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Back The Woman on the Stairs Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Bernhard Schlink
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. Part Two
  33. 1
  34. 2
  35. 3
  36. 4
  37. 5
  38. 6
  39. 7
  40. 8
  41. 9
  42. 10
  43. 11
  44. 12
  45. 13
  46. 14
  47. 15
  48. 16
  49. 17
  50. 18
  51. 19
  52. 20
  53. 21
  54. 22
  55. 23
  56. 24
  57. 25
  58. Part Three
  59. 1
  60. 2
  61. 3
  62. 4
  63. 5
  64. 6
  65. 7
  66. 8
  67. 9
  68. 10
  69. 11
  70. 12
  71. 13
  72. 14
  73. 15
  74. 16
  75. 17
  76. 18
  77. 19
  78. 20
  79. 21
  80. 22
  81. Author’s Note
  82. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

“We don’t want to take any risks.”

“Risks? If I go to the village fête, drink some wine, leave my car, and take a taxi back?”

“Do it for my sake, please. I’ll feel better that way.”

“When will we see each other? What about your things? Don’t we have to get them before Schwind comes back? And get the painting out of the van, and park it before he goes to the police?”

“Shhhh,” she laid her hand over my mouth. “I’ll be careful. And I don’t need the few things I have at his place.”

“When will you come?”

“Later, when I’m finished.”

She dropped me off with a kiss before we reached the village, and I found my car and drove home. Circling around the city, hiding the painting in the place she must have prepared but didn’t want to disclose, parking the VW bus and taking a taxi – it would easily be two hours before she came to me. But even before two hours had passed, I was anxious; I paced back and forth in my apartment, looking out the window again and again, and made tea, and forgot to take the leaves out of the pot, and forgot it with the next pot, too. How would she deal with the picture? Wasn’t it way too heavy? Was someone helping her? Who? Or would she manage to carry it? Why didn’t she trust me?

After two hours I found a reason why she hadn’t come. I found another one after three hours, and another after four. Throughout the night I came up with explanations, and tried to quiet my fear that something might have happened to her. With this fear I tried to suppress the deeper fear that she wasn’t coming because she didn’t want to. The fear that something might have happened – that was the fear of lovers, of close friends, of a mother for her child, and it kept me close to her. When I called the hospitals and police stations before the break of dawn, I claimed I was her husband.

But as dawn broke, I realized that Irene would not come.

21

Gundlach called on Monday. “You may have heard this from Schwind. For the record, I want to confirm that my wife has disappeared, and so has the painting. My people will find out if Schwind has double-crossed me. Either way, your services are no longer required.”

“I was never in your service.”

“Think what you like,” he said with a little laugh, and hung up. Several weeks later I received a message that he had no evidence that Schwind had double-crossed him. I thought it was decent of him to let me know. Schwind didn’t get in touch again.