Читать книгу Nakkita - Udo Meeßen - Страница 10

Kitty Kitten

Wednesday 15 May 2047, 7:20 a.m., Wesenweg at the quarry pond in the north of Porta Westfalica:

"Nah, right? The man looks like he's been ironed by a car the way the Burgermeister was last week."

"That's the way it looks, Charly. But tell me, what are you doing here? Isn't this the jurisdiction of Minden?"

"No. Porta Westfalica formally belongs to Minden Lübbecke and Neesen to Porta. So our department is responsible, and I got it, Tom."

"Okay? So…that young lady over there was walking her dog here earlier and she found the body."

"And that looks like Burgmeister's. He's got tire marks on his face, too."

"Jou. Walter Hoffner from Neesen. From the looks of it, the car made repeated U-turns and took Hoffner on the radiator."

"That must have left marks. If you hit a measly rabbit, that can cause damage to the bumper, can't it?"

"Sure you do, Charly. I've got a fragment here made of plastic, painted cobalt blue metallic with an embossing…sort of a cat's head."

"A cat's head? Cobalt blue? Let me see."

Berger handed Charlotte the seal pouch with the plastic piece and her eyes grew wide.

"What is it, Charly?"

"Opel released a special model of the Nakkita back in 2033 based on the anime series Kitty Kitten. The car was extremely low-slung, much wider in the fenders with an insanely large spoiler, was chip-tuned at the factory, had 220 hp and was perfectly styled. Only fifty were produced and all the girls wanted one. The last ten copies were auctioned online and achieved crazy prices. You could have bought a Rolls Royce. I also dreamed of a Kitty Nakkita back then, but I wasn't able to come up with the down payment for it yet."

"So this was a real street racer for Kitty fans?"

"Yes. That was a real bolide on 19-inch rims with 245-by-45 tires. In the anime series, Kitty drives a street racer of a fictitious brand, and it always looked a lot like a Nakkita. Opel recognized this and secured the exploitation rights."

"Ouch. And this model had this cat head as a logo?"

"Yes. Kitty Kitten sat centered on the nose and tail in place of the Opel logo, lined the front and rear fascias, and was even engraved on the rear side windows."

"And… you… when I said the thing was cobalt blue…"

"Yes, for sure. Kitty Kitten is cobalt blue and the special edition Nakkita was exclusive to that color. Nurda!"

"Yes please Charly," said detective candidate Nurda Ölgümet, who was currently Charlotte's assistant.

"Check with the Department of Motor Vehicles to see how many Edition Kitty Kitten Nakkita's are still registered and if there are any left, please find out the owners."

"I can do that, Charly. But I think I can cut it short."

"How so?"

"Yesterday afternoon there was a nasty crash on Kirchsiek, near Albersburg. There is a construction site with traffic lights at the moment and the driver of an Audi crashed into the rear of a Nakkita waiting at the lights at 80 km/h."

"And how do you know that?"

"I was driving behind the Audi and saw it clatter and the car fly over the guardrail after the impact. I then gave first aid to the driver of the Nakkita."

"And that was a Kitty Kitten?"

"Jou. Even the logo in the steering wheel is cobalt blue and not Opel's usual."

"And… how is the driver of the car? And what about the driver of the Audi?"

"Birgit Hofreiter made it through with whiplash and the fire department told me the driver of the Audi crawled out of his wreckage unharmed."

"You know the name of the driver of the Nakkita. Do you also know the name of the driver of the Audi?"

"That too. I identified myself to the colleagues from the fire department and the police as a commissioner candidate and received all the information. The driver of the Audi is back there and his name was Walter Hoffner."

"I'm assuming… if the Audi hit the Nakkita at 80, there wasn't much left of that one, was there?"

"That's right. The rear end was crushed to the B-pillar and the car is junk."

"And where was it taken?"

"To Pfeifer's workshop. The driver of the tow truck told me that the ADAC always takes the cars to workshop partners or authorized workshops of the respective car brand, because the insurance companies insist on it. And your sister's workshop in Barkhausen is the closest one in the district."

"I see. Please check if there are any other Kitty Kitten registered here in the room. You say Birgit Hofreiter's car was wrecked up to the B-pillar, so she couldn't have knocked Hoffner off."

