Safe as Houses Read Online Free PDF Page B

left any traces at all.
    Kreuger walks over to her and stops. She doesn’t dare to look up at him.
    â€˜Just now you said your husband would be home at half five,’ he says in a strange, low voice.
    â€˜I’m . . . I’m sorry. I thought you’d be gone by then. I . . .’
    His arm moves quickly and his fist hits her nose. Blood spurts. Anouk begins to scream; Lisa cries out and puts a hand to her face. Then she puts her head between her knees and presses one of the sofa cushions against her nose in an attempt to stem the bleed.
    â€˜Look at me,’ Kreuger commands in an icy voice.
    Lisa looks up warily, her eyes filled with tears of pain.
    â€˜Don’t lie to me again. I don’t like lying bitches.’ A threatening shine appears in Kreuger’s eyes. ‘If you do exactly what I say, nothing will happen to you. If you don’t . . .’
    â€˜All right,’ Lisa says in a stifled voice. ‘I’ll do what you say. Really, I promise.’
    She means it. She doesn’t know how long he’s planning to stay, but however long it is, she’ll manage. She doesn’t have a choice; she’ll just have to make the best of it. Win his trust, become his friend.
    Does he mean that he isn’t planning on doing anything to her? She has seen his face and sheknows his name. Maybe he’ll murder them once he’s had enough of their company.
    No, she says to herself. He’s said he won’t do anything and you’ll have to trust that. You’ll go mad otherwise.
    It would take a lot to drive her crazy, but she still has to be careful not to lose her self-control. For Anouk’s sake, but also for her own.
    Slowly Lisa stretches out her arms and legs to relax the tense muscles. At the same time she concentrates on the task at hand: making friends with this mentally disturbed man who stabbed her hand with a knife and has twice given her a bloody nose. God knows what he’s capable of – she’s not going to try to find out. She forbids herself from thinking about it. She is able to do this: she can repress the anxious part of her personality and bring the other part forward. Deep inside her there is a switch that she can click with iron discipline, so that the shaking and stammering stop and her body begins to obey again.
    From the sofa she can hear Anouk’s squeaky breathing alternating with sobs. Lisa puts down the bloody cushion and turns to her daughter, but Anouk pushes her away.
    â€˜Mummy, your face is covered in blood,’ she says with teary eyes.
    â€˜Shh, darling, don’t cry. It looks worse than itis,’ Lisa whispers. ‘Remember when you fell off your bike and you cut your forehead? That bled a lot too, didn’t it? Even though it was just a little cut.’
    â€˜Is your nose still bleeding?’ Kreuger asks in a businesslike manner.
    Lisa carefully rubs a finger under her nostrils, looks at the result and shakes her head.
    â€˜Go and clean yourself up in the kitchen.’
    She gets up carefully. ‘Anouk, Mummy’s going to wash away the blood. I’ll be right back – you’ll see that it’s fine.’
    Sitting up stiffly, Anouk follows her mother to the kitchen with her eyes.
    Strange, she doesn’t know where the wipes are any more. Stunned, Lisa stands in the middle of the kitchen. It costs her some effort to remember. Of course, in the utility room. She reaches in the cupboard for a clean cloth and holds it under the cold tap. She carefully cleans away the blood.
    From time to time, she looks out of the kitchen door at the back garden and the field stretching out beyond. The mist has lifted. The dirt track to the nearest village is quiet and empty.

8
    Lisa used to think that happiness was something you could demand, like a kind of birthright. If you had a positive attitude, life couldn’t really hurt you. Being happy was a character trait,