Lilly hung like a sack in Pia’s arms, her head resting on Pia’s shoulder.
“Can you manage, or should I carry her to the car?” asked Frey with concern.
“No, thank you. I’m fine,” said Pia with a smile.
“I have three children myself,” explained the SA. “The young man here, Maxi, is my youngest, and he and Lilly know each other from the zoo school.”
“I see,” said Pia.
People continued to surprise Pia. The state attorney, hard as nails, apparently had a butter-soft, human side to him.
She politely took her leave. On the way to the car, Lilly woke up.
“Are we going home soon?” she murmured.
“We certainly are,” said Pia. “It’s already eleven. Your grandpa is probably wondering where we are.”
“I had a nice time with you today.” Lilly yawned and threw her arms around Pia’s neck. “I like you sooooo much, Pia. You’re my German mama.”
She said it so simply, with such childlike honesty, that Pia had to swallow hard. Her initial lack of enthusiasm and annoyance had evaporated.
“I like you, too,” she whispered.
* * *
Hanna turned off the autobahn at the Krifteler Triangle and took the L3011 toward Hofheim. Sweaty and exhausted, she longed for a shower or, even better, a dip in the pool. Most of all, she needed to get a few hours’ sleep, because tomorrow night she had to host a gala at the Wiesbaden Spa, and she had to be in top form.
Naturally, she hadn’t managed to escape the wrap party after only half an hour. Jan had simply taken off, angry and hurt like a little boy, leaving her alone with the guests. Until shortly after midnight, she’d been able to grin and bear it, but then she’d used the approaching storm as an excuse to leave the party. She’d had a hard time concentrating on the conversations, so many things were spinning around in her head. Meike. The scratches on her car. These strange matters that her therapist was mixed up in. Norman, who had threatened her on the phone but never called back. But mostly she was thinking about Mr. Blue Eyes. Even during the broadcast, she had caught herself thinking of him a couple of times.
They had become very close, and not merely physically, but Hanna still didn’t know much about him; she couldn’t really figure him out. Even a couple of years ago, she might have thrown herself blindly into an affair, but after making so many bad decisions with regard to men, she had grown cautious. A song she liked began on the radio. She pressed the button on the steering wheel to turn up the volume and then sang along. The wind had picked up and lightning was flashing across the sky. In Oberursel, the storm had already swept through, turning the streets into raging rivers. In a few minutes, it would hit here, too. In the light of her headlights, something zipped across the road in front of her, and she instinctively turned the wheel to the left. A bolt of adrenaline shot through her body and she took her foot off the gas. Fortunately, no oncoming car was approaching, or it would have been a close call. A couple of hundred yards past the off-ramp to Kreishaus, she put on her blinker and turned in the direction of Langenhain. Shortly before the forest, a dark-colored car pulled out to pass her.
“Idiot!” Hanna muttered, hitting the brake in shock. What suicidal maniac would choose to pass at such a blind spot? Then she saw it. In the rear window of the car ahead of her a red signal had lit up: POLICE—PLEASE FOLLOW.
This was too much! They were probably driving behind her, saw her evasive maneuver, and assumed she was drunk. At the wrap party, she’d indulged in only two shandies. That probably didn’t add up to more than .005 blood alcohol.
The dark-colored car eased to the right, heading for the big forest parking lot. With a sigh, Hanna put on her blinker, turned down the music, and stopped behind the police car. She rolled the window down.
Two men got out; an officer in plainclothes shone a flashlight into her car.
“Good evening,” he said. “Vehicle check. Driver’s license and registration, please.”
Hanna reached for her handbag on the passenger seat and took out her wallet. She was glad that she had all the necessary papers with her. That meant she could be on her way sooner. She drummed her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as the plainclothes cop went back to his cruiser. The second officer remained standing off to the side, a short distance from the front of her car.
Should she write Mr. Blue Eyes a text? Or was it better to wait until he sent one? In any case, she didn’t want to create the impression that she was chasing him.
