The Killing of Emma Gross by Damien Seaman Page B

in to see you until now?'
    He nodded. I blew cigar smoke in his face and his nostrils flared. A brief look of annoyance crossed his face. I tried not to smile at that as I leaned closer.
    'It's because they think you're just another crazy. Just another unhinged cretin looking for a few thrills by claiming to be the Ripper.'
    'No!' he breathed.
    'I mean, look at you. That suit, the haircut. You're a quiet, respectable man, not a killer at all.'
    'My file. What about my arrest file?'
    'We both know that's not you. You've been abused, Peter, punished for things that weren't your fault.'
    He gazed out of the window. God alone knew what patterns he was seeing in the brick wall out there.
    I thought of a detail from the file, his longest prison term. 'Seven years for deserting the army, Peter? Seven years? Does that seem fair to you?'
    He didn't answer. I hoped I hadn't laid the sympathy on too thick.
    He turned away from the window.
    'So you've got to see it how we see it, Peter,' I said. 'How do we know? How can we be sure?'
    'Take me to Papendell.'
    'What's there? I don't even know where that is.'
    'Just take me there,' he snapped, turning back to the window. 'And bring a shovel.'

6
     

    Kürten insisted on riding to Papendell with no one but me. That meant I had to drive one of the Schupo pool autos. It was an open-topped coupé, and thank God it was a newer model with no starter handle, as I stalled it twice on the way out of town. We drove east. Kürten directed. Ritter and his detectives followed along in a sedan. Two closed limousines packed with Schupo trailed them.
    We passed Flingern Nord. We passed Grafenberg. All the while I thought of what we were likely to find in Papendell and tried not to think of Gertrude Albermann. The suburbs gave out to row upon row of allotments, then meadows and parkland. We took the road south east to Ekrath, then took a sharp turn north onto a narrow road signposted for Papendell. A road-side café came up on the left and Kürten told me to stop.
    I indicated with my arm so Ritter and his goons wouldn't motor into the back of me. We pulled over just beyond the café. The engine coughed itself out. I turned to Kürten as I applied the handbrake and he pointed to the meadows across the road.
    I cuffed Kürten's wrists together, Gennat's one stipulation. Then I picked up the shovel on the back seat. I went to put on my hat but the sweat smell on the band made my guts wobble, so I left it.
    We got out of the car. Clouds huddled over us. The breeze was soft against my face and I closed my eyes for a moment to enjoy the brief feeling of normality. When I opened them, there was Kürten, also hatless, waiting for me. Behind him, Ritter's sedan and the two beetle-black limousines. The blue coats disembarked. Ritter issued some orders to Vogel, back in shirtsleeves. Vogel relayed the order and four Schupo men peeled off to secure the café.
    I caught Ritter's eye. 'Remember,' I said, 'no closer than fifty metres.' We'd agreed that with Kürten in exchange for his bringing us out here.
    Ritter said nothing. Fine by me. I'd said it more for Kürten's benefit anyway.
    We crossed the road and entered the flower-dotted meadow. Long, damp grass clung to my legs. Behind us came the distant clanking of semi-automatic weaponry. Kürten seemed to be leading me down the road to a cluster of low brick buildings encircled by a wall.
    'I met her at about five o'clock,' Kürten said, out of nowhere. 'On the Ackerstrasse. I talked to her, asked her if she would come with me.'
    'How'd you get her here?' That wasn't what I wanted to ask most. I wanted to ask who he was talking about, only I knew already and I wanted to put off hearing it from him for as long as I could.
    'Walked, of course,' he said.
    'All this way?'
    How'd he kept a five-year-old quiet on a long walk like that? It must have taken us just shy of half an hour to drive here. What was that on foot? Two hours?
    'She came willingly,' he said. 'She didn't