"Birgit certainly couldn't have done that. I spoke to her on the phone earlier. She's still in the hospital under observation because it's suspected that a cervical vertebra has been cracked and she's waiting for the CT scan."

"You sound like this is taking you personally."

Ölgümet's composure crumbled abruptly as Charlotte's mind identified the subtle signs and addressed Nurda's state of mind.

"If… if my Biggi… I hope there's nothing broken."

"Have you known her for a while?"

"Nah," Nurda struggled to regain her composure, "when I pulled her out of the car and held her in my arms… she's such a… a petite little doll and that's when lightning struck."

"And now you're standing here at a crime scene? You should be with your dolly, right?"

"I… I didn't have the heart to ask because four weeks ago you were already pissed because I took a day off."

"Huh? I was pissed?"

"I asked you and you just growled for me to get lost."

"Yeah, nah, right? Sweetie, I wasn't pissed off at you."

"No?"

"Nah. My last candidate, Pavlov Jurinshiczi, was hauled off in Düsseldorf on the Kö with half a pound of cocaine in his pocket. I trained him, signed him at the end, and it was my signature that made sure he got promoted. And then he gets caught in civilian with half a pound of coke. That's why I was pissed off. But not because you had back pain. Go on, get out of here and go to your Biggi."

"I…"

"Go on, get out of here, sweetie. I can manage here without you."

"Thank you. And… I just got an email from the Federal Motor Transport Authority. There are only three Kitty Kitten left and two of them are registered in Pfaffenhofen in Bavaria."

"O.k. Thank you. And now get lost to your Biggi. Tom!"

"I'm here, Charly."

"Sorry… that gets to me. My assistant thinks I'm an asshole and is scared for her honey. It's taking its toll on me."

"Because you're a great woman, Charly. A great woman and a great supervisor. I don't hold anything against you."

"Thanks, Tom. Is there any way you can analyze the paint? I mean, if the part was really painted with the original paint? Is that the one from the Kitty Kitten - Edition, or does it just look like it?"

"Can do, Charly. But it'll take a moment."

"That's clear. They won't have made the formula for the paint public. But… you can take a counter sample from the Hofreiter's car. I'll confiscate the wreck for the time being."

-*-

"You what? You're confiscating this wreck? Do I need to understand that, Charly?"

"I'm sorry, Nadja. But as stupid as it sounds, there's a suspicion that this wreckage was used as a murder weapon in a homicide."

"Before the crash?"

"After."

"You don't believe that yourself, do you? Take a look at the rear suspension. When the tow truck unloaded the thing here in the yard, there were ruts in the asphalt. The car will never drive under its own power again."

"Any toddler would probably agree with you on that. But I see there's a piece missing from the front of the car's apron. It matches a piece of evidence from a crime scene and the color is also identical. You should know that there were only fifty of the Kitty Kitten - Edition and the paint was a special blend."

"Yes, it is. But take a look at this thing. The rear end is totally screwed up and the best I can do is use the front part as a spare parts store. The car won't run anymore, that's for sure."

"Don't worry, sis. You can recycle the thing, of course. I just need a little of the paint on the front-apron and impounding the car gives me the opportunity to do it legally."

"You could have just asked me?"

"Nah. I need the formal protocol of the seizure. If I don't have it, the prosecutor insinuates I'm faking a piece of evidence."

"Pretty stupid… But good. Where do I sign?"

"Here you go."

"Good. And will you also explain to me where you got the idea that that thing there was a murder weapon? You said after the crash, so sometime last night, after 11:00 p.m."

"We have a dead man on the Wesenweg by the quarry pond. The dead man is the man who crashed his Audi into this Nakkita last night and he was hit multiple times this morning on Wesenweg with intent to kill."

"What about this wreck?"

"Sounds stupid, but we have this fragment from the front apron and it fits this car."

"That sounds logical. But I think my sis is getting caught up in something."

"How so?"

