Chapter 3: The Soldier Arrives
Thomas Brand did not waste time.
He watched the video once in the examination room, his face turning to stone. Then he watched it again. On the third viewing, he asked Beate only one question.
“Where is he now?”
“Business dinner,” Beate whispered. “He’ll be home by ten.”
Thomas looked at the detective.
“I want him arrested tonight.”
Brenner nodded. “We have enough for immediate arrest. But we need to do this right. No confrontation at the house. We’ll pick him up at the club.”
Thomas turned to his daughter.
“You are coming home with me tonight. No argument.”
Beate didn’t argue.
She was too tired to argue.
Thomas drove her to his house — the same house she had grown up in, with the same creaky stairs and the smell of coffee and gun oil. He made her tea. He checked her wounds again. He sat with her until she fell asleep on the couch with a blanket over her legs.
At 10:17 p.m., his phone rang.
It was Brenner.
“Gero Müller is in custody. He didn’t resist. He’s already lawyered up.”
May you like
Thomas looked at his sleeping daughter.
“Good,” he said. “Let him try.”
