by Minkman, Jen
“That sick fuck,” Axel spat, shoving the diary across the table when he was done reading. “You know what? I hope the police lock him up for the next thirty years. People like this shouldn’t be allowed out ever again.” He fell silent, his face white as a sheet. Gaby gently took his hand and pumped it encouragingly, which caused Axel to slump against her shoulder with a weak smile aimed in her direction.
Julia observed her two friends from across the table and felt the ghost of a smile cross her face. It looked as if yesterday’s movie night had been good for Gaby and Axel.
When the doorbell rang yet again, it was Detective Spitzer, who had visited the boy’s house in Eichet, followed by Thorsten. The elderly man entered the kitchen, his face grave.
“So?” Ms. Gunther looked up at him fretfully.
“We didn’t find Anne.” He grabbed a chair and sat down heavily. “We conducted a house search, but we couldn’t find anything suspicious, or not much, anyway. We did find some magic mushrooms in the boy’s bedroom. His name is Andreas Mittelmayer. We took him into custody for an interrogation at the station, so I’ll keep you up to date and call you later in the day.” The officer took a minute to drink from the mug of tea Julia handed him, and then continued in a quiet voice: “Having said that, we found some other items in the house that raised our suspicion. Different kinds of chloroform… but Mrs. Mittelmayer is a vet, so she needs narcotics for her job sometimes. Besides, you can’t use chloroform to drug someone by surprise. That’s an urban myth.”
When Detective Spitzer had left, the five of them remained seated at the kitchen table as if stunned. Anne hadn’t been in Andreas’s house. So where was she? Was it possible she was still roaming the woods?
“Let’s go look for her,” Thorsten burst out. “For Anne, or for that mysterious door she was talking about... anything. We have to take action.”
“I’m going to phone Grandma and Aunt Verena,” Julia’s mother announced. She grabbed Julia’s hand in passing. “Don’t stay out too long, okay? And please take your phone with you.”
Julia nodded. She and Thorsten each got their own bikes, while Gaby and Axel borrowed Ms. Gunther’s bike to ride it together. Gaby sat on the baggage rack and tightly held on to Axel, who was cycling.
Julia stopped pedaling her bike momentarily when she remembered her date with Michael. He would come to her place tonight. Wasn’t it better to cancel their dinner together? Then again, she did want to see him. She wanted him to comfort her and hold her close, just like Thorsten had done earlier today. And for all she knew, they’d find Anne in the woods now, and this nightmare would be over before he even showed up.
When they got to the forest, they followed the main trail for a while until Thorsten got off his bicycle. “Let’s leave the bikes here and walk.” He pointed at a dark patch of trees blocking their sight. “Sabine told me where we can find the tree house they were working on, so we can use that spot as a meeting point and each go into one direction to do a search.”
“Good idea,” Axel agreed. “The place where Anne used to meet up with that creep can’t be too far away from there.”
A little while later they reached the hut and spread out. Thorsten picked the westbound direction, Julia went north, and Gaby and Axel went east. They’d been coming from the south, where all the hiker and bike trails were, so they didn’t need to look there. Everybody was wearing a watch or carrying a phone so they could keep an eye on the time. The four of them had agreed they’d walk for a half hour and then turn around, so they’d be back at the tree house in one hour.
Julia was the first to get back to the meeting point after going north without finding anything. She’d picked up some pace and jogged the last bit, so she wasn’t surprised to find no one else there yet. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she sat down on a tree stump and checked her cell. Maybe there was news from one of the other search teams.
She had two new messages. The first one was from Michael. ‘will b there @ 4.30, martin’s letting me off early :) c u soon!! x’
The second one was from Gaby. ‘jules, i found a hairpin that looks like 1 of anne’s. marked the spot & walking back now. have 2 call the cops!’
Julia’s stomach lurched. So Anne really had ventured out deep into the woods. Thank God Gaby and Axel had found something. At least the police would have a better idea of where to look for her sister now.
