Murder in the first life

Murder in the first life

1 

From the beginning

2 

Saturday, November 17th, 2012, 11:45 pm

3 

Saturday, November 17th, 2012, 11:59 pm

4 

Sunday, November 18th, 2012, 03:20 am

5 

Sunday, November 18th, 2012, 11:10 am

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Monday, November 19th, 2012, 06:45 am

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Monday, November 19th, 2012, 06:45 am

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Tuesday, November 20th, 2012, 06:30 pm

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Tuesday, November 20th, 2012, 06:30 pm

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Friday, November 23rd, 2012, 07:05 pm

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Sunday, November 25th, 2012, 08:57 am

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Tuesday, November 27th, 2012, 10:45 pm

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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012, 03:15 pm

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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012, 02:30 pm

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Thursday, November 29th, 2012, 07:05 am

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Friday, November 30th, 2012, 09:00 am

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Sunday, December 02nd, 2012, 02:00 pm

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Sunday, December 02nd, 2012, 06:00 pm

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Monday, December 03rd, 2012, 03:00 pm

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Tuesday, December 04th, 2012, 07:00 pm

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Wednesday, December 05th, 2012, 05:50 pm

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Thursday, December 06th, 2012, 12:30 pm

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Thursday, December 06th, 2012, 10:30 am

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Saturday, December 08th, 2012, 07:00 pm

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Sunday, December 09th, 2012, 10:30 am

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Monday, December 10th, 2012, 06:30 pm

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Tuesday, December 11th, 2012, 09:30 am

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Tuesday, December 11th, 2012, 06:30 pm

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Wednesday, December 12th, 2012, 08:45 am

30 

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012, 08:00 pm

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Thursday, December 13th, 2012, 09:00 am

32 

Friday, December 14th, 2012, 07:45 pm

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Sunday, December 16th, 2012, 03:45 pm

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Monday, December 17th, 2012, 02:45 pm

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Thursday, December 20th, 2012, 07:30 pm

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Friday, December 21st, 2012, 09:00 am

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Saturday, December 22nd, 2012, 02:00 pm

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Sunday, December 23rd, 2012, 04:00 pm

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Sunday, December 23rd, 2012, 06:00 pm

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Monday, December 24th, 2012, 09:00 am

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Monday, December 24th, 2012, 07:00 pm

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Monday, December 24th, 2012, 05:00 pm

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Tuesday, December 25th, 2012, 12:00 am

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Wednesday, December 26th, 2012, 01:45 pm

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Thursday, December 27th, 2012, 09:00 am

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Friday, December 28th, 2012, 04:00 pm

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Sunday, December 31st, 2012, 06:00 pm

48 

Thursday, January 10th, 2013, 05:00 pm

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Thursday, January 10th, 2013, 05:45 pm

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Friday, January 11th, 2013, 05:00 pm

51 

Saturday, January 12th, 2013, 04:15 pm

52 

Sunday, January 13th, 2013, 10:15 am

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Monday, January 14th, 2013, 09:30 am

54 

Tuesday, January 15th, 2013, 07:00 am

55 

Tuesday, January 15th, 2013, 07:45 pm

56 

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013, 09:30 am

57 

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013, 06:30 pm

58 

Friday, January 18th, 2013, 08:30 am

59 

Monday, January 21st, 2013, 07:15 am

60 

Thursday, January 24th, 2013, 07:20 pm

61 

Friday, January 25th, 2013, 12:20 pm

62 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 06:03 pm

63 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 06:05 pm

64 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 06:30 pm

65 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 07:00 pm

66 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 07:00 pm

67 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 07:25 pm

68 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 07:27 pm

69 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 07:29 pm

70 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013, 07:30 pm

71 

Friday, February 01st, 2013, 08:11 pm

72 

Extract from the second book

73 

Chapter 1

74 

Acknowledgement

Murder in the first life

Thriller

Second edition

Dirk Lützelberger

© 2020 Dirk Lützelberger

By the same author have also been published:

 Mord im ersten Leben (German Edition)

 Roadtrip in Australien (German Edition)

 Road trip Australia (English Edition)

 Hintertüren (German Edition)

 Secret doors (English Edition)

Printed in Germany

The work, including its parts, is protected by copyright. Any use is prohibited without the consent of the publisher and the author. This applies in particular to electronic or other reproduction, translation, distribution and making available to the public.

