Read When the Devil Holds the Candle for Free Online Page B

shook his head, and stared after her. She turned around, wary. He reacted fast and made a helpless gesture with his hands. The light was white and harsh, making his face shine. She started up a path that rose steeply along a ridge above the sea—possibly a way out. Zipp sat in the car and waited, following Andreas with his eyes. Andreas followed the woman. She quickened her pace, but when she heard his voice behind her, she turned around again. In spite of everything, most people find it difficult to ignore someone who is calling out in a friendly manner. And surely he couldn't be dangerous or anything like that! What a ridiculous idea! She had merely taken precautions, withdrawn from a potential danger. The baby in the stroller had shown her so clearly how dangerous the world could be. She hardly slept at night; when she fell asleep, the child was erased from her consciousness, and she couldn't allow that to happen.
    "Excuse me!"
    Andreas called out in a paper-thin voice. The yellow shirt flapped around his slender midriff. His right hand held the shirt down over his knife. He looked like a very tall kid of confirmation age. Zipp, still in the car, saw the woman stop at last. It didn't seem right to choose her, not a woman with a little baby. There was something about the way that she was clutching the handle of the stroller that frightened him. He sensed desperation in those white hands, tight around the handle—not because of the handbag, but because of the little bundle under the blue blanket. He realized that something might go wrong, that she was unpredictable because of the baby. He put on the brake and got out; he did this even though he had been told to stay in the car.
    Andreas, now almost level with the woman, stopped a short distance away, so as not to seem threatening. He had an air about him that was hard to resist. Zipp could see in her eyes that she had read what it said on his cap, that she had noticed the little white cross and the words underneath. Her shoulders relaxed. She even ran her hand over her scarf, almost coquet-tishly, and looked at Andreas with a smile. Andreas opened his mouth and said something. The woman replied and started pointing, past the parking lot and up toward the road. Zipp stared at the stroller and caught sight of the handbag. A nylon bag, black and red. Andreas moved a few steps nearer, looking the other way, backing up toward the handbag. Zipp kept walking.
    Then Andreas noticed him, and for a moment he looked confused. They were high up on the path now. There was no beach below, just a bare slope descending to the water, ending in piles of sharp rocks. Andreas made his move. He leaned over and grabbed the handbag, then ran hell-for-leather back toward the car. The woman screamed. In desperation she tried to make sense of the new situation, the fact that they had duped her, after all, just when she had decided that they were decent boys with good intentions. Something took hold of her, a violent rage, or maybe it was a sense of impotence. She kicked on the brake of the stroller out of pure reflex, and started running.
    "Get in the car!" Andreas shouted.
    But Zipp stood stock-still. They came running toward him, but he didn't move because he could see the stroller starting to roll down the slope toward the water. She hadn't set the brake properly! Paralyzed, he watched the little blue plush stroller tip over the edge. He screamed as he ran like crazy and almost collided with Andreas. But the woman stopped in her tracks; she had finally realized what was happening. She whirled around and saw Zipp leap over the edge and vanish. And then she gave a piercing shriek and started to run. Andreas stopped where he was and stared in astonishment. The handbag slipped out of his hands. In the distance he heard the roar of the waves, a sound of heavy swells that almost knocked him over. He heard several faint screams before Zipp's blond head appeared over the edge. His face was red with