‘dear michael, all kinds of things going on here & none of them good… my little sister went missing. possibly abducted. please b here ASAP. I’ll pick U up from the bus stop. x julia’ she sent back quickly before calling Gaby.
Her friend picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Jules,” she panted. “We’ll be there in five. That hairpin... it’s one of the pink Hello Kitty ones. Axel is sure it’s from the set he gave her for Christmas.”
“Good to hear you guys found something to track her,” Julia said hoarsely. “I’ll be waiting.”
When she hung up, she saw Thorsten approaching in the distance. He was already shaking his head to indicate he hadn’t found anything.
“Gaby and Axel found something,” she called out to him.
He sped up and settled next to her on the tree stump. “Really? What did they find?”
“A hairpin from a set Anne wears a lot. I just don’t remember if she was wearing hairpins this morning.”
“Well, we should call the detective. Who knows, that Andreas guy might have confessed by now.”
It wasn’t long before Gaby and Axel got back to the tree hut too. Axel silently handed the hairpin to Julia.
She recognized it immediately. “Yes, that’s hers. Oh God.”
“We drew a map of how we walked to get to that place,” Gaby said, waving a set of directions scribbled down on the back of a store receipt.
“Let’s go home.” Julia got up. “We should notify the police.”
The four of them cycled back as fast as they could. Ms. Gunther was in the yard talking to Mrs. Ebner when they got back. Her face turned white as a sheet when Julia showed her the hairpin. “Oh, no,” she whispered in shock. “What… where did you find that?”
“Deep in the forest,” Axel replied. “But we didn’t see any sign of Anne herself.”
Julia’s mother burst out in tears, looking completely deflated. All energy had left her.
“You should take her inside,” Mrs. Ebner suggested to Julia and Axel. “Your grandmother is in the living room sitting by the phone in case the police call back.”
Gaby and Thorsten followed the others inside. “Hey, Gran,” Axel greeted the old woman dejectedly. “Why don’t you stretch your legs and let Julia sit by the phone? She needs to call the police station.”
Julia’s hands were shaking as she dialed the number. “Hi, I’m calling about Anne Kandolf, the – missing girl,” she stammered. “Can I speak to Detective Spitzer, please?”
As she was put on hold, her cell phone dinged. It was a text message from Michael. “Oh crap, he’s already at the bus stop,” she mumbled, showing Gaby the message. “Could you please go get him? He doesn’t know exactly where I live, and I promised to meet him there.”
“Consider it done.” Her best friend smiled weakly and left the living room.
Just then, the Muzak on the other end of the line was interrupted when the detective answered the phone. “Spitzer,” his voice boomed.
“Detective? It’s Julia Kandolf. I just went into the woods with my friends and we found a hairpin belonging to Anne. We think she lost it when she met up there with Andreas Mittelmayer. I just don’t remember if she was wearing it this morning. It’s also possible she lost it a few days ago.”
Detective Spitzer sighed. “Actually, I was about to call you and your mother. Things are not looking good. Andreas Mittelmayer hasn’t told us a thing. He doggedly maintains he has never seen Anne in his life. We couldn’t find a single trace of Anne’s presence at his place. No one in the neighborhood remembers seeing the two of them together. Andreas’s phone doesn�
��t list her phone number, nor does it show any calls or text messages made or sent to Anne’s cell phone, so there’s no proof he’s been in touch with her by phone either. And of course, your sister’s phone is nowhere to be found, so we can’t use that as evidence.”
Julia swallowed hard. “So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying we have no right to detain him any longer. I can’t keep someone in custody just because of a kid’s diary and a few drawings.” Detective Spitzer lowered his voice. “Look, I’ll keep him here for the night. Officially I can only send out officers to look for a missing child after twenty-four hours, because most of the time, kids running away from home resurface before that time and our help isn’t necessary anymore. I can’t do anything for you at the moment, but that will be different tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, Andreas Mittelmayer will be released tomorrow morning first thing.”
