Mind's eye

29

It was a few minutes past nine when Munster and Reinhart parked in the street outside Bunge High School. Blue-gray dawn light had begun to trickle down the majestic old castle; the schoolyard was deserted, apart from a janitor pulling a cart laden with broken chairs. Munster suddenly felt distinctly uneasy. It was hard to imagine there being more than seven hundred people inside that building. Lights were on in every room, as far as one could see, but the tall, rectangular, pale yellow windows seemed devoid of any sign of life. Around the high tower and the chimneys on the steeply sloping roof swirled croaking cascades of jackdaws.

“Ugh,” said Reinhart. “Did you go to this school?”

Munster shook his head.

“Me neither. Thank God-it must be like being buried under a quarry. Day in, day out. Poor devils!”

They stayed in the car for a few minutes, while Reinhart cleaned out his pipe and they put the finishing touches to their strategy. It was always an advantage if the left hand knew what the right hand was doing.

Then they braced themselves to face the wind, and hurried across the schoolyard.

“Have you thought about the fact that there might be a murderer in one of those classrooms just now?” said Reinhart.

“Do you know what we ought to do?”

Munster said nothing.

“We ought to grab a megaphone and shout out that we have the whole place surrounded, and that the murderer should give himself up and come out. Just think how much time that would save.”

Munster nodded.

“Do you have a megaphone with you?”

“No.”

“A pity. We’ll have to talk to Suurna instead.”

The headmaster was wearing a dark suit, and it was obvious that he had been expecting them. The tray of coffee and cook-ies was already on the table, and every paper clip was in its appointed place on the red oak desk.

“Good morning, Mr. Suurna,” said Munster. “We’ve met already. This is my colleague, Inspector Reinhart.”

“A terrible business,” said Suurna. “I must say that I’m deeply shocked. And worried.”

He gestured toward the armchairs, but remained standing himself.

“I thought I would gather all the pupils together in the assembly hall later today, and say a few words. I haven’t fixed a time yet, I thought you might want to have a say in that. But it’s awful, no matter how you look at it. Extraordinarily horrendous!”

Extraordinarily horrendous? Munster thought. The guy must have difficulty in expressing himself.

“Mr. Suurna,” said Reinhart. “We don’t want you to do anything at all in connection with the murders until we have given our approval. You must be clear about the fact that in all probability, the murderer is somewhere in this building.”

Suurna turned pale.

“We shall ask you to help us to lay down the guidelines now. It will take about half an hour, more or less. We assume you are still willing to cooperate with us. .”

“Of course-but are you really sure that-”

“The discussions we are about to have,” said Munster, interrupting the headmaster, “are strictly confidential. You must not divulge a single word of what we are about to agree on. Not to anybody. Have you any objection to that?”

“No. . no, of course not, but. .”

“This investigation depends upon your silence,” said Reinhart.

“We have to be able to rely on you one hundred percent,” said Munster.

“And to be certain that you will follow our instructions in every detail,” said Reinhart.

Suurna sat down and picked nervously at the crease of his trousers. Munster considered for a moment asking Suurna where he had been last Thursday evening; but that had already been checked, and the headmaster seemed to be sufficiently convinced for that not to be necessary.

“Of course. . of course I shall do whatever you want me to,” he said. “But surely you don’t think that. . that it must be one of our. . I simply can’t believe that. .”

“Okay,” said Munster, “we’re grateful for your coopera-tion. Can you make sure that we are undisturbed for at least thirty minutes-completely undisturbed?”

“Yes, certainly.”

Suurna stood up again, went to his desk, and pressed a button. Munster took off his jacket, and rolled up his shirtsleeves.

“Is there any coffee?” Reinhart wondered.

It was not a bad start.

“How many teachers do you have on your staff, Mr. Suurna?” Munster asked.

“You mean altogether?”

“Every man jack of them,” said Reinhart.

“It depends on how you count them. . I suppose we have fifty or more on permanent contracts. . full time, more or less. . and fifteen or twenty temporary staff. . a few part-timers, mainly for minor languages. . Swahili, Hindi. . Finnish. .”