Imprint

  Texts: © Copyright by Dirk Lützelberger  Cover: © Copyright by Dirk Lützelberger  Translation: www.deepl.com, manual proofreading  Publisher: Dirk Lützelberger  Am Sorgfeld 14  22587 Hamburg  dirk.luetzelberger+murder-in-the-first-lives@gmail.com  Pressure: epubli – a service of neopubli GmbH, Berlin

Anonymous figures surf the Internet every day to pursue their secret fantasies undetected.

 Chief Inspector Gwendolyn Fisher, a single mother, has recently lost her beloved husband. She is trying to get her life back under control when the perpetrator strikes for the first time. Together with her partner Superintendent Stefan Schick, she tries to pick up the trail of the killer when he slays again. Unusual places where corpses are found and very different approaches to the murders don’t show any connection, but nevertheless the two soon get the idea that this must be a serial killer. Gwen desperately tries to push the investigation forward and also counts on the support of her 14-year-old son, who is very much affected by the death of his father. Together they penetrate a virtual parallel world on the Internet, which both have never known before. Is this the key to solving the case?

 In the real world, the killer has already tracked down her family. A race against time begins.

For Chrissi

Saturday, November 17th, 2012, 11:45 pm

The cold metal of the bars pressed into his back while Kay Berger tried again and again to find a more comfortable position. After endless attempts he gave up resignedly. It made no sense. His body ached from the cramped position he had been crammed into. It was cold here and dirty.

This was not how he had imagined it, although he had dreamed of sitting naked and locked up in a narrow metal cage several times before. But in this cold November night there was nothing exciting at all. Disappointed, he collapsed deep inside himself.

How had he got into this situation anyway, Kay wondered. Under other circumstances it would have been exactly what he longed for, but at that moment it was just unpleasant. Meanwhile, the bars left very painful marks all over his body. An icy wind glided over his naked body and he got goose bumps. For several hours now he sat in his prison and he shivered. It was really no fun anymore. Had it begun as fun? Kay knew nothing anymore. Somehow his memory was erased. It was time to end this game here. But how? Why him, why now, Kay wondered. But the more he thought about it, the less he had an answer to his questions.

His senses were sharpened by the darkness and he began to explore his surroundings. It smelled slightly of gasoline. Not penetrating, more like someone had spilled a few drops of petrol, which now evaporated. The air was clammy and humid. He felt a breeze now and then, which stroked his skin. Where was he? Kay couldn’t remember very much, no matter how hard he tried. Someone had grabbed him from behind. He had just come home and had parked his car. The stranger had put a cloth over his mouth and nose. What had it smelled like? Kay shivered at the memory of the hospital smell. Then a precipice, a black hole. His legs gave way and … this is where his memory left him. When he woke up, it was light. The next day? Or the day after that? Did it make any difference? He had lost all sense of time. He had to get out of here quickly. His legs, his back and his butt were beginning to hurt like hell. He knew the phenomenon. He had read about it on the Internet. The human body needs to be able to stretch out from time to time. The muscles must loosen, stretch and contract again. The body cannot remain in one position for very long. If it is forced, for example because it has been tied up, it causes hellish pain after a short time and the muscles then start to cramp. Kay felt the next cramp in his thigh, because he could hardly move for hours. His enormous fullness now became his fatality. His flabby body filled the small prison on the side completely, condemning him to immobility. He had to suffer until help came. To make matters worse, he thought, his hands were also handcuffed to the bars behind his back. His legs weren’t tied, but he had to put them down in the cage at an angle because of the narrowness of the cage and could not stretch them out under any circumstances.

