‘The original birth certificate should be able to confirm it,’ Jan said. ‘Although it might not be so simple to find it, let alone obtain permission to see it.’
‘I’m sure it would take too long,’ Tayte said, knowing that such sealed original birth certificates could be very difficult to get at, even if you were the person named on the certificate. He turned to the last record. ‘Here’s Heinz Schr?der’s death certificate. He died in 1959, age seventy-two.’
Tayte did a quick calculation, noting that Karl would have been fourteen at the time of Heinz’s death. He thought Karl couldn’t have known he was adopted until sometime afterwards. Perhaps his adoptive mother had told him. He suspected Heinz must have taken the story of how Karl came to be adopted to his grave, or Karl wouldn’t have had such a hard time trying to find his family after Heinz died.
Jan began to tidy the papers on the desk. ‘Looks like we’ve run out of records. Any idea where you want to go with your research next?’
Tayte nodded. ‘Yes, I do,’ he said, considering that Johann Langner must know the truth.
He also considered the now strong possibility that Johann Langner was his paternal grandfather. Langner was married to Ava. That fact made him the obvious candidate for Karl’s father, and yet there was that terrible thing Volker Strobel had done. Given all that Tayte had heard since arriving in Munich, he still couldn’t rule out the possibility that Strobel was his grandfather.
Tayte sat back in his chair, his thoughts spinning wildly through his mind. He had plenty of information gathered in the records before him. They painted a picture of several interwoven lives, telling a story that in many ways backed up his hunch that Karl, who was in all probability his father, had been born to the Bauer family. But who was Karl’s father? Tayte had to find out. He had to find a way to see the ailing Johann Langner again, to confront him about the matter while there was still time.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Heading for the street outside the Civil Registration Office, Tayte took out his phone and called the German Heart Centre again, preparing himself for another clash with Ingrid Keller. Only this time he wasn’t going to back down. If it turned out that Langner and Ava were Karl’s parents, then he figured Keller had to soften a little when he told her they could be related.
‘Hello,’ he said as his call was answered. ‘I need to speak with a patient in your care—Johann Langner. It’s urgent.’
‘One moment, please.’
Tayte kept walking as he waited for Keller’s harsh tones to come on the line. He reached the street and started to look for a taxi to take him to the hospital, whether Keller refused him or not.
‘Mr Tayte?’
‘Yes, hello,’ Tayte said. It wasn’t Keller. The voice belonged to a man.
‘I understand you wish to speak with Johann Langner. I’ve been in charge of his care while he’s been with us.’
‘Can I speak to him?’
‘I’m afraid Herr Langner is no longer with us, Mr Tayte.’
Tayte stopped walking. ‘He died?’
There was a hint of laughter in the man’s tone as he spoke again. ‘No, no, Mr Tayte. To the contrary. He was discharged this morning. Is there anything I can help you with?’
Tayte sighed with relief. He smiled. ‘No, that’s okay,’ he said. ‘Thank you.’ He was about to hang up when he thought to ask, ‘Do you know where he went?’
‘Home, I should imagine.’
‘Home,’ Tayte repeated. ‘Yes, of course. Well, thanks for your time.’
Tayte ended the call and stuck out his hand as a vacant taxi approached. As he climbed in the back he looked up the contact information he had on Langner from his earlier research. He had an address, but no phone number.
‘Grünwald,’ he said to the driver.
Then Tayte sat back for the ride and tried Jean’s number again. As before it went straight to voicemail, telling him he still had some time left to follow his instincts before returning to the hospital. When the beep sounded in his ear, he left another message.
‘Hi Jean, it’s JT. I tried to speak to you earlier. I hope everything’s okay. Anyway, I’ll try again later. Call me as soon as you can. I think I’ve made a breakthrough. I’m pretty sure I’ve found Karl—in the records at least.’
Tayte ended the call thinking about Jean waiting around at the hospital for more results, and he imagined she must be bored senseless by now. As he put his phone away, he reminded himself that he’d promised to take her back to the Munich Residence before leaving the city, and he would do everything he could to keep to that promise, despite the decision to fly home earlier than planned. He thought that was sure to cheer her up.