"Well. Have you ever seen the hood of a car that took a full-grown man on the radiator? The Kitty Kitten - Edition was laid as low as the EU approval allows. Any normal man, woman, or even child would be caught by the skirt just above the ankle, ripped off their legs, and then slammed onto the hood. You can't run over anyone with a Kitty. You can only lever the 'target' off its legs and risk it landing in the windshield. And now look at the hood of this car. It's absolutely fine. Nobody got run over with this car."

"And let's just say that the attack took place driving backwards?"

"Now you want to know, huh? The car had independent wheel suspensions on the rear axle and, as you can see very well, they are completely destroyed. Between what's left of the cross member and the floor, you might fit a bar of chocolate, but certainly not a human being."

"I told you, Tom. My little sister's got it. You hear that?"

"Jou, Charly. But I knew that before."

"Huh? You're making me explain all this shit and you already know? What the fuck?"

"From your point of view, this may be absolute nonsense, Nadja. But I have a suspicion of the crime and, according to the visual appearance, the murder weapon. The prosecutor is young and hot… so she is hot for success… and builds circumstantial evidence out of idiotic derivations, which she uses in court. So I need valid expert opinions right from the start to take the wind out of her sails, because otherwise she will push me into a corner and hinder me in my work."

"And what I just said is the expertise you need?"

"Yes. I've recorded all of this and I'm asking your permission to keep it on file as is."

"So you weren't messing with me, you were just playing dumb so I'd provide you with the expertise?"

"You're a master motor vehicle mechanic, and if you're saying what I think you're saying, then it's an expertise."

"Then you're welcome to use that. I give it my blessing. And I'll be happy to explain the laws of physics to any prosecutor, if she has enough guts in her panties to ask me."

"Thank you. And we're still on for tonight?"

"Sure. With one change, though."

"Uh-huh, let's hear it."

"Tanja still has remaining vacation and only had to work until yesterday. So she will accompany me today."

"Then you and I can introduce our sweeties to each other?"

"Here's the deal."

"That…wow…that's great, sis. I'm looking forward to it."

"You welcome Tanja?"

"Yeah sure. She's your sweetheart, so she's welcome. Don't tell me you were afraid I wouldn't welcome your sweetie."

"It's… you know how Mama reacted back then. She literally chased Constanze out of the house."

"Mom… I get it. Two illegitimate daughters of two different men, but the great moral guardian before the Lord, who demonizes homosexuality as a sin. That's clear, sis. When you cried over Constanze, it tore my heart apart and I hated Mom for it."

"You got that so clearly?"

"Who was the first woman who stroked your pussy? And which woman did you put your tongue in her slit for the first time?"

"You. That's when we were thirteen and fourteen."

"And it was already clear to me then that it wasn't just discovering sexuality. Even then I knew that I was into girls, respectively women, and I've always loved you."

"But you married Julius and let him impregnate you."

"Because I was just being silly. I think it was my phase of defiance. But tell me… you mentioned that you have a little daughter, too. Anika, right? So you had something with a guy once, too?"

"Nah. I was married to Sevtja and we wanted children. Sevtja was supposedly infertile so I had my gynecologist inseminate me with a sperm donor and Anny is the result."

"But Anika only met her mom Nadja? What happened?"

"Sevtja was a Russian agent, just used me as a cover and got busted. I once visited her in Spangdahlem⁴ in custody and she had only mockery and scorn for me and my baby bump."

"Fuck. And… you love your Anny though, don't you?"

"Of course I love her. I wanted to have the baby, I described to the doctor how I would imagine the father to be and she looked for suitable sperm at the sperm bank. Anny is perfect, exactly as I imagined her and she is my baby. I carried her to term and gave birth."

"And tonight you will introduce me to your treasure, your Tanja. The woman you love."

"Yes. I'm finally loving again, and I can't do anything without my sweetie."

"That's how I feel with my Denise. She's really looking forward to meeting you."

"She's a police officer, too?"

"161 centimeters of pure energy, love of life, and detective. I trained her… Well… she came to our department as a trained detective, but I took her by the hand and helped her with her first case."

"And at some point you woke up in the morning and she looked at you with her cute googly eyes and told you she loved you."

"Something like that. It was pretty crazy, though, and it's a crazy story. I'll tell you about it when I get a chance."

