Chapter 15 The Red Rose Mansion (July 2001; Prague) Around the time that Agent Suk was being further sucked into the darkness surrounding Johan and the Czechoslovakian secret police and suspected of being responsible for multiple murders, Kenzo Tenma had found the signboard of the "Three Frogs" on the Mill Colonnade in Prague and was asking the town's residents for any kind of info relating to Johan. The Mill Colonnade is on the west side of Charles Bridge -- a street facing Cedok Bridge aside one of the tributaries of the Vltava River, and a slightly gloomy, run-down stretch of land. According to local residents, over a dozen years ago, a beautiful woman and her child lived in the second floor of the building with the "Three Frogs" signboard. They stayed quietly, rarely leaving the house, until one day, a large black government car arrived and took them away. The neighbors whispered among each other, speculating that she was an anti-government activist, and that she would never come back. When Tenma asked if her children were twins, he was told no, there was only one, and though it was very pretty, the man couldn't remember if it was a boy or a girl. The man then went on. Just a few weeks after the family had been abducted, the "Three Frogs" building was hit by a fire. When he looked at the window of the room the woman had been staying in, he saw the figure of her child. The neighbors managed to rescue the child, but it had disappeared soon afterwards... Next, Tenma would visit the Czech branch office of the German Lower Saxony area newspaper, Tukunft. He found an interview the paper had published with an anonymous former Czechoslovakian secret police member (actually Ranke), and hoped to contact the man and find out anything he could about Johan's mother. However, he would also coincidentally learn of Suk's case due to its similar connections to the secret police. A promising elite... One significant accomplishment... Three superiors poisoned... whiskey bon-bons... muscle relaxants... It was clearly the work of none other than Johan himself. Tenma visited Jan Suk's Alzheimer's-afflicted mother in the hospital, and sleuthed out his hiding spot from her. Upon visiting the location, he found Suk and Grimmer injured and under fire from ex-secret police agents. Tenma and Grimmer approached the boss of the remaining secret police, Captain Ranke, and convinced him to stay out of Johan's business. Ranke listened to Johan's tape, took Tenma's warnings to heart, and told him of the man from the "Red Rose Mansion." It was the not the Czechoslovakian secret police that birthed Johan the "Monster," but a single children's storybook artist, Franz Bonaparta... Simultaneously in Prague, Inspector Lunge had just arrived at Franz Bonaparta as well. He visited used book stores, and eventually ended up at Moravia Books, the publisher of Emil Scherbe's "The Nameless Monster." Scherbe's editor told Lunge that he had had several pen names. Lunge then discovered several sketchbooks in a box of Klaus Poppe's manuscripts. In the books were many sketches of a pregnant mother, then twin children, a boy and a girl with identical features. This convinced Lunge that Tenma's testimony was, in fact, true. Lunge met with Suk, who was under the protection of the secret police, and spoke with Captain Karel Ranke. The captain gave Lunge information on the Red Rose Mansion. To reach the Red Rose Mansion, you go south along the river through the Jewish neighborhood, cross Manesuv Bridge, then climb as if circling Prague Castle, to the west. Proceeding further out from the city from Hradcany, through Dejvice, the mansion sat on a small hill overlooking Brevnov, on the way to Ruzyne Airport. The landmarks are a weathervane to the right, and the steeple of St. Alzbeta's Church to the left... Inspector Lunge had finally arrived at an eerie mansion surrounded by dried-up rose shrubs, like the castle in "Sleeping Beauty." He entered the building without hesitation and relentlessly searched the interior. Upon seeing a particular wall on the second floor, Lunge had an instant hunch that it was hastily constructed, almost as if to hide something. Lunge turned back to ask Ranke what was behind the door, but Ranke warned him to stay away from the mansion -- "If you get any closer to that mansion, you could die... You will come face to face with true terror." But upon returning to the mansion, Lunge broke down the wall without a moment's thought. What he found was a door leading into another room. Lunge put his hand on the knob. What lay behind it...? At this time, Tenma was visiting the home of Klaus Poppe's former editor, one Tomas Zobak. At this point I would like to interrupt the description of the case and present an interview I conducted with Mr. Zobak. I do this because what he said were some extremely important things, in order to know the man Franz Bonaparta was. [Picture] (blurry snapshot of trees in winter, with a building and fences in the background) The Red Rose Mansion area in Prague is still under investigation by the police, and unapproachable. I tried to get a photo from my car. Next door to the house seen behind the trees in the lower right are the ruins in question. Tomas Zobak is a retired editor, now nearing 70. He has a wide, hearty girth. Mostly bald, with a rounded face and glasses, he appears very kindly. But he has a sharp mind. He reads papers from all over the world everyday, committing the articles to memory. It was this memory that helped him recognize Tenma from the wanted lists. After Tenma left his house, he immediately informed the police, and helped them make the arrest. - How did you feel when Dr. Tenma was arrested? "I felt good. I enjoy reading the paper every morning, so it was nice to have that actually come in useful for once. When I saw the news that Tenma had admitted his guilt in the events, I almost got excited wondering if I was going to receive some sort of prize or reward." - What about when he escaped from prison? "I was terrified. I couldn't sleep at night because I was afraid he would come after me for revenge." - Why did you suppose Tenma came to speak with you? "Well, he actually came to ask me about Klaus Poppe... Franz Bonaparta, that is. I recall that some German police investigator had commented in a news article once that Tenma had created this falsified killer in his mind, and was committing these murders while having this hallucination, so I supposed that perhaps Tenma had convinced himself that Klaus Poppe was in fact this killer he had invented... Having worked with Poppe for many years, I can understand how his works might have, er... sent that sort of signal into the mind of this sort of deranged man." - I'd like to ask about Klaus Poppe, then. What was he like? "I