"Yes, yes. Call and ask for a postponement. We have a new witness."
"We do?"
Petra sounds surprised.
"It"s an old case."
Nathan sends her a crooked smile.
"That"s all you need to know."
"Is there a new witness?"
"As far as you"re concerned, there is."
He blinks 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 G.o.d, 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 pa.s.sed them, had ripped the bags out of their hands before going into the house.
Evy runs her fingers through her hair, carefully checking it in the mirror before putting down the envelope and closing her robe.
When Nathan is back in the living room, he"s holding a cup of coffee. He has changed his clothes, and the aspirins have clearly started working. He picks up his phone from the small table next to the chair, brushing the whisky bottle in the process and almost tipping it over.
"Hmm."
A feeling of guilt washes over him, and he stares at the chair he had just been sitting in. "Denize would have been furious about this." He straightens himself.
"OK, let"s start the day."
He brings the phone over to the open garden door and breathes deeply while looking out at the park, "exactly like any other day, if only I didn"t have such a headache." He laughs. "Maybe that"s my punishment." He looks up at the clear autumn sky, then he looks down at the phone, checking the text message. He doesn"t recognize the number and checks his phone log from the day before.
"Oh, good."
The number from the text is the last number he called the day before. He smiles and crosses the hall while reading and enters his office. Pa.s.sing Petra, he holds out his cup.
"Will you please fill this?"
Petra takes his cup. Nathan doesn"t look up from the phone. When he reaches the door, he stops and turns, looking at her sternly.
"Did you make the call?"
Petra nods.
"And?"
"And?"
"How long was the case postponed?"
"Till next week. You have to be in court in exactly one week."
"Thank you."
He turns but stops the movement and looks at her again.
"Remember to put it in the calendar."
Petra can"t hide her surprise.
"I always do that."
Nathan looks at her a little, then he nods and walks through the door.
"Of course you do. Don"t forget my coffee."
He sits down at his desk and dials the number from the previous day.
"Is that Marc Jones? Nathan Wilkins here. About the text message, can you come to my office today?"
Nathan"s voice suggests that saying no is not an option. Petra puts the full coffee cup in front of him. Nathan nods at the case that should have been to trial this morning. Petra stops.
"Marc, I need you to call my secretary about a case. I"m sure there"s a witness that hasn"t been found yet. I need you to find this witness for me."
"Just call the main number. My secretary will give you more details.
Petra leaves the office, shaking her head.
"And Marc. The case you texted me about...I ask you to keep that between you and me. I"m surprised to hear that you have been working with it before. When can we meet?"
Nathan swallows.
"As soon as possible."
Nathan listens intensely while looking at today"s calendar.
"Today is fine and the time is fine too."
Nathan breaks off and stares into s.p.a.ce with empty eyes.
"Hmm."
He leans forward and picks up the coffee cup.
"Hmm."
Slowly, he gets up and walks over to the window. He starts when the rays of the autumn sun reach him and his headache. He blinks a little before moving into the shade from the curtains. From afar, he hears the phone ringing in Petra"s office.