The nearby church clock was striking. Kay counted the beats. Half an hour till midnight.

He had got used to the darkness by now and his pupils were wide open. Shadowy he could perceive his surroundings, but he couldn’t see any details beyond the bars. It had to be a new moon, because even through the small window behind him no light came in, which would have made it easier for him to find his way around the room.

Without warning the light was turned on and his eyes hurt. It was bright light, which hit his retina unprepared and he squeezed his eyes together reflexively. Steps! Steps that came towards him. Slowly Kay blinked, but he couldn’t make out any details. He could only perceive the black, shadowy outlines of a person.

"How are you?" asked the person in a soft voice. Kay was confused by the calm tone of his tormentor. "W-w-why are you doing this? What do you w-w-want from me?" His voice trembled.

"You wanted it that way" the stranger purred again in the same monotonous tone. He pondered for a moment and then continued, "I’m only fulfilling your dreams!"

Had he heard right? It must have been a bad dream, Kay thought.

"This is madness! What makes you think I would have dreamed of something like this? Untie me at once!" By now his eyes had become accustomed to the bright light and he could open them normally. Kay watched the man opposite him. Did he know him? Then why did he say he wanted to fulfil him his dreams. Who was this guy? "Please – please let me go. My wife is already looking for me. I won’t tell anyone else. I won’t. Please!"

"I don’t think your wife is already looking for you" the stranger replied monotonously. "After all, you don’t get along as well as you used to! Why should she look for you if you always stay out all night and never say a word about where you’ve been?"

How did the guy know all these details about him, about his life and his family? Kay shivered all over as the stranger walked around the cage and stopped behind him. Searching, Kay turned his gaze right and left and realized he was in a garage, as the smell of gasoline had already made him suspect. On one wall were all sorts of tools hanging and on a shelf on the other wall were several canisters of some kind of liquid. The man behind him was digging in his tool bank. The sounds Kay heard did bode ill. His heart was beating up to his throat. He feared the stranger could hear it beating.

"We’re going to take a little trip" the stranger continued, and Kay now heard the sound that tape made when pulling it off a roll. It all happened very quickly and before Kay understood exactly, hands reached through the bars from behind. With nimble fingers, the figure sealed Kay’s lips.

"We don’t want you to wake up the neighbours, do we?"

Kay could almost hear the horrible smile. He breathed in and out violently through his nose, shook himself, trying to get rid of the tape, but it was already sticking perfectly to his skin. Panic rose in him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t separate his lips a millimetre more. Kay’s eyes opened as the cage was tilted backwards and his head hit the bars. He rolled off. The guy pushed him through the garage with the cage on a sack barrow.

"The journey will not take long. Make yourself comfortable."

Saturday, November 17th, 2012, 11:59 pm

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five" Gwendolyn Fisher counted enthusiastically and together with Elisabeth Robinson and Stefan Schick they finished the countdown, "four, three, two, one!"

Then all the other guests joined in and together they sang, "Happy Bööörthday, tooo you – Happy Bööörthday to youuuuu."

Paul Fisher got goose bumps from the strange sounds, but he smiled bravely when he heard his friends singing. It was good to see them again and they had all accepted the invitation on his day of honour. Celebrating his forty-sixth birthday was Gwendolyn’s idea, or Gwen, as she was called by everyone. She always had such great ideas and was always good for a surprise, thought Paul and looked at her face in love. The youthful charisma of his wife was certainly due to her green eyes, which shone like emeralds full of enthusiasm. She had been Paul’s dream girl from the very beginning, ever since he had succumbed to her smile and her glances at their first encounter. Gwen threw back her long, curly, red hair when she fell around her husband’s neck. Paul could barely stand on his feet as Gwen gave him a birthday kiss on the mouth that every man present envied him.