Thomas Berger had discreetly held back and listened to the emotional dialog between the two women with half an ear. When he now realized that the tension was subsiding again, he thought it was the right time to bring Charlotte back to reality and joined in the conversation.

"As far as I'm concerned, Charly, we're just wasting time here with regard to the case. Nadja is right in her assertion. Walter Hoffner should have left visible marks on this wreck, but the front end is virgin smooth and except for the break in the front apron, there's no damage to be found."

"The only question is, how did this piece from the apron get to the crime scene? That… that somehow seems like it was placed there to throw us off the scent. Or Hoffner didn't die there at all…"

"Nah, Charly. That's for sure. Hoffner died where we found him. That's where we found enough traces and evidence on the spot."

"O.K. Do that diagnosis anyway, please. I want to know where the paint on this piece came from and if it matches the wreck. Someone seems to be trying to screw with us and so far succeeding at it."

"I'll give the thing to the lab right away and see that Opel gives me the composition of the paint so I can do a comparison. They won't like it, but if necessary I'll take it to a judge."

"Do that, please. I don't understand why they guard the recipe like a holy grail anyway. The model hasn't been made in how many years?"

"For about thirteen years. The Kitty Kitten - Edition came on the market pretty much at the end of the production run and was probably a desperate attempt to keep the Eisenach location as a production site."

"But that went to shit?"

"Nah. In fact, sales figures picked up again at that time and the Astra benefited significantly from the success of the Nakkita. The Astra is a bit smaller and reclaimed its place as a girl's car. And as for the color… Well, this paint is something special. If you put it under tension, the color changes and starts to fluoresce. At full throttle on the highway, a Kitty literally glowed."

"Hm… You can argue about sense and nonsense. But how did they get this paint approved. Every car loses its ABE⁵ if the owner builds Leds under the sill and the car shines from below, because that is against the registration regulations and the Kitty was allowed to shine completely? You don't have to understand, do you?"

"EU law bends German law, I suppose. Or what do you think, Nadja?"

Nadja frowned for a moment, because Berger addressed her by her first name. Then she said to herself that people at the CID were obviously very familiar with each other and that made a lot of things easier. Apparently, Berger considered her to be part of the investigative team in her capacity as an expert, and that flattered her.

In fact, she had already made several appearances as an expert witness in court when it came to accident reconstructions and could, for example, have carried out the accident report herself for the estimation of the value of Tanja's Nakky. However, the insurance companies did not allow her to do so, because she was not allowed to act as an expert and at the same time as the operator of a workshop.

"That's how I see it too, Tom," she therefore said calmly, "German registration law is the strictest, as usual, and in other EU countries vehicle attachments are permitted which you would never get approved here in Germany. So you have to compromise somewhere, because the German then says, 'But the Dutchman is allowed to do that and I'm not.'"

"O.k. That makes sense," Charlotte said and thoughtfully circled the wreckage, wondering how it could be that Birgit Hofreiter could come out of it with whiplash, or rather a cracked neck vertebra. There must have been countless guardian angels or one with a crazy wingspan present, because the front airbags naturally did not ignite when the car hit the rear, and the rear seat of the car was shifted so far forward that the front seats tore out of their rails and the woman was suddenly squeezed between the backrest and the steering wheel. The impact must have been tremendous and Nadja could literally see the question in her sister's eyes.

"What does the accident report say, Charly?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're thinking about the fact that the Audi hit the car at a much higher speed. Do I see that right?"

"Right. What does the accident expert say?"

"In my opinion, that was at least 140 km/h and if the woman had been standing on the brake or had the handbrake on, she would not have gotten out of there alive. I'm convinced that your forensic experts, when they read the Audi's memory, will come to that conclusion, and I would, if I were a prosecutor, file a criminal complaint for attempted homicide."

"We scraped Walter Hoffner off the road earlier, and no one is pressing charges against him anymore. So the problem is solved. But you agree with me that Mrs. Hofreiter must have had a huge guardian angel?"

"I'll put it this way… A full-grown man like Tom, for example, wouldn't have been able to get out of there. Hofreiter seems to be quite small and petite. If she had silicone implants in her boobs, they probably would have broken."

