Postcard killers

Chapter 86

The media crowd outside Dessie's front door hadn't gotten any smal er. It actual y seemed bigger. It was starting to resemble the mob that gathers outside courtrooms for notable court cases in New York. Jacob knew al about them. He'd had to fight his way through a phalanx of reporters and microphones on numerous occasions.

"Okay," she said with a sigh. "I take it they aren't hungry yet. Nobody's leaving."

She was standing close to Jacob, hiding behind him so as not to be seen from the top of the narrow street.

He resisted an impulse to push a strand of hair away from her face.

"I don't know that I want to see myself darting into a doorway in all the papers and newscasts tomorrow," she said in a low voice.

"No need," he said.

She looked at him with her big eyes. He took a deep breath before going on.

"My roommate has gone back to Finland. You can have the lower bunk in my cel on Langholmen. It's not a problem."

He said it in a light, joking way, careful not to show any feeling. It's not a problem.

She hesitated a few seconds before answering, her eyes stil on his.

Then she made up her mind. "Okay," she said and turned her bicycle around.

It started to rain as they passed the Zinkensdamm metro station, almost halfway to the hostel.

They started walking quickly. Jacob turned up the col ar of his suede jacket, but the water stil trickled down his back. He shivered in the cold.

"I can give you a ride if you like," she said. "If you have the guts to get on."

"On the bike?"

She nodded. "Of course. Only if you dare."

He sat on the narrow luggage carrier at the back, holding on to her hips with both hands. She set a good pace, and they flew past a large church with two identical spires. Her thighs moved rhythmical y and methodically. She was 115 strong and obviously in good shape.

He was suddenly overwhelmed with a memory of Lucy. She had once given him a ride like this in Brooklyn, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, before Kimmy, before the drugs and adulthood with al its complications came into the picture and shattered a perfect life for al of them.

He jumped off as Dessie rol ed into the parking lot in front of the youth hostel.

"What are the rules?" she asked, taking off her helmet. "Are you al owed lady visitors in your room?"

"I'm not about to ask for permission or about any rules," Jacob said. "I'm a big boy now."

"Are you?"

He pul ed her to him, her body shaping itself to his. Her hair smel ed fresh, like fruit again. He closed his eyes and felt her warmth through his jacket. She breathed lightly against his neck.

Then he kissed her.

She tasted of rain and corn on the cob.