Mikael had almost been running the last steps into his studio as if fearing to lose the sudden bright flash of enthusiasm and inspiration. Without even changing his clothes, he grabbed some metal sheets, welding equipment, and then some other tools and started to work…
When the first light of the new day started to shine through the broad window front, its rays touched the tiny bust of a woman. The upper part, forehead, eyes and half of the nose was made of gold colored copper, delicately chiseled and polished. The rest of the statue was dark grey, left raw metal.
"Sunset's touch…" Mikael murmured while absently caressing the bust's cheek.
But from one second to another, his rapt smile changed into the angry grimace of a demon.
"No!" he shouted, pushing the statue down from the workbench. "Not again!"
Fleeing out of the studio, he discovered the picnic basket, which stood near the staircase where he had dropped it yesterday – and forgotten. He realized it might be a good idea to have something to eat and hastily shoved several bites of bread and cheese down before he stepped to the upper floor. There, in his bedroom, he had special light repellent blinds installed. One push of the respective button and they moved down. The beautiful beach scenery outside vanished. Almost complete darkness enclosed him. He sighed relieved and undressed without switching any lights on, as usual. Hopefully, the shapeless blackness would calm the disturbing images in his mind!
…
Crystal and Norman had just sat down on the terrace for breakfast. The air was still cool and it promised to be a lovely, not too hot spring day. Norman had been so kind to prepare everything as if he wanted to apologize for yesterday night, when he couldn't spare much attention. Now they enjoyed French rolls, watched the nesting birds gather their material, and listened to the sound of the waves. Crystal wondered if it might be a good moment to ask his opinion about the new kitchen furniture she planned to buy after the old one inherited by his mother was nearly falling apart now. She opened her mouth – and his cell phone rang.
Norman took the call. As expected, it was something very important, which kept him from eating. Crystal waited some minutes, and then she finished her breakfast alone, not wanting to drink cold coffee. Finally, he stopped and stood up at the same moment.
"Sorry, I have to go. They've found an injured turtle. Gotta help."
"Of course."
He was a Veterinarian, after all. However, why did this has to happen during their breakfast?!
Norman snatched his half-eaten roll, drained his meanwhile cold coffee, and was gone.
Crystal stayed there for yet another moment. Then she removed the dishes and food remains from the wobbly old table and went back inside. She hadn't even asked if he would be back for Lunch, she realized. Well, he could call. She hoped he would. In the afternoon, she had her weekly appointment in the village school, where she taught the little ones about environmental protection. Until then…
She halted the coffee cup still in her hands. Yes, until then, she would stop by in the library and look up this Mikael Gant. She was curious; now after having made this proposition, even more. As fast as she could, she filled the dishwasher. Then she hurried upstairs and made herself ready to go.
…
Despite the comforting darkness and despite his tiredness, the images pursued Mikael in his sleep, just as so many times before. Blood. Blood was everywhere. And flashes of light… He awoke from his sleep with a painful moan. Noticing it had just been another of these obnoxious nightmares, anger rose in him. Hadn't it been enough that these moronic cops in L.A. had dragged him in for questioning like a criminal, must this memory stick to his mind with such tenacity?!
He fumbled for the bedside lamp and switched it on. Soft bluish light filled the sparsely decorated room. He rose to fetch a glass of water from the dispenser on the sideboard. The unusual light frequency he had used for the lamp let his body seem almost fluorescing in a pale, unearthly shine. The uneasy feeling deep inside him didn't go away. Neither could it be rinsed with water, nor hushed away with light. And it was more than annoyance what was brooding inside him… Mikael tried to isolate it, to discover the reason - however, it was as if an impermeable wall hid the truth from his poking thoughts. He stretched out on the bed again.
The hawklike face of this L.A. detective still seemed to hover next to him, though. And not only his image, the voice as well.
…."Well, we both know that you like to make those nudy films. Maybe you like it a bit rougher sometimes? … You took those women to your fancy home, seduced them and killed them while having sex with them! … You're a disgusting little creep slicing up women and taking video footage from it!" …
What had been going on in their sick brains?! He had seen the reaction of those officers and this one detective in particular, as they watched one of the video performances. They did not grasp ANYTHING of what he wanted to realize with his art! He had left L.A. shortly after that distasteful interrogation, after – in addition – he had discovered Hannah working for exactly that police department and being ASSIGNED to him.
She has pretended to be interested in my art, Mikael thought again. She had pretended to be interested in me, and I have only been an assignment for her!
…
In the library, Crystal found several newspaper articles mentioning Mikael Gant and, to her surprise, even a video tape from the opening event of his latest exhibition. Quite obviously, he was a celebrity in Modern Art! The critics were very divers, though. A feminist writer accused him of ‚cementing sexist male behavior', some religious groups had protested against the exhibitions. On the other hand, art historians praised his works as ‚dawn of a new age in art'. The National Enquirer and similar papers 'loved' him, as it seemed, and periodically rehashed stories about him getting engaged with this or that singer, model, actress or whomever… Obviously, his private life was quite a secret, because all there was, was that yellow press chatter.
After reading some of the articles, Crystal took the tape and adjourned into one of the little cabins prepared for video watching. The sculptures didn't communicate much at the moment. The video installations, however, enthralled her more with every minute she watched them. She was surprised how something that mundane and common in the modern world as naked bodies and sex could be shown in that an artistic way it looked almost like a religious thing. After some of the critics, she had half expected something pornographic, disguised as artwork only by sophisticated titles. (As, she always thought, was the case with most art work from previous centuries that put naked female bodies or nice boys on display...) Now watching herself, she had in no way that impression. Even less, when she remembered the words Mikael had said to her.
