‘Oh yes …’ said Wagner. ‘Of course … How are you?’

‘The best,’ Scholz grinned, but looked at the blank covered dossier on the coffee table. ‘Sorry, am I interrupting something?’

‘No … not at all,’ said Fabel. ‘I was just taking the opportunity to chat with Herr Wagner about a Hamburg case we’re both involved with. Can I get you a drink?’

‘Well … as a matter of fact I called by on business. As you know I was tied up almost all morning in this bloody Karneval committee meeting, but I got Tansu and Kris to check out some of those leads on Internet sites your technical guys put together But you weren’t around this afternoon …’

‘Ah, yes … sightseeing, if I’m honest.’

‘I see … anyway, we’ve got something. There’s a website hosted from here in Cologne. It’s called Anthropophagi and it’s devoted to all things relating to cannibalism. Not overtly sexual content, but if you dig deeper there is some pretty sick stuff in there. And there’s a chat room. We don’t know who actually runs the site, but we know the company that provides the server space, design, etc. I thought we could go over there tomorrow.’

‘Sounds good. Sure you won’t have a drink?’

‘No, thanks. You see, that’s not all. I wondered if you wanted to take a little trip with me. You’ll be pleased to know that we’ve also followed your suggestion and trailed every reported assault or incident involving biting. There’s something you and I should take a look at …’

The hotel contrasted sharply with the plush and trendy one they had just left. It wasn’t that it was shoddy or seedy, rather that it was at the budget end of the market. The kind of place where tourists on a tight budget or the lower class of business traveller would overnight. It was, as Fabel realised he already knew, also a place where you could pay in cash and not be asked too many questions. Scholz pulled up outside the main door and as he and Fabel got out a doorman approached, clearly to complain that he wasn’t allowed to park there. Scholz silenced him with a flash of his Criminal Police ID. He turned for a moment when he noticed Fabel pause and look up at the hotel.

‘Everything okay, Jan?’

‘What? Yeah … sure.’

‘There was the report of a disturbance here a few weeks ago,’ Scholz explained to Fabel. ‘The patrol car was effectively turned away – the hotel said it had all blown over and their own people had dealt with it. Sorry to have troubled you and all that crap. Truth is these places don’t want their clientele to see the lobby full of uniforms. Puts them off their dirty weekends.’

Scholz slapped his gloved hand down on the chest-high reception desk and grinned at the male receptionist.