The Secret Healer(116)
“That doesn’t sound good to me,” Agathe confessed. “But I know you’ll do your best.”
“Of that I can assure you, my lady. And now, if you’ll please excuse me. I would like to get something to eat and prepare myself for what’s next.”
“Thank you for everything.” Agathe nodded. After Andreas left, a feeling of hopelessness overwhelmed her. What did he say? If only he could find this maid, Barbara? She decided to speak to Kilian again. She would leave no stone unturned.
“Believe me, we’ve done everything to find her,” Kilian replied, every word tinged with despair. “It’s as if she disappeared from the face of the earth.”
“That might have been exactly what happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“From what I heard of the first trial, Matthias was furious with her.”
“Yes.” Kilian still rued the day that he’d followed his father’s orders to work in the woodshop rather than support Madlen in the courtroom. “Matthias must have been beside himself with rage.”
“Do you believe he could have done something to the maid?”
“He would be quite capable of doing so.” He thought about it. “That evening, Barbara was still at the Trauensteins’ house. Madlen said she was in the same room where Adelhaid lay dead in her bed.”
“Has anyone seen her since then?”
“I don’t know. We all had our hands full ensuring that Madlen escaped from the city safely.”
“Damn!” Agathe winced at her own curse. “I’m sorry. It just angers me to not have thought of this earlier.”
“What exactly?”
“Think about it. Barbara incurred the wrath of her master during the trial. Hours later, he forced her to be there when he entrapped Madlen. What if he doubted that Barbara would be able to testify without falling apart again? He couldn’t risk it.”
“So you think . . .” Kilian didn’t finish his sentence.
Agathe nodded. “Matthias knew that Barbara might say something wrong that could cast a bad light on him and end up costing him his own head. He killed her.”
Kilian swallowed hard. The idea had occurred to him recently; she’d disappeared without a trace. Even Irma and her friends had asked about Barbara’s whereabouts again and again; unfortunately, all their efforts to find her had been in vain.
“What was it like here in Heidelberg after the incident with Adelhaid and Madlen?” Agathe asked, pulling him away from his thoughts.
“The whole city was searching for Madlen. That’s why we had to get her out of Heidelberg.”
“So Matthias wouldn’t have been able to get Barbara’s body out of the city at that time, right?”
Kilian got a lump in his throat thinking of the woman’s corpse; he’d known Barbara since childhood. “Correct,” he confirmed. “Matthias wouldn’t have risked it.”
“Of course, later, when everything had calmed down again, the opportunity to do so could have presented itself.” Agathe thought about it. “But I don’t believe that’s what happened. I think he buried her somewhere.” She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “If you had been in his place, where in Heidelberg would you hide a body?”
“I don’t know.” He squinted his eyes in thought. “Maybe in the forest near the castle?”
“Could he have brought her there unnoticed?”
Kilian shook his head. “On the day of the murder, that would have been impossible. But it’s been many months.”
“Matthias is the type of man who wants to control everything. He wouldn’t risk the possibility that the maid’s body could be found.”
“What if he threw her in the Neckar?” Kilian suggested.
Agathe shook her head. “The corpse would eventually surface. It would have to be a place that he knew well and where he could be sure that no one would ever discover it.”
They both thought it over, then lifted their heads at the same time. “His house?” Kilian asked.
“That’s exactly what I thought. Are you familiar with it?”
“Yes, of course. It’s made from stone.”
“What does this Trauenstein do exactly?”
“He’s a merchant.”
“A merchant, yes,” Agathe repeated thoughtfully. “So he had an office?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“It was probably in his cellar, where he puts products that have to be kept cool.”
“Of course. But wouldn’t the servants notice a corpse?”
“Who knows? This Trauenstein is a devious, cunning man. I’m sure it’s not the first time that he had to make someone disappear.”