Hannibal Jones - 02 - Collateral Damage Page 14

  At that Foster smiled. “Yes, Oscar actually had quite a crush on Mrs. Donner. She was one of his teachers. It was his freshman year of high school. He took her death hard, as did we all, but he took offense at the fact that the investigation was kept low key.”

  Cindy poured dark beer onto her soft voice before speaking again. “Gil Donner was Major Donner then, isn’t that right? He was Provost marshal at the time. Now I don’t know much about the military, but I think that made him your boss, isn’t that right? Is that why you kept the circumstances of her death so, what did you call it? Low key?”

  Foster walked around the bar and pulled a large but thin hardcover book out of a shelf. He began to leaf absently through it while he talked. “People may have thought that, but they were wrong. No matter who he was, there was no point in hurting him further by letting the details out.”

  Hannibal stood beside Foster, looking over his shoulder at what he thought at first was a photo album. “Well, Mister Peters, I doubt those details would matter to anyone now.”

  “It might still matter to Gil. You see, Carla was cheating on him. Too close an investigation would have surely brought that out.”

  The ruffle of pages being turned was the only sound in the room for a while. Hannibal returned to the bar for another big swallow of beer. He realized now that Foster Peters had never really given up on his son.

  “Oscar sensed some secret was being kept. And you never told him?”

  “I’m a professional, Mister Jones,” Foster said, not raising his head. “You don’t make exceptions for family, especially frantic teenagers.”

  Hannibal looked to Cindy to ask the hard question.

  “Mister Peters, I understand why Oscar might think Carla was murdered. But why would he tell anyone he knew a witness to that crime?”

  Foster looked up calmly. “Miss, he lied. He lied to make it look as if I would falsify an investigation. He knew that impugning my police work was the most effective way to hurt me. He was good at that.”

  Hannibal drained his glass. Watching Foster stare down at the glossy pages he realized he had gotten all he could from this man. Foster Peters was more alone than Hannibal ever wanted to be.

  “We’ll be going now,” Hannibal said. “Thank you for your time.”

  “Oh here,” Foster said, flipping the book to Hannibal as they walked toward the door. “Take that with you.”

  Hannibal caught the book but immediately held it out toward Foster again. It was a yearbook from Frankfurt American High School. “You don’t want to give this away.”

  “Why not?” Foster held the door open for them. “Maybe his friends in the States will want to see it. It was all I had of him until he got back, but now he’s not.... you think I should be there, don’t you? With his mother. Well, it’s too late now, don’t you see? Too late to have him back again.”

  Cindy averted her eyes and moved off toward the car. Hannibal hesitated, but realized it was too late for this man. “I’ll give this to your wife,” he finally said. “I don’t think she’ll let him go so easily.”

  * * *

  “I’ll never call my neighborhood in Alexandria, Old Town again,” Cindy said, clutching a painting she had just purchased from a street vendor.

  “Yes, this is the real thing,” Hannibal said. He was glad to see Cindy smiling again. Their conversation with Foster Peters had left her depressed, but he didn’t think that man’s self serving bitterness should be allowed to ruin her day. Besides, that was not what he brought her to Germany for. So he took her to Heidelberg’s old town, thinking a stroll there would lighten her mood.

  In the crisp clarity of the afternoon sun, he walked her to Hauptstrasse walkplatz, the half-mile long pedestrian mall in the middle of the old town district. He felt a brief moment of deja vu because Alexandria, Virginia’s old town area clings to the banks of a narrow river as well. But the Neckar River flows more swiftly than the Potomac, and so is much cleaner. This day the sun skipped golden discs across its crystal blue surface when he caught sight of it.

  Cindy wandered without any particular purpose through the warren of cobblestone streets with Hannibal in tow. An endless flow of shops and cafes caught her attention, offering all the usual tourist paraphernalia and a few less usual choices like artwork and antique books.

  They shared an outdoor table at a small but delicious smelling restaurant before reality again intruded, and it was Cindy who broached the subject at hand.

  “So, do you think Oscar might have been right about a murder?”