“You can’t be serious!” Julia exclaimed. “He could harm her before you’d be able to find her!” Everybody in the living room was staring at her, their faces shocked.
“I understand your concern. Unfortunately, I can’t change the law. In fact, I’m already bending the rules by keeping him locked up until tomorrow. I normally wouldn’t even consider doing that, but since a young girl is concerned, I’m trying my best to help you out. And I’ll be frank with you, I don’t trust that boy, not for a second, but I can’t base my decisions on a gut feeling. I have to abide by the law.”
“Well, could you at least send one of your officers over to watch Andreas’s house once he has been released?” Julia proposed desperately.
“I can’t. Without proof, we have no reason to keep him under surveillance. But you are free to keep an eye on him yourself. I won’t stop you from doing that.”
Julia mumbled a thank-you to the detective, who promised to be in touch tomorrow afternoon, before slowly putting the receiver down.
Thorsten walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “So, what did they say?”
Julia stoically reported to everyone what the police had said. Her mom and grandma turned even paler than they already were.
Axel clenched his fists. “Unbelievable. Well, nobody’s gonna stop me from patrolling outside that sick pedophile’s house day and night,” he grumbled.
“Count me in,” Thorsten said. “I can’t believe they’re letting him go.”
“They have to,” Ms. Gunther mumbled flatly. “You’re innocent until proven otherwise. The police can’t just go around and arrest everyone who’s been accused of a crime.” She blinked her eyes, forcefully pushed back her chair and marched into the kitchen.
Julia turned to her grandmother. “Has she called Dad yet?” she mouthed.
Gran shook her head. “Not yet. She wanted to wait for the police to get back to us. I can call him now if you like.”
At that instant, the door opened and Gaby stepped inside with Michael in tow. “What happened?” she inquired worriedly, looking around the circle of ashen faces in the room.
Michael immediately rushed to Julia and embraced her warmly. “I’m so, so sorry,” he mumbled. “Gaby told me everything.”
“The police won’t start looking until tomorrow,” Julia sobbed, no longer able to hold back her tears now that Michael was here to comfort her. “They couldn’t get a peep out of that guy. And he’ll be a free man tomorrow morning.”
Gaby’s eyes widened. “They’re waiting until tomorrow? What the hell? But they know Anne didn’t run away from home.”
“No, they don’t,” Axel replied. “She left of her own free will. She made up an excuse to go to the woods. Nobody forced her. I hate to admit it, but we’re pretty much screwed.”
“No, we’re not,” Thorsten said heatedly. “We can go back to the forest. We can look for Anne ourselves.”
Michael looked up, fixing Thorsten with his gaze. “You think she’s still there?”
“Well, where else could she be? When the police searched Andreas’s house they couldn’t find anything.”
“So why didn’t we see her wandering around when we combed the woods earlier?” Gaby threw back.
Thorsten fell silent. “She could be... lying somewhere,” he finally said, a look of discomfort on his face.
Julia winced. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t assume the worst. He could have sedated her and hidden her someplace.”
“Behind a door,” Gaby mumbled pensively. “Somewhere behind that door that we haven’t found yet – that gateway she wrote about.”
Michael resolutely got up and looked at Axel and Gaby. “Can you two bring me to the spot where you found the hairpin? If she’s really around there, we’ll find her.”
They all looked at him in surprise. He sounded determined, so much so that he didn’t seem to consider the possibility they wouldn’t be successful. Julia frowned at him in puzzlement, but she didn’t comment. It was wonderful of him to volunteer his help immediately, now that the police proved to be more or less useless until tomorrow.
When she got up, she noticed how weak her entire body still felt after her disheartening talk with Detective Spitzer. Michael grabbed her hand, squeezing it encouragingly. “I’ll help you,” he whispered. “Anne will turn up again.”
Ten minutes later, a group of seven people had assembled to venture out into the woods once more. Julia’s mother, Thorsten’s mother and Michael were now a part of their search team too. Julia’s grandmother would stay at home and wait for Anne there, just in case she resurfaced after all.
