Break Even (Detective Olaf Bauer Book 2) by Nick Buckets

Author:Nick Buckets [Buckets, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

41

AFTER GOING THROUGH THE whole folder twice, Olaf found himself even more confused. Schubert had done a hell lot of work, his journalistic curiosity driving him to peek around every corner. Schubert did his research carefully, Olaf not doubting its quality for a second. It was the presentation he had problems with. He couldn’t understand shit.

First off, the documents included newspaper articles on several incidents that seemed totally unrelated to each other. A state attorney in Hamburg getting fired on corruption grounds, the reelection of the Cologne mayor, neo-Nazis unleashing a pogrom against a refugee house in Chemnitz. Raw pieces of information that meant nothing to Olaf, but had cost Schubert his life.

Then, there were a bunch of notes written by the man himself, even harder to decipher. Schubert used abbreviations and incoherent sentences scattered with dates and numbers, making little sense.

Olaf tossed the manilla folder into his bag and stood up from the chair. He wouldn't make much progress on his own.

He switched off the lights, stepped into the elevator, and descended to the ground floor. As the doors chimed open, Olaf spotted someone talking to the guard stationed at the reception desk. The man’s face was recognizable, but Olaf couldn’t place him into context. He overheard them conversing on his way out.

“Herr Sommer is expecting you upstairs,” the guard said to the man, setting down the phone receiver. “Fourth floor, to your right.”

Upon hearing Sommer’s name, Olaf turned around for another glance at the man’s face, but he was already moving toward the elevator. Olaf pushed the door and exited the building.

Another round of heavy snowfall had produced a thick blanket of snow. His boots left imprints on the fresh snow as Olaf headed to the rail station, squeezing his mind to recall where he had seen the man before. His efforts were fruitless. It could have been anything, from a recent investigation to an annual Christmas party.

The train was crammed with commuters heading to their homes, and Olaf cursed his brother silently for slashing his bike’s tires.

The doors opened automatically when the train arrived at the next station. After a breath of fresh air and the exchange of passengers, the train made its way to the next stop.

Ostbahnhof functioned as a mini transportation hub, with long-distance trains departing from Berlin. When the doors opened, Olaf's eyes fell on a poster advertising analyst job openings for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The infamous Verfassungsschutz, the domestic intelligence agency, had earned negative publicity when close ties with right-wing extremists surfaced. A high-ranking officer was sacked, and that had been the end of a circus investigation. The agency’s core had remained the same.

But that was old news, and Olaf didn’t give a damn about the agency’s shady relations. His eyes were instead burned on the figure featured in the poster’s foreground. A well-dressed man, arms folded, eyes fixed on the camera lens, confidence drawn all over the face. A face that Olaf had seen a mere twenty minutes earlier, asking directions to Sommer’s office.

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