  Hannibal bit into his schnitzel like a long lost friend. The pork was crisp and golden beneath the thick brown sauce. He made an “mmmmm” sound and smiled contentedly behind a faraway look.

  “Hannibal, please.” Cindy said, grinning herself. “It’s a pork chop in mushroom gravy for crying out loud. Now what do you think?”

  “Schnitzel is not a pork chop,” Hannibal said with a nearly straight face. “And jaegersoße is not simply mushroom gravy. And I’m not sure what to think about Oscar’s suspicions. There’s certainly good reason to wonder. I mean, his father pretty much admitted he was covering something up.”

  “True,” Cindy said, and then, as if it was part of the same conversation she added, “It certainly is charming here. And the people are so, I don’t know, hospitable. Not like Frankfurt at all. Rather surprising.”

  “Why?” Hannibal asked, sipping his wine. “Is Washington like Pittsburgh? Heidelberg is kind of the romantic heart of Germany.”

  “Poetic,” Cindy said, digging into her own potato salad. “So are we finished with business here?”

  Hannibal sat back and took a big swallow from his glass. He had chosen an alt bier from farther north, thick and dark with a nice malty flavor. “I’m thinking I might like to chat with Donner a bit about his wife’s death.”

  “Sometimes you’re like a terrier with a bone,” Cindy said. “How do you figure to find this Donner character, anyway?”

  “Just like back in the States, babe. I’ll look in the phone book.”

  * * *

  Hannibal wandered through the bar in his working clothes and glasses, feeling out of place for the first time since he returned to Germany. Gil Donner had insisted Hannibal come alone, and picked a place they could be anonymous.

  The place was The Schiwmmbad, and it was more American than Hannibal wanted to believe. First the place was huge. There were two dance floors, a theater, two bars and a stage in the building. And the place was loud. The music was live, and the sort people call alternative these days. To Hannibal it was rock music that just missed the target. But the young crowd, about half American military, seemed into it.

  Hannibal hated pushing through crowds. He hated the drunken laughter that surrounded him, mixing with the music. And he hated the stale beer smell that seemed to rise out of the hardwood floors. All in all, he wanted this to be over.

  A fellow who looked as if he just stepped out of an Army recruiting poster appeared at Hannibal’s side, tapped his shoulder and pointed. The man at the booth ahead stared at Hannibal with a disappointed half smile. His gray sport coat and open collared white shirt seemed out of place in that bar. His eyes were hard deep blue marbles, which had retained the sharpness of youth while everything around them had fallen to the will of time. Donner’s cheeks sagged into a double chin. What hair he retained, around the sides and back of his head, was peppered with gray. His body in general had softened, but Hannibal could see the hard core at the center of him that his eyes betrayed.

  When Hannibal reached the booth, his Ranger type escort signaled that he should sit opposite Donner. Hannibal imagined being pinned into his seat by this hard looking kid and shook his head. On second appraisal, the young fellow had to be six foot two, maybe one eighty, and the leather jacket and pants did little to hide his trim muscular frame. His hair was so light a blond that the severely Ranger haircut left him looking almost bald. His brown eyes were as hard as Donner’s.

 
“After you,” Hannibal said, waving a hand toward the booth. The Ranger type grabbed Hannibal’s right arm and pushed, looking surprised at the resistance. Hannibal’s left fist curled, his arm pulling back.

  “It’s okay, Cook,” Donner said. The Ranger type stopped pushing, and slowly released Hannibal. Hannibal stepped aside and again pointed to the vinyl-covered seat.

  “Sit,” Hannibal said, as if addressing a trained hound. Cook’s eyes went from Hannibal to Donner and back, before he slid into the booth. Hannibal settled beside him and turned his attention to Donner, tuning the other man out.

  “I’m not here looking for trouble,” Hannibal said, lacing his gloved fingers on the table. “I’m just looking for the facts.”

  Donner sipped from the only beer on the table. When he spoke he did not raise his voice above the room noise, forcing Hannibal to lean in to hear. “Mister Jones, this is all a mystery to me and I don’t like surprises. Carla, rest her soul, is fifteen years in the grave. Why on earth are you asking about her now?”

