The Zurich Conspiracy

rather small. But I think because she was smarter than her father was. And prettier than her mother. Many parents would have wished for a child like Claire.
    They never praised Claire, they criticized everything about her. She could never please them. But Michi, her brother, he was three years younger, was spoiled rotten. And he was a ne’er-do-well. He could not even finish his apprenticeship; they threw him out. But he tore around in the most fantastic cars, a new one every year. Where does he get the money from, I would ask Konrad. Well, where do you think, is all Konrad would say. Is that not mightily unfair!
    Claire often worked with Konrad in his garage. She was interested in motors. She was interested in everything. Konrad would have taken her on as an apprentice but Claire’s teacher talked to my sister and my brother-in-law. He said she should go to an advanced high school; such a good pupil must be encouraged. But Emil and Martha would not hear of it. They wanted to make a secretary out of Claire. That is of course a good job, but not for Claire.
    My husband gave Claire money for a business college. Emil found out about it immediately, unfortunately, from a post office employee, because the money went through our postal savings account. There are no secrets in a small village like ours. I always suspected that Emil had something improper going with that woman in the post office. He ranted and raged, not at Konrad, he didn’t have the courage to do that, but at Claire. She then secretly took all her things out of her room and put them in the shed because she was going to run away. Her boyfriend Lukas was going to pick up her things for her. But Emil found out and set the shed on fire. We were never able to prove it, but Konrad and I were convinced he did it.
    After that Claire could never go back home, and I think she did not want to. She was just seventeen at the time.
    But she did finish business college, and she kept on with further training. She always wanted to be something, and she managed to do just that. I have to congratulate you, dear Frau Rehmer. You helped Claire so much, and she so liked it at the company. I want to aim high, she told me once. I want to aim high. Then they’ll get an eyeful. She meant her parents, naturally. We had a nice chat in the kitchen once. I can still see her standing before me as if it were only yesterday. She was wearing a pretty, bright purple dress and looked so elegant! She was a delight for the eyes. That was the only time she came for a visit after Konrad died.
    And now she is in jail. And Martha and Emil are living in Spain, in the sun, living the good life of retirees. They have never once written to Claire. Or phoned her. As if she were not their child.
    I think it all had something to do with men. She always latched onto the wrong men. Those men they talked about on television, they were certainly a bad influence on her. They were criminals, if you want to call them what they were. They surely promised Claire the moon and did not keep their promises. And she believed them.
    But she did not really need that. She was such a hard worker, such a smart woman. Her teacher always said, Claire is so highly gifted. And she was right at the top. Herr Walther made her his right-hand man. Those men would definitely have wanted to stop that. Because Claire had no need of them anymore. That is how it looks to me. Believe me, Claire is not a bad person. Luck was simply not on her side.
    Frau Rehmer, do pay Claire a visit, maybe later when things have settled down a little. She has such respect for you. If you had stayed with Loyn, all this would surely not have happened. Claire was very angry at the way they treated you at Loyn. She told me on the telephone: they are not going to treat me like that.
    But a person can be wrong.
    I have never written such a long letter in my life, but it is for Claire. After all, she is my niece, and I am really the only person she has.
    May the Lord give you strength to bear these difficult times.
    I wish you the best with all my heart, Frau Rehmer, and please, do not forget Claire.
    Respectfully yours,
    Berta Fetz
    Holding the letter, Bianca Schwegler let her hands sink; she shook her head. Leaning back in the soft upholstered chair, she looked out Josefa’s living room window and studied the façade of the hotel across the street.
    “I feel sorry for that good woman. First she loses her husband, and now her niece is a murderer. Berta