The Zurich Conspiracy

station,” she explained, describing her conversation with the officers in detail to Paul. “Why did the police tell me about the bugs and the tapes? Why give me such important information? I don’t get it!” she continued.
    Paul rubbed his middle finger between his nose and his upper lip as if he were trying to smooth out a pleat. “Maybe they were testing to see how you’d react. Or maybe they want you to spread the information around and see what turns up,” he replied coolly.
    “Do you think they’re shadowing me?”
    “Possibly. Can’t rule it out. Those characters have to do some thing. After all, they’ve got a murder to solve.” He gave her an encouraging smile while rubbing his back against his chair. “You haven’t done anything stupid, have you? Did they tell you what was on the tapes?”
    She shook her head.
    “I’ll tell you one thing: If Westek, Salzinger, Thüring, and Van Duisen get together, then it’s sure not for a kaffeeklatsch. They don’t waste their time talking about golf. It’ll be about ‘big business,’ my dear. Or ‘bad business,’ depending on how you look at it.”
    “Van Duisen isn’t compatible with Westek, Thüring, and Salzinger,” Josefa objected.
    Paul stretched his already long torso. “I know you’ve got a weakness for older, fatherly types, Josefa.”
    She raised both hands in protest, but he kept going.
    “You’ve always thought a lot of Walther too; you practically worshipped him. How well he runs the business, you’ve said, how he backs up his employees, how he supports women. Correct? And at the same time there’s not a single woman in the company’s top management. And there’s never going to be either. I know that gang. They want to keep it among themselves. Women would only get in their way. Walther knew exactly what he was doing when he dumped Schulmann in ahead of you, believe you me. He didn’t think of promoting you for one second. Schulmann was supposed to put you in your place before you got too uppity.”
    Josefa felt bitterness rising inside her. “You know, I really did have a soft spot for Loyn. I loved my work, my colleagues, the trips, the atmosphere, meeting so many people. I thought I’d found my life’s work. And I tried to help the firm get ahead… Walther and Bourdin promised me the moon, but that was just sweet talk, fluff. It really took Schulmann for me to recognize it. And I should’ve had the guts to tell that to Walther, to his face.”
    “Forget it, Josefa. He wouldn’t have bothered to explain himself. Or he’d have found some excuse—and he did. You haven’t learned to bite before others bite you. You think he’s a dear old uncle who brings you presents—and now you’re disappointed. I can understand of course, but corporations are like shark-infested waters. Either you are one too or you’re dead meat. And Van Duisen…is another shark, take it from me. Van Duisen palms himself off as an entrepreneur, but his only concern is profit. He’s wiped out hundreds of jobs in his lifetime just so he could shovel a couple of million more into his own pocket.”
    “But his son died, I think that’s changed him.” Josefa was suddenly aware she was defending Van Duisen. “And anyway, why should those four be swapping secrets at a Loyn event, of all places, with all kinds of people around?”
    “But it’s the perfect camouflage,” Paul exclaimed, stopping short when the young woman who’d met Josefa at the door brought in a tray. She put two cups and a plate of zwieback on the glass table.
    “Linden tea,” he apologized. Josefa was about to decline at first, but changed her mind. Maybe something soothing for the stomach would do her good. After the young woman left, closing the door behind her, Paul picked up the thread immediately. “Nobody would be suspicious, since these events are held so people can meet and talk informally. Anyway, where else were they supposed to meet without being noticed? In the men’s sauna on Hirschenplatz?”
    Josefa pressed her lips together. Paul glanced at her quickly. “Tell me, did they have anything to say about how Schulmann died?”
    “No. And they didn’t ask me anything along that line, whether I had an alibi or anything like that. Isn’t that odd? But I heard from somebody else that they think it was poison.”
    “Poison, are you sure? And who told you?”
    “I can’t tell you that.”
    “Death by poison, in Zurich.” Paul shook his head, though he