“In the end, the murderer is always the supposedly innocent one — the one you suspected right from the start,” philosophized Lanz and looked into a pair of blinking eyes.

“What are you trying to imply?”

“Think hard about it, Lüthi!”

Lüthi’s eyes widened. “You’re not suspecting me, are you?!”

The question came a bit too quickly, the pitch a bit too high.

“Would there be any reason to suspect you?”

“I don’t know. I mean… no, of course not!”

“I see,” commented Lanz, stretching the last ‘see’ noticeably. He knew it would unsettle the person in front of him.

“What do you mean by that?”

Lanz suppressed a grin.

“Well, it means you are definitely under suspicion of having beaten Mrs. Suter’s cat to death and buried it in the Verenaschlucht! The gorge is very close to your apartment — practically just a stone’s throw away, isn’t it?”

“What? No! I had nothing to do with that, I swear!”

“On the Bible? Keep in mind — tomorrow is Easter Sunday!”

Lüthi shook his head vigorously. “I didn’t kill the cat!”

“Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent!”

Lanz studied his counterpart carefully. Lüthi was making a noticeable effort to appear calm, but his stiff posture betrayed inner tension. Even the subtle twitches in his facial expression didn’t escape Lanz, nor did the way Lüthi nervously wrung his hands, trying so hard to hide them under the table.

Continuation in the book.