Bernhard Aichner - Woman of the Dead - A Thriller

‘This is a hearse, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s cool.’

‘You get used to it, believe me.’

‘Why do you drive a hearse?’

‘Do you like it?’

‘I asked, why do you drive a hearse?’

‘Because I think it’s cool too. I got it on the internet.’

‘Who buys a hearse through choice?’

‘I do. I bought it in the States. Apparently President Kennedy was driven from Dallas to Washington in this vehicle. I had to have it.’

‘You don’t have anything to do with funeral parlours, do you?’

‘What?’

‘Taking dead bodies for a nice drive?’

‘Are you crazy?’

‘Well, it’s the obvious conclusion, isn’t it?’

‘The only person going for a drive in this car is me. I’ve come straight from Sardinia. It’s really comfortable sleeping in here.’

‘I’d like to try it myself.’

‘I can’t understand why everyone is so freaked out by the dead.’

‘I’m not.’

‘It’s only a car. And you can wash a car.’

‘So it doesn’t bother you that dead bodies used to lie in it?’

‘Does it bother you?’

‘No, it’s a great car.’

Blum dismisses whatever is going through Schönborn’s mind. She drives to Igls, a suburb of Innsbruck, and waits for his head to drop back at last. But his head doesn’t drop. Schönborn goes on talking, goes on indulging in tawdry jokes, says how he’s looking forward to what is going to happen next. Blum counts the seconds, wonders whether to turn round or stop right there in the middle of Igls. The last thing she wants is to be alone with this man in the forest. She has to come to a decision; they are already on the road between Igls and Patsch, with the forest looming in on both sides. Schönborn asks where she is going to undress. He is wide awake. He is not losing consciousness, he is not dropping off to sleep, he is still very much there. Not far now, says Blum. She doesn’t know what to do, whether to risk driving on, stopping, getting out of the Cadillac. It can’t be much longer now, but all the same, images are tumbling through her head. She sees herself trying to stall, she sees him getting impatient and pushing her to the ground, getting on top of her, tearing down her trousers. Blum sees all that in her mind’s eye, but still she turns off the road. She can’t help it, she must do it, she drives along the narrow forest path and thinks of Mark. Thinks of him sitting beside her and smiling. Stroking her cheek with his dear fingers. It will be all right , he says. She doesn’t know yet that this time he is going to be wrong. It is not going to be all right. It is going to be far worse than she imagined.

‘It’s so good of you to come.’

‘What about the children?’

‘Asleep. Come in.’

‘How are you doing, Blum?’

‘Not so well.’

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I just don’t want to be alone tonight.’

‘How can I help?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You’re shivering. Please tell me how to help you.’

‘You’re here, and that helps.’

‘Please, Blum. You phoned me. I’m here, and whatever the matter is we can deal with it together.’

‘Could you hold me close?’

‘Now?’

‘Lie down on the sofa with me and just hold me close.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘That’s the only thing that will help.’

‘Like this?’

‘Yes.’

‘It will get better, you’ll see.’

‘That’s what he always used to say.’

‘Mark?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m here for you now.’

‘Thank you, Massimo. And Massimo?’

‘What?’

‘Could you make love to me?’

‘What?’

‘Could you?’

‘Yes.’

Massimo follows her. Blum takes his hand and leads him through the house. Past the bedroom and into Mark’s study. Massimo says nothing, he just follows her, does what she wants him to do. He watches as she undresses then stands naked in front of him. Blum wants to feel something, she wants to take her mind off Schönborn. She lies down on Mark’s sofa and tells Massimo to undress too. He hesitates; it is almost as if he doubts her, as if he isn’t sure whether Blum is joking. She draws him close, and he lies down beside her. He is quiet, careful, affectionate. Blum takes his hand and places it on her breasts. They don’t talk. Blum’s eyes are closed. She wants his mouth, his skin, his hands, everything. He is lying on her, kissing her, and she lets him. He is making Schönborn disappear for a little while, everything he has done and everything she has done. Blum embraces Massimo, holds him close, presses him to her. Blum wants her husband’s best friend to stay, to warm her, touch her everywhere, she wants him to protect and help her. But no one must know that he is here, lying beside her, holding her in his arms.

For a long time they do not say a word. Blum wants to keep her eyes closed, she doesn’t want to open them and see what she has done. She senses that he is inside her, her tongue has disappeared into his mouth. She doesn’t want to see his skin, smell him, talk to him. She can’t. Whatever she has planned in advance, she won’t follow through, won’t tell him what has happened. She wouldn’t know how to explain it to him, and she doesn’t know whether he can help her at all. His hands are tied, he has to keep the rules, there’s nothing he can do for her. The photographer Edwin Schönborn is lying in my cellar, Massimo. Please could you get me out of this? I anaesthetised him and abducted him, and he’s lying in the preparation room. Come on, Massimo, turn a blind eye and make things all right again. I’m in a fix. Maybe I overreacted, maybe it didn’t have to turn out like this, but it’s happened now. So you must help me. You know I have children, I can’t go to prison now. So please, my dear, see to all this. Thank you, very kind of you. No, that won’t do. Everything has changed. She will take Massimo to the door now. He will get dressed and drive home, and then she will go down to the cellar to see Schönborn. She can’t depend on anyone but herself, she will find a way out of her fix, something will occur to her. She will get the ship back on course. Never mind how good his skin feels, never mind whether she hates herself for this, she cannot waste any more time. Blum kisses him and jumps up. You must go now , she says. And he asks, Can I come back?

Three hours earlier, Blum opens the door to the cool room. He is lying on the aluminium table between two coffins. She tied him up like a parcel and left him among the coffins. She was afraid he might come round before she returned; she had to hide him in case Karl or one of the children accidentally wandered in. Now Blum is alone with him.

And there he lies, the monster she has caught. She struck him down, and dragged him out of the car like a piece of meat. There’s nothing dangerous about him now. She got him into the preparation room unseen, raised him to the aluminium table without any difficulty and wheeled it into the cool room. It was child’s play. He is lying between two bodies. Two coffins and Schönborn, at five degrees. She closes the door and leaves him alone. He can wait. Until the children are asleep and she can be with him undisturbed.

But the children weren’t sleepy and wouldn’t let her go. Blum had to read aloud to them, tell them one story, then another. And just one more. While Schönborn slumbered in the refrigerator, Blum was upstairs with Uma and Nela. Please stay, Mama. We’re scared, Mama. Stay until we’re asleep. Please. Even though Blum was impatient to bring Schönborn round and hear what he had to say, she had to stay with the children. Nothing was more important than that. Only when they were lying side by side peacefully, fast asleep, did she return.