Amazing, Crystal thought and the tv-screen mirrored her smile. These videos stirred up emotions in her she had not thought they could exist. A window to a whole new world seemed to open…
She glanced at her clock. Heavens! She had to hurry to get to the school in time!
The class was a mess this day, too. Two of the kids were constantly bickering and another one obviously had a cold and sniffed and sneezed. Besides, Crystal was somehow not in the mood to talk about submarine life and the danger emanating from oil platforms.
I really have to prepare better, she reprimanded herself while leaving. It was not just a voluntary action she did here! These children would have the responsibility for the world of tomorrow - as Norman expressed it. And he was right!
...
Detective Hoover sighed and threw the sketches of the suspect in the trash bin of his office. It had been surprisingly easy to find that client of the murder victim. The description had been very exact, despite the condition of the witness. He had been convicted for violence two times before, yes. However... His colleague shoved a coffee pot over the table and Hoover nodded a thank you. "So, he is an asshole - but he's not our man," he then answered the inquisitive look of his colleague.
"You're sure?"
"Finley has been killed around 7, according to the coroner. At that time, our guy had already checked in at work at the post office and he has about ten people confirming he was there and insulting them."
"Means she must have picked another client after him... Shit."
"Means: back to square one." Ray Hoover stood up and stared out of the window. Somewhere out there, his daughter was shopping with her friends. And somewhere out there was a dangerous killer. He looked at the crime scene photos again. It was nothing he had seen before, there was something strange and creepy about those mutilations...
"At least we can be sure about one thing: he had the victim's consent," his colleague continued. "He used a condom, and we found no traces of shackles or anything. So this wasn't a rape, technically spoken."
Hoover rolled his eyes. 'Technically spoken'! "Let's ask around, someone else might have seen anything. Let's check her background. And let's check in with other PDs on Hawaii and back in the States. If we're lucky, they have something similar on file and we can combine our efforts."
...
Riding home, Crystal wondered if she should drive by Mikael's house and get her picnic basket again. It was almost on her route, and she needed this basket for her market shopping, tomorrow. Yes, she decided, she would say hello and take the basket and wish a nice day. Nothing to ponder about this that lengthily, right?
So she turned into the respective lane.
She had seen this residence only from afar and the trees only allowed a tiny glimpse anyway. Now standing in front of the architectural dream of white stone and huge glass fronts, she had to admit, it was quite impressive, especially in comparison to her old battered house! However, this design object looked cold and impersonal, too. She liked it more when the homes had some wrinkles and cracks.
She rang at the front door, but no one reacted. Crystal decided to take her chance from the other side, though. The door to the garden was open, and she entered cautiously, not sure if there was a watch dog anywhere. But it remained quiet. Some blocks of stone and pre-arranged metal parts informed her, that Mikael used the garden for work. She could nowhere spot him, nonetheless, and called his name.
One moment too late, she discovered the black jalousies in front of the windows upstairs. Now the black sheets moved upwards, then one of the windows opened, and Mikael looked down.
„I'm sorry!" Crystal yelled. „I didn't want to disturb you! Only wanted to take the basket, that's all. I'll come back another time!"
„No, wait. I'm down in a minute!"
She felt uncomfortable, though. The moment, he showed up at the door, she apologized again. „I didn't think, I'm sorry that I woke you up!"
He seemed to love white, she thought, seeing him again clad in white shorts and a shirt of the same color. In the afternoon sun, it was almost blinding.
„I couldn't sleep anyway. Some… nightmares. Please, come in."
Squeezing her eyes to adjust to indoor, Crystal glanced around. The studio reminded her of a wizard's castle - or something like that she had read as a child in a fairytale! A place with lots of strange creatures frozen in a spell. It was … intriguing, compelling, and … somewhat frightening.
Mikael sensed a similar mixture of feelings sweep through him - in watching her. She stood against the light, and the thin fabric of her dress revealed much of her shape.
Beautiful… so beautiful...
He caught himself.
„I'll get your basket!"
„Oh, you have barely taken anything," Crystal noticed a moment later, heaving it from his hands.
„It's not the fault of the food. I was working. And as in most cases, I forget to eat, then."
„Working on that?"
Following the undeniable traces of metal splinters and dust around the empty space on the workbench, her gaze had discovered the metal bust on the ground. Before Mikael could say anything, she cowered down to recover it.
„Good Lord, this is…"
Her voice got stuck in her throat when she realized it was her face, staring at her with copper eyes. Slightly trembling, she put the piece back on the bench. It attracted her almost magically, though, and she stretched her hand again to touch it.
Mikael observed her fingers trace the lines of his artwork, feel for the structure of the material. What sensuality radiated through her movements! He sensed desire flare up again, all but hot enough to burn down the toxic memory of Hannah.
„I… I don't know what to say. I was never been used as … as a model before!"
She turned her head and now looked straight at him.
„Does it embarrass you?"
Their eyes met and for a moment, Crystal had the feeling, time stopped just as her heart missed a beat. The strangest thing she ever had felt! Another second passed before she had collected her mind and answered with a headshake: „No. Why? … I mean …"
She couldn't think clearly as long as their glances were locked that way! With a considerable effort, she turned her attention to the basket and grabbed it again.
„Well! I think I have stolen enough of your precious time! I'll leave you to your inspiration, now!"
Mikael managed a simple Goodbye but kept his hands folded behind his back. His eyes, however, followed her until her bicycle vanished around the next corner.
