The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr

in there and find the pansy’s love letters. Otherwise just stay put. I’m going to see the client for further instructions. If she’s got any I’ll be back tonight. If not, then I’ll relieve you at six o’clock tomorrow morning. Any questions?’ Bruno shook his head. ‘Want me to ring the wife?’
    â€˜No thanks. Katia’s used to my odd hours by now, Bernie. Anyway, me not being there will help to clear the air. I had another argument with my boy Heinrich when I got back from the Zoo.’
    â€˜What was it this time?’
    â€˜He’s only gone and joined the motorized Hitler Youth, that’s all.’
    I shrugged. ‘He would have to have joined the regular Hitler Youth sooner or later.’
    â€˜The little swine didn’t have to be in such a damned hurry to join, that’s all. He could have waited to be taken in, like the rest of the lads in his class.’
    â€˜Come on, look on the bright side. They’ll teach him how to drive and look after an engine. They’ll still turn him into a Nazi, of course, but at least he’ll be a Nazi with a skill.’
    Sitting in a taxi back to Alexanderplatz where I had left my car, I reflected that the prospect of his son acquiring mechanical skills probably wasn’t much of a consolation to a man who, at the same age as Heinrich, had been a junior cycling champion. And he was right about one thing: Heinrich really was a perfect little swine.
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    I didn’t call Frau Lange to let her know I was coming, and although it was only eight o’clock by the time I got to Herbertstrasse, the house looked dark and uninviting, as if those living there were out, or had retired to bed. But that’s one of the more positive aspects of this job. If you’ve cracked the case then you are always assured of a warm welcome, no matter how unprepared they are for your arrival.
    I parked the car, went up the steps to the front door and pulled the bell. Almost immediately a light came on in the window above the door, and after a minute or so the door opened to reveal the black cauldron’s ill-tempered face.
    â€˜Do you know what time it is?’
    â€˜It’s just gone eight,’ I said. ‘The curtains are going up at theatres all over Berlin, diners in restaurants are still scrutinizing the menu and mothers are just thinking that it’s about time their children were in bed. Is Frau Lange at home?’
    â€˜She’s not dressed for no gentlemen callers.’
    â€˜Well that’s all right. I haven’t brought her any flowers or chocolates. And I’m certainly not a gentleman.’
    â€˜You spoke the truth there all right.’
    â€˜That one was for free. Just to put you in a good enough mood to do as you’re told. This is business, urgent business, and she’ll want to see me or know the reason why I wasn’t let in. So why don’t you run along and tell her I’m here.’
    I waited in the same room on the sofa with the dolphin armrests. I didn’t like it any better the second time, not least because it was now covered with the ginger hairs of an enormous cat, which lay asleep on a cushion underneath a long oak sideboard. I was still picking the hairs off my trousers when Frau Lange came into the room. She was wearing a green silk dressing-gown of the sort that left the tops of her big breasts on show like the twin humps of some pink sea-monster, matching slippers, and she carried an unlit cigarette in her fingers. The dog stood dumbly at her corn-plastered heel, its nose wrinkling at the overpowering smell of English lavender that trailed off Frau Lange’s body like an old feather-boa. Her voice was even more masculine than I had remembered.
    â€˜Just tell me that Reinhard had nothing to do with it,’ she said imperiously.
    â€˜Nothing at all,’ I said.
    The sea-monster sank a little as she breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thank God for