The Vanishing of Katharina Linden Read Online Free PDF Page A

side, and asked me whether we were supposed to be theVon Trapp family, my cup of bitterness overflowed and I resolved that next year I would
buy
a costume, even if I had to save up my entire pocket money between now and then.
    Stefan was slightly better off; he had a clearly recognizable Spider-Man costume complete with face mask. We made an odd pair, Dorothy and Spider-Man, scuttling through the cobbled streets with our bags stuffed with candy, popcorn, and plastic toys. Still—Karneval is a time for strange sights, when sour-faced neighbors turn jolly for the day, and straitlaced old ladies dress up as vampires or French maids. It was also, as it turned out, the ideal time for someone—or something—else to stalk the streets, someone whose strangeness and inhuman intent went unnoticed in the general mayhem.
    As the procession moved through the town, Stefan and I followed it, threading our way through the crowds together. I remember seeing Katharina Linden at the fountain as we reached the junction in the center of town. It must have been at about a quarter to three.
    A little farther on I remember seeing Frau Linden, who was dressed as a clown in a kind of multicolored romper suit and a green curly wig. She was holding Nils—the younger of Katharina’s two brothers—by the hand. Nils was dressed as a ladybug, and looked thoroughly disgusted at the whole proceedings; he was swinging on her arm and complaining vociferously about something.
    Perhaps that is why Frau Linden failed to notice her daughter’s disappearance at first; she was preoccupied with the much younger Nils. And, after all, Bad Münstereifel was a small town—everyone knew one another, and even during Karneval there were enough friendly faces around that you needn’t worry about your children. Or so everyone thought.
    When the procession had reached the Werther Tor, we wandered back to the fountain where we’d passed Katharina Linden, and sat on the edge of the stone basin, full of candy and feeling contented in a slightly queasy way. The crowds were dispersing, and the floats had been replaced with a squat street-cleaning machine that growled over the cobblestones like an oversized vacuum cleaner, followed by a team of bored-looking men dressed in orange overalls and armed with trash bags.
    I looked away, up toward the archway leading into the St. MichaelGymnasium, and saw a flicker of color as someone dressed in a clown suit came hurrying out. It was Frau Linden, minus Nils. She moved quickly across the Salzmarkt and out of my line of vision. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I was a little surprised when several minutes later she appeared from the alley at the side of the
Rathaus
, and came hurrying down the street toward us. I dug Stefan in the ribs with my elbow to make him look up.
    “What?”
    I nodded in the direction of Frau Linden, who was now making a beeline for us. I was formulating some silly remark when I saw her expression. Her face, normally warm and kindly, had a frigid, set look to it that sat oddly with her emerald-green wig. Instinctively sensing that something was wrong, I got to my feet as she came up to us.
    “Have you seen Katharina?”
    Her voice was taut, vibrating as though it would suddenly break and shatter her composure. I looked at her uncertainly.
    “We saw her earlier on,” I told her.
    “Where?” There was an unstable urgency in her voice. I found myself leaning backward, thinking that she might take me by the shoulders and shake me; she had that sort of look.
    “Here,” I said. “By the fountain.” From her face I could see this was not the answer she wanted; I suddenly felt hot all over, as though I had told her a lie.
    “Did you see where she went?” snapped Frau Linden.
    “No,” said Stefan, and Frau Linden shot him a look, as if she had only just noticed him.
    “No, sorry,” I said, echoing Stefan. We looked at each other uncomfortably.
    Frau Linden suddenly seemed to sag a