informers.”
“You can’t do the job without keeping your ear on the toilet door.”
“The trouble is, everyone’s an informer now.” Von Sonnenberg shook his head gloomily. “And I do mean everyone. Which means there’s much too much information. By the time any of it’s been assessed, it’s useless.”
“We get the police force we deserve, sir.”
“You of all people could be forgiven for thinking that. But I can’t sit back and do nothing about it. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly. Under the republic, the Berlin police force enjoyed a reputation as one of the best in the world.”
“That’s not what the Nazis said, sir.”
“I can’t help that. But I can try to arrest the decline.”
“I get the feeling my gratitude is about to be sorely tested.”
“I have one or two detectives here who might, in time, amount to something.”
“You mean apart from Otto.”
Von Sonnenberg chuckled again. “Otto. Yes. Well, Otto is Otto, isn’t he?”
“Always.”
“But these cops are lacking in experience. Your kind of experience. One of them is Richard Bömer.”
“I don’t know him, either, sir.”
“No, well, you wouldn’t. He’s my sister’s son-in-law. I was thinking he might benefit from a little avuncular advice.”
“I really don’t think I’d make much of an uncle, sir. I haven’t got a brother, but if I had, he’d probably have died of criticism by now. The only reason they took me out of uniform and put me in plainclothes was because I was so short with the traffic on Potsdamer Platz. Advice from me sounds like a ruler across the knuckles. I even avoid my own shaving mirror in case I tell myself to go and get a proper job.”
“A proper job. For you? Like what, for instance?”
“I’ve been thinking I might try to set myself up as a private investigator.”
“To do that you’ll need a license from a magistrate. In which case, you would need to show police consent. It might be useful to have a senior policeman on your side for something like that.”
He had a point, and there seemed to be no use in wriggling. He had me just where he wanted, as if I were a moth pinned in the glass case on his office wall.
“All right. But don’t expect white gloves and silver service. If this fellow Richard doesn’t like boiled sausage from the Wurst Max, I’ll be wasting his time and mine.”
“Naturally. All the same, it might be a good idea if you were to meet him somewhere outside the Alex. And that better include the bars around here. I’d like to avoid anyone pulling his chain about the low company he’s keeping.”
“Suits me. But I’d rather not have your sister’s son-in-law in the Adlon. No disrespect to you or her, but they generally prefer it if I’m not teaching a class when I’m there.”
“Sure. We’ll think of a spot. Somewhere halfway. How about the Lustgarten?”
I nodded.
“I’ll get Richard to bring you the files on a couple of cases he’s looking at. Cold ones. Who knows? Maybe you can warm them up for him. A floater from the canal. And that poor dumb cop who got himself murdered. Maybe you read about him in the Beobachter ? August Krichbaum.”
11
O NCE A HUGE, LANDSCAPED GARDEN, the Lustgarten was enclosed by the old royal palace—to which it had formerly belonged—and the Old Museum and the Cathedral, but in recent years it had been used not as a garden at all but for military parades and political rallies. I’d been part of a rally there myself, in February 1933, when two hundred thousand people had filled the Lustgarten to demonstrate against Hitler. Perhaps that was why, when they came to power, the Nazis ordered the gardens to be paved over and the famous equestrian statue of Frederick William III removed—so that they could stage even larger military parades and rallies in support of the Leader.
Arriving in that great empty space, I realized I had forgotten about the statue and was obliged to guess where it had been so
“You can’t do the job without keeping your ear on the toilet door.”
“The trouble is, everyone’s an informer now.” Von Sonnenberg shook his head gloomily. “And I do mean everyone. Which means there’s much too much information. By the time any of it’s been assessed, it’s useless.”
“We get the police force we deserve, sir.”
“You of all people could be forgiven for thinking that. But I can’t sit back and do nothing about it. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly. Under the republic, the Berlin police force enjoyed a reputation as one of the best in the world.”
“That’s not what the Nazis said, sir.”
“I can’t help that. But I can try to arrest the decline.”
“I get the feeling my gratitude is about to be sorely tested.”
“I have one or two detectives here who might, in time, amount to something.”
“You mean apart from Otto.”
Von Sonnenberg chuckled again. “Otto. Yes. Well, Otto is Otto, isn’t he?”
“Always.”
“But these cops are lacking in experience. Your kind of experience. One of them is Richard Bömer.”
“I don’t know him, either, sir.”
“No, well, you wouldn’t. He’s my sister’s son-in-law. I was thinking he might benefit from a little avuncular advice.”
“I really don’t think I’d make much of an uncle, sir. I haven’t got a brother, but if I had, he’d probably have died of criticism by now. The only reason they took me out of uniform and put me in plainclothes was because I was so short with the traffic on Potsdamer Platz. Advice from me sounds like a ruler across the knuckles. I even avoid my own shaving mirror in case I tell myself to go and get a proper job.”
“A proper job. For you? Like what, for instance?”
“I’ve been thinking I might try to set myself up as a private investigator.”
“To do that you’ll need a license from a magistrate. In which case, you would need to show police consent. It might be useful to have a senior policeman on your side for something like that.”
He had a point, and there seemed to be no use in wriggling. He had me just where he wanted, as if I were a moth pinned in the glass case on his office wall.
“All right. But don’t expect white gloves and silver service. If this fellow Richard doesn’t like boiled sausage from the Wurst Max, I’ll be wasting his time and mine.”
“Naturally. All the same, it might be a good idea if you were to meet him somewhere outside the Alex. And that better include the bars around here. I’d like to avoid anyone pulling his chain about the low company he’s keeping.”
“Suits me. But I’d rather not have your sister’s son-in-law in the Adlon. No disrespect to you or her, but they generally prefer it if I’m not teaching a class when I’m there.”
“Sure. We’ll think of a spot. Somewhere halfway. How about the Lustgarten?”
I nodded.
“I’ll get Richard to bring you the files on a couple of cases he’s looking at. Cold ones. Who knows? Maybe you can warm them up for him. A floater from the canal. And that poor dumb cop who got himself murdered. Maybe you read about him in the Beobachter ? August Krichbaum.”
11
O NCE A HUGE, LANDSCAPED GARDEN, the Lustgarten was enclosed by the old royal palace—to which it had formerly belonged—and the Old Museum and the Cathedral, but in recent years it had been used not as a garden at all but for military parades and political rallies. I’d been part of a rally there myself, in February 1933, when two hundred thousand people had filled the Lustgarten to demonstrate against Hitler. Perhaps that was why, when they came to power, the Nazis ordered the gardens to be paved over and the famous equestrian statue of Frederick William III removed—so that they could stage even larger military parades and rallies in support of the Leader.
Arriving in that great empty space, I realized I had forgotten about the statue and was obliged to guess where it had been so
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