"So I'm not alone with my idea. However, this is probably idle, because Hoffner is now dead and it is a matter of clarifying who has him on his conscience. Hofreiter will only get the current value from Hoffner's insurance company and that's it. With a little luck, she'll be fobbed off with a small lump sum for pain and suffering because the guy who did this to her is now dead and has tire marks on his face."

"He has tire marks on his face? Are you serious?"

"Yes. So has Hans Burgmeister."

"If I'm not mistaken, Burgmeister was run over in a field, wasn't he?"

"Jou."

"O.k. Then the tire marks on the face may well be because the ground gave way and the head sank into the mud. But Hoffner was killed on an asphalt road and his head would never have fit under the front apron of the Kitty. More likely, the latter would have torn his head off. If he really has tire marks on his face, it must have been a high-legged car, probably an SUV. To hit someone on the head you also need a certain wheel diameter and you don't have that on 19 inch rims. It doesn't fit together in the back and the front."

"Is that how you see it, Tom?"

"Your sister should work for forensics. She's absolutely right and I'm convinced that they're trying to throw us off the scent in the Burgmeister case and here at Hoffner. Mrs. Sorg's Nakky alone would have enormous problems moving on the field at all, because there is hardly any ground clearance and Hofreiter's Kitty is even lower. That's neither right at the back nor at the front, and someone is taking the piss."

"And apparently with success. You know… I'm also bothered by the fact that in both cases the tracks lead to your workshop and the victims previously damaged cars that ended up in your yard. I have the suspicion that you're also being targeted and that they're trying to mess up your stuff."

"The only question is why. I haven't hurt a fly."

"But you sometimes prepare accident reports for the public prosecutor's office and are admitted to court as an expert witness. What if an expert opinion from you has seriously incriminated someone, and maybe he even went to jail because of it? Then he would have a motive."

"The only person I can think of off the top of my head is Volker Reimers. He tried to run down his ex and I was able to prove that it wasn't an accident, but attempted murder. But he's still in jail."

"Nah."

"No?"

"Nah. Someone has very long arms. Reimers was found in his cell in the correctional facility with his throat cut. There was a Post-It stuck on his forehead with a greeting in the name of his ex."

"Ouch. And how do you know that? Is this one of your cases?"

"Nah. But I met the investigator in charge last year at a conference in Düsseldorf and peeked into her panties."

"Ops? Does your Denise know?"

"Sure. She peeked into Renate's panties, too. It was a nice threesome."

"Spare me the details, please. At least here and now. Bedtime stories basically turn me on and my head cinema works amazingly well."

"You mean you'll be stewing in your own juices?"

"Jou and under my overalls I wear fine ribs. It's like a pressure cooker."

"Smells great, I'm sure, when you take the jumpsuit off then. Your Tanja can consider herself lucky."

"Uh, ladies. Please remember that I'm here too? It's bad enough that you two are such hot chicks, but unfortunately lesbians. You don't have to torture me with something like this."

"Hot chicks?"

Charlotte and Nadja looked at Thomas in amazement.

"Did you really just say about Nadja and me that we were hot chicks?"

"I certainly wouldn't push you off the edge of the bed."

"Then thank Peter and Markus. They finally spoiled my fun with men after Julius."

"You're not a lesbian through and through?"

"Nah. I'm originally bi, but your comrades have pushed me into the lesbian corner through their actions and no guy looks into my panties anymore. And that even applies to you. You're a fine guy and good looking, but I shudder just thinking about it."

"We met ten years too late, huh?"

"Something like that. So go ahead and dream about me. But don't get your hopes up."

"Don't worry about that. When I tell Laura what I have in mind with you, she goes off like Schmitz' cat and I don't come up short. So it's all good."

"You tell your wife how you imagine doing me?"

"Sure. She would get into your pants without hesitation. She can picture it and then gets powerful pressure on the kettle."

"The summer party two years ago?"

"Jou. That evening came back to life in our bedroom. She was as horny for you as the neighbor's Lumpy and when she realized that I was also into you, she literally tore me apart. You were and are a great therapy for our marriage."

"Ouch. I need to get out of here."

4 Spangdahlem Prison (Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm)

5 ABE: General operating permit