Croonford Detectives Case 40: Lost in Translation

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Note: Warning! Adult Bondage but on an adult.

I chose Frankenberg as the main setting for personal reasons but had to research much. Any errors of the town here are mine.

The story is inspired by the FBI: International episode Glimmers and Ghosts

“That was a great swim!” Lin declared as she stirred her English tea. “Let’s have another swim next Monday?”

Reinhard placed his fork down. “No, I forgot to inform you. I’m flying to Germany to visit my mother. I haven’t seen her in person since I moved here.”

“That’s nice. Where in Germany? Does she know about us?”

“Frankenberg an der Eder, it’s a town a little north-west of Frankfurt. Yes, I emailed her the picture we took celebrating my sixteenth. She said we two look great.”

“Well, that’s a better comment than from your dad. I do like to meet her, I don’t want to stay in Croonford for the rest of the summer,” Lin said. Chelle and Mark were on holiday with their families in Spain while Jenn and Richard were Richard interning at law firms. Lin’s parents were away on their own holiday. Reinhard getting what she meant, slid over his phone.

“I’ve booked this Ryanair flight from Stansted to Frankfurt Hahn Airport. We’ll take a bus and train to Frankenberg though it’ll be a long ride.”

Lin quickly booked a seat using a portable Wi-Fi router when her boyfriend continued. “Two issues though. First, mother doesn’t speak any English; she was never taught that at school or learnt it at all.”

“Well, it’ll be nice to learn another language. The second?”

“She dresses very conservatively,” he gestured to her sleeveless low-cut dress. “I’m not asking you to change entire dress style...”

“I’m sure I’ve not-so-revealing clothes,” Lin smiled.

On the bus and train ride, Lin tried to comprehend the conversations of surrounding passengers. Reinhard had taught her some basic words and sentences but the sentences here were not easy to comprehend and the accents made harder to comprehend. She didn’t want to be lost in translation.

“Here we are,” Reinhard tugged her hand. The local bus station was close to Croonford’s size and Reinhard again took charge, hailing a taxi. As it sped, Lin noticed while there were modern buildings, the majority were of older architecture.

“Wow! It’s so picturesque!” She exclaimed.

“Wait till you see my mother’s neighbourhood.” The houses there had white walls and were all symmetrical. Lin immediately snapped loads of pictures and commented she could move here. Reinhard called, “Mutter, wir sind hier!” as they reached her house. He suddenly frowned as he saw the front door was unlocked. The two carefully entered then Reinhard called ‘mother’ in German softly. A gagged sound from the kitchen area and he rushed there, with Lin following.

His mother was on the floor taped up in a ball tie position and gagged with electrical tape. Telling her hold on, he recalled where she kept the kitchen scissors and freed her. After a drink of water, she calmed down and told him his half-aunt Maria who was visiting at the same time, was suddenly snatched by masked intruders who trussed her up swiftly. Reinhard urged her to call the police. Around ten minutes later, Kriminalkommissar or Detective Inspector Emilia Koch from the Landeskriminalamt or the State Criminal Police Office and several officers from the Hessische Polizei , or Hesse State Police arrived. She repeated her story but couldn’t give any specific details as the men were masked and moved her half-sister away. Koch stated a forensic team would arrive later then left.

Reinhard finally introduced his girlfriend to his mother Ingrid who rattled off a comment.

“I’m sorry, what did she say?” Lin asked.

“She said you’re a very beautiful girl and I made the right choice,” he translated. She smiled and said ‘Danke’. Ingrid Hoffman returned to the stove and within twenty minutes, produced Frankfurter schnitzel with pomme frites instead of boiled potatoes.

“That’s gr ne so e,” Reinhard explained as Lin looked at the sauce. “Made from a variety hers, sour cream, eggs and seasoning.”

Lin had Wiener schnitzel before but this pork-based version with green sauce was more delicious and declared pomme frites were superior to British chips. After lunch, Reinhard wanted to take her on quick tour of the town. After advising his mother not to let strangers in, they head out.

“Oh, she’s lovely and a great cook. I just can’t grasp German.”

“You will in a few days,” He reassured her. After a short local bus ride, he took her to the Rathhaus, the historic townhall. Again, Lin snapped a dozen pictures and they took selfies. Reinhard took her on a walk around that area before they headed back and stopped at a coffee place named Mein Kaffee.

“I actually don’t much about Aunt Maria,” Reinhard told her as he stirred his coffee. “She taught me when I was a child; I only went to Kindergarten for a year. She taught me English since my mother didn’t learn the language. No, I don’t know why anyone would kidnap Aunt Maria. I don’t think she’s wealthy neither is mother. I’m not sure what work she does.”

