Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (27 page)

Julia
stopped pedaling her bike momentarily when she
remembered her date with Michael. He would come to her place
tonight.
Wasn’t it better to cancel their dinner
together? Then again, she did want to see him.
She wanted him to comfort her and hold her close, just like
Thorsten had done earlier today. And for all she knew, they’d find
Anne in the woods now, and this nightmare would be over before he
even showed up.

When they got
to the forest, they
followed the main
trail for a while until Thorsten got off his bicycle. “Let’s leave
the bikes here and walk.” He pointed at a dark patch of trees
blocking their sight. “Sabine told me where we can find the tree
house they were working on, so we can use that spot as a meeting
point and each go into one direction to do a search.”

“Good idea,”
Axel agreed. “The place where Anne used to meet up with that creep
can’t be too far away from there.”

A little
while later they reached the hut and spread out. Thorsten picked
the westbound direction, Julia went north, and Gaby and Axel went
east.
They’d been coming from the south,
where all the hiker and bike trails were, so they didn’t need to
look there. Everybody was wearing a watch or carrying a phone so
they could keep an eye on the time. The four of them had agreed
they’d walk for a half hour and then turn around, so they’d be back
at the tree house in one hour.

Julia was the
first to get back to the meeting point after going north without
finding anything. She’d picked up some pace and jogged the last
bit, so she wasn’t surprised to find no one else there yet. Wiping
the sweat from her brow, she sat down on a tree stump and checked
her cell. Maybe there was news from one of the
other search teams.

She had two
new messages. The fir
st one was from
Michael. ‘will b there @ 4.30, martin’s letting me off early :) c u
soon!! x’

The second
one was from Gaby. ‘jules, i found a hairpin that looks like
1 of anne’s. marked the spot & walking back
now. have 2 call the cops!’

Julia’s
stomach lurched. So Anne
really
had
ventured out deep into the woods. Thank God Gaby and Axel
had found something. At least the police would have a better idea
of where to look for her sister now.

‘dear
michael, all kinds of things going on here & none of them good…
my little sister went missing. possibly abducted.
please b here ASAP. I’ll pick U up from the bus
stop. x julia’ she sent back quickly before calling
Gaby.

Her friend
picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, Jules,” she panted.
“We’ll be there in five.
That hairpin...
it’s one of the pink Hello Kitty ones. Axel is sure it’s from the
set he gave her for Christmas.”

“Good to hear
you guys found something to track her,” Julia said hoarsely.
“I’ll be waiting.”

When she hung
up, she
saw Thorsten approaching in the
distance. He was already shaking his head to indicate he hadn’t
found anything.

“Gaby and
Axel found something,” she called out to him.

He sped up
and
settled next to her on the tree
stump. “Really? What did they find?”

“A
hairpin
from a set Anne wears a lot. I
just don’t remember if she was wearing hairpins this
morning.”

“Well, we should call the detective. Who
knows, that Andreas guy might have confessed by now.”

It wasn’t
long before Ga
by and Axel got back to the
tree hut too. Axel silently handed the hairpin to Julia.

She recognized it immediately. “Yes, that’s
hers. Oh God.”

“We drew a map of how we walked to get to
that place,” Gaby said, waving a set of directions scribbled down
on the back of a store receipt.

“Let’s go home.” Julia got
up.
“We should notify the
police.”

The four of
them cycled back as fast as they could. Ms. Gunther was in the yard
talking to Mrs. Ebner when they got back. Her face turned white as
a sheet when Julia showed her the hairpin. “Oh, no,” she whispered
in shock. “What… where did you find that?”

“Deep in the forest,” Axel replied. “But we
didn’t see any sign of Anne herself.”

Julia’s mother burst out in tears, looking
completely deflated. All energy had left her.

“You should
take her inside,” Mrs
. Ebner suggested to
Julia and Axel. “Your grandmother is in the living room sitting by
the phone in case the police call back.”

Gaby and
Thorsten followed the others inside. “Hey, Gran,” Axel greeted the
old woman dejectedly. “Why don’t you stretch your legs and let
Julia sit by the phone?
She needs to call
the police station.”

Julia’s
hands
were shaking as she dialed the
number. “Hi, I’m calling about Anne Kandolf, the – missing girl,”
she stammered. “Can I speak to Detective Spitzer,
please?”

As she was
put o
n hold, her cell phone dinged. It
was a text message from Michael. “Oh crap, he’s already at the bus
stop,” she mumbled, showing Gaby the message. “Could you please go
get him? He doesn’t know exactly where I live, and I promised to
meet him there.”

“Consider it done.” Her best
friend smiled weakly and left the living room.

Just
then
, the Muzak on the other end of the
line was interrupted when the detective answered the phone.
“Spitzer,” his voice boomed.

“Detective?
It’s Julia Kandolf. I just went into the woods with my friends and
we found a hairpin belonging to Anne. We think she lost it when she
met up there with Andreas Mittelmayer. I just don’t remember if she
was wearing it this morning. It’s also possible she lost it a few
days ago.”

Detective
Spitzer sighed. “Actually, I was about to call you and your
mother.
Things are not looking good. Andreas
Mittelmayer hasn’t told us a thing.
He
doggedly maintains he has never seen Anne in his life. We couldn’t
find a single trace of Anne’s presence at his place. No one in the
neighborhood remembers seeing the two of them together. Andreas’s
phone doesn’t list her phone number, nor does it show any calls or
text messages made or sent to Anne’s cell phone, so there’s no
proof he’s been in touch with her by phone either. And of course,
your sister’s phone is nowhere to be found, so we can’t use that as
evidence.”

