pay her anything?' I said.
    'Why not?' He sat forward. 'She's as good as any other informant. Better than most.'
    He seemed to mean it, that was the weirdest part. All those women he'd killed, and he wanted his wife to profit from his downfall. Did that fit? Or was this guy still just a rapist looking to make the most of a bad situation? I felt my excitement slipping away. Maybe this wouldn't be the day I embarrassed Ritter. Maybe he was right to be sceptical.
    'You know, my...Inspector Ritter had a point,' I said. 'How do we know you are who you say you are?'
    'Why would I lie?'
    'Financial motive, Peter. The reward money. You just admitted it.'
    'How many people would have the audacity to claim to be me?'
    'In person? Four hundred and thirteen at the last count.' I didn't know the exact figure, but the one I'd just given him wasn't far from the truth. 'More by letter. The anonymous ones.'
    His mouth hung open for a second. I knew some of what he felt. It didn't say much about our city that so many of its inhabitants were willing to admit to mass murder. Or rather, it said an awful lot, none of it good.
    Kürten closed his mouth and sat up straighter, folding his hands in his lap. I came back to the table and sat across from him.
    'Oh yes,' I continued. 'You'd be surprised. You want to know the real reason they haven't brought me