March Violets (1989) by Philip - Bernie Gunther 01 Kerr

Author:Philip - Bernie Gunther 01 Kerr [Kerr, Philip - Bernie Gunther 01]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-03-15T00:17:10.109000+00:00

Chapter 12

It was nearly light by the time I got back to my apartment. The 'painting-out' squad was hard at work on the streets, obliterating the nocturnal daubings of the K P D 'Red Front will Win' and 'Long Live Thaelman and Torgler' before the city awoke to the new day.

I had been asleep for no more than a couple of hours when the sound of sirens and whistles wrenched me violently from my quiet slumbers. It was an air-raid practice.

I buried my head under the pillow and tried to ignore the area warden hammering on my door; but I knew that I would only have to account for my absence later on, and that failure to provide a verifiable explanation would result in a fine.

Thirty minutes later, when the whistles had blown and the sirens cranked to sound the all-clear, there seemed little point in going back to bed. So I bought an extra litre off the Bolle milkman and cooked myself an enormous omelette.

Inge arrived at my office at just after nine. Without much ceremony she sat down on the other side of my desk and watched me finish making some case notes.

'Did you see your friend?' I asked her after a moment.

'We went to the theatre.'

'Yes? What did you see?' I found that I wanted to know everything, including details that had no bearing on the man's possible knowledge of Paul Pfarr.

' The Base Wallah. It was rather weak, but Otto seemed to enjoy it. He Insisted on paying for the tickets, so I didn't need the petty cash.'

'Then what did you do?'

'We went to Baarz's beer restaurant. I hated it. A real Nazi place. Everyone stood and saluted the radio when it played the Horst Wessel Song and Deutschland _ber Alles. I had to do it too, and I hate to salute. It makes me feel like I'm hailing a taxi. Otto drank rather a lot and became very talkative. I drank quite a lot myself actually I feel a bit rough this morning.' She lit a cigarette.

'Anyway, Otto was vaguely acquainted with Pfarr. He says that Pfarr was about as popular as a ferret in a gumboot at the D A F, and it's not difficult to see why. Pfarr was investigating corruption and fraud in the Labour Union. As a result of his investigations, two treasurers of the Transport Workers Union were dismissed and sent to K Zs, one after the other; the chairman of the Koch Strasse shop-committee of Ullstein's, the big printing works, was found guilty of stealing funds and executed; Rolf Togotzes, the cashier of the Metal Workers Union, was sent to Dachau; and a lot more. If ever a man had enemies, it was Paul Pfarr. Apparently there were lots of smiling faces around the department when it became known that Pfarr was dead.'

'Any idea what he was investigating at the time of his death?' 'No. Apparently he played things very close to his chest. He liked to work through informers, amassing evidence until he was ready to make formal charges.

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