Read Online Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus - Free Book Online Page B

young horses and muck out their stalls. She just couldn’t cope with late-night partying anymore. At forty-one it was harder to recover from all-nighters than it had been at twenty-one. Absently she brushed her shoulder-length blond hair and plaited it into two braids. Going back to sleep was unthinkable after getting such bad news anyway. She went through the kitchen, removing the unpleasant letter from the table, and continued into the bedroom.
    “Hey, sweetie,” murmured Christoph, blinking away sleep in the bright light. “What time is it?”
    “Quarter to ten.”
    He sat up and massaged his temples with a groan. Contrary to habit he had heavily indulged in alcohol last night. “So when does Annika’s plane leave?”
    “Around two. We still have plenty of time.”
    “What’s that you have there?” he asked when he spied the letter in Pia’s hand.
    “A catastrophe,” she said morosely. “The zoning office answered.”
    “And?” Christoph was trying hard to wake up.
    “It’s a demolition order!”
    “What?”
    “The previous owner built this house without a permit—imagine! And now our inquiry has awakened sleeping dogs. All that’s approved is a garden hut and a horse stall. I don’t get it.”
    She sat down on the edge of the bed, shaking her head. “I’ve been registered at this address for a few years now; the garbagemen pick up the trash, I pay the water and sewer bills. Did they really think I’ve been living in a garden hut?”
    “Let me see.” Christoph scratched his head as he read the official letter. “We’ll lodge a protest. It’s just not right. The next-door neighbor is building a huge house, and you can’t even remodel your little bungalow!”
    The cell phone on the nightstand rang. Pia, who was on call that day, reluctantly picked it up. She listened for a few moments in silence.
    “All right, I’ll be there,” she said, punched off the call, and tossed the cell on the bed. “Damn.”
    “You have to go?”
    “Yes, sorry. A young man in Niederhöchstadt who was on the train platform yesterday reported that he saw a man push a woman over the railing.”
    Christoph put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Pia gave a deep sigh. He kissed first her cheek, then her lips. Why couldn’t this youth have waited until this afternoon to report the incident? Pia simply didn’t feel like working right now. Actually, it was Behnke’s turn to be on call this weekend. But he was “sick,” after all. And Hasse was “sick” too. To hell with those idiots! Pia leaned back and cuddled up to Christoph’s body, warm with sleep. His hand slid under the bath towel and caressed her belly.
    “Now stop worrying about this piece of paper,” he whispered, kissing her again. “We’ll figure it out. They’re not going to tear the house down tomorrow.”
    “Nothing but problems, day in and day out,” Pia murmured, deciding that the kid could wait a while longer at the station in Niederhöchstadt.
    *   *   *
     
    Bodenstein sat in his car across from the hospital in Bad Soden and waited for his colleague to show up. Dr. Lauterbach had given him the address of Rita Cramer’s ex-husband in Altenhain, but before he could give the man the bad news he had wanted to stop by the hospital and get an update on her condition. She had survived the first night; after an operation she now lay in an induced coma in the ICU. It was eleven thirty when Kirchhoff pulled up next to him, got out, and made her way around the puddles to his car.
    “The kid gave us a pretty good description of the man.” She plopped into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. “If Kai can manage to get a decent photo off the surveillance video, we’ll have a picture to give to the press.”
    “Excellent.” Bodenstein started the engine. He had asked Pia to ride with him to visit Rita Cramer’s ex-husband. On the short drive to Altenhain he told her about his conversation with Dr. Daniela