Deadly Communion Read Free Page B

their children. And while I played with Hans or Gudrun or Dierk or Gerda, the women would watch and laugh. But I would sometimes catch sight of them as they exchanged glances and I would see tears of sympathy. Just before my departure, they would stuff my pockets with gingerbread, kiss me, and hold me close. All of these women had the same distinctive smell — a salty but sweet fragrance — a smell that combined perspiration with confectionery. I loved being enfolded in their plump red arms. But it was never enough. They could never replace my mother — they did not possess wings.
    I enjoyed school. The other children hated it, but for me it was a welcome release from home and my father’s black moods. I was fond of our little classroom: the whitewashed walls, the blackboard, the potbellied stove. My favourite subject was history, largely due to the lively instruction provided by our teacher, Herr Griesser: avuncular, bald but for two comic tufts that sprouted out from above his ears, spectacles, and prone to illustrate points with wild gesticulations. With the tip of his finger, he could trace an exotic horizon — pyramids, ziggurats — and transport us to Giza or Elam. Greek legends werebrought to life with vivid descriptions of their heroism. Theseus was as real to me as the baker.
    In addition to being an excellent teacher, Herr Griesser was also a keen amateur archaeologist. He once found a prehistoric axe-head in the Wachau and gave it to the Natural History Museum. They put it on display in a cabinet and it can still be seen today in the room dedicated to Bronze Age artefacts.
    It was Herr Griesser who first told me about mummies. I was absolutely fascinated. And when he told me that there were mummies in Vienna — real mummies — I was eager to see them. I pleaded with my father, begged him to take me but, predictably, he refused.
    My interest in mummies was curiously practical for a boy. I became preoccupied with the mechanics of preservation, how it was accomplished. The Egyptian method of embalming is actually described by Herodotus. It is a crude but effective process. After the entrails and brain are removed, the body is scoured with palm wine and purified with spices. It is then soaked in a saline solution for seventy days, bathed, and wrapped in strips of linen. Finally, the body is placed in a wooden case.
    The Egyptians also took great care with respect to the appearance of corpses, particularly those of women. The bust was preserved with stuffing and nipples were refashioned using copper buttons; wigs were worn; the body was painted in yellow ochre and the nails were tinted with henna.
    Ingenious.
    But I digress.
    Such facts are of little interest to you. You want to know more about me.

4
    P ROFESSOR M ATHIAS STOOD AT the foot of the autopsy table looking down at the body. He was an elderly gentleman with a tired, kindly face. His grey hair was uncombed and his general appearance was rather dishevelled. He was tying his apron strings behind his back while humming notes that never quite amounted to a melody. His dirge became even more tuneless as it sank to the bottom of his vocal range, where the professor was only capable of producing a sustained, rhythmic growling. In due course, he relinquished music in favour of speech: ‘So, you think she was ravished?’
    ‘Yes,’ Rheinhardt replied. ‘Her underwear had been removed. We found the garment discarded, not far from her body. Haussmann?’
    His assistant produced the dead woman’s red cotton drawers from a bag. Mathias took them and held them up to the electric light.
    ‘No rips or tears. If they had been forcefully removed I would have expected to see some indications of violence. Perhaps she consented?’
    ‘Or perhaps she was forced to undress at knifepoint.’
    Mathias buried his face in the red cotton, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply.
    ‘Professor,’ said Rheinhardt. ‘What are you doing, exactly?’
    The old man sighed and