Free I Am Your Judge: A Novel by Nele Neuhaus Page A

it’s only a few seconds’ drive to the road to Königstein, which leads up the hill to Highway B 455. An absolutely perfect escape route. Only someone out for a walk could possibly have seen him.”
    “How sure are you that it’s the same shooter as yesterday?” Bodenstein asked.
    “Pretty sure. The bullet that we pulled out of the kitchen cupboard was the same caliber, at any rate. And we couldn’t find a spent cartridge here either, just like yesterday. He must have taken it with him so he wouldn’t leave any evidence behind.”
    They walked slowly back to the cars.
    “It sounds like the murder was carefully planned,” Pia said.
    “You’re right,” Bodenstein agreed, deep in thought. “The woman was definitely not shot at random. Let’s go back inside and try to talk to the professor. We can interview the granddaughter tomorrow.”

 
    Friday, December 21, 2012
    Not much was going on in the parking lot of the Seerose Industrial Park. Except for the supermarket, the discount warehouse, and the bakery, the businesses wouldn’t open for another hour, and the office workers from the nearby office complexes mainly came over during their lunch hour and after work. This early in the morning, the customers were mostly pensioners or people on their way to work in Frankfurt, stopping to pick up breakfast or a cup of coffee. He waited patiently in line at the sales counter of the bakery, and even let someone go first because he wanted to be waited on by the nice young Turkish woman who worked the early shift every morning. Unlike her surly coworkers, she always seemed in a good mood. Right now, she was bantering with the two men in orange jackets who had left their garbage truck parked across several parking spaces. Who knew why they had done that?
    “Good morning!” She gave him a smile that was as charming as it was insincere. “One loaf of the usual? Farmer’s bread, sliced?”
    As a good saleswoman, she knew the preferences of her steady customers.
    “Good morning,” he replied. “Yes, that’s it. And also a pretzel stick with plenty of salt, please.”
    The loaf of bread would turn old and hard, like all the bread he’d bought from her in the past few weeks. He didn’t come here for the bread, but she couldn’t know that.
    “Certainly,” she said. A lock of dark hair had come loose from her tight ponytail to curl over her forehead. Her face was attractive, with full lips and very white teeth. A lovely young woman. A bit too much makeup for his taste, and she didn’t really need it. But above all, she was a woman with regular habits and an extremely regular schedule, which made things easy for him.
    “Do you have time off after Christmas?” he asked casually as she slid the pretzel stick into a paper bag.
    “Unfortunately, no.” A woebegone look flitted across her face, but then her usual smile returned. “But in the new year, we’ll be going on vacation. Then you’ll have to get along without me for three weeks.”
    In two sentences, she had shortened her life by at least three days. Originally, he had intended to let her have Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but her vacation plans now forced him to revise his timetable. But he still had some leeway in the schedule.
    “That’ll certainly be a big challenge for me.” He put a ten-euro bill on the counter and smiled, well aware that she wouldn’t pick up on the ambiguity of his words.
    “Well, until then, you’ll be seeing me a few more times.” With a coquettish giggle, she handed him the paper bag with the bread and the pretzel, still warm, and gave him his change.
    “See you tomorrow!” She gave him a flirtatious wink as he left, before turning to beguile the next customer with her laugh. Her friendliness was not directed at him personally. But even if it had been, it wouldn’t have done any good.
    *   *   *
    Pia Kirchhoff stepped out of the shower and reached for her towel. Christoph had left the house a quarter of an hour