Scholz had led the questioning but had asked Fabel to partner him. Not that it had done any good. Fabel’s dislike of Oliver Lüdeke had been instant and intense. He knew that he would have felt the same disdain for Lüdeke if he had met him at a cocktail party instead of as the chief suspect in an inquiry into two, and potentially three, horrific and brutal murders. Lüdeke had refused to answer any questions at all and had only been vocal in complaining about his unjustified detention.

‘I don’t need a weatherman to tell me that there’s a shitstorm heading our way,’ said Scholz to Fabel after they had terminated the interview. ‘He’s already been in touch with his lawyer – and you can bet the first calls his lawyer’s made have been to the State Prosecutor and the Police President. We’ve got to nail him quick.’

‘So you’re convinced he’s our man? Even though you know him personally?’

Scholz snorted. ‘Especially because I know him personally.’

‘You don’t like him?’ asked Fabel.

‘Oliver Lüdeke is good-looking, charming, rich, clearly highly intelligent, has a highly paid, prestigious job and is regularly seen in the company of a string of beautiful women. Of course I hate the bastard. But putting that aside, there are a whole lot of other reasons why I’ve never liked Herr Dr Lüdeke. He’s an arrogant son of a bitch. No – more than that. He has this way about him … I don’t know, it’s difficult to explain. He doesn’t fit in Cologne. I know that doesn’t make sense but class means nothing here. Karl Marx was from Cologne, but he said he could never start the international revolution here … it would never catch on in a city where the labourer and the factory manager drink in the same pub. Take the other state forensic pathologists: great guys to work with. Great guys to get pissed with. But Lüdeke looks down his nose at you every time you speak to him.’

‘So you’re saying he’s a good suspect because he’s a snob?’

‘Snobbery doesn’t come close, Jan. With Lüdeke it’s more like we are all lower forms of life. It doesn’t take a stretch for me to see him as someone who believes others have been put on this Earth to provide him with what he wants out of life. And that would fit with a sexual predator who doesn’t give a damn about inflicting pain on those he uses to fulfil his needs. Or even killing them.’

‘He’s certainly the strongest suspect we’ve got so far. But if he’s as connected as you say he is, then we’re going to have to move quick to prevent him walking. What’s the situation with a warrant to get a DNA sample?’