Mortal Mischief

heavily against the woodwork.

'Well?' asked Else.

'Well, what?'

The regular rhythm of the lamplight was strangely calming.

'What are you thinking?'

Rheinhardt hesitated and Else continued: 'It's the Leopoldstadt murder. You're thinking about that, aren't you?'

'Yes,' said Rheinhardt, sighing. 'Max interviewed the principal suspect today – a man called Otto Braun. He was a member of Fraulein Lowenstein's spiritualist circle and he hadn't been seen since the night of the murder. He's a stage magician – a fact that we considered highly relevant, given the circumstances of the crime.'

'And . . .?' said Else, with gentle persistence.

'I was hoping that he would confess. But he did nothing of the sort. And the Commissioner is growing increasingly impatient.'

'Will you let Braun go?'

'We'll have to.'

'And what will you do then?'

'I really don't know . . .'

The cab slowed, before picking up speed again, to let an omnibus pass at the crossroads.

'You know,' said Else, yawning, 'I was reading a very interesting article in my Ladies' Journal the other day.'

'Oh?'

'About a woman called Madame de Rougemont – she lives in Paris. She has helped the French police solve many crimes.'

'How does she do it?'

'She's a medium, like Fraulein Lowenstein.'

'Are you suggesting that I—'

'The Surete are not too proud to use her,' Else cut in.

'The Surete are . . . well, French. We have very different ways of doing things here in Vienna. Besides, I dread to think what Max would say if I suggested such a thing.'

'Doctor Liebermann does not know everything,' said Else bluntly.

43

LIEBERMANN TURNED A corner and came face to face with Professor Wolfgang Gruner. The two men started – and even recoiled a little – as though they had both walked into an invisible wall.

'Ah, Doctor Liebermann,' said Gruner, collecting himself. 'If you have a moment, I would like to see you in my office.'

'Now?' asked Liebermann tentatively.

'Yes, now,' said Gruner.

Liebermann looked at his wristwatch.

'My next patient is at three.'

'What I have to say will not take long.'

The two men marched down the corridor in silence, sustaining a synchronised, almost military step. However they maintained a conspicuous distance from each other, as though each possessed the polar properties of magnets and were driven apart by mutually repellent fields of force. In due course, the absence of polite pleasantries and their palpable antipathy became embarrassing and uncomfortable in equal measure. Liebermann was greatly relieved when they finally reached the door of Gruner's office.

Inside, the room was gloomy and seemed curiously subaquatic. Weak spears of watery light angled through the mossy curtains, illuminating motes that glided through the air with the lymphatic grace of protozoa. Scattered around the floor were numerous battery boxes – like ancient treasure chests long since forgotten on the seabed of the Spanish Main.

A tall glass cabinet displayed several rows of specimen jars in which spongy brain parts trailing threads of nervous tissue floated in a suspension of yellowing formaldehyde. The cabinet looked like a gruesome aquarium and one vessel – slightly larger than the rest – contained an object that made Liebermann shudder: a decomposing abortus with two heads. Flakes of white flesh had collected at the bottom of the jar, indicating that the specimen was of considerable age. This medical oddity – of unknown provenance – was the centre-piece of Gruner's macabre collection.

'Please sit,' Gruner commanded.

'Thank you,' replied Liebermann, drawing a heavy wooden chair closer to Gruner's imposing desk.

'Doctor Liebermann,' Gruner began, 'I understand that you have been treating the English governess, Miss Amelia Lydgate. She was expecting to receive electrotherapy for a persistent hysterical cough and associated paralysis. How many sessions of electrotherapy have you administered, Doctor Liebermann?'

'None, sir.'

'Could you explain why?'

'Her symptoms are not the result of a weakened nervous system. They are the logical consequence of several traumatic experiences. As such, they have meaning. Consequently I am of the opinion that electrotherapy is not the treatment of choice, sir.'

Gruner sat back in his chair like Neptune on his throne. The desk had been placed in front of the window and Liebermann could not see Gruner's face against the glare. All that he could make out was the silhouette of the professor's head and a glowing aureole of frizzled hair.

'So,' said Gruner. 'Miss Lydgate's symptoms have meaning. Would you care to elaborate?'

'Since taking up her position as governess,' Liebermann began, 'Miss Lydgate has been repeatedly importuned by her employer. Eventually the man lost control of himself and assaulted her. He succeeded in kissing Miss Lydgate – which she experienced as a feeling of suffocation. Her cough, therefore, is the result of a repressed traumatic memory.' Liebermann noticed that Gruner was already drumming his fingers on the desk impatiently. 'Miss Lydgate's paralysis,' Liebermann continued, 'arose at the same time as her employer – frustrated and probably drunk – attempted to penetrate her. His abominable behaviour produced in Miss Lydgate a powerful but to her unacceptable wish to kill him. A pair of scissors lay within reach. Torn between the need to protect herself and the unacceptability of committing a murder, she became paralysed. Her murderous impulse was repressed and around it the contents of her own unconscious became organised in the form of a secondary, more primitive personality, which calls itself Katherine. It is this secondary personality, that now controls Miss Lydgate's right arm. In my opinion, when this psychic breach is repaired, when the division between Katherine and Miss Lydgate is healed, Miss Lydgate's paralysis will disappear. I believe that this can only be achieved through psychotherapy.'

Gruner stopped drumming his fingers and leaned forward.

'And what evidence do you have for this extraordinary formulation?'

'The secondary personality surfaces when Miss Lydgate is reminded of the sexual assault. At such times she experiences a seizure, during which she behaves aggressively and recovers the use of her right arm. These seizures are reliably induced by an olfactory stimulus – namely, the cologne used by her employer. It should also be noted that this cologne may have played some part in provoking Miss Lydgate's cough – it is of a heavy and cloying variety.'

'Herr Doctor,' Gruner responded, 'I am appalled at your naivety.' Gruner paused, allowing a lengthy and profoundly unsettling hiatus to ripen. Liebermann squinted into the glare that was blazing in through the window, trying to read Gruner's expression – but it was impossible. Eager to end the excruciating deadlock, Liebermann responded, finding words that were honest rather than diplomatic.

'I'm afraid that I must disagree, sir.'

'Doctor Liebermann,' Gruner began again, this time without any pause, 'I find it difficult to believe that a young man educated in one of the finest medical institutions in the world should be duped quite so easily. As we all know, the female hysteric is cunning, malicious and histrionic. She is a consummate seductress. The credulous physician is easy prey, lured by her confessions into her world of sordid fantasy. By taking her ridiculous flights of