I said nothing.

“Are you anti-Nazi?”

“A Nazi is someone who follows Hitler. To be anti-Nazi is to listen to what he says.”

Von Sonnenberg chuckled. “It’s refreshing speaking to a man like you, Bernie. You remind me of how things used to be here. Of how cops used to talk. Real cops. I assume you had your own informers.”

“You can’t do the job without keeping your ear on the toilet door.”

“The trouble is, everyone’s an informer now.” Von Sonnenberg shook his head gloomily. “And I do mean everyone. Which means there’s much too much information. By the time any of it’s been assessed, it’s useless.”

“We get the police force we deserve, sir.”

“You of all people could be forgiven for thinking that. But I can’t sit back and do nothing about it. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly. Under the republic, the Berlin police force enjoyed a reputation as one of the best in the world.”

“That’s not what the Nazis said, sir.”

“I can’t help that. But I can try to arrest the decline.”

“I get the feeling my gratitude is about to be sorely tested.”

“I have one or two detectives here who might, in time, amount to something.”

“You mean apart from Otto.”

Von Sonnenberg chuckled again. “Otto. Yes. Well, Otto is Otto, isn’t he?”

“Always.”

“But these cops are lacking in experience. Your kind of experience. One of them is Richard Bömer.”

“I don’t know him, either, sir.”

“No, well, you wouldn’t. He’s my sister’s son-in-law. I was thinking he might benefit from a little avuncular advice.”

“I really don’t think I’d make much of an uncle, sir. I haven’t got a brother, but if I had, he’d probably have died of criticism by now. The only reason they took me out of uniform and put me in plainclothes was because I was so short with the traffic on Potsdamer Platz. Advice from me sounds like a ruler across the knuckles. I even avoid my own shaving mirror in case I tell myself to go and get a proper job.”

“A proper job. For you? Like what, for instance?”

“I’ve been thinking I might try to set myself up as a private investigator.”

“To do that you’ll need a license from a magistrate. In which case, you would need to show police consent. It might be useful to have a senior policeman on your side for something like that.”

He had a point, and there seemed to be no use in wriggling. He had me just where he wanted, as if I were a moth pinned in the glass case on his office wall.

“All right. But don’t expect white gloves and silver service. If this fellow Richard doesn’t like boiled sausage from the Wurst Max, I’ll be wasting his time and mine.”

“Naturally. All the same, it might be a good idea if you were to meet him somewhere outside the Alex. And that better include the bars around here. I’d like to avoid anyone pulling his chain about the low company he’s keeping.”