[03] A German Requiem by Philip Kerr

Author:Philip Kerr
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 0142004022
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2006-08-29T05:00:00+00:00

23

There’s nothing the Viennese love more than getting ‘cosy’. They look to achieve this conviviality in bars and restaurants, to the accompaniment of a musical quartet comprising a bass, a violin, an accordion and a zither — a strange instrument which resembles an empty box of chocolates with thirty or forty strings that are plucked like a guitar. For me, this omnipresent combination embodies everything that was phoney about Vienna, like the syrupy sentiment and the affected politeness. It did make me feel cosy. Only it was the kind of cosiness you might have experienced after you had been embalmed, sealed in a lead-lined coffin, and tidily deposited in one of those marble mausoleums up at the Central Cemetery.

I was waiting for Traudl Braunsteiner, in the Herrendorf, a restaurant on Herrengasse. The place was her choice, but she was late. When at last she arrived her face was red because she had been running, and also because of the cold.

‘You have a less than Catholic air about you, the way you sit there in the shadows,’ she said, sitting down at the dinner table.

‘I work at that,’ I said. ‘Nobody wants a detective who looks as honest as the village postmaster. Being dimly lit is good for business.’

I waved to a waiter and we quickly ordered.

‘Emil’s upset that you haven’t been to see him lately,’ Traudl said, giving up her menu.

‘If he wants to know what I’ve been doing, tell him I’ll be sending him a bill for a shoe-repair. I’ve walked all over this damned city.’

‘You know he goes to trial next week, don’t you?’

‘I’m not likely to be able to forget it, what with Liebl telephoning nearly every day.’

‘Emil’s not about to forget it either.’ She spoke quietly, obviously upset.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘that was a stupid thing to say. Look, I do have some good news. I’ve finally spoken to König.’

Her face lit up with excitement. ‘You have?’ she said. ‘When? Where?’

‘This morning,’ I said. ‘At the Amalienbad.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He wanted me to work for him. I think it might not be a bad idea, as a way of getting close enough to him to find some sort of evidence.’

‘Couldn’t you just tell the police where he is so that they can arrest him?’

‘On what charge?’ I shrugged. ‘As far as the police are concerned they’ve already got their man cold. Anyway, even if I could persuade them to do it, König wouldn’t be so easy to clip. The Americans can’t go into the Russian sector and arrest him, even if they wanted to. No, Emil’s best chance is that I gain König’s confidence as quickly as possible. And that’s why I turned down his offer.’

Traudl bit her lip with exasperation. ‘But why? I don’t understand.’

‘I have to make sure that König believes I don’t want to work for him. He was slightly suspicious of the way in which I got to meet his girlfriend. So here’s what I want to do. Lotte’s a croupier at the Oriental.

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