The Child Read Online Free PDF Page A

Stern may be an arsehole, but he’s no murderer.’
    ‘What makes you say that?’
    ‘Twenty-three years’ experience. I’ve got a nose for these things.’
    ‘And we can all see and hear how well it’s functioning.’
    Hertzlich was the only one who laughed at his little joke, and Engler had to concede that Brandmann hadn’t yet crawled all the way up the chief superintendent’s fundamental orifice. He did not, unfortunately, get to explain why he considered Robert Stern incapable of slaughtering a man with an axe because he was suddenly afflicted with another torrential nosebleed. His paper handkerchief turned crimson and he was once more compelled to tilt his head back.
    ‘Oh not again …’
    Hertzlich eyed him suspiciously. ‘Earlier on I thought these nosebleeds were part of the show. Are you up to heading this investigation?’
    ‘Yes, yes, it’s only a slight cold. No problem.’
    Engler tore two clean strips off his handkerchief, rolled them into balls and plugged his nostrils with them.
    ‘I’m fine.’
    ‘Excellent. Then round up your team and come to my office in ten minutes.’
    Engler glanced at the clock and groaned inwardly. It was a quarter to eleven. Quite apart from his own state of health, Charlie urgently needed his walkies. The poor dog had been shut up in his cramped little flat for over ten hours.
    ‘Don’t look like that, Engler, it won’t take long. Read the file, then you’ll understand why I want you to keep after Stern and give him a hard time.’
    Engler took the folder from the table.
    ‘Why?’ he called after Hertzlich, who was just leaving the interview room. ‘What’s in it?
    ‘The name of an old acquaintance.’
    Hertzlich turned.
    ‘We know who the dead man is.’

6
    Stern was greeted by a mournful voice on the answerphone in his hall when he came home shortly after 11 p.m. the following night. Carina had tried to contact him several times in the previous twenty-four hours but had left only one message. She had also been interviewed, and that morning the hospital’s medical director had suspended her until further notice.
    ‘Simon is doing well. He’s asking for you. But I’m afraid you now have two clients in need of a lawyer,’ she said in a weary attempt to be humorous. ‘Can they really charge me with kidnapping because I took Simon out of the hospital?’ She gave a nervous laugh before hanging up.
    Stern pressed 7 twice to delete the message. He would call her back tomorrow, Saturday, if at all. He really wanted nothing more to do with the whole business. He had enough on his plate already.
    Clamping the mail under his arm, he went into the living room without removing his overcoat. He surveyed the room after turning on the overhead light. It looked as if a well-organized gang of thieves had turned up with a van and driven off with all the decent furniture and anything of value. He stood there without moving for a moment longer, then turned off the light again. Its unforgiving glare reminded him of the bleak room in which Engler and Brandmann had questioned him last night. After all that had happened in the past week, the sight of his neglected home was more tolerable in semi-darkness.
    Stern’s footsteps on the cherrywood parquet re-echoed from the bare walls as he made his way over to the sofa past an overturned chair and a desiccated pot plant. No bookshelves or curtains, cupboards or carpets, just an unshaded silver-grey lamp standing askew beside the sofa. Even if it had been on, it wouldn’t have illuminated the cavernous room properly because three of its four bulbs were missing. What usually functioned as Stern’s light source was the decrepit old valve TV in front of the empty fireplace.
    He sat down on the sofa, picked up the remote control and shut his eyes as the screen filled with snow and white noise.
    Ten years
, he thought. He ran his hand over the bare expanse of rough leather beside him, feeling for the burn hole the sparkler had