“We want to interrogate all of them tomorrow,” said Reinhart. “We’ll start at nine, and keep going until. .”

“Impossible!” exclaimed Suurna. “How can that be done? I can’t. .”

“You’ll have to,” said Munster. “We need a list of all members of the staff, and we want to meet them one at a time tomorrow. What other people are there?”

“Excuse me?”

“Other people who work here,” said Reinhart. “Not teachers, but other categories.”

“Oh, I see. Well, the senior management team, of course: myself and Eger, the deputy head. . office staff and archiv-ists. . the school doctor and the school nurse. . school janitors and caretakers. . the guidance counselor, psychologist, career adviser. .”

“How many altogether?”

“Oh, twenty or so.”

“So somewhere in the region of eighty-five persons in all,”

said Munster. “There’ll be four of us, so it won’t be a problem.

Please reserve four separate rooms for us to use, preferably next to one another.”

“But the lessons. .?”

“Four lists of names and times. Twenty minutes each, one hour for lunch. If you can arrange lunch here in the school, so much the better.”

“But the pupils. .?”

“I suggest you give them the day off,” said Reinhart. “Working at home, or whatever you call it. I’d have thought it would be difficult to run a teaching timetable, but that’s up to you. In any case, I suggest that you call a meeting of all staff as soon as possible. .”

“And most certainly not a meeting for all the pupils in the assembly hall!” said Munster. “Any questions?”

“I have to say. .”

“Okay, then,” said Reinhart. “We’ll start at nine o’clock sharp tomorrow morning. Was there anything else, Munster?”

“The mail.”

“Ah, yes. Would you please describe to us the mail routines you have here, Mr. Suurna?”

“Mail routines?”

“Yes. What time does the mail delivery arrive? Who takes charge of it? Who distributes it? And so on. .”

Suurna closed his eyes, and Munster had the impression he was about to pass out. Small beads of sweat could be seen on his forehead, and he was holding on tight to the arms of his chair, as if he were in a dentist’s chair or on a roller coaster.

“Mail routines?” said Reinhart again after a while.

“Excuse me,” said Suurna, looking up. “I sometimes get dizzy spells.”

Dizzy spells while sitting down? Munster wondered. Suurna wiped his brow and cleared his throat.

“We have two mail deliveries,” he said. “In the morning and immediately after lunch-one o’clock, half past, or thereabouts. Why do you want to know that?”

“We can’t tell you that for reasons connected with the investigation,” said Munster.

“And we’d like you not to breathe a word about any of this,” said Reinhart. “Can we rely on you? It’s absolutely vital!”

“Yes. . Of course. .”

“Who’s in charge of the mail?”

“Er. . Miss Bellevue or the janitors. It varies. We try to be as flexible as possible with regard to specific duties on the administration side. . ”

“Do you have several janitors?”

“Two.”

“Could you please find out who was in charge of the mail on Tuesday last week. .? Who received it, and who distributed it.”

“The morning or the lunch delivery?”

“Both. We’d like to talk to whoever it was as soon as possible.”

Suurna looked confused.

“You mean. . right now?”

“Yes,” said Reinhart. “If we could summon the janitors and Miss. . er. .”

“Bellevue.”

“Bellevue, yes. If you could ask them to come here right away, we’ll be able to sort this matter out on the spot.”

“I don’t understand why. .” Suurna didn’t finish the sentence. Stood up and went to the intercom on his desk.

“Miss Bellevue, would you mind finding Mattisen and Ferger and bringing them to my office as soon as possible? We want to speak to you as well. As soon as possible, please!”

He stood up and looked at Munster and Reinhart, apparently at a loss. Reinhart took out his pipe and started to fill it.

“Perhaps you wouldn’t mind leaving us alone for a short while,” he said, brushing a few flakes of tobacco onto the carpet.

“If you’ll allow us to use your office as our headquarters. .”

“Of course. .”

Suurna fastened the buttons of his jacket and disappeared through the door.

Munster smiled. Reinhart lit his pipe.