Gwen laughed her head off, "Now you are in you forty-seventh year of life, your old age guy, while I am only forty-two!"

The party guests enjoyed themselves, although they had to hear the saying every year. It was Gwen’s special way of interpreting the facts and making a positive statement. She was a natural talent for gaiety and joy.

"I also want to congratulate" Phillip squeezed through the group towards his father and wrapped his arms around him. "Happy birthday, Daddy. Stay as you are, that’s how I love you." Paul swallowed hard in the embrace of his fourteen-year-old son, who wanted to be called Phil by everyone. He reminded him so much of himself when he was little, and also saw much of his wife in him. The pert, mischievous look and alert blue eyes he had from his father, the unmistakable red hair from his mother. He himself had agreed to go bald a few years ago when his hair turned grey and began to fall out. That was at least very easy to care for, Paul thought, and it also seemed 'cool' in his son’s eyes. A bit like the hero in 'Die Hard', he kept saying. Paul smiled at the thought of it.

"Now make way for your old mother!" Actually, her name was Elisabeth, but the name had been too old-fashioned for her, so everyone called her just Beth, or sometimes Lisbeth, if necessary. Despite her seventy-two years, she still wiggled through the crowd and reached her son-in-law. She bent down to his ear. "At my age one can’t stand it when children worry one. So, you’d best stay safe and sound so we can have many more lovely parties together." Then she kissed him on the cheek.

"Now let’s have a toast before we die of thirst!" Michael Peters suggested and raised his glass. Dr Peters was a long-time friend of the family and had worked with Gwen at the Kiel State Office of Criminal Investigation, called 'Landeskriminalamt' or LKA, for many years. He oversaw investigating crime scenes and clues in the forensic department. In the meantime, Gwen had been promoted to Chief Inspector and together with her colleague, Superintendent Stefan Schick, they were a well-rehearsed team.

All three cheered Paul when he suddenly sank to the ground, powerless and unexpectedly.

"Paul, what about you?" cried Gwen, still trying to stop the falling body. But the ninety kilograms slid inexorably to the ground, where Paul lay motionless. The guests standing around were paralyzed when Michael was the first to become aware of the situation and sank to his knees next to Paul. He immediately shook him by the shoulders, "Paul, can you hear me?"

Michael put his ear to Paul’s nose and observed if the chest was still moving. The guests around him hardly dared to breathe. After a few seconds his lips formed a slow 'sh…it', then Michael stood up and was in his element. He had experienced such situations many times before.

"Stefan, call the ambulance immediately" he commanded. "Tell them to hurry, he’s probably having a heart attack!"

"Gwen, you’re coming with me! Put on a jacket and Beth, please take care of the guests and stay with Phil until we call from the hospital. Now, everybody, please get out of here!" Michael, ripped open Paul’s shirt, immediately started chest compressions to keep his friend’s circulation going. He had to bridge the time until the ambulance arrived.

♦♦♦

Dr Peters knew the emergency medical team very well, which came into the living room after a few minutes. He shouted to them from a distance, without interrupting the chest compressions, "The defibrillator, quickly!" He knew that Paul was in good hands with his former colleagues and could do anything more for him at that moment. A defibrillator, which would bring the heart rhythm back into order by means of a targeted electric shock, was the only thing that could help now. Michael was sure of that.

When the paramedics took over, he stood up and hugged Gwen. Breathlessly, they watched the doctor’s efforts. Hope germinated in Gwen’s eyes as the paramedics worked at a hectic pace.

"We have a pulse again!" cheered the younger of the two doctors. "He must get to hospital immediately!"

On the way to the ambulance, Michael shouted at Gwen, "Get into the front, I’ll stay in the back with your husband!" While Gwen hurried forward, Michael almost yelled at Stefan, "We’re going to the Army Hospital, it’s the closest one." He added to his instructions, "You keep the way clear for us in the patrol car."

