Bad Wolf (60 page)

Authors: Nele Neuhaus

Tags: #Thriller, #Mystery, #Contemporary

BOOK: Bad Wolf

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Christian Kröger placed the sleeping child carefully on the backseat of Pia’s car. Lilly was sound asleep, exhausted from the most terrifying episode of her young life. Once, she woke up briefly and, groggy with sleep, asked Pia whether Robbie and Simba were in dog heaven now, and then she wanted to know what happened to the kids who were in the cellar. Before Pia could answer, she was asleep again, and now she lay there wrapped in a soft fleece blanket, a tiny snoring angel.

“I hope she won’t be traumatized for the rest of her life,” said Pia. Christian closed the car door as quietly as he could.

“I don’t think she will,” he replied. “She’s a robust little thing.”

Pia sighed and looked at him.

“Thank you, Christian. You saved her life.”

“Well…” He shrugged in embarrassment and grinned. “I never would have thought that I’d voluntarily jump into a river, especially at night.”

“For Lilly, I would have jumped into the Grand Canyon,” said Pia. “I feel like she’s my own kid.”

“Every woman has a maternal instinct,” Christian Kröger said. “That’s why it’s inconceivable to me how a woman like Corinna Wiesner could do something like that and let it go on for years.”

“She’s sick. Just like Helmut Grasser and all the rest of these pedophiles.”

Pia leaned against her car and lit a cigarette. It was over. They had solved all three cases and a couple of old ones, too, and yet she felt no sense of relief nor any real pride in a job well done. Kilian Rothemund would have his conviction overturned, and Hanna Herzmann might someday be healthy again. Michaela Prinzler had survived the surgery, and Emma had brought a baby boy into the world. Pia thought about Louisa. She had loving parents and was young enough that she might be able to forget what had happened to her. Many other children weren’t so lucky. They would have to live with the memory of all the atrocities they’d suffered, they might have mental breakdowns, and the anguish would haunt them like a shadow for the rest of their lives.

“Go home and try to get some sleep,” said Christian.

“Yes, I’m going to do that.” Pia took a drag on her cigarette. “I should be happy that we were able to break up a really big child-abuse ring. But I’m not. Child abuse will never end.”

“Unfortunately, you’re right,” said Christian with a nod. “And we’ll also never be able to stop people from killing each other.”

The sky reddened in the east. Soon the sun would come up, as it had for billions of years every morning, in spite of all the tragedies played out on earth.

“I hope that pig is on the bottom of the Nidda River, being eaten by the fish for all the things he did.” Pia dropped the cigarette and ground it out with her foot. “Now I have to go see Christoph in the hospital and take him a few things.”

She and Kröger looked at each other; then she gave her colleague a hug. “Thank you for everything,” she murmured.

“You’re welcome.”

Pia was just about to get in the car, when a red Mini turned into the parking lot. Meike Herzmann and Wolfgang Matern!

“What are they doing here?”

“You go home.” Kröger gently shoved her into the car. “I’ll take care of this. See you on Monday.”

Pia was too exhausted to argue. She fastened her seat belt, started the engine, and drove off. The streets were empty so early in the morning, and she reached Birkenhof in only ten minutes. In front of the gate stood a taxi with its motor running. Pia set the hand brake and got out. Her heart skipped a beat, but this time not from fear. She felt joy and relief. Christoph sat in the passenger seat. He was a little pale, and he had a bandage on his head, but otherwise he looked all right. When he caught sight of her, he got out of the taxi. She gave him a big hug.

“Lilly is doing fine,” she said quietly. “She’s asleep on the backseat.”

“Thank God,” Christoph murmured. He took her face in both hands and looked at her. “And how are you doing?”

“That’s what I should be asking you,” replied Pia. “So they really let you out of the hospital this morning?”

“The bed was so uncomfortable.” Christoph smiled wryly. “And I don’t need to lie around in a hospital just because of a little concussion.”

The taxi driver rolled down the window on the passenger side.

“It’s great that you’re all back together,” he griped, “but could somebody please pay me?”

Pia got her wallet out of her backpack and handed him a twenty-euro note.

“Keep the change,” she said; then she opened the gate and got back in her car. Christoph sat in the passenger seat and Pia drove off. The bodies of their dogs and the blood spots on the driveway were gone, no doubt thanks to Hans Georg.

Lilly stirred on the backseat. “Are we already home?” She mumbled.

“What do you mean, ‘already’?” Pia stopped in front of the house. “It’s four-thirty in the morning.”

“Pretty early all right,” said Lilly. Then she noticed Christoph, and her eyes grew wide.

“Grandpa is wearing a turban! That’s really funny-looking.” She giggled.

Pia looked at Christoph. It did look pretty funny. The tension of the past few hours fell away, and she started to laugh.

“Don’t mock the afflicted,” Christoph commented drily. “Okay, out of the car, you silly girls. I really need a cup of coffee.”

“Me, too.” Lilly heaved a huge sigh. “And I won’t tell Mommy and Daddy.”

“About what?” Pia and Christoph turned around at the same time to look at her.

“That you let me drink coffee, of course,” replied Lilly with a grin.

