The Devil's Opera(129)
“I am sorry to disturb you, Master Schardius,” the man said, “but there is a merchant here from Hannover who insists on seeing you.”
Schardius sat back. “Hannover, you say?” That piqued his interest. He wondered if it was one of the Praegorius family, the corn factors that had been rumored for over a year now to soon be establishing an office in Magdeburg.
“Send him in.”
The secretary withdrew, and a moment later a stocky man in fine clothes entered.
“Good morning, Master Schardius. My name is Elting, Karl Elting. We had a mutual acquaintance in Herr Lubbold Vogler before his untimely death.”
Schardius was stunned for a moment. He had been thinking earlier about the loss of the Hannover contact. Now it appeared the families from the other end were reaching out to him.
They shook hands, and the master merchant gestured to a chair.
“Please, be seated.”
After they took their seats, Schardius steepled his fingers. “What can I do for you, Herr Elting?”
The Hannoverian smiled. “It’s more a case of what I can do for you, Herr Schardius. I bring you greetings from my employer, who wishes to resume the relationships you previously enjoyed through Herr Vogler. But before we discuss that, I have a proposition for you…”
Chapter 51
It took Dr. Schlegel another day to finish his examination of the three bodies that hadn’t been blistered. Lieutenant Chieske and Sergeants Hoch and Honister were invited to the morgue to receive the results.
Gotthilf sniffed when he entered the corpse storage room. Even with the advantage of the outside cold, there was a certain aroma of decomposition in the room. He’d smelled worse before, though, and doubtless would again.
“What’s up, Doc?”
From the smile on Byron’s face, Gotthilf suspected that he’d just heard something that was funny in an up-time way. Sigh. Another question to ask his partner later.
Dr. Schlegel tilted his head at Byron’s quip, then shook his head and moved to the wall with all the cabinet doors in it.
“First victim,” the doctor began, opening one door and sliding out the tray with the body on it. “Male, Heinrich Kleist, thirty-five years old according to his wife. The injury to his neck, no surprise, was the cause of death. Instrument of death was the metal door found near the corpse.” He pointed to the door, labeled, lying on a nearby table. “Confirmed by marks on the neck matching marks on the door.”
“So, death from effects of the explosion. Nothing unusual about the corpse, Doc?”
“Correct.” Dr. Schlegel didn’t seem to be insulted by Byron’s nickname for him, Gotthilf observed as he made notes. Of course, the doctor had been around up-timers for some time, both here and at Jena before.
“Any questions?” Dr. Schlegel asked.
Byron looked at the two sergeants, and when neither spoke, he replied, “Nope.”
“The family has asked for the body to be released to them.”
Byron looked around again. Honister shrugged. Gotthilf thought about it for a moment, then nodded. There was nothing more to be gained there.
The doctor pushed the tray back into the cabinet, closed that door, opened the one next to it and pulled out the next body.
“Second victim: male, tentatively identified as Peter or Pietro, approximately thirty years old, unclaimed by family, friends or church. As Dr. Nichols suspected, the cause of death was a piece of debris that penetrated the frontal bone of the skull, lodging approximately two inches behind it.”
Dr. Schlegel reached over and picked up a small object off of the nearby table.
“From the looks of it, it might have been a broken rivet or bolt. It is iron, not lead, so it’s not a bullet.”
He passed it to Byron, who scrutinized it and passed it along to Honister, who passed it to Gotthilf, who looked at it, shrugged, and handed it back to the doctor.
“Death by explosion effects?” Byron asked.
Dr. Schlegel nodded. “Nothing particularly unusual about it.”
“This was the guy that might have come from Italy,” Honister spoke up. “Did you see anything to support that?”
“Nothing obvious in his belongings,” Dr. Schlegel pointed to a paper envelope on the table. “I will say that his physical type—shape of the skull, for example—is more consistent with the Mediterranean peoples than it is with the Germanic folk. But that and a pfennig will get you a cup of coffee at Walcha’s Coffee House.
“Any more questions?”
No one spoke. Gotthilf made more notes as that body was closed away and the third body was brought out.
“Third victim, identified as Nils Svenson, unclaimed by family or church, approximately forty years old. There is no question,” the doctor said, “that this man was not killed by the explosion.”