Psycho Thrill--Girl in the Well by Vincent Voss Read Free Book Online Page B

… face. Nearly impossible to make out, but Johanna gasps in shock. Henning nods.
    “I didn’t get it with the usual programs, but a friend gave me a few tips on fixing the contrast so that you can see it. And now … brace yourself, Jo.” Another mouse click and the face is clearer. A girl. It’s difficult to estimate her age. Long, black hair and the tops of her shoulders can be seen. She is wearing a dress. CLICK. Johanna can’t breathe.
    “She’s … climbing up the shaft,” she whispers.
    “How do you think I felt when I saw that, Jo. I was paralyzed.” CLICK. In this frame, the girl has almost reached the edge of the well, and Henning visibly flinches at that moment. A white or beige dress, which children used to wear at the turn of the century.
    “But her face …”
    “It looks like pure evil, doesn’t it?” The girl’s features are twisted into a grimace. Johanna and Henning lean forward to get a closer look. The eyes. Although they’re barely visible, the eyes feel threatening.
    “But she wasn’t there, right? Not really?” Johanna’s voice trembles a little.
    “No. Otherwise she would have come out somehow.”
    “And you set up the thermometer here?” She glances at the thermometer on his desk. Henning sighs, leans back, and folds his arms behind his head.
    “I don’t go anywhere without this thermometer now. At night, I wake up and check the temperature, Jo. Really, I think I’m going crazy.” She knows the feeling.
    “Is there any more?” she asks.
    “No, those were the last photos. Everything I shot afterward was lost.”
    “Want to go out for a drink tonight?” He has to think about it briefly before agreeing. Johanna gets up, Henning shuts down the computer. With his last glance at the screen, he almost gets the impression that the girl could come crawling out of the monitor.
*
    Monday, September 7, 1:00 p.m., Lubeck
    A tall man is waiting under the archway of the Holsten Gate. She had envisioned him in a suit, but he’s wearing jeans and a yellow sweater.
    “Ms. Ebeling?” He takes a step toward her and puts out his hand. As usual, when she talks to psychologists, she puts up a facade. She can’t help it.
    “Professor Ludemann.” She greets him a little louder, in order to be heard over the noise of the traffic that is flowing around the Holsten Gate.
    “Come on. We’ll go along the Trave River a little ways. I always spend my break there. It’s quieter. It’s a better place to talk or think.”
    They walk down a cobblestoned street past historic red brick houses along the Trave. Professor Ludemann slows down his steps.
    “How do you know the boy, Ms. Ebeling?” He turns to her curiously, his hands clasped behind his back.
    “I work at the witch archive. A research project that looks into supernatural phenomena and tries to find scientific answers.” In most cases, the listener reacts with surprise, but Professor Ludemann retains his interested facial expression. He’s probably already heard some pretty unusual things , Johanna thinks.
    “Mrs. Falkner called us a little over a month ago and then visited us unannounced. That’s how we came into contact. I only know of Lukas Falkner from what I’ve been told.” They back away to let a cyclist through.
    “And what did Mrs. Falkner come to you with?” Exactly what she had been hoping to avoid — being asked this question.
    “She was looking for help because she thought that she was evil.”
    “Mhm. And? Is she? Evil.” He smiles. Johanna shrugs.
    “To be honest, I don’t have an answer to that. She is certainly not evil in the sense that she’s an evil person. Rather, something evil outside of her has her in its grip. Something that follows her.”
    “Can you prove it?”
    “We’re working on it.”
    “We?”
    “My colleague and I.”
    “Why didn’t you bring your colleague along?”
    “He’s trying to find Mrs. Falkner. Since our visit with her ended … very dramatically … we’ve been