The Killing of Emma Gross Read Free Page B

my hands behind my back.
    Ritter squared up to me, buck-toothed grin more pronounced than ever. His blue eyes squinted in the sun and he'd picked up some grey in his black hair since I'd seen him last, but he was still thin. It also looked like he was trying to grow a moustache – to cover those teeth? – though the limp fur blooming in patches over his top lip didn't seem to want to play along. His grin worried me and so did what he was carrying in his left hand. My satchel.
    'Bucky,' I said with a nod – his nickname back when we'd been partners.
    'Thomas,' he nodded back – studied formality, the only kind he could do.
    'Was that wise, shooting at Kürten?' I said.
    'What makes you think they were aiming for him?' Ritter said. He smashed his fist into my nose and the cartilage gave out.

2
     

    They drove us to Mühlenstrasse HQ, took my belt, shoes, wallet and watch and threw me in a holding cell. The door clanged shut, shaking clumps of mould from the brick walls. I kicked a brown-stained bucket into the middle of the room. It swayed from side to side as I slumped on the hard wooden bunk lining one wall, rumpling the thin blanket beneath my buttocks.
    This beef between Ritter and me, it was personal. Probably I shouldn't have slept with his wife, but she'd been the one who came on to me, after all. My mistake: Ritter had kept me off the murder commission despite my record and made sure I was kept in exile in a suburban police precinct at the arsch -end of nowhere. Meanwhile his Ripper investigation had achieved nothing in over a year. So yes, I'd wanted the collar. I'd wanted the glory. I'd wanted to rub Ritter's nose in his failure and prove to everyone else how full of shit he was. Was that so bad?
    Well, perhaps it was. Give it some time and Ritter would send for me and then I would find out what form his revenge was going to take this time. But I couldn't forget that there was a lost five-year-old girl out there, maybe dead, maybe dying for lack of food or water or medical attention. We needed to find her, and soon.
    I hoped that while Ritter was leaving me to stew he was sweating Kürten for all the information he could. I wasn't going to get anywhere by worrying though, and I needed sleep, so I took off my jacket and rolled it up. I placed this makeshift pillow at the furthest end of the bunk from the door and I lay on my side.
    Warm sunlight blared in through a high barred window. My mind buzzed with the events of the day. My nose throbbed and my nostrils had filled with dried blood, making it hard to breathe. I tried sniffing hard a couple of times, but that dislodged the crusts that had formed and caused fresh blood to flow. Settling on my back made the blood drip down my throat so I went back to lying on my side and breathing through my mouth.
    Later, a banging noise dragged me awake. I raised my head from my rolled-up jacket. It was still light outside, but only just. The sky through the bars was a deep blue. The wound in my cheek throbbed now, worse than my nose, and my head was pounding too. My mouth was dry and a sticky white residue clung to my lips.
    A metallic rasp came from the corridor outside my cell.
    'Hello?' I called out. Nobody answered. The hatch in the thick cell door was open.
    I got off the bunk and staggered to the door. I gazed through the hatch. Darkness gazed back. I crept closer. Were those whispering voices I could hear out there? I put my eye as close to the hatch as I dared, trying to make out any movement beyond.
    Just then, the light in my cell died and cool liquid splashed my face. I pressed my lips together before any of it got in my mouth: I hoped it was water but I wasn't up for taking any risks. I backed off, stumbled and fell, cracking my hip against the side of the bunk. I felt around for the blanket. My fingers found it and I used it to wipe my face. Laughter leaked through from the corridor. I wanted to go back and bang on that door, all night if need be, shout and