Dark Mermaids by Anne Lauppe-Dunbar

Author:Anne Lauppe-Dunbar
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 111-1-11-111111-1
Publisher: Seren
Published: 2016-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

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Hedda Niedermann’s mouth stretched left to right, rigid with distress. Hands gripped, loosened, gripped as she tried not to cry.

‘He said she would be safe. He said nothing like this would happen.’

‘Who said?’ Sophia had made them coffee, extra sugar for Käthe’s mother, a white-haired athletic woman she was trying hard to recognise. ‘Your husband?’

‘No. How would he know? We divorced when he decided that living in the West was better. I wanted to stay, for Käthe and my parents.’

‘Hedda, who said she was going to be safe?’

‘Käthe was a good girl. You know that, don’t you? The three of you played together.’

‘I remember.’

‘She has medals.’ Käthe’s mother left the room, returning with silver and bronze. The design – Olympic champion on one side, Greek amphitheatre on the other – was well known. Sophia had the gold, hung by its ribbon, on the back of her door.

‘Maria came to tell me.’ Hedda re-wrapped the precious medals in tissue paper, placed them carefully in their boxes. ‘I don’t watch the Western programmes on the TV.Tears kept so rigidly in check began to slide down her face. ‘Dear Sophi, you will find out what happened, won’t you?’

‘Yes, of course I will, Hedda.’ Her response was an echo of former promises the three of them had made as children: ‘Now make sure you’re back by seven.’ ‘Yes, Frau Niedermann,’ they’d chorus, giggling the moment they reached the corner and were safely out of sight.

‘Good.’ The idea that someone would do something seemed to calm her.

‘Please tell me who promised Käthe would be safe?’

‘Petrus, of course. Your father. He promised.’

Her father? Petrus was involved, but how? Back at the hotel she was told that her father had rung. He’d arranged to meet with the consultant that morning. The problem was that Mia was insisting she accompany him to the hospital.

‘Sophia.’ He was waiting by the door, ready to greet her with a fleeting kiss on her left cheek. ‘Just in time. I really can’t take Mia.’

‘Petrus, you know Käthe’s dead, don't you. So why did you promise Hedda you’d look out for Käthe?’ How she longed to demand that he tell her about his work for the Stasi. Ah, there it was: honest fury, or was that fear lurking under her father’s careful veneer?

‘I had heard, however, what I say is my business, not yours. And I must insist you don’t poke your nose into local police matters. You know how careful we have to be.’

‘Father, things have changed. The Wall is down.’

‘Nothing has changed, Sophia. You’d do well to remember it.’ The taxi pulled up. Petrus stepped past her and hurried down the path as a pyjama-clad child sloped down the stairs and into the kitchen.

‘Why is Petrus cross with you?’ Mia began folding Oma’s clean laundry into a neat pile on the kitchen table.

‘Because I don’t always do what I’m told.’

‘Oh. Isn’t it dangerous to poke your nose into police business?’ The child had been sitting on the top step, ears pinned.

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