Chapter 16

Hong Kong – Leon
Canada – Matthew
USA – Alfred
Seychelles – Shelly
Australia – Kyle
England – Arthur /Artie
France – Fran / Francis
Denmark –Mathias Norman
Norway – Lukas Norman
Sweden – Berwald Oxenstierna
Finland – Tino Väinämöinen

Berwald walks out of the living room and into the dining part of the kitchen with the report in his hand. The Bonnefoy parents and the Normann couple just finished writing and discussing them and settle now for some simple drinks at the late hour.

Berwald sits down with a low groan and sets the reports on a small pile of papers. Officer Väinämöinen, sitting beside him, finishes his coffee and sets the mug down in front of him. He rubs his eyes and tries to supress a yawn. Berwald takes out some wires that are connected to a device that is unknown to Tino and checks if they are still working. Tino watches him for a second, how he manages to be so delicate with such strong and big hands. He feels how his eyes get heavier by the second and as they suddenly fall shut, he shakes his head and gets up. He grabs his mug and turns to the other man:
"I'll get a reload. Want some?"
Berwald looks up from his work and shakes his head.
"'m fine."
Tino nods and offers him a tired smile before shuffling towards the other part of the kitchen where the stove with coffee is. Everything is silent with exception of the small clock constantly ticking. Tino takes the coffee pot and is relieved to feel the pot still pleasantly hot. He pours the dark brown liquid into his mug, the pot now half empty. He puts the pot back down with a soft "clank" and looks out of the window.

A gentle breeze moves the leaves in the trees around the house and Kyle's wind chime softly so a gentle, almost relaxing sound reaches Tino's ears. He steps forward to get a better look, changing between feeling uneasy and telling himself that at any other night he'd think this is calming and just perfect to fall asleep to. But this is not any other night and the rocking chair on the porch starts softly to rock back and forth, the creaking even to be heard inside the kitchen.

Tino squints his eyes and sets down his mug. He walks the few steps to the next window and has now a better look on the moving chair. It rocks back and forth at a pace that cannot be caused by wind and is accompanied by the creaking sound that can only be produced when someone is sitting on it with a certain amount of weight. Tino frowns, trying to find any rational explanation. The wind stops and everything is silent again, the wind chime and rocking chair slowly stop to move. Tino just wants to take a deep breath and return to his coffee as a ghostly whisper, ice cold, is close to his ear:
"Look what she made me do."

Tino freezes only for a split second before his years of experience gain the better of him and he moves with determined steps towards the back door. This needs to be investigated. This needs to have a rational explanation. He pulls the door decisively open and steps out, the cold air refreshing his senses and clearing his thoughts. He stands still just with one foot outside and takes in his surroundings. Nothing to be seen, nothing to be heard. He walks out on the porch and looks out into the garden but everything is calm and dark, the fog is just settling on the lake and creeping up the hill. The frogs hold their concert down at the water. The wind stopped blowing.

Tino turns round again, his duty fulfilled and opens the back door. He steps in, back to the hallway, facing the garden. Just in case. He locks the door and slowly walks backwards, the small window inside the door allows him to still see the front porch. His heart is beating fast and strong. His body tense, his hands twitching to give them just one reason to do anything. He continues to step back and passes the door to the washing room on his right. He turns his head just slightly, jut to check if no one's there.
But there is someone.

Tino starts with a fright, inhales sharply and turns towards the room. There in the corner is a woman. She wears a maid's dress down to her ankles and the white apron and ribbons have a blue hue from the moonlight shining through the window. Her long brown hair falls down in soft waves down her shoulder and back and her face possesses a comforting beauty. She lifts her arms slowly, offering Tino's wide opened eyes a look at her inner wrists.
"Look what she made me do!" whispers the woman again, more urgently now. Tino can't look away, his eyes locked on the inner wrists, shining blue from the strange light on the much too pale skin. Slowly a black line stains the perfect skin and travels further up. A thick liquid slowly pours out of the slits and as it starts to run down her arm, over her wrists and hands, the colour gets lighter and Tino knows this colour too good. He has seen it too often in his job. Had to wash it off of victims, culprits and his colleague.

The moment only lasts for a few seconds and the woman lowers her hands again and turns away. She walks out of Tino's sight and disappears. Tino raises his hand to stop the woman from walking away and he whispers as loudly as he can:
"Hey!"
He follows her into the room but she is gone. He looks behind a white sheet, hanging inside the room to dry but he is confronted with a wooden wall. He turns around again, heading for the hallway.
"Berwald?" He manages to say before he gets tackled from the side and a shrieking voice screams into his ears:
"LOOK WHAT SHE MADE ME DO!"
Tino gets thrown against the door and falls on the ground. He looks up but the screaming woman has disappeared.

The men from the living room look up when they hear something heavy fall to ground and a door hitting a wall. As they hear Tino shout they get up and hurry towards the washing room. Mathias is the first to reach the police officer who is scrambling on the floor, shouting and trying hard to get up again with his limbs that won't listen to him in panic. Mathias pulls him up on his arm and looks at him concerned, with a concentrated frown on his face.
"Tino, what happened?"
"Are you alright?" asks Berwald, standing beside Mathias.
Tino pants and his eyes dart around the small room.
"There was a woman! A maid and her wrists were slit open!"
He turns around and his wide opened eyes are still looking for her.

Lukas is standing in the hallway, not wanting to be the person too much in the room. He listens to Tino but gets distracted when he hears a camera going off near the main entrance. He quickly turns around and manages to catch a glance at Kyle in his kangaroo pyjamas. He steps into the room nevertheless and draws attention to him by just focusing on his husband.

"Kyle's sleep wandering again."