“Let’s go,” Axel said, heading the troupe with Gaby at his side. Julia followed them, flanked by her mom. Behind her, she could hear Thorsten and Michael talking to each other.
“Which direction did you go in when you went out to look for her earlier?” Michael wanted to know.
“Axel and Gaby went east,” Thorsten replied. “And they went pretty far into the woods. They got to the part without any clear hiking trails, according to Julia.”
“That’s right.” Michael paused. “People generally don’t go there.”
Julia pricked up her ears. Just how much time had Michael spent in these woods, exactly? He sounded like he knew every last little detail about the forest. She couldn’t help but think of the person he’d been before, in school and during classes - not like your average member of Team Treehugger. So how did he know all these things? Something didn’t add up.
She turned her head to look at him. Michael was still talking to Thorsten, but somehow he had felt her stare. He looked back at her, smiling reassuringly. His sweet, genuine smile gave her strength, and for just one moment, Julia could forget about all the questions running through her mind. Michael was here, by her side, to take care of her and help her. He was in love with her. What could possibly be wrong with this picture? She was just worrying too much.
She looked straight ahead again. Her mother put a hand on her back, rubbing her shoulder. “He seems like a nice guy,” she said with a tiny smile. “I’m sorry I can’t be happier for you right now.”
Julia bit her lip. “Oh, Mom.” She held on to her mother’s arm and decided not to say anything else.
After a forty-minute walk, they got to the place where the hairpin was found. Gaby and Axel looked around indecisively. “So… this is the spot,” Axel stated, throwing Michael a questioning look. He was the one who’d asked to be taken here, after all.
Michael nodded. He took a few slow paces forward, lightly caressing Julia’s arm in passing. His next few steps were to the left, away from the search party, and he came to a standstill next to a young oak tree. And then he closed his eyes.
Nobody spoke when he squatted down on the ground to put his hands on the soil directly around the tree. A shiver ran through her body when Julia observed what he was doing. It reminded her of the way she’d often sat underneath her oak – as if she was somehow connecting with the roots under the earth. As if she could feel what the tree was feeling. Michael was doing the exact same thing right n
ow: that much was evident. He was talking to the forest.
Abruptly, Michael jumped to his feet. “Over here,” he said softly, stalking off into the woods without hesitation, the rest following in his wake.
Julia caught up with him. “How do you know…” she stuttered. “Do you know if…”
“She’s still alive,” he said, slipping his hand into hers like he’d done it a thousand times before. “Don’t worry.”
Despite his words, Julia couldn’t help her mounting anxiety as they walked on, getting deeper and deeper into the forest. When Michael finally came to a stop, they were standing in a small clearing next to a patch of fir trees and the foundations of an old, demolished forest cabin.
“Look at that,” Thorsten exclaimed in surprise. “So there really was a house here once.” He cast a look around. “But no sign of a door.”
“She’s really close,” Michael said softly, looking up at the sky and cocking his head as if listening intently. “She’s underground.”
Julia’s mother sucked in a breath. “What? But you said she was still alive!”
He nodded. “She is. She’s not dead.”
“A hole, or a ditch,” Gaby mumbled absently, nudging Axel. “Do you see any signs of digging somewhere?”
Axel, Gaby, Thorsten and Mrs. Ebner started to circle the remains of the house, looking for tracks or traces of digging. Julia didn’t leave her mom’s side – Ms. Gunther looked shell-shocked, tears running down her cheeks despite Michael’s reassurance.
She watched the rest of the group walking around. Michael hadn’t joined them; he was leaning against one of the fir trees and seemed miles away. Julia stared at him and suddenly it hit her how different he was from the rest of them in this moment. He reminded her of a clairvoyant she had once seen on TV, a man who was in the habit of helping the police track down missing persons. Why was Michael so sure they would find Anne here? It had to have something to do with his accident and the blow to the head he had suffered. It must have given him some kind of second sight.