Ghost Town by Kevin Chen

Author:Kevin Chen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 2022-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

22. Sticky with the autumn in Berlin

Belinda’s big black German sedan hurtled south.

She hopped in the car as soon as she heard that her baby brother was back. When she got on the highway she stepped on the gas. Flashing speed cameras didn’t slow her down a bit. She could imagine the look on her husband’s face, which appeared on television every evening covered in a layer of foundation, when he got the fines. He wouldn’t frown when he saw the amounts. Not a single ripple would wrinkle his brow. His reaction would only register in his cold, unblinking eyes. The irises would fade behind a thin layer of fog, and icebergs would erupt out of his pupils, causing his crow’s feet to spread.

She floored it. Since she was going to run into those icebergs anyway, why not do it at full tilt? Keith, I can’t believe you’re back!

He wrote a letter to every sister, telling them no need to visit, please don’t come. But Belinda went anyway.

Her husband was taking a team to Berlin to do a feature. She begged him to let her tag along. He was unwilling. “I don’t want anyone to know my brother-in-law in Germany is a murderer. Use your head, think of what those sharks will do when they smell blood. Thank God he’s no literary celebrity. None of those books he wrote were bestsellers. Remember that news story about him winning that competition? It was just a mention, really. The reporter didn’t bother to dig. If he had, Keith would have led him to you. And who would have been sorry then?”

“If you don’t let me go, then I’m going to go on my own,” she retorted. “Think about it, which is more likely to cause trouble, if I go alone or if I go with you?”

She contacted Keith’s lawyer before she left. The jail held visiting hours every two weeks. She just had to apply in advance. She selected the day. Her husband said he would go along, too, but at the thought of paparazzi outside the jail he got cold feet at the last minute and arranged an interview with some political figure instead. The lawyer told her to bring her passport and be prepared to leave her personal possessions in a locker at the entrance. Wallets, credit cards, cash, keys, and mobile communications devices weren’t allowed in.

Belinda walked out of the hotel to hail a cab, but she had to hunt for the longest time before finding one. The jail turned out to be only fifteen minutes away. She assumed it would be in some unpopulated area in the suburbs or exurbs, as far from the downtown core as possible. But no, it was in a regular residential neighborhood not far from the city center. The yellow foliage on the trees glimmered in the early autumn sunlight. The wind swished the fallen leaves around on the ground. She’d arranged to meet the lawyer at the west gate. He was waiting for her there.

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