The Bat(107)

But he didn’t have the energy. Not now. Right now he couldn’t care less whether Inger had been raped before or after she had been killed, whether the murder was a punishment because Otto left him alone, whether he had killed her in the flat or done it in the car. Harry didn’t want to know whether she had begged, cried or if her eyes had stared at Toowoomba as she was on the threshold, knowing she was going to die. He didn’t want to know because he wouldn’t be able to stop himself exchanging Inger’s face for Birgitta’s, because it would make him weak.

‘How did you know where I was staying?’ Harry asked, for something to say, to keep the conversation going.

‘Harry, are you beginning to feel tired? You told me where you were staying last time we went out together, didn’t you. Oh, yes, thank you for that, by the way. I forgot to say.’

‘Listen, Toowoomba—’

‘I’ve been pondering in fact why you rang me to ask for help that night, Harry. Apart from to slap the two anabolically enhanced dinner jackets about a bit. Well, that was fun, but were we really at the nightclub just to pass on your gratitude to the pimp? I may not be much good at reading people’s minds, Harry, but I couldn’t make that stack up. You’re in the middle of a murder investigation and you waste time and effort getting your own back after being roughed up in a club.’

‘Well . . .’

‘Well, Harry?’

‘That wasn’t the only reason. The girl we found in Centennial Park happened to work at the club, so I had a theory that the person who killed her might have been there that evening, waited at the back exit and followed her home. I wanted to see how you would react if you discovered what we were up to. Besides, you’re a pretty conspicuous sort, so I wanted to point you out to Mongabi to check whether he’d seen you that evening.’

‘No luck?’

‘Nope. My guess is you weren’t there.’

Toowoomba laughed. ‘I didn’t even know she was a stripper,’ he said. ‘I saw her walk into the park and thought someone should tell her it’s dangerous there at night. And demonstrate what can happen.’

‘Well, at least that case is solved,’ Harry said drily.

‘Shame no one else but you will have the pleasure,’ Toowoomba said.

Harry decided to take a risk.

‘Since no one else will have the pleasure of anything, perhaps you could also tell me what happened to Andrew at Otto’s flat. Because Otto was your girlfriend, wasn’t he.’

The other end of the line went quiet.

‘Wouldn’t you rather know how Birgitta is?’

‘No,’ Harry said. Not too fast, not too loud. ‘You said you would treat her like a gentleman. I trust you.’

‘I hope you’re not trying to give me a bad conscience, Harry. In any case, it’s a pointless exercise. I’m a psychopath. I know that, you know,’ Toowoomba said with a low chuckle. ‘Frightening, isn’t it. We psychopaths aren’t supposed to know. But I’ve always known. And Otto did. Otto even knew that now and then I would have to punish them. But Otto couldn’t keep his gob shut. He’d already told Andrew and was on the point of cracking up, so I was forced to act. The afternoon Otto was due to appear at St George’s I slipped into his flat, after he’d left, to remove anything that could connect him with me – photos, gifts, letters, that sort of thing. The doorbell rang. I carefully opened the bedroom window and, to my great surprise, saw that it was Andrew. My first instinct was not to open the door. But then I realised my original plan was about to be ruined. You see, I’d been intending to visit Andrew at the hospital the next day and discreetly donate him a teaspoon, a lighter, a disposable syringe, as well as a little bag of much-desired heroin with my own home-made mix added.’

‘A deadly cocktail.’

‘You might say so.’

‘How could you be sure he would take it? He knew you were a murderer, didn’t he.’

‘He didn’t know I knew he knew. If you follow me, Harry. He didn’t know Otto had told me. Anyway, a junkie with withdrawal symptoms is willing to take risks. Such as trusting someone he thinks regards him as a father. But there was no point speculating about all of that any more. He’d left the hospital and was standing at the entrance to the block.’

‘So you decided to let him in?’

‘Do you know how fast the human brain can work, Harry? Do you know that those dreams with long, convoluted plots which we think we spent all night concocting, in reality took place in a few seconds of feverish cerebral activity? That was how quickly it came to me, more or less, the plan to make it look as if Andrew had been behind everything. I swear I hadn’t given it a thought until then! So I pressed the buzzer and waited for him to come up. I stood behind the door with my magic cloth—’