Читаем Prague Fatale полностью

‘Very well, yes, I have. During my Luftwaffe training at the Werneuchen Aerodrome, in 1939, I received basic training in first aid. And again in May 1940. That was in Stavanger.’ He shook his head. ‘There’s no question about it, Gunther. The man was quite dead. That would have been at approximately ten minutes past seven.’

Kritzinger was nodding.

‘What happened next?’ I asked him.

‘The General ordered me to telephone for an ambulance.’

‘Where did you call?’

‘The Bulovka Hospital is the nearest,’ he said. ‘It’s on the north-east outskirts of Prague, about ten kilometres away.’

‘I drive past it every morning,’ said Heydrich.

‘A Czech doctor called Honek attended,’ said Kritzinger. ‘In fact he’s still downstairs.’

‘And what did you do?’ I asked Pomme.

‘General Heydrich told me to go and fetch General Jury right away.’

‘Why?’

‘Because he’s a doctor, too,’ said Pomme.

‘Yes, I remember now. He was a specialist in tuberculosis, I believe. Before he joined the SS.’ I nodded. ‘So, you went to fetch him. What happened then?’

‘I’m afraid he was feeling rather the worse for wear after last night. It was at least another fifteen minutes before he was dressed and on the scene.’

I looked at Heydrich. ‘Meanwhile, sir, you were still in the room with Kuttner, isn’t that right?’

‘Yes.’

‘What did you do while you were waiting for Doctor Jury?’

‘Let’s see now. I opened the window, to get some air. I was feeling a little queasy for some reason. No, that’s not fair. He was a friend of mine. I lit a cigarette, to calm my nerves. But I tossed the end out of the window when I was finished. The crime scene is substantially uncontaminated.’ He shook his head and then ran a thin hand through his short hair. ‘I can’t think of anything else. After a while Doctor Jury turned up with Pomme. The doctor was, as Pomme says, very hung over. But not so hung over that he was incapable of pronouncing poor Kuttner dead. After that I had Ploetz call you and the local police right away. At approximately seven-thirty.’

‘Where’s Doctor Jury now?’ I asked.

‘In the library, sir,’ said Kritzinger. ‘With Doctor Honek. He asked for a pot of strong black coffee to be brought to him there.’

‘Has Doctor Honek examined the body?’

‘No,’ said Heydrich firmly. ‘I decided that there was no urgency about doing so. I thought it might be better if he waited until you had had a chance to examine the body yourself.’

I nodded. ‘I’ll do that now, if I may.’

‘Of course,’ said Heydrich.

‘Mister Kritzinger,’ I said. ‘Would you ask Doctor Jury to join us in Captain Kuttner’s room?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Captain Pomme? Perhaps you’d like to lead the way.’

I stood up and looked at Kahlo, the Criminal Assistant from Prague Kripo. ‘You’d better fetch the evidence kit that Zennaty brought,’ I said.

‘Right you are, sir.’

‘General? If you’d care to join us?’

Heydrich nodded. ‘Major Ploetz? You’d better inform the rest of my guests of what has happened. And that they will be required to answer the Commissar’s questions before anyone is allowed to leave. And that includes everyone at the Upper Castle.’

‘Yes sir.’

Kuttner’s room was on the same floor as mine, but it was in the south wing and overlooked a little glass winter garden. On the pink-papered walls were some pictures of English hunting scenes that made a welcome change from the Czech ones with which I was more familiar. The fox, who appeared to be smiling, must have believed he stood a good chance of escaping from the hounds, and that was all right with me. Lately I’m the kind of antisocial type who cheers when the fox makes a clean getaway.

Before I looked at the body I made my way around the room, noting a large pile of books by the bed and a bottle of Veronal beside a water carafe on the desk. The screw cap was still off the bottle. There were several pills on the floor but, oddly, the bottle was upright. Kuttner’s belts and the holster containing his Walther automatic were hanging on the back of his chair.

Heydrich saw me pick up the open bottle of Veronal. ‘Until I realized the true nature of his injuries I assumed that the Veronal was the culprit,’ he said. ‘It was only when Doctor Jury opened the tunic of his uniform to examine Captain Kuttner that we realized he’d suffered a lethal wound to his abdomen.’

‘Mmm hmm.’