  “I don’t think the truth can hurt you at this point, Mister Donner, but it could save a young man a jail sentence.”

  Donner nodded, and sampled his beer again. He stared into the glass like a crystal ball. “You mean the man accused of killing Foster’s son, Oscar. You are concerned with the motive, yes? But you spoke with Foster. I believe he told you all there is to know.”

  “He didn’t tell me who found the body,” Hannibal said, raising his voice as the band blasted louder. “Or where the crime took place.”

  Donner stared deeper into the glass, as if reading a script there. “I found the body, Mister Jones. Me. I found her lying in that tub.”

  Cook’s presence, Donner’s attitude, a dozen subtle subconscious clues prodded Hannibal’s thinking into a new direction. What was not said suddenly seemed important. “She wasn’t home, was she?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Because you didn’t say,” Hannibal said. “And because of Foster. He lied about the investigation back then. Maybe he’s still lying. Lying for you. And maybe Oscar did know something that got him killed.”

  Cook’s hand rested lightly on Hannibal’s shoulder. “You don’t want to be calling Gil here a liar.”

  Hannibal heard a barely detectable click and glanced over at Cook, then down toward his lap where his right hand held a narrow knife blade poised to jab toward Hannibal’s ribs. Hannibal returned his attention to Donner, who wore that expression men get when they think they’re in control. That, more than the knife, got on his nerves. His own face betrayed none of his feelings.

  “We’re not going to play it this way,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Then his left fist snapped up from the table, pivoting on his elbow, smashing into Cook’s nose. His right hand darted across his body under the table to grab Cook’s right hand and yank it straight out to the right. He didn’t think the shoulder was dislocated, but right then he didn’t care much. What mattered was that Cook’s elbow was locked out. Hannibal’s left forearm pressed forward against Cook’s shoulder. Donner jumped when Cook’s bloodied nose thumped down into the table.

  “He doesn’t need that shoulder in his work, does he?” Hannibal asked through clenched teeth. “Now, I don’t think I’ve asked you who killed your wife. What I need to know is how she was killed. That’s enough to provide a motive for the murder my client’s been accused of.”

  Donner saw the fear in Cook’s eyes, a young soldier getting his first real-life experience with violence and the kind of real pain one never experiences in a training exercise. His eyes jumped to the side when the knife clattered to the floor.

  “Let him go. You’ll ruin him.”

  “The longer his shoulder stretches like this, the longer it will take him to recover normal range of motion,” Hannibal said. “What are you covering up, Major?”

  The mention of his rank seemed to stir something inside Donner. “I retired a full colonel,” he said. “And my wife. Carla. Carla killed herself, you bastard.”

  Hannibal released Cook, who snapped upright, his hand leaping to his injured shoulder. Hannibal turned to him and raised the right side of his suit coat, showing the space under his right shoulder. “If we were in the States, there’d be a Sig Sauer automatic sitting there, and I might have decided to use it to put your shoulder out of action for good,” he said. “But then, you might not have learned your lesson so well that way. Now you behave and let the grownups talk.” Then he turned to Donner and said “Details.”

  “Details?” Donner repeated. “Details. I pulled the radio out of the tub.”

  “Back up. Where was she? Not at home, right? Peters told me she was seeing another man.”

  Donner looked at Cook who made a point of looking away. This was information he was not meant to hear. Hannibal nodded and stood, keeping a foot on the dropped knife. Cook slid out of the booth and walked to the bar, not out of sight but out of earshot. Hannibal sat and stayed quiet, waiting. Donner swallowed the last of his beer. When he began again, it was the opening of floodgates, releasing a torrent too long locked away.

  “Carla and I married during the seventies, remember. Times were different. We trusted each other enough to, well, a broader variety of experiences kept the relationship fresh, and...” Donner was fading.

  “You’re saying you maintained an open relationship?”

  Donner met Hannibal’s gaze at last. “Exactly. An open relationship. Of course, the Army frowns on that kind of a lifestyle. It can stop an officer’s career cold. So we maintained this little apartment across town in Frankfurt. We had our... other meetings there.”

