St. Pauli Baby

By Feronia Petri (pen name)

The staged suicide of a young glamour journalist leads Hamburg police detective Isa Boysen to a mysterious crime case. While her boss wants the case closed asap, she finds evidence for a conspiracy. The journalist had to die because she discovered disturbing facts about an organization which is selling East-European babies in Hamburg.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Jul 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781507170403

Book preview

Content

Detective Chief Superintendent Isa Boysen from the CID Hamburg will be entrusted with a checkup that appeared routine: suicide of an overextended career woman. But very quickly, she must realize that the alleged suicide of the scene journalist Nora Fabian was- only faked – or wasn’ it? The Detective digs deeper and finds an ex-boyfriend, who has made Nora's life a living hell. But this man and his mysterious disappearance raised more questions than it answered. Isa Boysen was found in the blink of an eye in the midst of a criminal rank wars, where there is much money and human lives count for nothing.

Prologue

Nora Fabian, also called the Nightingale, was writing the story of her life.

With cheeks reddened with excitement, the young journalist hunkered down at her computer. The world around her sank. Nora didn't register that it was already well after midnight. Her fingers flew over the keys. She hunkered down in her office in the Publishing House of the illustrated NUMBER ONE. Her colleagues had went from work long ago.

Also, Nora didn't notice the fresh snow, which began to cover the roadway of Mönckeberg Street outside her office window. And she registered her visitor only when the person had already entered her work space.

The journalist looked worried. But then came an easy smile on her beautiful face.

Oh, you're here, she said. This is a nice surprise! Don't be mad at me, but I don't really have the time at all. I am writing something really stunning.

Yes, was the reply. I know.

And then everything happened very quickly. The person was next to Nora Fabian. In the next moment, the woman at the computer felt a stabbing pain in the neck. She wanted to scream, say anything, or do anything. But she was paralyzed. Terrified, Nora saw that her visitor suddenly had a razor blade in his hand. Systematically, Nora's wrists were slashed. On both arms. The blood gushed from her body, came on her elegant Yamamoto costume, the designer desk, the velour carpeting, the manuscript pages.

Horrific minutes passed until Nora was rescued by a gracious swoon. The loss of consciousness that comes before death.

While the journalist died, her visitor put out in peace a file with what Nora Fabian wanted to expose a scandal. Of course, even the backups were not forgotten. And the uninvited visitor took the research material of the dead body when he left the bloody office without anyone noticing.

Chapter One

The Detective Chief Superintendent Isa Boysen sped on skate runners through the city of Hamburg. This would have been dangerous, for it was a morning in December, a working day. And since the center of the Hamburg metropolitan area was populated not only with over four million inhabitants, by countless commuters, tourists and shopping-addicted consumers, but also by motor vehicles of all kinds. But where Isa did her rounds, were the skating fans among themselves.

Namely, the detective ran on the roof of sport Karstadt!

The ice skating rink high up on the biggest Sporthause of Europe was an insider's tip. There was the Hanseatic City skating that also had panoramic views. Although Isa was born and grew up in Hamburg, she was still again and again captivated by this city's skyline.

In the immediate vicinity of the Sporthouse was the station that was born between 1899th and 1906th. A few years ago, it was restored in the style of years of builder and now possessed an attractive shopping area in the lobby.

In the South, behind the Kontorhaus district, already greeted the first cranes of the port of Hamburg. Even the Spire of St. Jakobs could detect Isa as further back the Michel, Hamburg's landmark. Only the proud City Hall was half hidden by a powerful shopping complex located on Mönckeberg Street.

Isa could relax while she glided over the ice slowly and even faster. A busy and exhausting year was now already almost completely behind her. She worked on the question of how she should spend Christmas like in every December. The detective lived alone, but was far from being unsociable. It would have been so easy for her, to visit one of the numerous Christmas events for singles. But Isa found it in the past several times to be dull and dreary.

At its best it would have been natural to sit with a loving man under a tree and celebrate Christmas. The bad joke of life was that Isa even had such a man. His name was Arne Weger and was her partner in homicide and together they solved most of their cases.

But unfortunately, Arne was already married and had a baby daughter Lea with his wife Svenja. And there was no reason to assume that he would not spend the holidays with them.

Isa's love for Arne was currently on hold. It could not be said otherwise. In the summer, they had a hot love affair with each other. But because she never wanted to burden her conscience, she had confessed about it to Arne's wife. Isa was reluctant to remember only one moment...

The sounds of mobile phone tore her from her thoughts.

Isa went on the side of her run, stopped and activated the phone.

Boysen.

Finally, Miss Boysen! Dr. Walter Kranach, Isa's immediate supervisor snapped. Immediately, she heard that the detective superintendent council was in a miserable mood. I know that today is your day off. But what should I do? Here, an insult coasts up to the other. Now, even Mrs. Roper, Mr. Lehmann, and Mr. Prante have failed. This momentary influenza wave still makes the 3rd homicide completely incompatible! -Anyway, we got a message from the head office. A female body was found in an office of the Mönckeberg Street. Everything points to a suicide. But you know the rules, Miss Boysen. One of us must take a look at the deaths. It is clearly a suicide. Therefore you probably wouldn't have to sacrifice too much of your spare time.

Alright, detective superintendent council, said Isa. As luck would have it, I am currently in the immediate vicinity of the Mönckeberg Street anyway.

The detective didn't want to say to her boss that she was just skating. Namely, she thought that he has nothing with it.

Then it's probably not too much trouble, growled Dr. Kranach.

No. If there are personnel shortages during the holidays, I'm willing to make scene service on Christmas Eve and on the first and second day of Christmas.

Isa had just made the spontaneous decision. If she already couldn't celebrate Christmas with Arne - what she wanted most - she could just as well work on holidays. Why was she finally at the CID? There was always something to do.

Would you do it, Miss Boysen? Dr. Kranach's voice sounded relieved. Isa knew that he wanted to go with his wife over Christmas and New Year's in the Harz Mountains. That everything had to be of course previously regulated and organized in his department. I appreciate your commitment, I say this quite openly. -May I then ask you to watch this suicide briefly? The dead is by the way, Nora Fabian. I'll give you the address.

Isa wrote up the information on a piece of paper. Then she ended the conversation. Nora Fabian? The name seamed familiar to Isa. Currently she couldn't still really associate it with person.

The thing was the detective had no rest. Lost in thought, she went from the ice rink. Isa congratulated herself that she had even taken a sports bag. In it, she could sink her skates. It would look rather unprofessional when she appeared as Detective Chief Superintendent at the scene with the skates tied together with laces over her shoulder...

Also Isa wisely stowed her red pointy hat in the gym bag. The headgear was very useful for a skate trip on the roof of sports Karstadt, but was also out of place in a body site. Anyway, that was Isa's opinion.

She hadn't go too far. The Mönckeberg Street linked the station with the Town Hall. It was accordingly considered a shopping boulevard with its wide sidewalks. Only buses and