The couple just turned to discussing their holiday plans and soon Lin wished to return - her legs were aching, Reinhard advised her to finish her snack as dinner would be light. He was correct, Ingrid laid out hams, sausages and cheeses for Abendessen or dinner. Lin was introduced to Hessian sausages such as Nordhessische Ahle Wurscht, Wiener W rstchen and Frankfurter W rstchen. There were cheese dishes like Handk se mit Musik and Hessen Handk se. Lin tried all and Ingrid asked her through her son what she thought. Ever the polite guest, she said all were delicious though did not like the Hessen Handk se due to its smell.

As they helped clean up, Reinhard asked the questions they brought up at the coffee shop. Ingrid said the forensics team check her and the house but no evidence was found the kidnappers clearly used gloves. Her aunt last worked for the Hessian local government but she was in the midst of changing jobs which Ingrid was not privy about. She also was clueless why her half-sister was kidnapped.

With still no clues on Aunt Maria’s kidnapping, Lin was shown her guest room. It was a cosy room, smaller than her own but Lin had no complaint. The Wi-Fi speed was slow and occasionally disconnected. Nevertheless, she managed to email her parents and the other four detectives. After some chat with her boyfriend, Lin headed to bed hoping she’ll understand more German from this holiday. The next day, she woke up to the smell of fresh bread in the oven. Breakfast was continental: freshly baked bread with hams, sausages like Gelbwurst, cheeses and marmalade which wasn’t very sweet.

They again planned to tour the city but Reinhard promised his mother they’ll return for lunch. Changing into jeans, she managed to walk faster and just after ten o’clock, they reached the famous Edertaleschule. Reinhard explained it was at secondary school or Gymnasium and studied there for two years until he moved to the UK. Lin took pictures while he waved at teachers and students he knew. The next stop was his primary school which was further down to the south. That required a walk and two bus rides. Along the way, the discussion turned to his kidnapped half-aunt. They decided they had to go to her house and search for further clues. At Regenbogen-Schule, he again waved at teachers he remembered when some female voice called.

“Liesel.” he answered the black-haired girl who was just a little taller than him. They conversed very rapidly with Lin only grasping a few words. “That was one of my old neighbours, she’s now a primary school teacher here. She gave me a clue: She was walking near my mother’s home when she saw a white van driving around the area. She was there the next morning and saw it speed away from mother’s home!”

“Alight! We got something! Did she notice any details about this van?” Reinhard said Liesel descried it as shiny black with scratches on one side, suggesting the company name was scathed away. The two teen detectives took a taxi ride home in time for Frankfurt Rippchen, cured, cooked pork from the cutlet served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. As the meal progressed, Reinhard asked his mother where Aunt Maria lived and they would like to head there. “R ddenau,” was the answer.

She dugged out a worn address book and provided the address without asking.

Ingrid Hoffman read in the news her son and girlfriend were teen detectives. She called a taxi driver she knew who would charge cheap fare and passed him a paper bag. Lin again struggled but failed to grasp anything.

Lin was about to ask what his mother gave him, but the taxi simply jerk and accelerated to a high speed and headed to R ddenau. In less than ten minutes, they were at their destination. However, the police already were guarding his half-aunt’s residence. Undeterred, the couple searched the road and lane around. After much searching, the saw faint tyre marks. At that moment, Detective Emilia Koch came out of Maria Ackermann’s house. The teen detectives quickly approached and informed her what they learnt and saw. Koch’s team photographed the faint mark when Lin pointed. “GRH? What’s that?” Emilia quickly told the photographer to snap pictures of that small graffiti. With that, the police officers sped away.

“Those initials must really mean something to them,” Lin remarked, also taking pictures of those words. “We should return,” there was no Wi-Fi signal in the area. Reinhard called the same taxi but it would take a while to arrive. “Want to eat cake? It’s my mother’s specialty, Frankfurter Kranz.”

Lin thought he meant a sausage but it was a sponge cake with butter cream. They finished their slices of the cake just as the taxi arrived. Since Ingrid Hoffman’s home Wi-Fi strength wasn’t strong enough, they finished their dinner and Lin spent evening reading an Instant German book with her boyfriend coaching her. Early next morning, Reinhard told his mother himself and Lin would find their own breakfast and lunch together. With no Internet cafe nearby, they picked the same Mein Kaffee. Finding an outside table, Lin found Chelle and Jenn were free to chat on WhatsApp.

“Hey, how’s Frankenberg? It’s sunny all the time on this beach in the Balearic Islands,” Chelle called.

“Oh, you’re making me jealous,” Lin replied then updated the other girl detectives what she learnt. “GRH?” Jenn came in. “GRH? That could mean anything.”

