‘It’s Doctor Honek,’ he said, handing me the candlestick. ‘Calling about the autopsy.’
I took the phone.
‘This is Gunther.’
‘I managed to find someone to perform an autopsy on Captain Kuttner,’ said Honek. ‘Today. Like you asked me, Commissar. In view of the circumstances, Professor Hamperl, from the Pathological Institute of the German Charles University in Prague, has agreed to carry out the procedure at four o’clock this afternoon. He’s most distinguished.’
‘Where?’
‘At the Bulovka Hospital.’
‘All right. We’ll be there at four.’
After I hung up, Kahlo said, ‘We? What’s this “we”? You don’t want me there, do you?’
‘You said you were keen to learn, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, but well, the thing is, I’ve never seen an autopsy before.’
‘There’s nothing to it. Besides, we have a distinguished professor to perform the autopsy.’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, anxiously. ‘I mean, dead people. I don’t know. They look like they’re dead, right?’
‘It’s best that way. When they look alive it puts the pathologist a bit off his knife.’ I shrugged. ‘It’s your choice. Now let’s have a look at that list of names that Major Ploetz gave us. I think some of them look like they’re people.’
Those present at the Lower Castle on the night of
2nd/3rd October 1941 included the following:
SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich
SS Obergruppenfuhrer Richard Hildebrandt
SS Obergruppenfuhrer Karl von Eberstein
SS Gruppenfuhrer Konrad Henlein
SS Gruppenfuhrer Dr Hugo Jury
SS Gruppenfuhrer Karl Hermann Frank
SS Brigadefuhrer Bernard Voss
SS Standartenfuhrer Dr Hans Ulrich Geschke
SS Standartenfuhrer Horst Bohme
SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Walter Jacobi
SS Sturmbannfuhrer Dr Achim Ploetz
Wehrmacht Major Paul Thummel
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Kurt Pomme
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Hermann Kluckholn
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Albert Kuttner
SS Unterscharfuhrer August Beck
Staff
SS Sturmscharfuhrer Gert Kritzinger
Butler
SS Oberscharfuhrer Johannes Klein
Chauffeur
SS Unterscharfuhrer Hermann Kube
Chef
SS Rottenfuhrer Wilhelm Seupel
Assistant Chef
SS Rottenfuhrer Walther Artner
Senior Footman
SS Sturmann Adolf Jachod
Senior Footman
SS Sturmann Kurt Bauer
Footman
SS Sturmann Oskar Fendle
Footman
SS Helferin Elisabeth Schreck
Secretary to Heydrich
SS Kriegshelferin Siv Elsler
Assistant Secretary to H.
SS Kriegshelferin Charlotte Teitze
Maid
SS Kriegshelferin Rosa Steffel
Maid
SS Kriegshelferin Liv Lemke
Maid
Bruno Kopkow
Head Gardener
Otto Faulhaber
Assistant Gardener
Johannes Bangert
Assistant Gardener
Upper Castle Personnel
SS Gruppenfuhrer Konstantin von Neurath
The Baroness von Neurath, Marie Auguste Moser von Filseck
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Eduard Jahn
SS Oberscharfuhrer Richard Kolbe
Butler
SS Rottenfuhrer Richard Miczek
Chef
SS Sturmmann Rolf Braun
Footman
SS Kriegshelferin Anna Kurzidim,
Maid
SS Kriegshelferin Victoria Kuckenberg
Maid
For obvious reasons it is recommended that you conduct your interviews at the Lower Castle in strict order of seniority. For reasons of security and confidentiality, please confine all interviews to the Morning Room. Interviews at the Upper Castle should be conducted by arrangement with the Baron’s adjutant, SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Eduard Jahn. A safe will be provided for your use in the Morning Room. All documents pertaining to this inquiry should be placed in it when not in use for reasons of confidentiality.
Signed SS-Major Dr Achim Ploetz,
Adjutant to SS Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich
My eyes slid off the page and landed on the floor with a loud sigh.
‘If one were to assume that anyone at the Lower Castle might have had the opportunity and the motive to kill Captain Kuttner,’ I said, ‘that leaves us with thirty-one suspects.’
‘Christ,’ muttered Kahlo. ‘That’s at least one for every day of the month.’
‘Thirty-nine including the personnel at the Upper Castle with von Neurath. It’s only a short walk from there to the Upper Castle, so I don’t see how they can be excluded.’
‘And God knows how many if we include all of the SS up at the guard house.’
I grunted.
‘Do you want to include them?’
