Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(39)

Andrea had folded up the sheet of paper and kept it, but she never showed it to her husband or the police. The idea that her child would wish the death of another human being was simply intolerable. Had Laura become the victim of her own intrigue? Andrea had kept her mouth shut and let things run their course. And every night she’d listened to Manfred glorifying their daughter.

“Laura,” she murmured, caressing the photo with her forefinger. “What did you do?”

Suddenly a tear ran down her cheek, then another. She blinked, wiping her hand over her face. It wasn’t grief that brought tears to her eyes, but the feeling of guilt that she hadn’t loved her daughter.

* * *



It was half past one before he stood in front of her house. For three hours he had driven around the area aimlessly. So much had bombarded him today that he simply couldn’t stand staying at home. First Amelie, who had suddenly appeared covered in blood. The shock at the sight of her. It wasn’t the blood on her face that had made his adrenaline level shoot up to the heights of Mount Everest, but her incredible likeness to Stefanie. Yet she was completely different. Not the vain little beauty queen who had bewitched him, seduced him, and duped him, only to dump him with such ice-cold indifference. Amelie was an impressive girl. And she seemed to have no fears of being touched.

Then the cops showed up. They had found Laura’s body. Because it was raining so hard, he’d had to leave off cleaning up the yard and instead turned his anger to cleaning out his room. He ripped down the stupid posters from the walls and summarily stuffed the contents of the cabinets and all the drawers into blue trash bags. Just get rid of all that crap! Suddenly he was holding a CD in his hand. Time to Say Goodbye by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. Stefanie had given him the CD because she had kissed him for the first time to this song in June, at the graduation party. He put the CD on, not understanding the empty feeling that abruptly seized him with the first chord, refusing to let him go. He had never before felt so alone and abandoned, not even in prison. There at least he could hope for better days, but now he knew that they would never come. His life was over.

It took a moment before Nadia opened the door and let him in. He’d been afraid that she wasn’t home. He hadn’t come to sleep with her, he hadn’t been thinking of that at all, but when she stood before him, blinking at the bright light, her blond hair loose on her shoulders, so sweet and warm, a flash of sexual desire shot through him with a power he wouldn’t have thought possible.

“What—” she began, but Tobias muffled the rest of her question with a kiss, pulling her close, almost expecting her to resist and push him away. But the opposite happened. She slipped his wet leather jacket from his shoulders, unbuttoned his shirt, and shoved up his T-shirt. The next instant they were lying on the floor and he entered her impetuously, felt her tongue in his mouth and her hands on his ass, inciting him to plunge harder and faster. Much too soon he felt the tidal wave roaring, the heat that made him sweat from every pore. Then it broke over him, so glorious and such a relief that he moaned—a moan that turned to a muted cry. With his heart pounding he lay on top of her for a few seconds and could hardly believe what he had done. He rolled off, lying on his back with his eyes closed, gasping for air like a fish out of water. Her soft laughter made him open his eyes.

“What is it?” he asked in confusion.

“I think we need a little more practice,” she said. With a nimble movement she got to her feet and held out her hand to him. He took it, got up with a groan, and followed her into the bedroom after getting rid of his shoes and jeans. The spirits of the past had vanished. At least for the moment.





Thursday, November 13, 2008



“The police came by my house yesterday.” Tobias blew on the hot coffee that Nadia had poured for him. Last night he hadn’t wanted to bring up that topic, but now he had to tell her about it. “They found Laura’s skeleton at the old airfield in Eschborn. In an underground tank.”

“What?” Nadia, who was just about to take a sip from her cup, stopped short. They were sitting at the gray granite table in the kitchen, where they had sat together last night. It was a little past seven, and it was still pitch dark outside the panoramic window. Nadia had to catch a flight to Hamburg at eight o’clock, where the exterior shots were being filmed for a new episode of the series in which she played the detective superintendent.

“When…” She set down her cup. “I mean … How do they know it’s Laura?”

“No idea.” Tobias shook his head. “They didn’t say much. At first they didn’t want to tell me where they found the skeleton. The cop in charge just said I must know where it was.”

“Oh my God,” Nadia gasped.

“Nadia.” He leaned over and put his hand on hers. “Please tell me if you want me to leave.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I can see that you’re scared of me.”

“What nonsense.”

He let go of her hand, stood up, and turned his back to her. For a moment he struggled with himself. Half the night he had lain awake, listening to her steady breathing and asking himself when she might find him superfluous. He was already apprehensive about the day she would get rid of him with embarrassed excuses, then avoid him, pretending that she wasn’t home. That day was bound to come. He wasn’t the right man for her. He could never fit in with her world, her life.