There was a slight soft chatter on Chelle’s end. Over a minute later, Chelle returned. “GRH according to my dad is the Gesellschaft zur Rechtlichen und Humanit ren Unterst tzung, a Humanitarian German organisation consisting of former employees of the Stasi, East German secret police. It aims were to portray the Stasi in a positive light, denying the political repression the Stasi caused.”

“The Stasi was East Germany’s equivalent of the KGB,” Jenn continued. “They ensured state authority by spying on people, getting informants to report on their friends and did carry out assassinations. Sorry girls, work calls.”

Reinhard quickly joined in the conversation upon hearing that information. “Does that mean my aunt was a Stasi officer?”

“Or this,” Lin showed him the online article on the Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter or informants for the Stasi. He shook his head but Chelle stated the boat the parents ordered had arrived and ended the call.

“Aunt Maria as a Stasi officer or an informant, I can’t believe it,” Reinhard shook his head.

“So those who kidnapped her may want to enact justice on their own, “ Lin said. She ate one of the scrambled egg sandwiches then continued. “Your mother doesn’t that old, how old is your half-aunt?”

Her boyfriend gave an approximate age, stating she was a little younger than his mother.

“Well, that reduces the possibility that she was part of the Stasi.”

Detective Emilia Koch rushed back to her office. She had heard of the GRH before as her older brother in the Hamburg police was on a task force arresting a GRH member. She formed a team investigating Maria Ackermann’s history. Another team looked into who be searching for Stasi or GRH members. She also alerted the Landesamt f r Verfassungsschutz Hessen and the Bundesamt f r Verfassungsschutz. The former was the intelligence agency for Hesse while the latter was Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.

Koch’s team already found nothing in Maria’s home and there was nothing through open-source sites. After much intensive searching, a junior detective found an archive site stating Maria Ackermann was deputy director of strategy to the Waldeck-Frankenberg district. “That may not tell us her real self,” Emilia remarked. “What do you have?” She asked the other team.

“The GRH and Stasi were identified and arrested mainly across eastern Germany. Victims also were located though not all and Frau Ackermann or her family might be victims. The LfV HE, “ the team leader used the initials for Hesse’s intelligence agency.” But the BfV are sending over files personally with an officer. They’ll be here after six.” It will be a long day for Emilia Koch.

Lin and Reinhard stayed as long as they could at Mein Kaffee after noticing it would be closed the next few days. Not wishing German food for lunch, she checked cheap food places that could be walked to She settled on a Chinese restaurant named Sun Kong which was an eight-minute walk south-est. On the way, they passed by a fashion store named Modehaus Heinze but the prices were way beyond their student budget.

At Sun Kong restaurant, the staff were excited to see a Chinse face and the couple ordered two rounds of dim sum and glass noodle salad. It was not purely authentic Chinese cuisine but acceptable for Lin. As she finished another siew mai, she spoke up, recalling that she brought her portable Wi-Fi router. “That’ great but we’ll be staring at our phone for long.”

Lunch over, they found that officers again came by to interview Ingrid regarding Maria’s life. As Lin rushed to find her router, they mentioned the word ‘laptop’. Ingrid may not English but after going throw her desk, she passed a laptop to her son. It was an older version of Windows !0 but operatable. “Right, Stasi agents and informants,” Lin stated. The search turned out millions of results and the German new stories all were arrested or passed away. They turn their search to victims of the Stasi in the Hesse region. Again, they couldn’t find anything.

Frau Hoffman changed dinner to a hearty lentil soup or Linsensuppealthough there still was bread and butter. As they ate, the BfV officer named Hans arrived at Emilia Koch’s office. He brought along a huger paper file covering former Stasi officers, informants, victims and groups that were related to the Stasi. After all signed a non-disclosure agreement, they reviewed they file, skipping to the Hesse area. A first scan showed that no Maria Ackermann worked for the Stasi or was an iInoffizieller Mitarbeiter. Neither was her name mentioned as a victim. The last section was thicker but contained a large number of freelance groups acting against East Germany factions. It was really going to be a long night for Emilia Koch.

Simultaneously, the two teen detectives returned to searching the Internet for Reinhard’s half-aunt. They know narrowed their search to social media and fifteen minutes later, Reinhard called, “Sop. play back that Instagram video.” There was a fast speech of German that Lin couldn’t comprehend. “That masked figure with a Hessen said we will find justice against GRH members and their families.” Lin found the person’s postal address from a barren Facebook account. “Where’s Frankenau?” She asked.

“Another town about north-west of here. But buses to there have stopped now. We’ll take one tomorrow.”

