Safe as Houses Read Online Free PDF Page A

streams over her legs, rising to her chest. She batters away at the window and sobs. Her muscles become stiff with cold; her strength begins to ebb away.
    It is remarkable the kind of knowledge that comes to you at moments like this. Drowning takes between three and five minutes, the first minute and a half spent still conscious. One and a half minutes – it doesn’t sound long, until that moment comes ever closer and you realise that it means ninety seconds of burning lungs and pure death-struggle. Once youhave gone through your oxygen reserves, blood stops flowing to your brain, and you lose consciousness within ten seconds – all facts she picked up from some stupid newspaper article.
    Senta lies in the water, shaking. She pulls back her feet and sits upright. The car is sinking, the water coming in more and more quickly. It reaches her chin and she kneels to give herself a few seconds’ respite. There is just one slight chance left. Her mind is clearer than ever before.
    The moment arrives when her face hits the roof, and water streams over her eyes and nose, and she draws a final breath.
    The car hits the bottom of the canal with a gentle thud. It is suddenly terrifyingly quiet and dark.
    Senta feels for the door. The car is completely submerged and still, which means the pressure should have lightened enough for her to be able to open the door. She can hold her breath for quite a long time, but she knows her chances of survival are decreasing by the second. Her hand finds the door handle and pulls, as she pushes against the door with her shoulder. She seems to be moving the water; the door gives a little. With newfound energy she pushes a bit harder, but the effort causes her to exhale too much through her nose. Precious air is lost from her lungs. She feels her chest tighten, a throbbing in her throat.
    Her need for oxygen becomes ever greater, but she represses the impulse to open her mouth. Her lungs scream for air. She bashes her entire body against the door in mortal fear. It opens slightly. She forces her arm through the gap and then pushes the door, as though through thick treacle, agonisingly slowly out of the way.
    Something black suddenly appears next to her. She is grabbed and pulled from the car. A firm grip around her waist and up they go.
    Progress is slow, much too slow. With her gaze fixed on a light spot above her head that seems to spiral on the surface, she works her way upwards. Her ears sing and a choking feeling nestles in her windpipe. Just a little further. Her rescuer swims with fast strokes, much faster than she could have managed. But she has no more oxygen in her lungs. All she has is that last gasp of air and ever larger black spots appear before her eyes.
    Her rescuer almost lets her slip but he finds his grip again and pulls her upwards with him.
    Her body becomes slack, giving up the fight. Just a few more seconds and she must open her mouth; she cannot prevent it. Her lips, which she has held tightly together all this time, begin to yield. She knows it is the beginning of the end, that within a few instants her lungs will fill with water.
    She manages to keep her mouth closed for acouple of seconds, then her mind screams from lack of oxygen and her head seems to explode.
    Eyes wide open, Senta sees the watery surface above her head coming closer, but it’s too late. Colours flash before her eyes – she sees stars and then her body is filled with a dark shaft. A release.

7
    Thank God Kreuger hadn’t seen that woman. The few seconds she’d stood there in full view on the patio seemed to last forever. Lisa had held up her hand to reduce the flow of blood and the pain, but also to show her wound to the woman.
    Had she seen Kreuger? Had she seen the knife that he was threatening her with? Had the woman fully understood what was going on here? Perhaps – one moment she was there and the next she’d rushed away. This gives Lisa hope and enables her to