Chapter 5
Mattes refrained from informing Steve and Mel's brother right away, they would find out soon enough, it was more important to get the material back, wherever it had been lost. That's why he and Chris had driven in to Frankfurt and hit the forensics. They questioned every officer who had been there at the hotel, but then Mattes stumbled. The colleague he had sent back to the room because of the window levers was missing. He asked the head of the department. He scratched his head.
"Yes, that's right, Mr. Schmidt was also at the scene. However, he went home after leaving the scene. I have a sick note from him here."
"I need the address. Now." Mattes literally snatched the note out of the man's hand and hurried outside with Chris. A short time later they were standing in front of a small mid-terrace house and rang Harald Schmidt's doorbell. With puffy, red-rimmed eyes, he opened the door in amazement.
"Criminal Chief Inspector? What are you doing here?"
Sniffling, he pulled up his nose.
"Where's the evidence from the hotel?"
"Well in the lab, where else?"
"No, they're not there."
"But I did drop them off in the suitcase. Wait a minute."
Schmidt reached behind him to a key board and stepped in front of the door in slippers. He went to the garage, opened the gate, and then stepped to his car. Then he opened the trunk.
"Look, empty."
"And what's that suitcase there?"
„There are my tools in there."
He pulled the suitcase forward and opened it. Then he froze.
"Oh my god. That's not even just my tool. I must have put the evidence in the wrong case."
He pulled several bags out of the suitcase and placed them in front of him in the trunk. To be on the safe side, he tipped the suitcase out completely so that nothing was missing. Visibly unpleasantly touched, Schmidt stroked his hair.
"I'm sorry, this has never happened to me before. I ..., I'm so sorry."
Mattes didn't hesitate for long, took the bags, nodded briefly to Schmidt and hurried back to the car. They had already lost far too much time.
Chris and Mattes had delivered the samples to the forensics and the director had vouched for the fact that the samples would be examined immediately.
In the meantime, night had fallen and Mattes had dozed off briefly in his chair. He had informed Steve and Cillian about the incident by short message, he was so loaded, he couldn't have explained it diplomatically, and actually he didn't want to.
Around four, Frings tapped him on the shoulder.
"Mattes, there's a visitor for you."
Mattes shot up, trying to straighten himself halfway. When the door opened, he expected Cillian, but in stepped Steve with another man.
"Steve!"
Mattes would have liked to see him again under different circumstances. They greeted each other warmly.
"Mattes, this is my friend and partner Danny Williams."
"Pleased to meet you." Mattes extended his hand to Danny. Searchingly, Steve looked around.
"Where did you leave Chris?"
"With his presence, he makes sure that the samples are finally examined in the laboratory. We have already lost far too much time."
Steve nodded grimly. He would have liked to pay this Schmidt another visit, but that didn't bring his girlfriend back to him either.
Mel had completely lost track of time by now. She was still miserably cold and her head hurt like hell. She tried to keep warm somehow by moving around. She no longer knew what was worse, the cold, the headache or the thirst. At first she had thought that maybe someone would bring her something to drink, but by now she was convinced that Rico had locked her up here to let her 'die' like his father. Again she became angry, damn it, one had to get out of here somehow? Again she tried to open one door after the other, but still the levers did not move. Tears came to her eyes, she would never see Steve again. She lay down on the mattress and closed her eyes, exhausted.
"Mattes, the lab results are in."
Markus Frings typed something into Matte's computer, and the four men bent over the screen to read the report.
Disappointed, they soon straightened up. No matches. Mattes searched Steve's gaze, which was dark with sadness. They probably wouldn't find Mel that way.
"Wait." Danny pointed to the DNA results.
"Did you see, there is a partial match with an Emanuel Santos."
"You're right, Danny."
Mattes typed something into the computer and the file of Emanuel Santos appeared on the monitor.
"Emanuel Santos died of cancer in prison a few months ago. He has a son, Rico. Rico was present in court every day and followed the trial. Mel proved at the time that Rico's mother did not die of natural causes, and through evidence recovered from the mother's body, Emanuel was found guilty of murder."
Mattes swallowed, not daring to voice his suspicions. He typed something else into the system and the passport picture of Rico Santos appeared.
"I run it through facial recognition."
Markus Frings sat back down at his desk, clicked on Santos' passport and the airport's video surveillance.
"It may take a moment to check all the videos, though."
"Where can we find this Rico? Does he have an address here in Germany?"
Impatiently, Steve stepped from one foot to the other. Mattes nodded.
"I have an address here in Königstein. Come."
"Which computer can I get on, and then I'll help my colleague with the videos?"
Markus pointed to the computer Mattes had just been sitting at.
"If you like, you can take that one."
Danny nodded and sat down in the seat where Mattes had just been sitting.
Mattes, on the other hand, drove to Königstein together with Steve and stopped in front of one of the large villas. By now it was half past five and some of the houses were already lit. The villa in front of them, however, was still completely dark. Mattes pressed the bell button. A gong sounded that could compete with the chimes of Westminster Abbey. Mattes was about to ring the bell a second time when the light flashed on behind the front door and an elderly lady in a robe opened the door.
"Yes, please?"
She looked at the two men with narrowed eyes. Mattes suspected that she had not found her glasses in her hurry. He held his ID card under her nose.
"Good morning, we would like to speak to Mr. Rico Santos."
"Rico? Sorry, but he's been out of town since last night."
For a moment, Mattes had to hold on to himself so that a curse didn't slip out.
"May I ask where Mr. Santos is traveling?"
"Of course, I don't think this is a secret. He's gone to Brittany for a client meeting."
"Do you have a way to reach him by phone? We would need to speak to him urgently."
"One moment, please."
She pushed the door closed a bit and came back a moment later with a card.
"Does that help you?"
Mattes glanced at the card. It was the business card of Rico Santos.
"Yes, thank you very much, that helps us already. Oh tell me, how did Mr. Santos travel? By train?"
She shook her head.
"No, he always goes to the wine regions by car. Often he brings a nice drop with him and I get to taste it."
She tapped the card in Mate's hand.
"He has one of the best wine stores here in Frankfurt. You should stop by there sometime."
"Thank you very much, we'll do that. Is his camp there, too?"
"No, that's in Eschborn, Frankfurter Str. 2".
"Then again, sorry to bother you and have a great day to them."
She nodded her thanks and finally pushed the door shut. Steve looked at Mattes, he had understood only a little, but he understood the camp very well. Whether Mel was hidden in the camp? The two men walked back to Mattes' BMW and Mattes took the road towards Eschborn. On the way there, Mattes coordinated with the prosecutor, danger imminent and they were allowed to search the camp even without a warrant. Chris, Danny and Markus were also on their way.
The warehouse was still completely in the dark and even after knocking several times nothing happened. Frings opened the padlock with a bolt cutter and then pushed open the gate. The colleagues swarmed out, but soon they met again at the gate. Apart from wine, there was nothing to be found here. Disappointed, they locked the gate with a new lock, and Santos could pick up the key at the police station.
