Rain Girl (28 page)
Authors: Gabi Kreslehner
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Police Procedural, #Thrillers, #Suspense
She thought of Brückl and how happy she’d made him by solving the case so fast. There wouldn’t be a trial for him to play up to the media, but at least he’d get a few interviews with the local paper.
Then she decided to ask his wife, Sonja, about the strange affinity she’d always seemed to have for square, insignificant men void of any mystery or melancholy. She really wanted to know why.
Franza suspected it had something to do with security and constancy, things Karen Reuter never had.
Kind of crazy,
she thought.
Here I am lying in bed in an obscenely expensive hotel, not even five hundred yards away from Port’s apartment, and I don’t even feel bad
. Was it decadent or just plain stupid? She sighed and thought of the bill waiting for her a few floors below. She definitely could not expense it.
Port stirred and crawled close to her, resting his head against her shoulder. She looked at him, his handsome face and his dark hair. She brushed her hand over his chin, which was prickly like a baby hedgehog. It was how she liked it. It reminded her of Max and of how it was in the beginning, long ago. She thought of the future and wondered what it held for her, and she thought that everyone else was probably right, that one day Port would leave for a bigger and better theater, in a bigger and better city. They wouldn’t see each other anymore, wouldn’t touch each other anymore, or be there for one another. A small, sad feeling spread inside her, pricking the other, all-encompassing one.
Thank God Port began to snore at that moment, and the pressure that had begun to hold her in its tight grip was released. “Hey,” she said, nudging him. “You snore!”
He started, looked at her out of sleepy eyes, and said indignantly, “Not true!” Then he fell back asleep and continued to snore.
She shook him off and got up again.
We’ll see,
she thought,
as always, we’ll see
.
That had been her mother’s mantra. She used to say it at any possible or impossible occasion. For some reason Franza had picked up the habit; maybe it was just a mother-daughter thing.
She had to laugh and wanted to sigh at the same time. Her stomach rumbled loudly, and she hoped breakfast would be there soon. She thought of the orange marmalade and wondered if they had to pick the oranges first. She imagined its bright, sun-like shimmer and the slightly bitter taste, which would melt on her tongue.
She sank deep into the armchair she’d moved next to the bed and pressed her feet gently on Port’s behind, to which he replied with a soft grunt.
Just you wait,
she thought and kicked him, once, twice, and then he spun around so suddenly that she gave a surprised laugh. He grabbed her feet and stuck them under his arm, and she felt how tired her bones were, so tired she was sure she’d never get up again, especially not from this armchair, which must have been made for tired bones.
She thought of the case again. Had they forgotten anything, overlooked anything?
As she was drifting off, her cell phone rang. She started. It was probably Max, or maybe Felix wanting to tell her off for waking him.
She looked at the screen and made a sound of surprise.
Ben. It was Ben.
She pushed the “Accept Call” button and noticed her fingers were trembling. “Ben!” she shouted into the phone. “Oh my God, Ben! Finally!”
. . . was a peculiar girl
a peculiar child
now the wind’s blown her away
as winds tend to do . . .
marie in memoriam
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © Martin Hartl
Award-winning writer Gabi Kreslehner lives and works in her hometown of Ottensheim, Austria, located on the shores of the Danube. There, she is a teacher and is involved in student theater.
Rain Girl
is her first novel for adults and also the first of her books to be translated and published in English.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Lee Chadeayne, translator, is a former classical musician and college professor. He was one of the charter members of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) and is editor in chief of the ALTA newsletter. Recent translations include Oliver Pötzsch’s
The Poisoned Pilgrim: A Hangman’s Daughter Tale
and
The Wandering Harlot
by Iny Lorentz.
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