Chapter 3

Initial investigations

In the afternoon at the rendezvous on the village square in Ruswil. Ladina and the dog had arrived a quarter of an hour earlier on the public bus. When the three boys arrived with the bikes, Bero did happy dances, jumping from one to the other and greeting everyone with a wagging tail. Ladina handed each of them a pancake with the words:"So that you have enough energy, from now on it's uphill.""That's really great," said Ueli."Reto said I was responsible for the lemonade, so that's part of it," joked Ladina. Bero looked at the pastries with trusting eyes."It's not for you, but I've also taken a treat with me, it's better for you than the pancakes. I bought them in the bakery next door, where I asked about the Alpenblick house. I was told all sorts of things in the bakery that would take us a long way. From here, the village road climbs towards Ruswilerberg. After the last houses, the road makes a long S-curve. At the end of the bend, before the second farm, a lane leads off to the left. After about 300 meters, close to the narrow forest, there is an older house built of red bricks, called Alpenblick. A customer in the bakery said that the strange guy who has lived there for about five years doesn't receive visitors. He had no contact with anyone in the village. People in the neighborhood tell horror storiesabout him. They don't know whether he's involved in crooked business. The police had already become aware of him, but had found nothing detrimental. People said that he occasionally hosted guys with less than a clear conscience.""That suits Johansson," said Ueli."The presumption of innocence applies, they say on the radio and TV," said Marc. Marc would prove to be wrong sooner than the foursome would have liked. Ladina went on to tell us what else was reported:"A young foreign student is doing the housework at Alpenblick for three months. She comes to the village twice a week to do the shopping. One customer said she didn't understand how a nice young lady could do the housework for the strange guy over the summer."

After a slight incline before the second farm, the four of them turned left into a narrow lane. On the right was a golden field of grain."Who knows this ear of corn?" Reto pointed to the straight stalks."Ancient spelt, a very healthy grain from the Middle Ages, which has recently been increasingly cultivated again. It's all written here on the board by the wayside," Ueli replied with a laugh."I recently baked original spelt bread in the pizza oven, first I had to make a scalding dough, then...""Ueli, stop, it's too warm and too humid to think about the hot oven right now," Marc fended off the bread recipe.

The red brick house stood alone and slightly elevated on a small plain about 200 meters to the right of the narrow dirt road. This dirt track led further into a small mixed forest, through which a stream flowed s