bed and I stepped back, trying to decide whether it might, after all, be worthwhile brazening it out if she discovered my eavesdropping. Then she sat back down, the bed springs creaking, and I heard the sound of her cigarette lighter.
‘I promised, didn’t I?’ she said. ‘I’ll be there.’ The smell of cigarette smoke crept underneath the door. ‘Yes, of course, as much as I can…’
There was another moment of silence then she began to speak. ‘Darling, I…’ then stopped. After a moment I heard her put the phone down. She’d obviously been cut off quicker than she might have liked. I snuck back to my room and carefully closed the door behind me.
So, I had discovered two things. Firstly, she was in contact with Lucas. This made life much easier, especially as she was clearly planning on meeting him. Secondly, given her little performance when I’d arrived, so shocked at the news of Robie’s disappearance, she was a better actress than the current state of her career suggested.
Tomorrow I would follow her and see where she led me.
I moved over to the window and looked out. It was snowing again, adding to the layers I had walked through earlier, deepening and building up in drifts. In the middle of the street an old woman was dancing, spiralling around in the falling snow. I was reminded of the young girl Engel and I had seen outside Grauber’s apartment. These Berliners do so love the snow, I thought, watching her spin and spin. Her head was upturned towards me, its sagging face pulled into a grin of joy. Suddenly she stopped and stared at me. The room was dark, there was no way she could be aware I was watching. I kept telling myself that as she stared directly at me. After a moment she hooked her index fingers into the corners of her mouth and pulled her face into a distorted mask, like a rude schoolchild pulling faces behind a teacher’s back. Face distended, she hopped up and down on the spot, as if throwing the insult up at me. I continued to stare, trying to find reason and logic in her behaviour and coming up short. Finally she fell back into the road and lay still. I was just accepting that I would have to go down there and make sure she was all right when she slowly got to her feet, hands pressed to her left hip as if in pain. She looked around, seemingly confused to find herself there, and then limped away into the darkness.
SEVENTEEN
I had little choice but to sit by the window and wait for the new day. I couldn’t risk Alexandra leaving the apartment without me. Of course, the sleep I had been so uninterested in earlier seemed far more attractive by the time the distant floodlights of the Wall were replaced by the encroaching dawn. Eventually I left the room in search of coffee and the opportunity to keep moving.
I finally found the things I needed in her lacklustre kitchen to put some caffeine in me and leaned out of the window to drink it, letting the cold of the morning shock me into wakefulness. The snow was thick now, the early morning traffic carving back ownership of the roads as pedestrians plodded up to their ankles in it on the pavement. It had stopped falling for now but the heavy clouds above us made it clear we could expect its return soon enough.
Alexandra woke late, damn her, and, by the time she shuffled into the room I was on my third coffee and had searched the flat thoroughly just in case I stumbled on anything interesting. I hadn’t, but I had given it a good tidy so at least one of us was up on the deal.
‘It looks different in here,’ she said, as she looked around the lounge.
‘I couldn’t sleep,’ I told her, ‘so I did some housework. I hope you don’t mind.’
She shrugged and shuffled off into the kitchen. ‘I haven’t got much food in,’ she shouted.
I already knew that, having tried to make myself some form of breakfast an hour or so earlier. I had come back with nothing but a working knowledge of how long tinned mushrooms thrived past their
‘I promised, didn’t I?’ she said. ‘I’ll be there.’ The smell of cigarette smoke crept underneath the door. ‘Yes, of course, as much as I can…’
There was another moment of silence then she began to speak. ‘Darling, I…’ then stopped. After a moment I heard her put the phone down. She’d obviously been cut off quicker than she might have liked. I snuck back to my room and carefully closed the door behind me.
So, I had discovered two things. Firstly, she was in contact with Lucas. This made life much easier, especially as she was clearly planning on meeting him. Secondly, given her little performance when I’d arrived, so shocked at the news of Robie’s disappearance, she was a better actress than the current state of her career suggested.
Tomorrow I would follow her and see where she led me.
I moved over to the window and looked out. It was snowing again, adding to the layers I had walked through earlier, deepening and building up in drifts. In the middle of the street an old woman was dancing, spiralling around in the falling snow. I was reminded of the young girl Engel and I had seen outside Grauber’s apartment. These Berliners do so love the snow, I thought, watching her spin and spin. Her head was upturned towards me, its sagging face pulled into a grin of joy. Suddenly she stopped and stared at me. The room was dark, there was no way she could be aware I was watching. I kept telling myself that as she stared directly at me. After a moment she hooked her index fingers into the corners of her mouth and pulled her face into a distorted mask, like a rude schoolchild pulling faces behind a teacher’s back. Face distended, she hopped up and down on the spot, as if throwing the insult up at me. I continued to stare, trying to find reason and logic in her behaviour and coming up short. Finally she fell back into the road and lay still. I was just accepting that I would have to go down there and make sure she was all right when she slowly got to her feet, hands pressed to her left hip as if in pain. She looked around, seemingly confused to find herself there, and then limped away into the darkness.
SEVENTEEN
I had little choice but to sit by the window and wait for the new day. I couldn’t risk Alexandra leaving the apartment without me. Of course, the sleep I had been so uninterested in earlier seemed far more attractive by the time the distant floodlights of the Wall were replaced by the encroaching dawn. Eventually I left the room in search of coffee and the opportunity to keep moving.
I finally found the things I needed in her lacklustre kitchen to put some caffeine in me and leaned out of the window to drink it, letting the cold of the morning shock me into wakefulness. The snow was thick now, the early morning traffic carving back ownership of the roads as pedestrians plodded up to their ankles in it on the pavement. It had stopped falling for now but the heavy clouds above us made it clear we could expect its return soon enough.
Alexandra woke late, damn her, and, by the time she shuffled into the room I was on my third coffee and had searched the flat thoroughly just in case I stumbled on anything interesting. I hadn’t, but I had given it a good tidy so at least one of us was up on the deal.
‘It looks different in here,’ she said, as she looked around the lounge.
‘I couldn’t sleep,’ I told her, ‘so I did some housework. I hope you don’t mind.’
She shrugged and shuffled off into the kitchen. ‘I haven’t got much food in,’ she shouted.
I already knew that, having tried to make myself some form of breakfast an hour or so earlier. I had come back with nothing but a working knowledge of how long tinned mushrooms thrived past their
Similar Books
