Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus Read Free Book Online Page A

change, and once again she was astounded by how little she knew about the private lives of her colleagues. In any case the youngest member on the force had clearly gained self-confidence.
    “Pia! Wait up!” Kathrin called, and Pia stopped.
    “What’s up?”
    Kathrin glanced conspiratorially around the lobby.
    “Last night I was in Sachsenhausen with a few friends,” she said in a low voice. “You won’t believe who I saw over there.”
    “Not Johnny Depp?” Pia teased her. Everyone in K-11 knew that Kathrin was a big fan.
    “No, I saw Frank,” she went on, unfazed. “He’s working as a bartender at the Klapperkahn restaurant, and he’s not sick at all.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    “And now I don’t know what to do. I should really tell the boss, don’t you think?”
    Pia frowned. If a police officer wanted to take a job on the side, he had to submit an application and wait for authorization. A job in a bar with a less than stellar reputation was definitely not something that would receive approval. If Kathrin was right, then Behnke risked a reprimand, a fine, or even disciplinary action.
    “Maybe he was just filling in for one of his pals.” Pia wasn’t particularly fond of her colleague Frank Behnke, but she didn’t feel good about the consequences that might result from an official condemnation.
    “No, he wasn’t,” said Kathrin with a shake of her head. “He spotted me and went right for my jugular. He accused me of spying on him. What a load of crap! And then the asshole had the nerve to say I’d be in big trouble if I reported him.”
    Understandably, Kathrin was both deeply upset and furious. Pia didn’t doubt her account for a second. That sounded just like her colleague. Behnke was about as diplomatic as a pit bull.
    “Did you say anything to Schneider yet?” Pia quizzed her.
    “No,” Kathrin said, shaking her head. “Although I really wanted to. I’m so pissed off.”
    “That’s understandable. Frank has a real talent for getting someone’s goat. Let me talk to the boss. Maybe we can resolve this matter discreetly.”
    “Why bother?” Kathrin replied, infuriated. “Why does everyone stick up for that shithead? He always gets away with everything, venting his foul mood on the rest of us, and never having to pay for it.”
    She was saying exactly what Pia felt. For some reason Frank Behnke possessed a fool’s license to do whatever he wanted. At that moment Bodenstein, their boss, entered the lobby.
    Pia looked at Kathrin. “Make sure you know what you’re doing,” she said.
    “I do,” replied Kathrin, walking determinedly over to Bodenstein. “I need to have a short talk with you, boss. In private.”
    *   *   *
     
    Amelie had decided that research into the girls’ murders in Altenhain clearly took priority over school, so after third period she told the teacher she was sick. Now she was sitting at her desk at home in front of her laptop, entering the name of her neighbor’s son in Google. She got literally hundreds of hits. With increasing fascination she read the press accounts of events in the summer of 1997 and the course of the trial, at which Tobias Sartorius had been sentenced to ten years in prison. The prosecution’s case had been completely based on circumstantial evidence because the girls’ bodies were never found. That fact had been considered particularly damning, and Tobias’s silence had had a deleterious effect on the severity of the sentence.
    Amelie looked at the photos, which showed a dark-haired youth with still unfinished facial features, giving a hint of the man he would someday become. Today Tobias Sartorius must be pretty good-looking. In the photos he was wearing handcuffs, but he didn’t cover his face under a jacket or behind a file folder. He looked straight into the cameras. They had called him an “ice-cold killer,” arrogant, emotionless, and cruel.
     
The parents of the murdered girls are appearing as joint plaintiffs in