Koch awoke from her short sleep just at daybreak in the office and re-opened the BfV file to the last section. She noted that all the anti-Stasi freelance groups were dormant but Emilia intensively spotted one attempting to identify family members of Stasi informants. “The last known location of this sect is in Frankenau. Let’s check it out,” She declared but her staff had gone home or were asleep. Hans volunteered to follow. That location was a large abandon farmhouse in Frankenau. Has approached first, then withdrew quickly. “There are shadowy figures there armed with assault rifles,” he said.

“We need SEK,” Emilia declared, dialling a number.

Reinhard and Lin caught the morning bus to Frankenau but just they walked towards the farmhouse, Reinhard felt a shortness of breath and call her to slow down. Lin not hearing, spotted a gap in the wooden building and squeezed her way in. It was dimly-lit inside but with experience, she didn’t turn on her phone. After taking a few steps, she heard gagged sounds and moved faster towards it. In a small room sat a grey-haired woman taped up in a ball tie. Lin quickly removed the tape but found her hands handcuffed. As she peeled off the tape gag, the woman asked, “Wer bist du?” Then asked in English, “Who are you?”

Lin introduced herself softly. “I’m not the Maria Ackerman they want but they want me dead!” The girl detective helped her up but two armed masked figures emerged and Maria screamed as one dragged her away. The other thug pin Lin down and quickly she was taped, gagged and hands handcuffed behind her back.

“Chinesisch,” the thug muttered adding another word Lin couldn’t catch.

The SEK or the Spezialeinsatzkommando is the SWAT team for any of Germany’s sixteen state-level police. A team quickly arrived and the leader immediately conferred with Emilia and Hans. Meanwhile, a plain-clothed Mobile Einsatzkommando or MEK officer skilled in surveillance, checked out the building’s entry points. Within the next five minutes, the assault began. The SEK officers took out the thugs easily with their suppressed G38s, a variant of the famous HK416. One group found the restrained and gagged Lin, freed her and pointed her to safety.

The rest found Maria Ackerman kneeling still handcuffed with a thug pointing an MP5 at her. There were two more guards and as they turned to shoot the SEK team, they were easily gunned down. “You are surround, drop you weapon!” The SEK leader barked.

“Shoot me and the spasm will kill this GRH woman!” The masked man shouted back. Just as his trigger finger moved, a shot rang out not from the SEK’s G38s but from a sniper outside. As Maria was freed, the team leader heaved a sigh at that split-second move.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I felt breathless,” Reinhard told Lin as he met up with her.

“It’s ok, look your aunt is safe,” Lin pointed to her. Emilia questioned Frau Ackerman and quickly ascertained the woman was never related to the Stasi. Drawing out her police tablet, she found another Maria Ackerman in Wiesbaden who was whisked away and found to be the widow of a recently dead Stasi officer.

“Hans, are you leaving for Cologne? I know a great place for beer,” Emilia caught up with the blonde-haired officer. She was single and her career prevented much dating. “Sure, my flight’s in the late afternoon, lead me.”

Reinhard was pleased his aunt was found and safe but it meant the end of his and Lin’s holiday in Frankenberg. As he carried down his bags, his mother called him over. A minute later, he called his girlfriend down. “Mother would like present you a gift.” It was a gold bracelet with a minute sapphire where the clip was. “It’s a family heirloom, from my great- grandmother, to my grandmother and my mother. Mother says you’ll be the perfect bearer of it, “ he translated.

“It’s lovely!” Lin exclaimed as Ingrid clipped it on her wrist. Lin said, “Danke Scch n!” one of the few German phrases she could state. Ingrid naturally replied ‘Bitte’ but there was a honk. Maria Ackerman entered. She deeply hugged her half-sister, hugged Lin, thanking her for initially freeing her. She naturally shooed hands with her nephew. The two teen detectives left the women to chat over coffee but later Reinhard whispered to his half-aunt.

“Lin, Aunt Maria has agreed to take us to my favourite place outside Frankenberg. We have some time as our flight’s delayed. Bring your bags, aunt will drive us to the airport.”

Lin kept asking where they were heading but Maria’s tremendous driving just threw her into her seat. After thirty minutes, she spotted a majestic reservoir. “This is the Edersee, one of the largest reservoirs in Germany. The dam protects residents from floods and generates electrical energy. When I saw the dam when I was young, it got me deeply interested in science.” The couple took selfies, bought Frankfurter W rstchen with bread and drinks and sat watching the scenic reservoir. As he leaned over to kiss her, he felt his heartbeat flutter. What’s going on with me?

Michelle, Lin Ling, Jennifer, Mark, Reinhard and Richard will return in a case title not yet determined.

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