Chantal van Mierlo - Julia Menken

He left her standing there quite astounded. What an unbelievably horrible evening. She was desperate for a cigarette. There should be a packet somewhere in her glove compartment, especially for these kinds of occasions. Daniel wouldn’t be able to smell it, because he would be fast asleep by the time she would get home. Ever since his burnout he would really be asleep any time either she or the kids weren’t forcing him to be awake.

Maarten had his back towards her again, busily gesturing towards the person he was talking to. She was just about to walk over to her car to get the cigarettes when he stepped out of the way and a dark man started walking towards her. He had short black curly hair, shiny with gel and he had a beaming smile. He cheerfully extended his hand out towards her.

“I’m Diego Kortzorg, from the East Netherlands Police Department’s National Crime Squad.”

She introduced herself and explained she was the Behavioural Expert from the National Unit, drafted in by Maarten.

“Yes, he’s told me all about you, trained at the FBI etc, I look forward to working with you. Of course we’re all just ordinary detectives here.”

Fantastic start. She was an outsider, she would have to prove herself again every single day. Where an investigation team would normally be happy with some fresh ideas where a deadlock situation was concerned, here she would undoubtedly be regarded as a know-it-all.

Diego seemed to notice she felt a little uncomfortable. “Sorry, that was unnecessary. We really need all the help we can get catching this killer. Before there are any more victims.”

“Have the parents been informed yet?”

“We’re still trying to establish his identity.”

“We don’t know who he is?”

“Nothing personal was found at the crime scene. No school bag, no wallet and no phone.”

“And no one’s reported him missing?”

“Not yet, but the entire unit is on high alert. Plus we’re also contacting all the local schools, hoping someone will recognise him.”

This was truly awful, she was thinking of the photo of his face, which had been taken in such a way that the huge neck wound was barely visible. Somewhere a mother was waiting for her son to come home, perhaps already worrying about the fact he wasn’t there yet, maybe called some of his friends already. Maybe she had managed to reassure herself with the thought that he had lost track of time, or that he was perhaps secretly meeting up with his first girlfriend. And all that time her son had been lying here on the cold concrete, robbed of a life that had only just started. An injustice so great that she felt obliged to do absolutely everything in her power to make sure the perpetrator got the punishment he deserved. After all, that was the very reason she had decided to join the police all those years ago.

“I think we’re done here for the time being, the technical boys are going to be working through the night. The victim will soon be collected and taken to The Hague for an autopsy. I’ll arrange for a desk to be set up for you at our offices.”

“Is Rich going to be doing this?”

“Richard Galvez? Yes, he’s going to be doing the autopsy.”

She was familiar with the Dutch Forensic Institute and she knew the child pathologist from the time when she had been working as a detective in Rotterdam.

“Shall we meet there early in the morning?”

She nodded. Dozens of questions were circling around in her head, but Diego was right, she would get her first clues from Galvez at the DFI in the morning. And hopefully by that time the door to door enquiries would have resulted in a few more answers too.

*

She was surprised to see the lights were still on when she got home. She parked her car on the drive behind Daniel’s Renault Megane. The outside light came on too. The white-yellow light confronted her with the weeds sprouting out from in between the boxwood hedges. She’d never had green fingers. Daniel had always been the one to make sure the front garden looked presentable.

This had been their dream home eight years ago: a modern semi-detached house in a dead-end street, with a playground right around the corner. They had been the first residents to move in and had been able to follow every step of the new housing project. They had often crawled through the building site’s fences to check on the progress of their new home. They would sit on the concrete of their future living room, drink a beer together and fantasise about how they were going to furnish their home. They needed two children’s rooms and a terrace with wooden decking at the back. And grass. Making sure their children could play outside. Now it all looked rather bleak. Their garden looked somewhat uncared for, compared to the rest of the street. Daniel didn’t feel like doing anything anymore. He couldn’t even muster up the energy to put the bins out on collection day.

Of course she felt responsible for his happiness, there was nothing she’d like more than to see that glistening back in his eyes again. When she stopped to think about it, she couldn’t actually remember when that light had gone out. It had been a gradual process. Daniel’s physical complaints had started two years ago. Headache, back pain. Initially she had thought it was very normal. Mees was five and Evi had only just been born. Evi had been a terrible sleeper and she had put his exhaustion down to those sleepless nights. She hadn’t realised quite how bad it was until he had collapsed and had subsequently not been able to get out of bed for an entire week.

His burnout had made their lives complicated. Her positive guy, who had always seemed to be able to deal with absolutely anything, had disappeared. The engineer who had led international construction projects and who managed a group of motivated employees had changed into a depressed person who no longer wanted to leave his home. It had certainly affected her too. It was damned hard to accept that her husband may well never be the same again. And even though she absolutely refused to admit it, deep inside she longed for that sociable, lively lad she had once fallen in love with.

Daniel had now returned to work again, although part-time for the time being, in a position which was far below his ability. But it was a start, at least he was heading back out the door again every single day, but when he returned in the afternoon he was utterly drained. Literally everything rested on her shoulders: caring for the children, her own work, the household chores ... And then there were those fears she was still struggling with.

Julia had managed to structure their entire lives: a cleaner came in twice a week and the children were collected by Ans, the childminder, at half past seven every morning. Daniel didn’t need to collect the kids again until six in the evening, but even that was too much for him sometimes.

She found him asleep on the sofa, with the television on some sort of real-life soap. She put her bag down on the dining table as quietly as possible and carried on upstairs. She knelt down next to Evi’s bed. The nightlight cast a warm glow across her face. Chubby little cheeks and thick black eyelashes, her curls stuck to her face. She pulled the duvet down a little and kissed her on the forehead, taking in the sweet smell of baby shampoo. She stayed sat like that for a little while and then went in to check on Mees. She almost tripped over the Lego which was spread out across the carpet in front of his bed. She moved them off to one side with her foot, making sure he wouldn’t hurt himself if he got out of bed for a wee in the middle of the night.

She took off her clothes in the bathroom without bothering to turn on the light and sat down on the toilet. What a day. Images shot through her head. From the boy who had been found today, to damaged little faces and gagged children’s bodies, interspersed with Mees and Evi’s faces. She stood back up and went to get the packet of sleeping pills out of the medicine cabinet. They were the last ones she had, as she had agreed with the company doctor to start weaning herself off them. She knew she wasn’t supposed to take them, but she felt she couldn’t do without them tonight.