“If you see Sarah and Julius, tell them hi for me,” she whispered.
Two hours later, Katharina wandered up to a double grave at another cemetery. Seeing the well-tended site added to the heavy guilt she dragged along with her all the time. Her parents and in-laws had mostly taken over caring for the gravesite, although she’d often resolved to contribute more on her part.
She freshened the vase standing on Julius’s side with a new bouquet of flowers before pulling out a little teddy bear from her jacket, which she leaned against Sarah’s tombstone.
“Forgive me for not visiting you two often enough,” she whispered to them. “Without you two, things are just so goddamn hard.”
She took a step back and sat down on a wood bench where the small knot of her family had gathered. After everything that had happened recently, she’d asked them to meet her at the cemetery. When her parents and parents-in-law were all there, she told them all that had happened the last few weeks. It took so much strain off her heart, just capturing the events in her own words and uttering them out loud. Sometime later, when everyone else had dispersed, her mother came up to her. She smiled and slid to the side a little so her mother could have a spot next to her. Her mother stared at the grave without speaking, until Katharina placed her head on her shoulder.
“I miss them both so much,” she said.
“You know we are always here for you, whenever it gets to be too much,” her mother replied gingerly.
Katharina was aware that she had never spoken to anyone about how her marriage ended. Especially not about her horrible suspicion that Julius had sped to his death on purpose with Sarah in the car. She had sealed up this part of her past deep inside, to hide all the remorse she felt.
“Julius and I, we did horrible things to each other back then,” she said, haltingly. “I really went out of my way to hurt him. But I was scared, most of all. Scared that Sarah would want to live with him instead. Because of my job, my work hours. So I wanted to keep the court from ruling in his favor. You can’t imagine what mean and nasty things I accused him of.” She took a deep breath, and continued on with her journey back through this dark chapter.
Her mother listened patiently. It got too cool for them after a while, so they stood up and strolled arm in arm across the cemetery. Tears were flowing down Katharina’s cheeks, yet at the same time she could feel how much good it was doing her to speak and get this burden off her chest.
Katharina didn’t arrive back home until early evening. Before she entered her apartment, she went into the basement and picked out a few framed photos of Sarah. During that long conversation with her mother, she had decided to start fighting her grief head-on and not repress her memories of her daughter any longer. With time, maybe those demons of hers could be conquered after all.
Author’s Note
Dear readers,
First off, I’d like to thank you very much for choosing to read Mark of Cain. I hope I could give you a few hours of suspenseful entertainment.
I rely on feedback from my readers to gauge whether I’ve done a good job as an author. So it would be great if you took a moment and submitted a book review. I would, however, ask that you not mention in your review that Chris has a twin brother. I’m afraid you could spoil the suspense for those who haven’t read the book yet.
If you have questions for me, please feel free to send me a message by e-mail ([email protected]) or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MarcusHuennebeck).
By the way, I’d be delighted if you visited my Facebook Author Page and gave it a Like.
Best wishes,
Marcus Hünnebeck
About the Author
Marcus Hünnebeck was born in Bochum, Germany, and studied economics at the university there before becoming an author. Since 2001, he has been a member of Syndikat, the association for German-language crime thriller writers. After self-publishing several successful titles in his home country, including The Vengeance of Stalkers, Hünnebeck teamed up with Amazon Publishing for his latest release, Mark of Cain. Hünnebeck currently lives in the Rhineland.
About the Translator
Steve Anderson is a translator, a novelist, and the author of the nonfiction Kindle Singles Double-Edged Sword and Sitting Ducks. Anderson was a Fulbright Fellow in Munich, Germany. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
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