Stefan ran to his Ford Focus tournament, where he had driven to Paul’s birthday right after finishing his shift. He turned on the flashing blue light and waited with the engine running for the emergency ambulance to finally get going.

They left Gwen’s property via the gravel driveway and first turned left towards the main road. Why did Gwen have to live so far from the city, Stefan pondered as he approached the crossroads to turn right. He looked in the rear-view mirror. They were behind him.

No question about it, this was a beautiful area, a few kilometres northeast of Kiel, but at the back of the world. Nothing but fields, footpaths and peace, Gwen had once raved over it. Now they would certainly have liked to have a hospital nearby and not just eight kilometres away. They were alone on the main road and Stefan stepped on the gas. He wasn’t even fifty years old, hopefully he’d survive, Stefan pondered as he saw the ambulance in his rear-view mirror. He fixed the two high beam lights, which raced towards him at high speed. Cramping, Stefan held the steering wheel of his Barbarix tightly while the lights came closer and closer. Barbarix, that is what he and Gwen affectionately called their blue and white patrol car. They were about the same age and often talked to each other while they were on shifts together. At some point Gwen told him that she was a fan of Barbapappa in her childhood days. A program that was a regular part of the children’s program. Barbarix was the smart blue one. Somehow this suited them, said Gwen, and so they simply christened their vehicle Barbarix. Together they had already experienced many exciting times and solved many difficult cases. They were both just as smart as Barbarix.

This idiot is going to kill himself, Stefan rumbled to himself when he noticed that the car behind them was overtaking the ambulance and himself at a crazy speed. In a split second the car had shot past them. A red Porsche, of course, thought Stefan, and shouted angrily after the speeding car, "You bum, is that necessary?"

Then the Porsche braked off abruptly, as if he had heard it, and turned sharp left into the side street, where he suddenly found himself facing a van. Only an emergency stop of the two cars could avoid a collision. Tires squeaked and a grey-blue stinking cloud of burnt rubber surrounded the two vehicles as they came to a halt.

Stefan opened his eyes in horror and grasped the situation in a split second. He recognized how the red Porsche and a white delivery van with inscription on the sides, had come to a halt only a few meters apart. Both drivers were sitting in their vehicles, startled, but seemed unharmed. The van will be allowed to re-sort its load for the time being, thought Stefan, and obviously they didn’t need his help now. Stefan would have liked to get out of the car to tell the Porsche driver what he thought, but there was no time for that. His friend urgently needed to see a doctor. That was the most important matter. Stefan indicated by a hand signal out of the window to the ambulance behind him that they would continue driving and stepped on the gas.

♦♦♦

The remaining drive to the hospital took less than ten minutes. With squealing tires, the patrol car and the ambulance came to a halt in front of the emergency room. The doctors in the Army hospital had been informed upfront and were already waiting. With a worried expression on her face, Gwen got out of the car and stumbled frantically towards the entrance of the emergency room. Dr Michael Peters opened the back doors of the ambulance, ran to Gwen and took her in his arms. He held her tightly and they turned away from her husband, who was already on the stretcher and on his way to the examination room.

"You must be very brave now, Gwen" Michael whispered and continued. "Your husband had suffered another cardiac arrest while driving. There was nothing we could do, and the last hope is with the doctors here at the hospital."

Gwen let her feelings run free and sobbed loudly. Michael pressed her even tighter and stroked her long curly hair with one hand. Gwen could no longer hold her tears and collapsed in Michael’s arms. They stood like this for several minutes and Michael tried to calm Gwen by soft words and stroking her neck.

"Let’s go inside, you’ll catch a cold" said Stefan, and with the words, "I’ll just drive the car to the parking lot" he disappeared again immediately.

Minutes later Michael, Gwen and Stefan met again in the waiting room. It was a cold and sterile-looking room. Without atmosphere and the white on the walls was anything but rea