JF02 - Brother Grimm by Craig Russell Page B

gesture to his colleagues and strode towards the Mordkommission officers. There was an earnest purposefulness in his movements and, as he approached, Fabel noticed that his nondescript appearance, sand-coloured hair and mottled, pale skin were at odds with the keen energy that burned in his pale green eyes. His appearance reminded Fabel of Paul Lindemann, the officer he had lost, but when the uniformed officer came closer Fabel realised that the similarity was superficial.
    The SchuPo nodded to Maria and extended his hand, first to Fabel, then to Brauner. Fabel noticed the single silver Kommissar star on theshoulder flashes of his short black leather uniform jacket.
    Maria introduced him. ‘This is Kommissar Henk Hermann, from the local Polizeidirektion.’
    ‘Why did you call us in specifically, Herr Kommissar?’ Fabel asked, smiling. The normal role of the Schutzpolizei was to secure the murder scene and keep any onlookers outside the taped perimeter, while the Kriminalpolizei took charge of the crime scene itself. The Lagedienst would be responsible for informing the KriPo, and the Mordkommission would investigate any sudden death.
    An uncertain smile stretched Hermann’s meagre lips even thinner. ‘Well …’ he looked past Fabel towards the bodies. ‘Well, I know that your team specialise in, well, this sort of thing …’
    ‘What sort of thing?’ Maria asked.
    ‘Well, it’s clearly not a suicide. And this is not the primary scene of the crime …’
    ‘Why do you think that?’
    Hermann wavered for a moment. It was unusual for a SchuPo to offer any form of opinion on a murder scene, and even more unusual for any KriPo, far less a Kriminalpolizei officer of Fabel’s rank, to listen. He moved round the group to have clearer access to the bodies, but maintained a distance sufficient to ensure that the scene wasn’t contaminated. He knelt down, balanced on the balls of his feet and pointed to the male victim’s lacerated throat. ‘Obviously, without moving the bodies I can’t see very clearly, but it looks to me like our male victim was killed with two blows. The first caught him on the side of the neck and he started to bleed out fast. The second sliced right across his windpipe.’ Hermann pointed to thefemale victim. ‘It’s my belief that the girl died from a single slash across her throat. This blood here –’ he indicated the broad splash of blood across her thighs ‘– isn’t hers. It’s almost certain to have come from our male victim. She was in close proximity to him when he was attacked and she must have caught the arterial spray from his neck. But there is no significant amount of blood anywhere else here … indicating that this is not the primary scene of crime. It also suggests that they were brought here by the killer. And that, in turn, leads me to believe that our killer is maybe a big man – or, at least, physically strong. There are few signs of dragging, other than when he was putting the male victim in place and the shoe was pulled off. You can’t get a vehicle up here, so that means he must have carried the victims.’
    ‘Anything else?’ asked Fabel.
    ‘I’m only guessing, but I’d say that our killer did the guy first. Maybe a surprise attack. That way he takes the path of least resistance. His second victim doesn’t have the same strength and doesn’t pose the same threat as the man.’
    ‘A dangerous assumption to make,’ said Maria, with a bitter smile. Hermann straightened up and shrugged.
    ‘You’ve described the modus used in this murder,’ Fabel said. ‘But you still haven’t explained why you felt this was something for my team, specifically.’
    Hermann stepped back and tilted his head slightly to one side, as if standing before some painting or exhibit that he was appraising.
    ‘That’s why …’ he said. ‘Look at it …’
    ‘What?’ asked Fabel.
    ‘Well … This isn’t just where our killer decided to dump the bodies. He could have done