Chapter 2
November 14, 2023 at 1:59 AM
Ehrman Weber was lying in bed and pondering for a long time why Ingrid’s case was pinned on the three of them? It was early morning according to the clock. He pulled back the blanket a little, it was a little cold in the house. Looking out of the window, he thought with regret about the snowfall that had covered the streets the day before. Today the whole city would be stuck in traffic…
He sat up, stretched and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He looked at his fiancée Grenzel. She could sleep at least until noon, he had been dating her for a little more than three years. During all this time he had not been able to get used to an unmade bed before leaving home. Ehrman got out of bed and trudged to the bathroom. He could not be late. He slammed the door and began brushing his teeth, while continuing to think.
On the one hand, Ingrid was a girl from high society and had a lot of executives’ numbers in her phone book. She had travelled with Goebbels to his parties at the country estate and had gone on holidays in Italy, she knew many wives of generals, not to mention the company where her father worked. She had many acquaintances, but why did they decide to kill her?
Maybe her death was an accident, did they want to kill someone else? Although they rarely made mistakes in such a case.
Ehrman turned off the faucet and wiped his wet face with a towel, carelessly hanging it up. He walked to another room and threw a cleanly ironed shirt and then a tunic over his slightly chilled body. Ehrman looked in the mirror, appearance was very important to him. Noting to himself that he looked good, he took his cap, left the apartment, taking the keys with him. Going down the stairs, he heard a quarrel between two neighbors. They were arguing among themselves about parking. Ehrman quickly descended so as not to be drawn into the conflict and not be noticed.
The snowy air irritated his lungs, which were used to tobacco smoke. The streetlights were still on. Ehrman, getting into the car, thought again about Ingrid and took off.
***
Ehrman stood in the corridor, flooded by the bright morning sun. The same scent of floral perfume, the same scent of her shampoo. He closed his eyes. The images from the past immediately surrounded him. He still couldn’t believe she was murdered. Her apartment still smelled of her unweathered perfume, the pillows were exactly the same as when he had visited this apartment last time. Beige curtains hung down, covering the windows and the coffee table.
“Hello, who are you?”, the district police officer spoiled his whole mood and dispelled his memories.
“I am Troupfuhrer Ehrman Weber. This case is in my hands now. All you can do is to support the investigation.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but since when have stormtroopers been involved in investigation? Anyway, where are your documents?”, the man spoke with anger in his voice.
“Here they are, if you don’t believe me,” Ehrman took out of his pocket four pieces of paper marked with the seal of the main directorate, where it was certified and spelled out that he was now listed in this case. It confused the district police officer. He was confused at the sight of the documents and, handing them back, was forced to let Ehrman into the flat.
It’s the same as the last time we met. Even her coat is hanging exactly the same.
His gaze fell on a sleeve, stained with red lipstick. He lifted it up and examined it. Ingrid would hardly have wiped her lips with a coat, she was a neat person. She always had a handkerchief with her. In addition, he found traces of something oily on the sleeve. It soaked the sleeve, the smell of oil got into the piece of clothes. Ehrman walked deeper into the apartment. It was furnished with a special taste.
She was killed on Sunday at about 10 p.m., he carefully read the pathologist’s report. He was in her apartment on Saturday before 6 p.m. So, she was killed a little over a day later. What could have happened during this time? He recalled the details of their meeting.
She was wearing a maroon dress, her hair, immaculately styled, was slightly dishevelled. However, she said it was because of the dress change. It was a lie, she did not let him into the apartment for a long time and insisted on a meeting outside the house by phone. But Ehrman categorically refused. Why was she so insistent on meeting outside the house? What was she afraid he would see here?
His feet stood on something flat, missing the carpet that usually laid under his feet when he came in here. Ehrman took a step and began to inspect her home.
A dark maroon carpet was in the living room. It had always been flat, but this time it laid with its right edge facing the corridor. Ingrid hardly moved it to the living room. Ehrman examined it and, running a leather-gloved hand across the carpet, stopped his hand on the edge. There was something viscous and sticky. He brought the glove to his nose. It smelt like blood and something else. Floral. Ehrman concluded that it was either shampoo or soap.
Ingrid would not clean the carpets herself, even if she spilled something here, no. She would have given it to a dry cleaner.
Ehrman got up and turned to the bathroom door. Seeing it wide open, he shouted to the police officer, asking if they had touched anything here. He reported that everything stayed as it was when they came.
Ehrman walked into the bathroom, examining the room and standing in front of the carpet.
If we assume that Ingrid put the carpet like this because she needed the phone to be within walking distance. She liked to talk on the phone. But it is still too far away. Ehrman imagined Ingrid, turning to the sink.
There was tooth powder and shampoo on a dressing table. Ehrman picked up a box of tooth powder. He opened the box, looking at it, and noticed that it was used carelessly. Ingrid took care of things, she certainly would not have done that with this item.
