Страница 28 из 82
A
“Not that it’s any of my business,” Linda said, “but where are you?”
“I got kidnapped by a serial killer,” A
“I see.” Linda was trying hard to sound casual. “When does she plan to release you?”
“Gitta,” A
“Okay …” Linda said, hanging up.
Abel shook his head. “So now I’m Gitta …”
“Should I have told the truth?”
“No. I don’t think at the house of blue air they’d like the fact that A
“That’s two more than I know,” A
Abel turned to collect the glasses.
“You should go.”
ANNA SPENT ALL OF SUNDAY WONDERING WHETHER she should drive out to Abel’s. To make sure that everything was all right. She would have called, but she didn’t have his number. She finally figured out how Abel had gotten her number—the lighthouse keeper must have given it to him. He had the cell phone number of everybody in his intensive class, just in case of an emergency. Emergency and A
“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but Abel Ta
She put the phone back on the bookshelf. She didn’t call.
Later, she would think, what if she had called, if she had talked to him on that Sunday, if she had … but who cares about later? Later is always too late.
A
Only Magnus and Linda were surprised.
“Is there something on your mind, bu
A
Monday morning, Magnus opened the local newspaper and said, “Chicago.”
“Chicago?” Linda asked with a laugh, pouring more tea. “Are we going on vacation?”
Magnus laid the paper down on the table as Linda instinctively put her hand on the light-blue ceramic butter dish to keep him from knocking it to the floor.
“We don’t need to go to Chicago,” Magnus said. He whistled through his teeth, impressed. “Chicago has come here. Listen to this: ‘Deadly bar brawl. On Sunday morning, after a heated argument at the Admiral, a bar in the woods District of Wieck, Rainer Lierski, forty-one, was found dead between two parked cars. A resident of the area discovered the snow-covered body as he headed to his own car …’ Imagine going out to your car after breakfast and finding a dead body next to it. Jesus Christ!”
“You usually bike to your office,” Linda said.
“Yes, and thank God I do,” Magnus said cheerfully, “with dead bodies popping up in parking lots … ‘Mirko Studier, fifty-two, the owner of the bar, stated that Lierski was a frequent customer. “Lierski liked to pick fights,” says Studier, “always wanted to argue, but I never thought it would end like this. When things started to get violent, I threw him and his three friends out. By the time I closed up for the night, I figured they’d all gone home.” The police are still searching for Lierski’s companions, ages twenty-five to fifty, according to Studier. They are also looking for possible witnesses to the crime and/or anyone in the vicinity of the Admiral between ten o’clock and midnight on Saturday night …’ Hey, they don’t give the ages of the witnesses they’re looking for. What a surprise!”
“Magnus,” Linda said. “This isn’t fu
“No … I’m sorry. Of course it isn’t. It’s just this local paper is so ridiculous … A
A
“I’m fine,” she replied and forced herself to finish her yogurt. “That article … I was just thinking … It reminds me of something we’ve been talking about at school … Can I have the paper?”
Magnus refolded the pages and passed them to her, almost knocking over a jar of jam in the process. “Don’t get into ‘a heated argument,’” he joked. “You don’t want it to end up ‘deadly.’”
“Ha-ha,” A
She couldn’t focus in her literature class that day. She watched Knaake opening and closing his mouth, but she didn’t hear what he was saying; it didn’t get through. It was in this class that she had studied Abel Ta
Abel didn’t sleep in class this time. A
Knaake knew that she didn’t have to talk to him.
He looked from Abel to A
A
“Shit,” he finally said, stepping back and covering his face with his hands, taking a deep breath. “Shit.”
When he moved his hands away from his face, she saw that he’d grown pale. “He’s dead,” he said.
A
“And I said I’d kill him.”
She nodded again.
“I would have done it,” Abel whispered. “I would have done it if he’d come back.”
“Did he come back?”
“No.” Abel shook his head. He went over to the window and looked down at the schoolyard on which more snow silently fell. A