difference. David Rose was cut out for completely different things.
“Fine, Mike, yes, you are right. This really is something that I can’t explain, finding you here. Maybe we’re not supposed to understand it now. But don’t believe for a minute that I’m going to let myself be taken in by some esoteric fiddle-faddle. I’m really angry and hurt and you have no right to do that to me. You have to thank our meeting here by chance today that I’m even speaking to you again.”
Mike sighed, then nodded. “Greta, let’s go outside. We can take a walk along the river not far from here, in the sun. Do you want to?”
Greta agreed and followed Mike out of the church. The sun shone down from the sky as if there were nothing bad in the world, and its warmth was like a gentle embrace. Greta reached for her cell-phone to send a message to Mona to let her know that she wouldn’t be meeting her for lunch. She didn’t tell her that she was with Mike. Mona would only worry, and Greta didn’t want her to. Mike saw Greta holding her cell-phone and asked:
“You’re sure you didn’t get my messages?”
“No. But I’ve not had my phone on since last evening.”
“I don’t mean last evening. Rather my messages from during the day. There were definitely four text messages and two voicemails. I don’t understand why you didn’t receive them. Can I see your cell-phone a minute?”
“No, not now. Whether the messages were there or not doesn’t change the situation any. You were otherwise engaged. One couldn’t miss noticing your beautiful companion. One also couldn’t miss how much fun you were having with her. You know what, Mike? Basically I’m still so angry with you that I can’t even talk with you. I’d better go.”
“She’s Steve’s dealer and contact in the drug world.”
Greta was quiet; speechless again. Mike walked slowly along the river bank and she followed him. After a long pause, Mike began to talk. He described what he had found out yesterday and what was now going on with his brother, Steve.
Chapter 8
The story that Mike told Greta sounded like a film, one that Greta didn’t want to see under any circumstances.
Steve was the lead actor. A man who, because of an accident in which he wanted to save his mother, almost lost his own life. His mother died but he survived, a cripple because of a spinal injury. Disappointed with his life, he moved to a remote place in Jamaica to find himself again, in solitude and seclusion. Greta already knew the story up to that point. She also knew that Steve had come into contact with drugs there. In Jamaica, Steve had false friends and kept the wrong company –and now the punch line: Steve wasn’t only addicted to drugs himself, he had also become a dealer. Everything was even worse than everyone first thought. Steve confessed this to Mike yesterday. In jail. That’s where he’s expected to have to stay for a while. If Mike and the attorney were successful in presenting the mitigating circumstances that got Steve into this mess, however, they would try to help him fight his way out somehow. The goal was first to get him to withdrawal, and then to send him to Switzerland to begin long-term therapy . But it was a long way to that point. Steve’s contact in the drug underworld was the chopstick-hussy. She wasn’t just a dealer; she knew all the important people in the scene. She was well-known almost everywhere in the city – and the police were keeping their eye on her. But they hadn’t been successful yet in getting something on her. Without a doubt, she was getting protection. Her business sphere included, above all, the fashion and modeling world – no big surprise, thought Greta, considering her looks. She
“Fine, Mike, yes, you are right. This really is something that I can’t explain, finding you here. Maybe we’re not supposed to understand it now. But don’t believe for a minute that I’m going to let myself be taken in by some esoteric fiddle-faddle. I’m really angry and hurt and you have no right to do that to me. You have to thank our meeting here by chance today that I’m even speaking to you again.”
Mike sighed, then nodded. “Greta, let’s go outside. We can take a walk along the river not far from here, in the sun. Do you want to?”
Greta agreed and followed Mike out of the church. The sun shone down from the sky as if there were nothing bad in the world, and its warmth was like a gentle embrace. Greta reached for her cell-phone to send a message to Mona to let her know that she wouldn’t be meeting her for lunch. She didn’t tell her that she was with Mike. Mona would only worry, and Greta didn’t want her to. Mike saw Greta holding her cell-phone and asked:
“You’re sure you didn’t get my messages?”
“No. But I’ve not had my phone on since last evening.”
“I don’t mean last evening. Rather my messages from during the day. There were definitely four text messages and two voicemails. I don’t understand why you didn’t receive them. Can I see your cell-phone a minute?”
“No, not now. Whether the messages were there or not doesn’t change the situation any. You were otherwise engaged. One couldn’t miss noticing your beautiful companion. One also couldn’t miss how much fun you were having with her. You know what, Mike? Basically I’m still so angry with you that I can’t even talk with you. I’d better go.”
“She’s Steve’s dealer and contact in the drug world.”
Greta was quiet; speechless again. Mike walked slowly along the river bank and she followed him. After a long pause, Mike began to talk. He described what he had found out yesterday and what was now going on with his brother, Steve.
Chapter 8
The story that Mike told Greta sounded like a film, one that Greta didn’t want to see under any circumstances.
Steve was the lead actor. A man who, because of an accident in which he wanted to save his mother, almost lost his own life. His mother died but he survived, a cripple because of a spinal injury. Disappointed with his life, he moved to a remote place in Jamaica to find himself again, in solitude and seclusion. Greta already knew the story up to that point. She also knew that Steve had come into contact with drugs there. In Jamaica, Steve had false friends and kept the wrong company –and now the punch line: Steve wasn’t only addicted to drugs himself, he had also become a dealer. Everything was even worse than everyone first thought. Steve confessed this to Mike yesterday. In jail. That’s where he’s expected to have to stay for a while. If Mike and the attorney were successful in presenting the mitigating circumstances that got Steve into this mess, however, they would try to help him fight his way out somehow. The goal was first to get him to withdrawal, and then to send him to Switzerland to begin long-term therapy . But it was a long way to that point. Steve’s contact in the drug underworld was the chopstick-hussy. She wasn’t just a dealer; she knew all the important people in the scene. She was well-known almost everywhere in the city – and the police were keeping their eye on her. But they hadn’t been successful yet in getting something on her. Without a doubt, she was getting protection. Her business sphere included, above all, the fashion and modeling world – no big surprise, thought Greta, considering her looks. She
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