  “And that’s where you found her?”

  “She was lying in a tub full of water. She had carried a radio into the bathroom. She plugged it in up by the sink where you could plug in a shaver, but she had set it on the edge of the tub. And then she must have just... just....” Donner’s eyes clamped shut so tight they squeezed a few drops of liquid out of his eyes.

  Hannibal tried to picture the scene. “She pulls the radio into the water. Teeth clench, body convulses. Head snaps back. Skull trauma. She sinks below the water, lungs keep pumping. Without the radio, you could sell most medical examiners on the accident story. But why would she do this to herself? Despondent over her lifestyle, maybe?”

  “Who can say?” Donner said. “She never said anything. No note was found. I can only say she seemed depressed and irritable the last few days. If only she’d told me.”

  “Look,” Hannibal spoke slowly. “I’m sorry I dredged all this up. I needed to know what happened. I hope you understand.”

  Surprisingly, Donner nodded and returned a small smile. “Believe it or not, I do. I was a Provost marshal remember? I’ve done my share of investigations. And, hey, I’m sorry about Cook.”

  “Not a problem. He maybe learned an important lesson about the difference between threats and combat. About readiness. Could make him a better soldier in the long run.”

  As Hannibal prepared to stand, Donner said, “Can I ask you something?” Hannibal nodded. “What was your father’s first name?”

  “Charles. Why?”

  Donner seemed fully back to present-day reality. “It’s the reason I agreed to meet you at all. Charlie Jones. Common enough name, of course. But I worked with an MP NCO named Charlie Jones back during Nam. He was a whole lot blacker than you, but he married a local national so it could be. He was a hell of a good soldier. Just in case it matters.”

  -19-

  SATURDAY

  “You know what I think?” Cindy asked as Hannibal pushed their car up the Autobahn. “I think you came over here hoping you’d meet someone who knew your dad.”

  “Do we have to talk about that now?” Hannibal asked, enjoying the sun in his face, cutting into his eyes from his right as he drove north. They had enjoyed a wonderful and pleasant night at the hotel, and had gotten out early to start their day. He was working hard to maintain good spirits for the morning’s errand.
They had already passed Frankfurt before Cindy mentioned business again.

  “Sorry. I just wondered. So, you think this Donner character was telling the truth?”

  “Impossible to guess,” Hannibal said, sliding in behind a Mercedes making excellent time. “He sure looked sincere about his loss. I believe he loved his wife. But the rest of the story only hangs together if you don’t look too closely. Anyway I know all I need to. There was a cover-up. That means several people had a good reason to go after Oscar.”

  “I follow that, but if someone saw Oscar as a threat, why would they wait so long to do anything about it?”

  The world became familiar as Hannibal wheeled into the outskirts of Berlin. He saw that a great deal of construction was going on, and that Berliners in general still dressed a couple of years behind Americans, but mostly, it was his childhood home. Except of course he didn’t see soldiers and American children everywhere.

  “Playing devil’s advocate, counselor? Well, from what his mother told me, it could be our theoretical assassin just couldn’t find him. He’s been on the move since he came to the States.”

  It occurred to Hannibal that Cindy might have been asking these questions to distract herself from the purpose of their trip. She became quiet, and stopped talking altogether as they rolled through the ivy-covered gate of the small cemetery in second gear. The gate itself had a thin peaked roof, below which hung a white sign with black letters. Hannibal translated Gottesacker der Brüdergemeine as the Bohemian Parish Cemetery. They parked among a haphazard collection of vehicles and Hannibal reached into the back seat for the flowers before he got out.

  Lilies. White lilies, he remembered, were her favorites. He stood waiting for Cindy to take his arm before moving off, his shoes crunching on the gravel path between monuments that were tended with great care. The Germans did care for their dead, he had to give them that. The grounds showed the meticulous and painstaking care they received. The trees were deep green with that flush of health trees in such places always have. Hannibal stopped in front of a row of low white marble stones. The space behind the monuments was covered with ivy, while a carpet of grass lay in front of them.