Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(38)
Before Kirchhoff or Bodenstein could say a word, he slammed the door in their faces.
“You shouldn’t have said that,” Pia said reproachfully as they walked back to the car. “Now you’ve really turned him against us, and we still don’t know anything more.”
“But I was right!” Oliver stopped short. “Did you see his eyes? The guy is capable of anything, and if he really does know who pushed his mother off the bridge, then that man is in danger.”
“You’re biased,” Pia chided him. “He comes home after ten years in the joint—possibly having been sentenced unjustly—and finds out that everything here has changed. His mother is attacked and seriously injured, unknown vandals spray graffiti on his parents’ house. Is it any wonder he’s pissed off?”
“Give me a break, Pia! You can’t seriously believe that they convicted the wrong guy for a double murder!”
“I don’t believe anything. But I’ve found discrepancies in the old case files, so I have my doubts.”
“The man is ice cold. And as far as how the villagers have reacted, I can perfectly understand it.”
“Don’t tell me you condone somebody scrawling insults on the walls and the whole village conspiring to cover up the identity of the real killer!” Pia shook her head in disbelief.
“I’m not saying that I condone it,” said Oliver. They were standing underneath the arch of the village gate and squabbling like an old married couple, so they didn’t notice when Tobias Sartorius left his house and headed across the yard in back.
* * *
Andrea Wagner couldn’t sleep. They had found Laura’s body, or rather, what was left of it. Finally, finally, all the uncertainty was over. They had given up hoping for a miracle long ago. At first they had felt nothing but boundless relief, but now the grief had set in. For eleven long years she had forbidden herself tears and sadness, displaying great strength and supporting her husband, who had abandoned himself to brooding about their missing child. But she couldn’t afford to break down. She had to keep the company going so that they could pay their debts at the bank. And there were the younger children, who deserved their mother’s attention. Nothing was the same as it once had been. Manfred had lost all his energy and joie de vivre, acting as if a millstone were attached to his leg, succumbing to his whiny self-pity and too much drinking. Sometimes she despised him. It was so easy for him to slip into hating Tobias’s family, and to her that seemed like a cop-out.
Andrea opened the door to Laura’s room, where nothing had been changed for the past eleven years. Manfred had insisted on it, and she had acquiesced. She turned on the light, taking the photo of Laura from the desk and sitting down on the bed. She waited in vain for the tears to come. Her thoughts strayed to that moment eleven years ago, when the police had stood at the front door and informed her that after evaluating the evidence they had arrested Tobias Sartorius for the murder of their daughter.
Why Tobias? she had thought in bewilderment. Offhand she could think of ten other boys who had more reasons to take revenge on Laura than Tobias did. Andrea had known what people in the village were whispering about her daughter. They had called her a slut, a calculating little bitch with big ambitions. While Manfred loved and idolized his oldest daughter unconditionally and always found excuses for her bad behavior, Andrea had seen Laura’s weaknesses and hoped she would eventually grow out of them. But the girl hadn’t had the chance. It was odd, really, that she had such a hard time remembering anything positive when she thought of Laura. Memories of the unpleasant things were more vivid, and there had been plenty of those. Laura had always had a low opinion of her father and was ashamed of him. She would have preferred a father like Claudius Terlinden, who had style and power—it was something she never hesitated to tell Manfred to his face at every suitable or unsuitable opportunity. Manfred had swallowed these insults without batting an eye, and they did no damage to the love he felt for his beautiful daughter. Andrea, on the other hand, was shocked to realize how little she knew her daughter, and blamed herself for failing to bring her up better. At the same time she was scared. What if Laura found out that she was having an affair with Claudius, her boss?
Night after night she had lain awake worrying about her daughter. During Laura’s teenage years Andrea had probably had even more reasons for concern. Laura was getting wild with the boys in town—until she finally starting going steady with Tobias. All of a sudden she seemed changed: content and happy. Tobias was doing her good. Undoubtedly he was something special; he was good-looking, he excelled in school and at sports, and the other boys listened to him. He was exactly what Laura had always wanted, and his popularity also rubbed off on her, his girlfriend. For half a year everything went well—until Stefanie Schneeberger came to Altenhain. Laura had instantly recognized her as competition and quickly made friends with her, but it did no good. Tobias fell for Stefanie and broke up with Laura, who clearly couldn’t cope with this setback. Her mother had no idea what exactly had transpired between the two young people that summer, but she knew that Laura was playing with fire when she urged her friends to turn against Stefanie. Andrea had discovered Laura at the photocopier in her office with a big stack of copies she had made. Laura blew her top when her mother tried to take a look at what was printed on them. They got into a fierce argument, and in her fury Laura ended up leaving the original in the copier. There was only one sentence in bold type on the white page: SNOW WHITE MUST DIE.