Epilogue

“
Välkommen till Sverige,
Mr. de la Rosa.” The young Swedish officer at passport control gave the man a friendly smile and handed back his Argentine diplomatic passport. “
Jag hoppas att ni hade en trevlig flygning.
”

“Yes, the flight was fine, thank you.” Markus Maria Frey nodded, smiled, and left the secure area of Arlanda Airport in Stockholm. She was waiting outside in the departure hall, and he recognized her at once, although it had been a few years since they’d seen each other. The years had been kind to her, and she was even more beautiful than he remembered.

“Nicky!” She was beaming as she kissed him first on one cheek, then on the other. “How wonderful to see you. Welcome to Sweden.”

“Hello, Linda. Nice of you to pick me up,” he replied. “And how is Magnus?”

“He’s waiting outside in the car.” She put her hand through his arm. “I’m glad you’re here. That whole business in Germany has been causing our friends great concern.”

“A tempest in a teapot.” Markus Maria Frey, now Hector de la Rosa, according to his passport, dismissed the matter with a wave of his hand. “Things will calm down eventually.”

A family stood in front of him on the escalator. The father was struggling with several pieces of luggage, and the mother seemed frazzled. The boy looked sullen. The girl, no older than five or six, was hopping about and didn’t notice the end of the escalator approaching. Before she could fall over and hurt herself, Frey quickly reached out and grabbed her, setting her back on her feet.

“
Kan du inte akta dig?
” the mother chided her daughter.

“Don’t worry; she’s all right,” Frey said with a smile, stroking the girl’s hair and then walking on. What a sweet little girl, he thought, even if she’s crying now. Children really make life worthwhile.

Acknowledgments

As I was doing research for
Bad Wolf,
I came across the book
Our Father Who Art in Hell
[
Vater Unser in der Hölle
], by Ulla Fröhling (Bastei Lübbe Verlag). I was shocked, shaken, and deeply moved by the protagonist’s terrible fate, and I could see that the story that I originally wanted to write only scratched the surface of what is really concealed beneath the term “child abuse.” I have done a lot of research and reading on this topic.

I am a supporter of the project 101 Guardian Angels Wanted, sponsored by the FeM Girls House in Frankfurt. I spoke with a therapist at this organization, which cares for traumatized girls, and I learned that cases such as those Ulla Fröhling describes in her book are, unfortunately, not unique. Women and children repeatedly endure this kind of suffering behind closed doors, and on a daily basis within families and in circles of friends and acquaintances. I realized how crucial it is to examine the topic of child abuse, and how immense the fear and distress of these abused girls are.

I offer my thanks to Ulla Fröhling for her courageous and important book. I hope that with this novel I can make a small contribution to continuing the discussion of this taboo topic.

Many wonderful people have supported me during the writing of this book, encouraging me and showing me the right path whenever I got stuck. Here I have to mention especially Susanne Hecker and my dear writer colleague Steffi von Wolff.

I thank my parents, Dr. Bernward and Carola Löwenberg, and my wonderful sisters, Claudia Cohen and Camilla Altvater, as well as my niece, Caroline Cohen, for their support, and for patiently reading drafts of the manuscript and offering very helpful suggestions. They are the best family anyone could wish for.

A big thank-you to Margrit Osterwold and once again to Steffi. You made Hamburg into a second home for me.

I thank Catrin Runge, Gaby Pohl, Simone Schreiber, Ewald Jacobi, Vanessa Müller-Raidt, Iska Peller, Frank Wagner, Susanne Trouet, Andrea Wildgruber, Anke Demmig, Anne Pfenninger, Beate Caglar, Claudia Gnass, and Claudia Herrmann.
Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.
Thank you for your friendship.

Special thanks to Detective Superintendent Andrea Rupp for giving the book a careful early reading and for offering helpful remarks with regard to the work of the Criminal Police.

A big thank-you goes out to the wonderful staff at Ullstein Verlag for their trust and support. In particular, I’d like to thank my excellent editors, Marion Vazquez and Kristine Kress, who with tact and encouragement have made a book emerge from an initial idea.

Many thanks to Steven T. Murray and his wife, Tiina, for yet another fantastic and sensitive translation! Thanks also to my U.S. publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and to PanMacmillan in the UK, and to my editors at both publishers, Daniela Rapp and Trisha Jackson.

I also thank all my readers for liking my books. That makes me happy.

And finally, I thank from the bottom of my heart a very special person. Matthias, I have arrived. So it should be; so it shall remain.

Nele Neuhaus, August 2012

About the Author

NELE NEUHAUS is the author of
Snow White Must Die
. With close to five million copies of her books currently in print, she is one of the most widely read German mystery writers. Neuhaus lives near Frankfurt, Germany.

ALSO BY NELE NEUHAUS

Snow White Must Die

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Cover designed by Rob Grom

The Library of Congress has catalogued the print edition as follows:

Neuhaus, Nele.

[Böser Wolf. English]

Bad wolf: a novel / Nele Neuhaus; translated by Steven T. Murray.—First U.S. edition.

pages cm.

Originally published by Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH in Germany under the title Böser Wolf—Title page verso.

ISBN 978-1-250-04399-3 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-4243-4 (e-book)

I. Murray, Steven T., translator. II. Title.

PT2714.E95B6713 2014