‘Tansu’s chasing the State Prosecutor’s office,’ said Scholz. ‘We should get one in a couple of hours or so.’

‘Okay,’ said Fabel. ‘Let’s have another go at chummy.’

‘Oh shit …’ said Scholz, looking over Fabel’s shoulder. Fabel turned to see a heavy-set man in his fifties coming along the corridor towards them. Fabel recognised the attitude of authority about him. When he reached them Scholz introduced Fabel to Cologne’s Police President, Udo Kettner.

‘This is an awkward situation, Benni,’ said Kettner. ‘Potentially very embarrassing. You don’t seem to have a lot to go on.’

‘He was about to attack Tansu,’ said Scholz.

‘You’ll find that difficult to prove.’

‘We have it on tape,’ said Fabel.

‘What you’ve got on tape, Herr Fabel, could be construed as entirely consistent with the nature of the advertisement he placed. He’s going to argue that the manner of his arrest amounts to entrapment. Added to which, he can claim that he did nothing wrong other than, as an unmarried man, meeting a young woman to explore a mutually consensual sexual encounter.’

‘I smell lawyer talk,’ said Scholz.

‘They’re on the way in …’ Police President Kettner said wearily. ‘I got a call within thirty minutes of Lüdeke being arrested. They’re going to challenge the legitimacy of the arrest and the set-up behind it.’

‘So what do we do?’ asked Scholz.

Kettner grinned. ‘Lüdeke’s lawyers aren’t the only ones who can use a phone.’ He handed Scholz a document. ‘I thought a little leaning on the State Prosecutor’s office might speed things up. Here’s your warrant to obtain DNA. But for Christ’s sake, Benni, make sure you do everything by the book.’

Fabel, Tansu and Scholz sat in Scholz’s office. The latest ‘bull’ head watched them from the corner. Scholz contemplated it dourly.

‘We have only eight days until Women’s Karneval Night,’ he said. ‘I hope to God Lüdeke is our guy. If that DNA doesn’t check out then we’re screwed.’

‘Even if it does,’ said Fabel, ‘it only ties him into the rape and battery of Vera Reinartz. He’s clearly a sexual sadist with a cannibalism fixation, but without a confession or other corroborating evidence we’ll never get him for the murders. And given Lüdeke’s arrogance and the hourly rate he’s paying his lawyers, we’re never going to get a confession.’

‘Forensics have turned up nothing. His office and apartment are both clean,’ said Scholz glumly. ‘The annoying thing is that the very weapon he’s used to slice chunks out of his victims may well be right under our noses. I’ve never had a suspect whose job it’s been to cut up human beings. It’s a forensic nightmare. If only Vera Reinartz or Andrea Sandow or whatever she wants to call herself had kept just one of those bloody letters.’