The Camera Killer Read Online Free PDF Page B

parents’ lives would be spared.
    The man closed his eyes and began to count slowly. The boy ran off.
    A motorist, who spotted the utterly frantic victim several miles from his parental home, picked him up and took him to the police.
    Eva kneaded her brow and said she might have to be sick. Heinrich too detected a certain pallor on the faces of all present. He turned off the television. Nobody spoke for five minutes or so.
    My partner went over to some shelves on the wall. After a while, she removed a CD and inserted it in the stereo system. Music was a good idea, said Heinrich. He suggested playing a game of cards. Eva said she was far from in the mood for cards, but in view of the circumstances, and because simply doing nothing would probably prevent her from shaking off her horrific thoughts, she was prepared to play. My partner and I did not decline to join in either.
    Heinrich fetched the deck of cards from an old wooden sideboard and put it on the table. When he went to get some red wine from the cellar, he discovered how hard it had started to rain again and swore repeatedly. On returning from the cellar with the wine, he remarked that the rain would probably have dispersed the crowd in the victims’ hometown. The storm was growing steadily worse, he said.
    Eva asked him to drop the subject for a while.
    As he was uncorking the wine, my partner opened a drawer in the table and took out some paper and writing utensils. Eva proceeded to shuffle the cards. We played rummy, as we had the previous night. There was no great change in our respective fortunes either, except in the case of Heinrich and myself. I won even more this time, and he lost more heavily than before.
    Once again, there were one or two breaks in play. Heinrich, who refused to comply with our suggestion that he bring up more than one bottle at a time (going down there kept him sober, he claimed), had to pay several visits to the cellar. We expressed our belief that he would be bound to catch a cold, even though he put on a blue terry cloth bathrobe after every sortie and changed back into outdoor clothes only when going to the cellar. Eva, who suffers from a weak bladder, had to make frequent visits to the bathroom.
    My partner fetched some nibbles and cookies. On one occasion, she went to get a cardigan because the downpour and the open window had made it unpleasantly chilly. During one of these intermissions, when Eva was in the bathroom, Heinrich asked if we believed that the video would really be shown. Neither of us doubted it. He said he insisted on watching the program. We said the same. Eva, who had rejoined us, put her fingers in her ears. Heinrich laughed and said, OK, OK.
    There was a knock at the door. My partner gave a violent start. Heinrich rose and we followed him. Standing outside were the farmer from next door and his wife, who was carrying an umbrella. She asked if we were coming with them to Mass at Kaibing Church.
    Heinrich was about to reply but was dissuaded by a warning glance and a surreptitious nudge from Eva. No, he said, we weren’t going to church but would watch the Easter Vigil Mass on television instead. He felt sure his neighbors were aware that the pope’s
Urbi et Orbi
benediction extended to viewers seated in front of their television sets. This was now valid for Easter Vigil services as well. That being so, we would stay home and be blessed by the cardinal on the screen.
    Oh, said the farmer’s wife, so that’s how it was these days. Everything had been different in the old days, and she adhered to the churchgoing tradition. The neighbors took their leave and we returned to the living room.
    That passed off all right for once, said Eva, but only just.
    Heinrich fulminated about rural traditions and the prevailing compulsion to defer to the Church. Eva said he should drop the subject.
    Heinrich went and fetched another bottle of wine. He had to slip into the bathrobe again on his return.
    My partner remarked that the