The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol

Author:Lene Kaaberbol
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2011-08-05T22:00:00+00:00

HELGOLANDSGADE.

The street was narrow and a bit claustrophobic. On one side was the newly refurbished Hotel Axel with its brilliant white facade and a big golden dragonfly hovering above the entrance. It had become trendy, thought Nina, to spend the night in Vesterbro, with a view of hookers and pick-pockets.

A group of teenage girls had taken up position directly opposite the hotel’s entrance. They looked like ordinary school girls, thought Nina in surprise. No leather, no fishnet stockings or bleached hair. They looked like regular young people ready for a night on the town. And yet, there was somehow no doubt what they were here for.

The four girls all checked the street regularly, eyeing the passersby. Every little while, one would separate herself from the herd, walk a few steps, perhaps get out her mobile, but without ever calling someone. Then she’d return to lean on the small black motor scooter they were all gathered around. While everyone else moved on, they stayed.

Nina gripped the boy’s hand a little more tightly, then approached them. A couple of phrases in accented English rose above the noisy conversation of a couple of drunks going the other way.

“Nineteen. You owe me.”

One of the girls laughed loudly, and took a couple of tottering steps backwards, on heels that were far too high for her.

They had been betting on her age, thought Nina, but she couldn’t tell whether the others had guessed too high or too low. She shivered. Ida would be fourteen at her next birthday.

“Excuse me?”

Nina deliberately made her voice soft and neutral. These girls wouldn’t want to talk to anyone except for necessary business, her instincts told her.

All the girls turned to regard her, and once more, Nina was struck by their youth. The heavy makeup and pale glittery lip gloss just made them look like little girls disguised as grown-ups. Nina half expected some tinny voice to announce that these were the contestants in some bizarre American Little Miss beauty pageant, so that any minute now, one of them might break into song.

One of the four took up a stance directly in front of her, legs apart and arms crossed over her chest, presumably in an effort to look menacing. She was small and very slim, her dark eyes darting nervously.

“I need some help with this boy,” said Nina. “I need to know if you can understand him.”

The girl cast a glance up the street, then looked at Nina again, her skepticism obvious.

“Atju,” said Nina, pointing at the boy. “Do you know what it means? Do you know which language?”

Something moved in the girl’s sullen face. Nina could practically see her deliberating the pros and cons, and separating them into two untidy piles. Nina quickly stuck her hand into the pockets of her jeans and came up with a crumbled hundred-kroner note. That obviously helped. The girl discreetly transferred the note to her own pocket.

“I’m not sure. I think maybe Lithuanian.”

Nina nodded, smiling as softly as she knew how. She was definitively out of cash now.

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