The first heavy raindrops splashed on the windshield, and the wind came up quickly in the surrounding big trees. Why was this taking so long? It was already almost 1:00 A.M.
Finally, the officer came back.
“Please step out of the vehicle and open the trunk.”
If she refused to comply, she might have to take an alcohol test, so it was better to do exactly what they asked. They were probably bored on the night shift, and a car like hers always attracted attention and aroused envy. Since she’d been driving the Porsche Panamera, she’d been stopped by the cops more often than ever before. Hanna pressed the button that opened the trunk, then got out.
Cool raindrops struck her sticky skin. She could smell the forest, wild leeks, wet asphalt, and that metallic smell that the earth exuded in the summertime when it got wet after a long dry spell.
“Where do you have the warning triangle, the safety vest, and the first-aid kit?”
God, they really were sticklers. The rain got stronger, and Hanna shivered.
“There are the warning triangle and vest.” She pointed to the underside of the trunk lid. “And here’s the first-aid kit. Satisfied?”
Lightning flashed.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hanna saw a movement. The second officer was suddenly standing behind her; she could feel his breath on the back of her neck, and her brain instinctively registered danger.
These aren’t cops! The thought shot through her head as powerful hands grabbed her upper arms. She ducked forward and took a step back at the same time. The attacker loosened his grip, so she was able to spin around and ram her knee into his genitals. Hanna’s reaction was pure reflex. In the self-defense course she’d taken after that crazy guy had stalked her for almost two years, the instructor had emphasized “freeing yourself from various holds” and taught her how to defend herself if she was attacked. The man staggered, doubled up, and cursed. Hanna used the moment to flee, but she hadn’t reckoned with the other guy. A blow struck her on the back of the head. Dazzling points of light exploded before her eyes like fireworks, her knees gave way, and she collapsed. She could hazily make out the legs and shoes of the men, but her perspective had changed. She saw the muddy soil on which puddles were forming in the downpour, but she didn’t understand what was happening. For a moment, she felt weightless and lost her orientation. Then all of a sudden, it was dry, dark, and warm. Everything happened so fast that she didn’t even have time to feel afraid.
* * *
She loved being in the horse stable. For her it was the most beautiful place in the whole world. None of her siblings liked horses as much as she did, and they often held their noses when she came out of the stall smelling like horses. She loved acrobatic riding and was good at it, and because she was so petite and light, she was allowed to take part not only in the compulsory exercises but also in the free sections. She enjoyed the feeling of security and lightness that flowed through her each time she performed acrobatics on horseback. Other people could barely do the same tricks on solid ground.
After her lesson, she had helped Gaby, the equestrian acrobatics teacher, to take care of Asterix. She was allowed to scrape out the horse’s hooves and lead him into his box. Asterix was the dearest horse in the whole world, white, with warm brown eyes and a mane like silver. The other girls from the equestrian acrobatics class had already left, but she didn’t feel like going home. She sat down under the feed box in Asterix’s stall and gazed at the way the white horse content
edly chewed his hay.
Gaby’s voice sounded right behind her head. “Hey, you’re still here. Better get moving, or you’ll have to spend the whole night in the stall.”
She wouldn’t have minded one bit. This was where she felt safe. Here the nightmares were far away. Gaby opened the stall door and came in.
“What’s the matter? Should I give you a ride home?” The equestrian acrobatics teacher squatted down and looked at her. “It’s already almost dark outside. Your parents are going to be worried.”
She shook her head. At the thought of going home, she felt sick with fear, but she couldn’t say anything. It was a secret that she couldn’t tell anyone else; she’d promised Papa. But last night, she’d had such bad dreams and was so terrified of the wolves. Because they were going to come and eat her up if she ever told anyone about the secret. That’s what Uncle Richard had told her. She was so scared that she hadn’t dared go to the toilet and had peed in her bed. That’s why Mama was really mad this morning, and her siblings had laughed at her.
“I don’t want to go home,” she said softly.
