Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(54)

He stood before her as if he’d shot up out of the ground, just as she had turned around again to take a last look at Tobias and this blond bitch driving that luxury ride.

“Jeez, Thies!” Amelie gasped in shock, surreptitiously wiping the tears from her cheek. “Do you have to scare me like that, damn it?”

Sometimes it was really spooky the way Thies could just appear and vanish without making a sound. Only now did she notice that he looked sick. His eyes were sunk deep in their sockets and had a feverish gleam to them. He was trembling all over, with his arms wrapped tight around his upper body. The thought shot through her mind that he really looked like a crazy person. Then she felt ashamed for thinking such a thing.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you feel good?” she asked.

He didn’t react, just looked around nervously. His breathing was fast and irregular, as if he’d been running. Suddenly he uncrossed his arms and grabbed Amelie’s hand, much to her surprise. He had never done that before. She knew that he didn’t like being touched.

“I couldn’t protect Snow White,” he said in a hoarse, tense voice. “But I’ll take better care of you.”

His eyes shifted restlessly, and he kept looking toward the edge of the woods as if he expected some sort of danger to emerge from that direction. Amelie shuddered. All at once the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

“You saw what happened, didn’t you?” she whispered. Thies turned abruptly and pulled her along with him, holding her hand tight. Amelie stumbled after him through a muddy ditch and thick undergrowth. When they reached the protection of the woods, Thies slowed down a bit, but he was still walking too fast for Amelie, who smoked too much and never exercised. He held her hand in an iron grip; when she stumbled and fell he would immediately pull her to her feet. They were climbing a hill. Dry branches crackled under their feet, magpies scolded from the tops of the fir trees. Without warning he stopped. Amelie looked around, panting and through the trees she spied the bright-red roof tiles of the Terlinden villa a little ways down the slope. Sweat ran down her face and she coughed. Why had Thies taken her around the entire perimeter of the property? The road through the park would have been far less trouble. He let go of her hand and began fiddling with a rusty, narrow gate, which opened with a reluctant screech. Amelie followed him through the gate and saw that she was now right behind the orangerie. Thies wanted to grab her hand again, but she pulled away.

“Why are you running all over the place like a madman?” She tried to quell the uneasiness that suddenly filled her, but there was something definitely wrong with Thies. The almost lethargic calm that he usually displayed had vanished, and when he looked at her now, straight in the eye and without averting his gaze, his expression scared her.

“If you promise not to tell anybody,” he said softly, “I’ll show you my secret. Come on!”

He opened the door to the orangerie with the key that was under the doormat. She deliberated briefly whether to simply walk away. But Thies was her friend, he trusted her. So she decided to trust him too, and followed him into the room that she knew so well. He closed the door softly and looked around.

“Could you please tell me what’s going on?” Amelie asked. “Has something happened?”

Thies didn’t answer. At the back of the large room he moved a big potted palm aside and picked up the board on which it had stood, propping it against the wall. Amelie stepped forward with curiosity and looked in amazement at a trap door set into the floor. Thies opened the hatch and turned to her. “Come on,” he urged her.

Amelie stepped onto the steep, rusty iron stairs that led down into the darkness. Thies closed the trap door above them, and a second later a faint lightbulb went on. He squeezed past her and opened a massive iron door. A flood of warm dry air rushed toward them, and Amelie was flabbergasted when she entered a large cellar room. A bright carpet, walls painted a happy orange. A shelf full of books on one side, a comfortable-looking sofa on the other. The back half of the room was separated off with a folding screen. Amelie’s heart was in her throat. Thies had never given any indication that he wanted anything from her, and even now she didn’t think he would pounce on her and try to rape her. Anyway, in an emergency it was only a few steps to the stairs and then out into the park.

“Come on,” Thies said again. He pushed the screen aside, and Amelie saw an old-fashioned bed with a high wooden headboard. On the wall photographs were hung neatly in rows and columns, as was Thies’s habit.

“Come over here. I’ve told Snow White so much about you.”

She moved closer, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. With a mixture of horror and fascination she looked into the face of a mummy.

* * *



“What is it?” Nadia squatted down in front of him, putting her hand gently on his thigh, but he pushed her away impatiently and stood up. He hobbled forward a few yards and then stopped. What he was thinking was monstrous!

“Laura’s body lay in an underground tank on the grounds of the old military airfield in Eschborn,” said Tobias in a hoarse voice. “You must remember how we used to have parties out there. Because J?rg’s father had the key to the gate.”

“What do you mean?” Nadia came after him and looked at him blankly.

“It wasn’t me who threw Laura in that tank,” Tobias replied vehemently, grinding his teeth. “Damn it, damn it, damn it.” He balled up his hands into fists. “I want to know what really happened! My parents were ruined, I sat in prison for ten years, and then Laura’s father pushes my mother off a bridge! I can’t stand it anymore!” he yelled, as Nadia stood mutely in front of him.