Devil's Touch by Tina Lindegaard Read Free Book Online Page A

and looks down.
    "But as far as I’m concerned, the witness will disappear again later today, so tomorrow you’ll call them up and say that it was a false alarm."
    "Nathan, I’m not doing that."
    "Listen Petra, there’s a witness. End of story."
    "Nathan."
    "Petra. Make the call."
    Petra gets that uneasy feeling again, but slowly nods and closes the door behind her.
    Nathan studies the cigar before carefully putting it in the ashtray, walks over to the garden door and throws the blanket out on the tiles.
    "That’s where it should have been hours ago."
    He breathes deeply and feels the clear autumn air filling his lungs.
    "Well, I need to find a witness, or Petra will never talk to me again."
    He grins and looks around before scratching his neck.
    "Aspirin must be first on the agenda for today."
    He leaves the room and walks carefully through the hall and up the stairs.
     
     
    The day after the swing broke, the world was already changing. A man in a dark suit had walked casually up the garden path.
    "Can I sit here next to you?”
    Evy and Linda had looked at each other and then looked up when they heard the crackling sound of candy bags. He gave them one each and sat down on the steps beside them. They had told him about their travels in the swing, about their mother, where they went to school, and where they played after school. At some point, the man had gotten up and taken out a camera from his pocket. He had laughed.
    "Smile."
    Evy still remembers her surprise. They hadn’t answered him, but only looked at him while he took a series of pictures. He bent down in the knees and took more pictures – some from the front, some from the side.
    Then he had quietly walked down the garden path again, waving goodbye before disappearing down the road. They had sat in silence, watching him leave until they heard a car taking off. They had been wearing their bright summer dresses, their toes wiggling in their sandals as they ate the rest of the candy.
    "Do you want the raspberry one, and then I can have the green one?"
    Linda had put her hand into Evy’s bag and put the green sweet in her mouth. ”My God, that’s 15 years ago.” In the mirror, Evy notices that her hair is tangled after sleeping, and she straightens it with slow movements.
    "Who did you just talk to, girls?"
    Their mom was in the door.
    "Where did you get that candy?"
    Both talking at the same time, they had told their mother about the stranger. They had looked at each other, because their mother had run down the garden path before they had finished.
    "Which way?!"
    Silently, they had pointed in the direction the man had disappeared. Their mother was gone for a long time. When she came back, they had looked at each other again and moved a little closer together. Her steps were firm, but her face had a faint expression of surrender. She had stopped on the path.
    "What did he look like?"
    They had both spoken at the same time.
    "Stop, stop. He’s taller than me, right?"
    They had both nodded.
    "How old?"
    They had laughed, and Linda had answered, boldly.
    "As old as you."
    Their mother chose to ignore that.
    "He’s blonde, right?"
    They had nodded again.
    "He was wearing a suit?"
    Again, they both nodded.
    "Black."
    "And the suit was black, yes?"
    They had nodded, then their mother had nodded and turned around and walked down the path.
    "Mom?"
    There was a question in Linda’s voice and their mother had turned around.
    "He had blonde hair that fell down over his forehead."
    She had moved the sweet to the other side of the mouth.
    "He kept moving one hand through it."
    She showed how with her hand. Their mother had looked at them for a long time.
    "And he was around 40."
    She hadn’t waited for an answer from them, but only shaken her head and looked down the garden path and then back at the girls.
    "Never do that again. If it happens again, scream as loud as you can."
    Their mother had walked toward them and, as she passed them, had ripped the bags out of