“Why not?” Gaby gave her a searching look.
“Because … because … my papa always hurts me.”
She didn’t dare look at the young woman. She waited tensely for something terrible to happen now that she’d broken her promise. But nothing happened, and so she raised her head. Gaby was looking more serious than she’d ever seen her.
“How do you mean?” she asked. “What does he do?”
Her courage melted away, and she didn’t dare say any more, but suddenly she had an idea.
“Could I maybe go home with you?” she asked. Gaby liked her; she was proud of her best pupil, as she always said. Along with a couple of other girls, she’d already been to the equestrian acrobatics teacher’s house; they’d looked at photos of horses and drank cocoa. Gaby was grown-up and was never afraid of anything. She would protect her from the wolves.
“I’m afraid not,” said Gaby, to her disappointment. “But I can drive you home and have a talk with your mother.”
She looked at Gaby and fought back tears.
“But what about the bad wolf?” she whispered.
“What bad wolf?” Gaby straightened up. “Did you have a bad dream?”
Disappointed, she lowered her eyes and got up. Gaby tried to give her a hug, but she wriggled loose.
“Bye, Asterix,” she said to the horse, then stepped out of the stall and left the stable without saying a word. Only now did the fear come, the tears burning behind her eyelids like fire. What if the wolves did something to Gaby now because she hadn’t kept her mouth shut, because she had told her about the secret?
Friday, June 25, 2010
“Her cell phone is still off. And she’s not answering her landline, either.”
Meike looked at the group and saw clueless and worried faces. For half an hour, the new members of Herzmann Productions had been sitting around the oval table in the conference room, downing quarts of coffee and becoming more and more fuzzy-headed. Like a herd of sheep without an alpha sheep, she thought derisively.
“Have you tried texting her?” asked Irina Zydek, who had been Hanna’s assistant forever and was almost part of the furniture in the office. For some inexplicable reason she was crazy about Hanna even though she was never treated very nicely. Over the years, she had looked on with stoic composure as a long series of husbands, admirers, lovers, CEOs, producers, production assistants, editors, female volunteers, and controllers came and went. Anyone who didn’t stay on good terms with Irina didn’t have a ghost of a chance to get near the great Hanna Herzmann. Irina was loyal to the point of surrendering her own identity, and even though she might appear to be a gray mouse, inside she was a Cerberus, hard as iron and incorruptible.
“How’s she supposed to read texts if her cell is turned off?” Meike countered. “She just overslept. Or her battery’s dead.”
Irina got up, went over to the window, and gazed down into the courtyard.
“Hanna has never been late without notifying me in all the years I’ve known her,” she said. “I’m starting to worry.”
“Whatever.” Meike shrugged. “She’ll turn up. It was a late one last night.”
Most probably she was in bed with some guy. Hanna had something going on with a man; she knew that for a fact. Meike was only too familiar with the typical symptoms of infatuation. Once her mother’s hormones took over, everything else faded away. In recent weeks, she’d seemed changed somehow; she would turn off her cell phone and was sometimes unreachable for hours. Besides, she hadn’t offered a word of protest when Meike announced that she was going to live in the city all summer, in the middle of Sachsenhausen, instead of in her mother’s house behind the seven hills, in the middle of nowhere. Actually, Meike had expected begging, tears, and pleading—yes, she’d even secretly looked forward to that sort of response. But Hanna had scarcely reacted to her news. “If you think that’s better” was all she had said. Once again, some guy was more important than her daughter, and now Meike’s assumption seemed to be confirmed. Naturally, Hanna had told her nothing, and Meike would rather have bitten off her tongue than to ask. She didn’t give a damn about her mother’s personal life, and if she hadn’t needed the money so badly, she never would have agreed to take this job.
“One of us ought to drive over to her place and see if she’s okay.” Jan Niemöller looked wiped out. His eyes were bloodshot and he was unshaven and nervous. “Hanna was acting so strange yesterday.”
