Read The Child for Free Online

mist before his eyes came from the tears streaming down his cheeks. The merciless voice had evidently allowed for this.
    Did it really happen? Did I really just witness the last few seconds of my son’s short life?
    He felt like getting up, ripping the DVD from the player and hurling the television out of the window, but he was too traumatized to lift a finger. The only movement of which his body was still capable took place without his volition: his legs were trembling uncontrollably.
    Who is doing this to me? And why?
    The scene was changing. His fear intensified.
    The neonatal ward had been replaced by the industrial estate where Carina had kept him waiting yesterday. These shots had been taken on a sunny day in spring or summer.
    ‘Yesterday afternoon you discovered some human remains on the site of a former paint factory.’
    The voice inserted another pause. Stern blinked as he recognized the tool shed.
    ‘We waited a very long time for this to happen. Fifteen years, to be exact. After such a long interval we’d actually assumed the dead man would be accidentally discovered by some tramp or a dog. Instead of that, you turned up. For a purpose. With two companions. That’s why you’re now involved, Herr Stern. Whether you like it or not.’
    The camera panned round 360 degrees. Apart from derelict buildings, it briefly showed an unmarked delivery van. Then it focused on the charred remains of the building into which Stern had followed Simon Sachs only hours before.
    ‘I want you to tell me who murdered the man you found in that cellar yesterday.’
    Stern shook his head in bewilderment.
    What is all this? What does it have to do with Felix?
    ‘Who killed the man? To me, the answer to that question is a matter of extreme urgency.’
    Stern stared at the DVD player’s bluish digital display as if the cause of his mental anguish resided in that silver box.
    ‘I want you to take Simon’s case. If you knew who I am, you would understand why I can’t do so myself. That’s why
you
must represent him. Find out how the boy knew about the body.’
    The voice laughed softly.
    ‘However, because I know that lawyers never work for nothing, I’ll make you an offer. Whether or not you accept it, Herr Stern, will depend entirely on how you answer my original question: Do you believe in the possibility of reincarnation?’
    The screen began to fill with snow like an old black-and-white set with an ill-adjusted indoor aerial. Then the picture quality abruptly improved. The derelict factory had disappeared. The superimposed time and date indicated that these new, colourful images were only a few weeks old. Stern’s nausea returned. Discounting the year, the date was that of his dead son’s birthday.

9
    ‘Well, do you recognize him?’
    The sun-tanned youngster with the shoulder-length, slightly curly hair was bare-chested and wearing a black coral necklace. Aware that he was being filmed, he sat there looking expectantly at the camera. All at once he got up rather awkwardly and walked off. Stern’s heart stood still when the boy turned away. There was a dark violet birthmark on his left shoulder. It resembled a miniature boot.
    It can’t be! It’s impossible!
    Stern’s cheeks burned as if someone had slapped him. The boy, whose face looked at once unfamiliar and agonizingly familiar, came back into shot with a knife in his hand. Someone off screen apparently called something to him. He gave a sheepish smile, drew a deep breath and pursed his lips. The camera panned down to reveal a birthday cake on a table. A Black Forest gateau. It took the boy two attempts to blow out the ten candles embedded in the whipped cream.
    ‘Look closely, Herr Stern. Think of the last pictures of Felix you saw just now. Remember the body in the little coffin you carried into the crematorium yourself. And then answer a very simple question: Do you believe in a life after death?’
    Stern raised his hand. For a brief moment he felt tempted