with water."
Her look of distaste was unmistakable. House-proud young
woman, Grovian thought with a trace of sarcasm that didn't
match his mood. "I bet you rinse out the jug every time," he said
quietly.
"Of course."
`And everything else in your home is spick and span as well."
"I don't get much time for housework, but I do my best to keep
everything clean."
"Your private life included?"
Although she was feeling so wretched she could hardly think,
she grasped what lie was getting at. Instinctively, her hands closed
around the scars on her forearms. Her voice was hoarse and
defensive. "What do you mean?"
"What I say. You don't like talking about the past, but your
husband can't have been the first man in your life. Were you happy
with him, Frau Bender?"
She merely nodded.
"So why did you tell him, only a few hours ago, that he should
never have married you?"
She shrugged, put a hand to her mouth and started to chew her
thumbnail.
"He beat you up," Grovian said, indicating her face. "Did lie
often hit you?"
"No!" The hoarseness in her voice had gone without her having
to clear her throat. "Gereon never hit me," she said firmly. "Today
was the first time, but put yourself in his place. What would you
do if your wife suddenly jumped up and stabbed a stranger with a knife? You'd also try to get it away from her, and if she resisted,
you'd hit her. It was quite understandable."
Grovian rubbed the bottom of the jug clean with his fingertips,
replaced the jug under the filter and pressed the button again. "I
can't put myself in your husband's place, Frau Bender, because my
wife would never do such a crazy thing."
Her reaction was fiercer than he'd expected. She stamped her
foot and shouted: "I'm not crazy!"
Her earlier outbursts hadn't been lost on him. He took her
renewed insistence on this point as a positive challenge to continue
along the same lines. "Maybe not, Frau Bender, but that's what
people will think if you provide no explanation for your actions.
No normal person kills a stranger just because some music has
got on her nerves. I spent a long time talking with your husband,
and
She muttered something he didn't catch, but it stopped him in
his tracks. "Leave my husband out of it!" she said fiercely. "He's
got absolutely nothing to do with this." In a rather more moderate
tone she went on: "Gereon is a decent man. He's hard-working
and honest. He doesn't drink. He isn't violent."
She bowed her head, and her voice lost strength. "He'd never
force a woman to do anything she didn't want to do. He never
forced me to, either. Only yesterday he asked if I felt like it. I could
have said no, but I ..."
Grovian was feeling rather mean and couldn't understand why.
Cora Bender had attacked a defenceless man like a maddened
beast. She'd gone berserk with her little knife and was showing no
hint of remorse or sympathy for her victim. Yet to see her sitting
there with her lips trembling, enumerating her husband's good
qualities, anyone would have thought she was the victim.
But then she smiled a self-assured, supercilious smile and exasperated him yet again with her habitual, introductory "Look. . ."
"Look," she said, "I've no wish to discuss my husband with you;
it's enough if he's made a statement. He has, and he'll have to repeat
it in court, but that'll have to do. We can settle the rest between us. I
don't see why any outsiders should be dragged into this."
More harshly than he intended, Grovian said: "Plenty of
outsiders will be dragged into this, Fran Bender. I'll tell you how
matters stand: you suddenly lost control of yourself, and you either
can't or won't explain why."
She opened her mouth to speak, but lie went on quickly: "No,
don't interrupt me again. I didn't say you were mad - no one has,
to date - but you did something incomprehensible, and it's our job
to find out why. We're obliged to do so by law, whether you like it or
not. We shall have to
Her look of distaste was unmistakable. House-proud young
woman, Grovian thought with a trace of sarcasm that didn't
match his mood. "I bet you rinse out the jug every time," he said
quietly.
"Of course."
`And everything else in your home is spick and span as well."
"I don't get much time for housework, but I do my best to keep
everything clean."
"Your private life included?"
Although she was feeling so wretched she could hardly think,
she grasped what lie was getting at. Instinctively, her hands closed
around the scars on her forearms. Her voice was hoarse and
defensive. "What do you mean?"
"What I say. You don't like talking about the past, but your
husband can't have been the first man in your life. Were you happy
with him, Frau Bender?"
She merely nodded.
"So why did you tell him, only a few hours ago, that he should
never have married you?"
She shrugged, put a hand to her mouth and started to chew her
thumbnail.
"He beat you up," Grovian said, indicating her face. "Did lie
often hit you?"
"No!" The hoarseness in her voice had gone without her having
to clear her throat. "Gereon never hit me," she said firmly. "Today
was the first time, but put yourself in his place. What would you
do if your wife suddenly jumped up and stabbed a stranger with a knife? You'd also try to get it away from her, and if she resisted,
you'd hit her. It was quite understandable."
Grovian rubbed the bottom of the jug clean with his fingertips,
replaced the jug under the filter and pressed the button again. "I
can't put myself in your husband's place, Frau Bender, because my
wife would never do such a crazy thing."
Her reaction was fiercer than he'd expected. She stamped her
foot and shouted: "I'm not crazy!"
Her earlier outbursts hadn't been lost on him. He took her
renewed insistence on this point as a positive challenge to continue
along the same lines. "Maybe not, Frau Bender, but that's what
people will think if you provide no explanation for your actions.
No normal person kills a stranger just because some music has
got on her nerves. I spent a long time talking with your husband,
and
She muttered something he didn't catch, but it stopped him in
his tracks. "Leave my husband out of it!" she said fiercely. "He's
got absolutely nothing to do with this." In a rather more moderate
tone she went on: "Gereon is a decent man. He's hard-working
and honest. He doesn't drink. He isn't violent."
She bowed her head, and her voice lost strength. "He'd never
force a woman to do anything she didn't want to do. He never
forced me to, either. Only yesterday he asked if I felt like it. I could
have said no, but I ..."
Grovian was feeling rather mean and couldn't understand why.
Cora Bender had attacked a defenceless man like a maddened
beast. She'd gone berserk with her little knife and was showing no
hint of remorse or sympathy for her victim. Yet to see her sitting
there with her lips trembling, enumerating her husband's good
qualities, anyone would have thought she was the victim.
But then she smiled a self-assured, supercilious smile and exasperated him yet again with her habitual, introductory "Look. . ."
"Look," she said, "I've no wish to discuss my husband with you;
it's enough if he's made a statement. He has, and he'll have to repeat
it in court, but that'll have to do. We can settle the rest between us. I
don't see why any outsiders should be dragged into this."
More harshly than he intended, Grovian said: "Plenty of
outsiders will be dragged into this, Fran Bender. I'll tell you how
matters stand: you suddenly lost control of yourself, and you either
can't or won't explain why."
She opened her mouth to speak, but lie went on quickly: "No,
don't interrupt me again. I didn't say you were mad - no one has,
to date - but you did something incomprehensible, and it's our job
to find out why. We're obliged to do so by law, whether you like it or
not. We shall have to
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