Tooth powder, where else could it be used? It is impossible to get blood out with it, why are men’s fingerprints here? Maybe her brother came to see her. We need to clarify this with Adler, he seems to be interviewing the father and brother.
Ehrman returned to the living room and looked under the carpet, turning it over, the floor was clean. No blood. Which was very strange. The cause of death was a stab wound just below the rib cage, the heart was touched, so there should have been a lot of blood. But why was it imprinted only on the carpet? Or it was not blood. Ehrman assumed that it had been a while, but something did not add up here. The cup on the table caught Ehrman’s interest.
One cup. Did Ingrid drink tea and go to the shower? No, this version is not suitable. We need to see what kind of tea it was. Look at the packaging in which tea is packed by weight. So Ingrid definitely did not buy it in a store.
He opened the bedroom door. The bed was neatly made, there were no traces of the presence of a stranger. Ehrman realized that on the day of her death she had not come here.
Ehrman stopped in front of her dressing table with perfumes and lipsticks. After opening all the drawers, he took a closer look.
Everything is upside down. Maybe she was looking for something. Or, for example, one phone is in her living room, while another one is in her bedroom on her bedside table. Maybe it has nothing to do with the case.
Pulling out all the contents, he discovered a strange envelope with a very short letter inside. This alarmed Ehrman — Ingrid had no enemies, she never told him about her troubles.
Ehrman opened the closet and found a suitcase standing near the cupboard doors. He opened the suitcase and discovered things for the first time, underwear. He groped the suitcase and, tearing the lining, discovered money hidden under the lining as well as forged documents. She was running from someone, but where to? Ehrman did not find a ticket. He was overwhelmed by a lot of memories of every single thing she had, of the dresses she wore on the days when they met. Of the jewellery she wore for him.
Ingrid was going to run, but where to? She would have fled Berlin by the first train. It is necessary to clarify the movement of trains. Judging by the amount of money, she would have gone third class, so as not to attract attention. But whose?
He found letters in the drawer of her bedside table. There was no sender mentioned. And also her personal diary, but on each page she wrore only one phrase: “He will come for me.” Along with a ring big enough for her fingers.
Maybe she stole it to sell and then live on this money for the first time? But the ring doesn’t look expensive, besides Ingrid almost never wore a ring. Maybe she bought it at a fake auction. It is unlikely Ingrid wanted to participate in them at first place. However, where did she get the ring, was it given to her as a gift? I don’t think so. The ring is slightly dark, so it wasn’t worn, it was just lying around. And not where all the jewelry is stored, so Ingrid didn’t want it to be seen.
The day passed noon, when Ehrman left the apartment of the murdered woman, he was being driven by the district police. No neighbours were seen, which also alarmed Erman, but Ingrid said that she did not get along with the neighbours. Turning to the officer, he asked about what they managed to do.
“The only thing we had time to do was to ask around the neighbours on the neighbouring floors.”
“What about these neighbours?”, he pointed to two neighbouring apartments.
“One apartment is not for sale. There are no owners in the other as well— they have left.”
“What did you find out from the neighbours downstairs?”, Ehrman lighted a cigarette.
“They heard some noise, several male voices. The voices were loud and raised, nothing else. The radio was turned on loudly in the apartment, they thought it wouldn’t last long, but when the neighbours got tired, they went to her and found a corpse.”
“Send the tea that the victim has in the kitchen, as well as the coat for examination. Maybe it will lead somewhere and give more information. Also the carpet. Check what they find on it.”
“Excuse me, but who are you to order me something here? The fact that you are working on this case now does not give you the right to use everyone here.”
“Keep working,” that’s all he could say.
Ehrman analysed the data: there were several men, they turned on the radio so that the noise could not be heard, Ingrid’s radio wass in the living room at the entrance, the killer came at six o’clock in the evening before the neighbours were back home. The murderers, apparently, did not want to postpone the murder. But they did not plan to kill her either. Ingrid got involved in something big which brought serious consequences for her. But what into? The daughter of the general director of a chemical factory. What did she learn that could stop someone? Ehrman, lost in his thoughts, came out of the stuffy entrance. Going out into the fresh air, he decided to put his thoughts aside for now. He needed to know what Adler and Wieland managed to find out. He also needed to show them the ring. After all, he worked with jewellery, which meant he could remember something. Wieland could help him with understanding Ingrid’s itinerary, where she was going to escape and how far she wanted to go to find time for herself. The time had barely passed noon, so he would have time to come to the office and finish those things that he had not had time to hand over to the boss.
Ingrid was killed in a very strange way and under strange circumstances. Usually they kill at night or quite late in the evening, but it’s not even clear what the killers wanted to achieve, maybe they wanted to scare her. Then eventually something went wrong and they killed her. Everything is very strange. Why was the case built up with virtually no evidence? The three of us were called in less than a day, which means that they do really care of a conspiracy, or they are waiting for victims.
Ehrman drove away from Ingrid’s house, noting that he did not see any cars near this house. Which did not seem right either. Well, his conclusions were not enough.
