Read Online I Am Your Judge: A Novel by Nele Neuhaus - Free Book Online

long time.”
    “Please, nothing with guns and dead bodies,” said Pia.
    “Well, that eliminates almost everything we have in our video collection,” he said with a grin. He was dead set against letting Pia talk him into watching Steel Magnolias or The Devil Wears Prada . Before he found some soccer game on the Sky Channel or a deadly boring documentary on Arte, Pia agreed to watch a James Bond movie. They were always entertaining, and it would take her mind off other things.
    Her cell buzzed again.
    “Go ahead and take it,” Christoph said. “It seems to be important.”
    Pia sighed, grabbed the phone, and said hello.
    “Ms. Kirchhoff, please forgive me for bothering you,” said the officer on duty. “I know you’re on vacation, but I can’t reach anyone else from K-11. We have another body. In Oberursel this time.”
    “Shit,” Pia muttered. “What about Bodenstein?”
    “He’s not answering his phone. But I’ll try him again.”
    “Where do I have to go?” She met Christoph’s gaze and shrugged to signal her regret.
    “The address is An der Heide 12 in Oberursel,” said the officer. “I’ve already notified the evidence team.”
    “Got it. Thanks.”
    “And thank you.” He had the decency not to wish her a good evening, because obviously she wasn’t going to have one.
    “What’s up?” Christoph asked.
    “If only I hadn’t taken that call.” Pia got up. “There’s another body, in Oberursel. I’m really sorry. I hope the boss shows up soon so I can make a quick exit.”
    *   *   *
    Bodenstein was ecstatic that he had to play only a minor role in his ex-wife’s chaotic life. It had taken him years to admit that he didn’t find it “exciting” but rather terribly exhausting to adapt to her constantly changing plans. Cosima had no qualms about rescheduling appointments that had been made weeks before, if something more interesting suddenly popped into her head. And she expected her family and friends simply to accept the way she impulsively changed her mind. “Flexibility” and “spontaneity,” two words that she promoted as positive traits, were in Bodenstein’s eyes nothing more than proof of her inability to organize her life.
    “I wanted to take a taxi, but they couldn’t send one for an hour!” Cosima said as Bodenstein loaded her luggage into the trunk of her SUV in the parking garage of the Zauberberg building in Ruppertshain. “It’s totally outrageous.”
    “If you’d ordered the cab yesterday, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been a problem,” was all he said as he closed the trunk. “Have you got everything?”
    “Oh dear, where’s my purse? Did I have it with me or not?” She opened the trunk again. Bodenstein got in behind the wheel and turned to Sophia, who was in her car seat.
    “Are you all strapped in?” he asked.
    “Sure. Even a baby could do it,” replied his younger daughter.
    “Ah, here it is!” Cosima shouted, slamming the trunk closed, then jumping into the passenger seat. “God, I’m frazzled.”
    Bodenstein refrained from commenting. He started the engine and drove off. Some things would never change.
    Cosima babbled on during the whole trip, through Fischbach and Kelkheim, down the B 8, and didn’t shut up until they turned at the Main-Taunus Center and got on the A 66 to Wiesbaden. Bodenstein glanced to the right and saw in the dark the lights of Birkenhof, where Pia lived with her partner. Maybe the profiler that Nicola had forced on him would really help solve the case quickly. But he felt rather lost without Pia, Cem, and Kathrin. During his career with the criminal police, there had been very few cases that went unsolved. He had the unpleasant feeling that the murder of Ingeborg Rohleder might one day end up as a cold case in a box in the archives. Seldom had the evidence been so scanty as it was in this investigation.
    “Are we there yet, Papa?” Sophia asked from the backseat.
    “Almost,” he said, signaling to turn