Sure, she wanted to hook up with her boyfriend, Meike thought scornfully, but she stopped herself from making a bitchy remark. Negative comments about her mother didn’t go over well here. Irina and Jan were now discussing the best way to proceed, and Meike asked herself what their motivation might be.
It was absurd the way Jan was making a fool of himself. A heated rivalry existed between him and Irina. It went so far that neither of them would stay home even with a fever of 104, out of sheer terror that the other might be scoring points to win Hanna’s favor. They waged regular battles of jealousy, competing to see who could do something with or for Hanna, who, in turn, exploited this silly kindergarten war to her advantage.
Irina and Jan were always discussing things. Meike shoved her chair back, threw her bag over her shoulder, and stood up.
“I see no reason to drive out to Langenhain at the moment, but I’ll do it if that will finally give the two of you some peace of mind.”
“Oh, that’s so nice of you,” they both said in a rare display of unity.
“If she calls in the meantime, I’ll let you know.” Irina beamed with relief.
Meike was happy to get out of the office. Today she definitely wouldn’t be going back there. Not in this awesome weather.
* * *
The officers at K-11 had returned to the daily routine, temporarily at least, after two hectic weeks. There were no new leads or tips, and the hot-line phone hardly ever rang. In the papers, the story of the dead girl in the river had long since been pushed off the front page by current events and disasters.
But Bodenstein was still working intently on the case. Late that afternoon, he’d spoken on the phone in detail with an editor from Germany’s Most Wanted and had great hopes for the scheduled broadcast. The only drawback was the planned date of the broadcast, in the middle of the first week of summer vacation in Hessen. He had spread out the “Mermaid” case files on the visitor’s table and had organized the documents that he wanted to take with him to Munich next week. It wasn’t the first time that Bodenstein would be speaking to the public from a television studio. Twice before, the program had produced helpful tips that in the end led to the arrest of the perpetrator, although on a third occasion, his appearance had brought no result. He was just making notes of the facts that the editor needed in advance, along with photos and exhibits, when there was a knock on his door.
“We have an emergency call, boss,” said Kai Ostermann. “
I’ve already told Pia, and she’ll be here in ten minutes.”
His eyes fell on the meticulously organized documents.
“But I could also try to send Cem and Kathrin. They’re still at that suicide site in Eppstein.”
“No, no, it’s all right. I’ll take it.” Bodenstein looked up. A little fresh air wouldn’t hurt. “Maybe you could make sure these photos and the scraps of clothing go out today. I’ve written down the address.”
“No problem.” Ostermann nodded. “By the way, you’ll have to go to Weilbach. A woman in the trunk of a car. That’s all I know.”
“Whereabouts exactly?” Bodenstein got up. He was wondering whether to take his jacket. Last night, the temperature had turned deceptively cool. But today, it was more unbearable than ever, because an almost tropical humidity of 70 percent had settled in.
“Somewhere in the field behind the Weilbach rest stop on the autobahn heading for Frankfurt. I sent Kröger over there, too.”
“Good.” Bodenstein took his jacket from the back of the chair and left the office.
The case of the dead girl in the river weighed on him. In his career with the Criminal Police, he’d been on two cases that, despite intense efforts, had never been cleared up. He had still been with K-11 in Frankfurt when a thirteen-year-old boy was found dead in a pedestrian underpass in the city’s Höchst district, and in 2001 the body of a young girl was found at the Wörthspitze in the Main River at Nied. Both times, it was young people, hardly more than kids, who were the victims of gruesome crimes. Their murders remained unsolved, and the perps were still on the loose. Was it about to happen a third time? The success rate in solving homicides was relatively high in Germany, but it was a very bad sign that after more than two weeks there were still no hot leads.
* * *
“Hanna?”
Meike stood in the hall and listened. Although she had a key to the front door, she had rung the bell twice. She had no desire to surprise her mother in flagrante with a man in her bed.
Bad Wolf: A Novel (Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein) Page 16