by all accounts, arrogant, opinionated and egocentric. No surprises there: to be a successful performer you needed an ego that could fill a stadium. But the truth was that Westland was no longer filling stadiums. His promoters had scaled down the size of the venues he played in. A strategy which ensured that he could still claim the odd ticket sell-out. With the information Fabel found, he could mentally plot a bell curve of fame for the British singer, reaching its peak in the mid 1980s. After that, his popularity, if not his wealth, had gone into rapid decline. Jake Westland was, clearly, fast becoming yesterday’s man. Until he left the stage permanently and spectacularly in a Kiez back alley, Westland had been struggling to make any headlines. There had been an abortive attempt at acting, but the press had been derisive. The only time he returned to public attention was when his sordid sex life excited the British tabloids. His decreasing publicity clout did not, however, prevent him from pontificating on a range of social issues to anyone who would listen.
Fabel scanned through the background material that Anna had gathered on the event at the Sporthalle. The charity benefiting from the concert was called the Sabine Charity: Declaring War on War Rape. Looking through Anna’s report, Fabel saw that the charity was devoted to assisting the victims of military or genocidal rape from Bosnia to Rwanda. The concert organiser was a woman called Petra Meissner. The name rang a bell with Fabel. He flicked back through his Internet search history and found a photograph of Westland with Petra Meissner which had appeared in one of the British tabloids. Meissner was an attractive woman in her mid forties, with dark hair cut short. The photograph was innocent enough — Westland and Meissner were together to attend an event in aid of Meissner’s charity in Berlin — but the English headline demanded Who’s the HUN-ney, Jake? And, of course, the text went on to make much of the fact that Westland’s escort was a German woman; lots of tasteless jokes about the war. The usual brainless stuff. Fabel loved all things British: except their press. And the fact that, as a nation, the British seemed permanently stuck in the past.
There was little else of note about Westland that Fabel could see, other than the Englishman’s obvious business acumen. He might have been a mediocre singer and an even worse actor, but he had been an astute investor. Westland’s back catalogue of music and his more recent CDs assured him a reasonable income from his established fan base, but the real income had come from his portfolio of investments. And, from what Fabel read, it appeared that it wasn’t his accountants or advisers who had guided this success but Westland himself, who seemed to have an eye for the up-and-coming business concept or the unusual opportunity that other investors would be wary of.
It had been snowing again and, although the roads were clear, the pavements around the city were white- blanketed. Fabel drove through the city and through the Elbe tunnel into Hamburg-Harburg.
The Sabine Charity had its offices in an older building on the corner of two busy Harburg streets. There was a certain art-deco grandness about the building but this had been diminished by copious graffiti on the walls. The charity’s offices comprised a handful of rooms on the ground floor. Fabel had phoned ahead to make an appointment, but when he walked into the offices he could find no defined reception area. For some reason he had expected this informality. There were four women and two men working at various desks, most of whom were engaged in phone conversations when Fabel entered. A tall, handsome woman with short dark hair, whom he recognised from her photographs as Petra Meissner, stood up and came over to him.
‘I got your message, Herr Chief Commissar.’ She extended her hand and smiled. Without warmth, thought Fabel. ‘It’s a bit chaotic here. There’s a cafe around the corner — would you mind?’
‘Not at all,’ said Fabel, and stood aside to allow her to show him the way.
‘I take it this is about Jake’s death,’ said Meissner. ‘I’ve been expecting somebody to get in touch. Especially after that awful woman from the television was here.’
‘Let me guess. Sylvie Achtenhagen?’
‘Your paths have crossed?’
‘You could say that. Frau Achtenhagen can be persistent.’
‘Well, her persistence did her no good with me.’ The hardening of Meissner’s expression suggested to Fabel that she was not a woman to cross. ‘I sent her packing. The whole thing with the way Jake died… it’s tragic. And sordid. I’m afraid the charity can do without that kind of publicity.’
‘I’m sure his wife and children could do without it, too.’
‘Of course.’ Meissner stirred her latte macchiato and licked the froth from her spoon.
‘How well did you know Herr Westland?’
Meissner gave a cynical laugh. ‘I didn’t think you really asked questions like that. I thought that was only in the movies. If you are trying to ask me if I was having or ever had an intimate relationship with Jake, then why don’t you just ask me outright?’
‘Okay. Did you?’
‘No. Despite what the gutter press in Britain alleged. Jake wasn’t interested in me that way. And I can assure you that Jake Westland was definitely not my type. I take it you have found out a bit about him?’
‘Naturally.’
‘Then you’ll know that most people thought he was a phoney, arrogant asshole. Well, most people were right. But I’ll tell you this: he was totally committed to the Sabine Charity. There was nothing phoney about that.’
‘So why your charity in particular?’
‘That I don’t know. And I didn’t ask. The Sabine Charity isn’t like others. We’re not involved in famine relief, or disaster support in the conventional sense. These are issues that people can talk about; feel good about supporting. There’s something about the work we do, the things we talk about, that takes people to a place they don’t want to go. But some people have a good reason to go there. I’m sure there was a very good reason for Jake to be so committed to the Sabine Charity. Maybe it was just genuine outrage, maybe he encountered a victim of war rape. Whatever the reason, it was not something I felt I could question. I was grateful for the support. Jake Westland was as high-profile as we’ve managed so far.’
‘Did you see him on the night of the charity concert?’
‘Of course. We had a pre-event reception with a few city-state and national political types. The federal government sent the Minister for Women and the Hamburg Senate sent Mieke Brun, the Senator for City Development and Environment. Schleswig-Holstein sent along a couple of representatives too. And Gina Bronsted, who’s running for Principal Mayor — she was there as well. To be honest, she rather monopolised Jake. Must have been a fan.’
‘That was it?’
‘Unfortunately, yes. We had planned an informal after-concert party, but Jake said he was too tired and not feeling too well. He just wanted to get back to his hotel and sleep. As it turned out, that was clearly a lot of crap. We went ahead with the party anyway. It worked out okay, actually. Without the star to distract them, I was able to collar a few of the politicians. Not Bronsted, though. She left straight after the concert too.’
‘Okay…’ Fabel paused for a moment. ‘What is it your charity does?’ asked Fabel. ‘I mean, I know what it’s about, but what specifically does it do?’
‘We have three goals. Our first priority is to identify conflicts and regions where rape is currently being used systematically as a weapon of war. We then campaign for international action to protect women in those zones. We lobby politicians here in Germany and throughout the EU. Sometimes beyond. And, where possible, we put people on the ground in the trouble spots.’
‘Isn’t that risky?’
‘It can be. Very. But we have a team of volunteers, doctors, nurses and psychologists who are very committed to the task. Herr Fabel, when you encounter the victims of war rape, you never forget it. You become very motivated. Anyway, our second objective is to raise awareness of war rape as a crime against humanity generally, and historically. Thirdly, we provide evidence to back up the arrest and prosecution of commanders and individual soldiers involved in rape campaigns. We have to be very careful with this, because, as I said, we often have people on the ground in these zones and we don’t want to put them in added danger. The military and paramilitary groups behind these atrocities wouldn’t think twice about shooting a potential future witness against them. But we have contributed to successful prosecutions against war rapists in Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda.’
‘And you get all your support from here, in Germany?’
‘We are an international charity, with registered offices in a number of EU nations, but yes, we are headquartered here and our funds come predominantly from German donations. A disproportionate amount, given its economic woes, comes from the former East Germany. That makes sense, when you think about it.’
