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with our presence?”
    “She’s there all morning.”
    “Then let’s get this over with. What’s your schedule look like?”
    “I’m here all day. When I fell down at the harbor, I twisted my knee so badly that my doctor said I can’t even get into a canoe.”
    Fritz got up from his chair and walked around his desk toward the door. “You row with your arms, not your legs.”
    “True, but since I canoe, it’s still a problem,” Hannes said, following Fritz down the hallway. “You kneel on one leg while the other lunges forward. If I were paddling a kayak, it’d be a different story.”
    “Then why don’t you use a kayak while you’re injured?”
    “Because that’s a completely different type of motion. With a kayak, you use a double paddle.”
    Fritz shook his head. “That’s a funny way of getting around. Makes me grateful for my Lena with her motor and wheelhouse.”

    Later that morning, Maria met them at reception. Hannes’s ears began to glow at the sight of her short wool skirt, suede boots, and white top. Something about the expression in her hazel eyes unsettled him.
    Maria extended her hand to Fritz, then Hannes. “Thanks for coming early. I’m lecturing later on at the university. Anyway, let’s head to the autopsy room. Right this way.”
    “You’re Spanish?” asked Fritz as they walked down a poorly lit hallway.
    “My father’s German and my mother’s Spanish. I grew up in Barcelona, but because I went to a German school, I learned the language at an early age. And then I went to college in Germany. Unfortunately, my parents didn’t raise me to be bilingual, so I had some difficulties at school, at least in the beginning. And as you can tell, it’s still possible to hear where I come from.”
    “Think nothing of it,” Fritz said. “You speak perfect German. I’ve spent a lot of time with foreigners and have worked with youth to combat violence and right-wing extremism, so I can pinpoint accents pretty easily.”
    “That’s comforting,” Maria said while she slipped into a white lab coat. She opened the door to the autopsy room, where a man was bent over a body.
    “Hey, Andi. This is Fritz and Hannes, the investigators. I’ll give them a brief overview.”
    The young man gave a nod. “The table’s yours.”
    Hannes and Fritz paused at the sight of the battered naked woman on the steel table. The room had no windows and was very sterile, with steel cabinets on the walls and various instruments on a metal tray. This stood in stark contrast to the mutilated body. With a sinking feeling, Hannes registered a slightly sweet odor.
    Maria noticed the officers’ discomfort. “The woman looks a little more decent now. When we first got her here, it was a bit grotesque.”
    Fritz coughed and had difficulty breathing. His voice was huskier than usual. “Please, give us a brief overview,” he said as he rubbed the scar on his left cheek.
    Maria smiled. “I’ll do my best. We don’t want another unfortunate accident.” She glanced at Hannes, whose ears glowed again. Obviously, word of his nausea at the beach had spread. Fortunately, not to Fritz.
    “Nonsense, we’re not that squeamish,” Fritz said.
    Maria walked behind the table, so the dead woman was between them. “As you can see, the body has been badly injured,” she said, “but the injuries are mostly superficial. Although we did discover a few minor fractures and chips in the bones, they could hardly have been inflicted by a person. They were more likely the effects of the storm. She was in the water for quite some time and had been tossed among the rocks. She drowned. That much is certain.”
    “You had mentioned something to Hannes about marks on the wrist?”
    “Exactly, look here.” She raised the dead woman’s right hand and pointed to the reddish abrasions. Hannes and Fritz reluctantly approached the table. “But we cannot say whether these impressions were caused by some form of restraint or from contact