Woman of the Dead Read Free

fingers over the little head, touches the child’s cheek and tells her that the bear only wanted to play, it was just a dream. Nothing bad is going to happen; I’ll look after you. Blum’s daughter Uma started talking a few months ago, she is an angel with blond curls. There’s another angel too. Nela has gone back to sleep, lying contentedly in the crook of her father’s arm. The children are in their parents’ bed, first thing in the morning. It is a perfectly normal day for Blum and Mark.
    Eight years ago, they touched each other for the first time. He put his arms around her on the boat. He was a wonderful man, right from the very first moment when he was there, taking care of her. Mark waited with her until the coastguard arrived, until she had answered hundreds of questions. He simply stayed by her side. Talking to the police officers on the case, he described how he had found Blum, assuring them that he did not doubt her version of the story. Everything went to show that she was telling the truth. Her sunburn, her desperation, her tears: Blum had lost her parents in a tragic accident. And Mark had found her. A cop on holiday, a criminal investigation officer and an Austrian like Blum. A bachelor with a passion for sailing. It all fitted together, they had found one another, and to this day they haven’t let each other go.
    Their bodies are intertwined, skin against skin as they touch. They are very close, their mouths whisper
Good morning
before they begin playing with their children, growling playfully. Everything feels good. They lie happily beside each other, watching the little girls get out of bed and set off to visit their grandfather.
I want some cocoa, Papa. I want some salami, Mama. We’re going to see Grandpa. You two are boring
. Blum laughs. Mark holds her lovingly in his arms, he won’t let her go, she nestles close to him, purring.
I want to stay with you in this bed for ever
. Blum enjoys every day, every hour of her whole life. His fingers have danced over her for eight years, they’ve been married for six, they have been a family for five. They plunged into their love passionately, and it still intoxicates them.
    ‘Mark?’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Can’t you just stay at home?’
    ‘I’m afraid not, but I’ll be back. There’s a lot going on at the moment.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘You don’t want to know, my lovely.’
    ‘We could just pretend the world wasn’t there.’
    ‘Well, yes, we could.’
    ‘But?’
    ‘But I have to catch the villains.’
    ‘You don’t have to. You want to.’
    ‘And you want to play with your dead people. I know you. You wouldn’t last here long. In ten minutes’ time you’d be jumping up and telling me there’s something you have to do, the old lady brought in last night can’t wait any longer.’
    ‘Would I?’
    ‘Yes, you would.’
    ‘Two more minutes, OK?’
    ‘Ten if you like.’
    Even on the boat, she had sensed that this man would make her happy. She knew from the way he embraced her and consoled her, even though he was a stranger. A criminal investigator in the police force, how absurd. He’d surely have been able to see through her, tear off her mask and get her imprisoned, he could have ended her new life before it had even begun. But it had turned out so differently. Blum wanted the embrace that had begun so suddenly never to end, she wanted to become acquainted with those arms, those hands. She wanted him, for the first time ever she wanted a man, for the first time she thought such a thing possible. She was ready to let him come close to her without hesitation or fear. Very close. And he wasn’t deterred by her profession, he was not afraid of the dead.
    She met him again. Back in the harbour in Trieste, back in Austria. They understood one another and came together without many words. He was her friend, her protector, he was there when she buried her parents, he was there when she converted the Funerary Institute, he helped in any way