Julia swallowed hard. “So what are you
saying?”

“I’m saying
we have no right to detain him any longer. I can’t keep someone in
custody just because of a kid’s diary and a few drawings.”
Detective Spitzer lowered his voice. “Look, I’ll keep him
here for the night.
Officially I can only
send out officers to look for a missing child after twenty-four
hours, because most of the time, kids running away from home
resurface before that time and our help isn’t necessary anymore. I
can’t do anything for you at the moment, but that will be different
tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, Andreas Mittelmayer will be
released tomorrow morning first thing.”

“You can’t be
serious!” Julia exclaimed. “He could harm her
before you’d be able to find her!” Everybody in the living
room was staring at her, their faces shocked.

“I understand your
concern. Unfortunately, I can’t change the law.
In fact, I’m already bending the rules by keeping him
locked up until tomorrow. I normally wouldn’t even consider doing
that, but since a young girl is concerned, I’m trying my best to
help you out. And I’ll be frank with you, I don’t trust that boy,
not for a second, but I can’t base my decisions on a gut feeling. I
have to abide by the law.”

“Well, could
you at least send
one of your officers
over to watch Andreas’s house once he has been released?”
Julia proposed desperately.

“I
can’t. Without proof, we have no reason to keep
him under surveillance. But you are free to keep an eye on him
yourself. I won’t stop you from doing that.”

Julia mumbled
a thank-you to the detective, who promised to be in touch tomorrow
afternoon, before
slowly putting the
receiver down.

Thorsten walked over to her and put a hand on
her shoulder. “So, what did they say?”

Julia stoically reported to everyone what the
police had said. Her mom and grandma turned even paler than they
already were.

Axel clenched his fists.
“Unbelievable.
Well, nobody’s gonna stop
me from patrolling outside that sick pedophile’s house day and
night,” he grumbled.

“Count me in,” Thorsten said. “I can’t
believe they’re letting him go.”

“They have
to,”
Ms. Gunther mumbled flatly. “You’re
innocent until proven otherwise. The police can’t just go around
and arrest everyone who’s been accused of a crime.” She blinked her
eyes, forcefully pushed back her chair and marched into the
kitchen.

Julia turned
to her grandmother. “Has she called Dad yet?” she
mouthed.

Gran shook her head. “Not
yet.
She wanted to wait for the police to
get back to us. I can call him now if you like.”

At that instant, the door opened and Gaby
stepped inside with Michael in tow. “What happened?” she inquired
worriedly, looking around the circle of ashen faces in the
room.

Michael
immediately rushed to Julia and embraced her warmly. “I’m so, so
sorry,” he mumbled. “Gaby told me everything.”

“The police won’t start looking until
tomorrow,” Julia sobbed, no longer able to hold back her tears now
that Michael was here to comfort her. “They couldn’t get a peep out
of that guy. And he’ll be a free man tomorrow morning.”

Gaby’s eyes
widened.
“They’re waiting until
tomorrow
?
What the
hell?
But they
know
Anne didn’t run away from home.”

“No, they don’t,” Axel
replied.
“She left of her own free will.
She made up an excuse to go to the woods. Nobody forced her. I hate
to admit it, but we’re pretty much screwed.”

“No, we’re
not,” Thorsten said heatedly. “We can go back to the forest.
We can look for Anne ourselves.”

Michael
looked up, fixing
Thorsten with his gaze.
“You think she’s still there?”

“Well, where else could she be? When the
police searched Andreas’s house they couldn’t find anything.”

“So why
didn’t we see her wandering around when we combed the woods
earlier?”
Gaby threw back.

Thorsten fell
silent.
“She could be... lying
somewhere,” he finally said, a look of discomfort on his
face.

Julia winced.
“What do you mean?”

“Don’t assume
the worst. He could have seda
ted her and
hidden her someplace.”

“Behind
a door,” Gaby mumbled
pensively. “Somewhere behind that door that we haven’t found yet –
that gateway she wrote about.”

Michael
resolutely got up and
looked at Axel and
Gaby. “Can you two bring me to the spot where you found the
hairpin? If she’s really around there, we’ll find her.”

They all
looked at him in surprise. He sounded determined, so much so that
he didn’t seem to consider the possibility they wouldn’t be
successful. Julia frowned at him in puzzlement, but she didn’t
comment. It was wonderful of him to volunteer his help immediately,
now that the police proved to be more or less useless until
tomorrow.

When she got
up, she noticed how
weak her entire body
still felt after her disheartening talk with Detective Spitzer.
Michael grabbed her hand, squeezing it encouragingly. “I’ll help
you,” he whispered.
“Anne will turn up
again.”

Ten minutes
later, a group of seven people had assembled to venture out into
the woods once more. Julia’s mother, Thorsten’s mother and Michael
were now a part of their search team
too.
Julia’s grandmother would stay at home and wait for Anne there,
just in case she resurfaced after all.

“Let’s go,”
Axel said, heading
the troupe with Gaby
at his side. Julia followed them, flanked by her mom. Behind her,
she could hear Thorsten and Michael talking to each
other.

“W
hich direction did you go in
when you went out to look for her earlier?”
Michael
wanted to know.

“Axel and Gaby went east,”
Thorsten replied.
“And they went pretty
far into the woods. They got to the part without any clear hiking
trails, according to Julia.”

“That’s
right.” Michael paused. “
People generally
don’t go there.”

Julia pricked
up her ears. Just how much time had Michael spent in
these woods, exactly? He sounded like he knew
every last little detail about the forest. She couldn’t help but
think of the person he’d been before, in school and during classes
- not like your average member of Team Treehugger. So how did he
know all these things? Something didn’t add up.