Читать книгу Murder in the first life - Dirk Lützelberger - Страница 3

The cold metal of the bars pressed into his back while Kay Berger tried again and again to find a more comfortable position. After endless attempts he gave up resignedly. It made no sense. His body ached from the cramped position he had been crammed into. It was cold here and dirty.

This was not how he had imagined it, although he had dreamed of sitting naked and locked up in a narrow metal cage several times before. But in this cold November night there was nothing exciting at all. Disappointed, he collapsed deep inside himself.

How had he got into this situation anyway, Kay wondered. Under other circumstances it would have been exactly what he longed for, but at that moment it was just unpleasant. Meanwhile, the bars left very painful marks all over his body. An icy wind glided over his naked body and he got goose bumps. For several hours now he sat in his prison and he shivered. It was really no fun anymore. Had it begun as fun? Kay knew nothing anymore. Somehow his memory was erased. It was time to end this game here. But how? Why him, why now, Kay wondered. But the more he thought about it, the less he had an answer to his questions.

His senses were sharpened by the darkness and he began to explore his surroundings. It smelled slightly of gasoline. Not penetrating, more like someone had spilled a few drops of petrol, which now evaporated. The air was clammy and humid. He felt a breeze now and then, which stroked his skin. Where was he? Kay couldn’t remember very much, no matter how hard he tried. Someone had grabbed him from behind. He had just come home and had parked his car. The stranger had put a cloth over his mouth and nose. What had it smelled like? Kay shivered at the memory of the hospital smell. Then a precipice, a black hole. His legs gave way and … this is where his memory left him. When he woke up, it was light. The next day? Or the day after that? Did it make any difference? He had lost all sense of time. He had to get out of here quickly. His legs, his back and his butt were beginning to hurt like hell. He knew the phenomenon. He had read about it on the Internet. The human body needs to be able to stretch out from time to time. The muscles must loosen, stretch and contract again. The body cannot remain in one position for very long. If it is forced, for example because it has been tied up, it causes hellish pain after a short time and the muscles then start to cramp. Kay felt the next cramp in his thigh, because he could hardly move for hours. His enormous fullness now became his fatality. His flabby body filled the small prison on the side completely, condemning him to immobility. He had to suffer until help came. To make matters worse, he thought, his hands were also handcuffed to the bars behind his back. His legs weren’t tied, but he had to put them down in the cage at an angle because of the narrowness of the cage and could not stretch them out under any circumstances.

The nearby church clock was striking. Kay counted the beats. Half an hour till midnight.

He had got used to the darkness by now and his pupils were wide open. Shadowy he could perceive his surroundings, but he couldn’t see any details beyond the bars. It had to be a new moon, because even through the small window behind him no light came in, which would have made it easier for him to find his way around the room.

Without warning the light was turned on and his eyes hurt. It was bright light, which hit his retina unprepared and he squeezed his eyes together reflexively. Steps! Steps that came towards him. Slowly Kay blinked, but he couldn’t make out any details. He could only perceive the black, shadowy outlines of a person.

"How are you?" asked the person in a soft voice. Kay was confused by the calm tone of his tormentor. "W-w-why are you doing this? What do you w-w-want from me?" His voice trembled.

"You wanted it that way" the stranger purred again in the same monotonous tone. He pondered for a moment and then continued, "I’m only fulfilling your dreams!"

Had he heard right? It must have been a bad dream, Kay thought.

"This is madness! What makes you think I would have dreamed of something like this? Untie me at once!" By now his eyes had become accustomed to the bright light and he could open them normally. Kay watched the man opposite him. Did he know him? Then why did he say he wanted to fulfil him his dreams. Who was this guy? "Please – please let me go. My wife is already looking for me. I won’t tell anyone else. I won’t. Please!"

"I don’t think your wife is already looking for you" the stranger replied monotonously. "After all, you don’t get along as well as you used to! Why should she look for you if you always stay out all night and never say a word about where you’ve been?"

How did the guy know all these details about him, about his life and his family? Kay shivered all over as the stranger walked around the cage and stopped behind him. Searching, Kay turned his gaze right and left and realized he was in a garage, as the smell of gasoline had already made him suspect. On one wall were all sorts of tools hanging and on a shelf on the other wall were several canisters of some kind of liquid. The man behind him was digging in his tool bank. The sounds Kay heard did bode ill. His heart was beating up to his throat. He feared the stranger could hear it beating.

"We’re going to take a little trip" the stranger continued, and Kay now heard the sound that tape made when pulling it off a roll. It all happened very quickly and before Kay understood exactly, hands reached through the bars from behind. With nimble fingers, the figure sealed Kay’s lips.

"We don’t want you to wake up the neighbours, do we?"

Kay could almost hear the horrible smile. He breathed in and out violently through his nose, shook himself, trying to get rid of the tape, but it was already sticking perfectly to his skin. Panic rose in him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t separate his lips a millimetre more. Kay’s eyes opened as the cage was tilted backwards and his head hit the bars. He rolled off. The guy pushed him through the garage with the cage on a sack barrow.

"The journey will not take long. Make yourself comfortable."