Читать книгу Murder in the first life - Dirk Lützelberger - Страница 8

Gwen’s alarm clock also showed 06:45 am when the alarm started at full volume in the bedroom. Awake by the alarm clock next door, Phil staggered out of his room, drowsy, and disappeared into his mother’s bedroom. He turned off the alarm clock and only now realized the empty bed. Probably she had fallen asleep in the living room in front of the TV again, as so often. Phil crept into the living room on the ground floor and saw his mother lying on the couch.

"Mama! The alarm clock rang!" Phil was not yet able to do more in the early morning. He staggered back upstairs and into the bathroom.

Gwen was terribly tired. How long had she been asleep? She’d dreamt about the hospital and about Paul dying. Was it just a bad dream? She regained consciousness and was hit with all the force of reality. She was a widow, a single mother of a teenage son. Why had fate been so serious with her?

"Mum, you have to get up too!" cried Phil from the upper floor, who had finished in the bathroom by now and disappeared back into his room.

"Yes, my love, I’m awake. Thank you."

After Gwen had also freshened up in the bathroom, she prepared breakfast for the two of them in the kitchen. They had treated themselves to the fitted kitchen for their twentieth wedding anniversary. At that time, Paul wanted a stove that you could walk around. Since her kitchen was of a suitable size, this was possible without any problems. On one side there was a kind of counter, which they often used to have breakfast standing up or sitting on the bistro chair. So, they did not always have to bring all breakfast utensils to the dining room next door.

"Phil, where are you? Breakfast is ready and we have to go in a moment!"

Paul had always loved to cook, which was a huge relief for Gwen. When he came home in the evening, he often spontaneously bought little treats and cooked a meal for the family. Nothing laborious, but always exciting, tasty and unusual. Gwen had never been a great cook and never made a secret of it. But she was a gifted baker. She loved to bake cakes, pies and cookies. She was always at her best at Christmas, but this year would be different. Advent was just around the corner and it was all supposed to be so reflective. Now Gwen had to concentrate on other tasks first.

"Phil! Hello? Damn it, we’re going to be late!" Phil trotted down the stairs, his school bag shuffling along behind him on his long arm.

"Here, your bread for the break. We don’t have time now. Do me a favour and eat this one sandwich before school starts. You need something in your stomach!" Hectically, Gwen left the house and pushed her lazy son in front of her to the car parked in the driveway. She turned the ignition key in the lock and heard – nothing! Again. Again. "Son of a bitch!" it slipped from her mouth. She, who was always so much in control. "You got to be kidding me. It’s like everything is conspiring against us today."

"Mom, I have to go to school" Phil timidly remarked.

"Gosh! I can make many things happen, but I can’t perform magic either. The car won’t start! You realize that, don’t you?" This was more of a rhetorical question, to which Gwen didn’t really expect an answer, nor did she hope to. She was already upset enough.

She grabbed her phone and started a speed dial. After two rings, he picked up.

"Good morning Gwen, it’s Stefan, what’s up at this hour?"

"Hi, Stefan. I’m glad I caught you. It’s all conspired against us. Phil has to get to school, we’re late, I’m late for work, and now this damn car won’t start." Gwen took a deep breath and added close to tears, "… and Paul is no longer there to help us."

"For now, just calm down. I’ll be right over to help you. Maybe it’s just a bagatelle."

"That’s very kind of you. Thank you so much. I don’t even know what to say."

"Best go back into the house. I’ll be with you in fifteen minutes. Have another coffee and calm down, Gwen. Everything will be fine. See you soon." Then they hung up.

"Come on Phil, let’s go back into the house. I’ll call your teacher and tell her you’ll be late." Half-hearted Phil took his bags and trotted into the house after his mother.

About twenty minutes later, Gwen heard a car entering the gravel driveway. It was Stefan. The crazy guy had come with Barbarix, her patrol car.

"Phil? You coming? Stefan’s here. We’re driving you to school, and he’s taking me to work." Shuffling, Phil came down the stairs. Like every minute he had free, he was drawn right back to his computer. It was very difficult to separate him from it. At the front door Stefan picked them both up. Phil got big eyes when he saw the police car.

"Shall we drive with flashing lights?" he asked with a grin.

"Only if you want to get to school quickly, young man" Stefan said, with the emphasis on 'quickly'.

Phil pondered briefly and countered, "Mommy has to go to work, it’s urgent because it’s more important!" He smiled at Stefan.

"Then we must hurry, or your mother’s work will escape your attention. Get in!" The blue light flickered ghostly in the early mist of that cold and dark November day. The day had begun as bleakly as Gwen felt. As the siren broke the morning silence in the country, Gwen saw a smile on Phil’s face through the rear-view mirror. For the first time since the birthday party two days ago, Gwen thought and rejoiced. Barbarix’s tires didn’t immediately grip the gravel bed, but then the power of the engine unfolded and pushed the three occupants into their seats – on their way to school.

♦♦♦

Twenty-five minutes later they reached the state office of criminal investigation after dropping Phil off at Kronshagen secondary school. Stefan couldn’t drive all the time with the activated siren without getting a reprimand from his superior if he had found out. But the smile of the boy had been worth it. The city traffic was already increasing currently, but the shortcuts from Phil’s school to the LKA were still not very busy.

"We still managed to do that, didn’t we?" Stefan asked and added, "… neither Phil nor you escaped from work." He looked at her with a winking eye and smiled. He felt the cosy warmth rising in his stomach again. He had often enjoyed this feeling when he was in the field with Gwen. She was an attractive woman and exactly his type, but she was married. At this point it had always been clear to Stefan that he would not continue to woo her. He respected her far too much. But now the tide had turned. Appalled by his own thoughts, Stefan immediately stopped all considerations. How did he come to think like that? His colleague had only been a widow for thirty-two hours and had lost her beloved husband. Now she certainly had other worries than trying to find a new partner. He would keep his feelings to himself and not jeopardize the professional relationship they had had for years.

"Indeed! Thanks for your quick help, Stefan. I hate to ask, but it would be great if you could give me a ride home this evening. I’ll call the automobile club. Hopefully it’s just a bagatelle as you said." After a short pause, she added, "What would I have done yesterday and today without you?"

"I was happy to help you, Gwen. No problem. I’m happy to drive you home tonight, too. We can work it out. Just tell me where I can help you. That’s what partners are for."

"You helped us so much last night. That you were just there. That was so important to me. I know I can count on you, but I don’t want to push it."

"Don’t let it trouble you. I’ll let you know if it gets too much for me" Stefan replied to her. Inside he thought that it would never be too much for him. On the contrary, he wanted more from her.

Gwen ripped Stefan from his thoughts.

"I’ll call the automobile club and make an appointment for tonight. Also, I must take care of my mother and Phil for now. She will surely pick him up from school again and then bring him home. I’ll ask her to stay with him this afternoon until we get home."

"Greet her for me, and I think we can be there by 6:00 pm. Now we must get something done. I have to see Department 23 about the counterfeit money story at the gas station. Maybe they already got something on it." Stefan didn’t want his feelings for Gwen to grow any stronger at that moment, so he turned around and left her standing in the corridor outside her office.