was his editor starting around 1970. He was involved with some sort of secret government work, and though he was very friendly and pleasant with me, I quickly understood that he was firmly in the center of state power. He seemed to have given the previous editor an impression of being very proud. The man told me when I took his position that I would find it very hard... He had been involved with Klaus for over ten years. Klaus was a good study and had plenty of talent when he was still a medical student, so they assumed he would make an excellent author. But when he published some monumentally important psychiatric paper and it was sent to the Internal Ministry and East German government, he announced that he would change his storybook method to an innovative new educational style. After that point, his personality changed, and he became cold, haughty, and self-assured. His art and voice kept improving, but there was always this hidden hint of unpleasantness about it. I didn't know why he had to keep changing his pen name, either... But he did have constant, solid sales. I guess that's why Moravia stuck with him all that time." - It wasn't because Bonaparta was an important government figure? "Well, there is that, too. But there was never a single hint of pressure, from him or any government source, to publish his books. And in fact, I rejected several of his ideas. Here's an anecdote for you. Either from 1976 or '77. I was worried about Klaus, as I hadn't heard from him in over a year, and then he shows up out of the blue, with a new work. When I asked what he had been doing, Klaus told me he had been experimenting with something new. He said that he had thought of a surefire way to make two people fall in love. I laughed and told him he should put the storybooks behind him and sell his new manual to young people; he'd end up being the richest man in the world. And he told me, with a totally straight face, that it was only a method to make two other people fall in love, not make someone fall in love with you. So then he showed me his new work, but it was nearly identical to a horror novel that I had read when I traveled in West Germany. What was it... Rosemary's Baby? His story was told in the first person through the eyes of a young boy. His mother was pregnant with twins, and for some reason he was worried that a monster would be born instead. I rejected that manuscript. It clearly wasn't a story for kids." - And in the story, were the twins monsters? "No, as I recall, the boy himself was the monster. But Klaus Poppe's weirdness came in when the boy feels relief at finding out that he is the monster, and ends up loving his little brother and sister like a normal sibling." [Picture] (two sketches of bald, smiling overweight man with glasses) Tomas Zobak was an editor for Franz Bonaparta. He was aware of Bonaparta's connection to the Czechoslovakian secret police. - Did he ever speak to you about the Red Rose Mansion? "No, not as far as I can recollect. No, wait... He did tell me once about his reading seminar, but I don't remember when that was. He said that he read his books to a group of boys. I didn't really think much of it at the time. I just said, oh really? And how were the boys? He said one of them wished to be a storybook author as well, a very bright and promising boy, and would I take a look at his work sometime? As I recall, I said that I would, but he never did bring the young man in." - When was the last time you saw Bonaparta? "'81 or '82. His newest work was dreadful. It was like a mix of Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty, very silly... The monster fell in love. In the end, his love bears no fruit, and he enters a deep sleep..." - And you scrapped it? "That's right. He looked so disappointed, that we actually sat down and had a very long conversation. Over tea and pastries, as was his style. Suddenly, he told me that he never realized how painful it was to be hated. When I asked him what he did that someone would hate him, he told me that he stole their name. When you take their name, the person dies... He first tried this on his father... I thought, what a perfectly strange thing to say! He went on, almost as if he were talking to himself rather than me, saying... People who have their names taken away die in despair, and will accept any name you give them, just so that does not happen... Anyone who could lose their name but still survive would be a true hero." - Did he tell you anything else? "As he was leaving, he told me about another story he had thought of. He said, how about a story about the 'Door That Must Not Be Opened'? So I asked him, what's behind it, paradise or another monster? And then he said, well, you're not allowed to open the door, so I guess it wouldn't be much of a story. That was the last time I saw him." [Picture] (Storybook page: "No, absolutely not, said the man with big eyes." "Sure, let's make a deal, said the man with the big mouth.") A scene from "The Man With Big Eyes and the Man With the Big Mouth," (Japanese edition) one of the books used at the infamous reading seminar. The inexplicable bad aftertaste common to his works is present here as well. In the Red Rose Mansion, Inspector Lunge opened the door that must not be opened. Step by step, he walked further into the dim interior. It was an enormous hall. He has revealed his thoughts on entering that room. Inspector Lunge stated that his first instinct was that many people had died there. Further into the room was an enormous portrait -- yes, a portrait of the twins' mother -- hanging on the wall. While Lunge was making this momentous discovery, Tenma had finally been caught by the police. At the same time, Suk's innocence had been proven by a letter from one Grimmer, claiming to be the true culprit in this crimes. Inspector Lunge was notified of Tenma's arrest, what would be the end of a case that could almost be described as his masterwork, but his interest was already drawn to the Red Rose Mansion. He found a mysterious note pinned to the back of the mother's portrait -- A manuscript titled "The Monster's Love Letter to the Woman," scrawled in German. It said "I've always been watching you. I've been watching you, to take in everything about you. But instead, everything about you has devoured me. How did I seem to you on the verge of my downfall? What you gave to me as I crashed... You left me with beautiful jewels. Those two eternal twins. The greatest crime one can commit is to take away another's name. You may have your name back. I return your name to you. Your name is Anna... Now, I am only sad. Sad. Sad. Sad." Thus the inspector's convictions became rock-solid. Many people died in the giant sealed hall of the Red Rose Mansion, and a monster was born.