Chapter 6
Kjell
The door on the floor below me opens. I hear the scraping sound, followed by the click-clack of high heels on linoleum.
It's her.
I grip my camera bag, lean over the stair railing, and spot her red locks. She totters on her high heels toward the elevator, pressing the call button.
As soon as the elevator doors close behind her, I grit my teeth and hobble down to the ground floor. When I arrive there, I catch a glimpse of the woman leaving the hospital through the main entrance.
I follow her into the dark night as inconspicuously as possible. I've observed people before, but this time it feels different.
Perhaps it's because of how drained she appears. Head bowed, she walks along the sidewalk. Each of her countless heavy sighs produces a small cloud of breath in front of her mouth. She plays the role of a helpless woman so perfectly that I would believe it if I were seeing her for the first time today. But even if I don't know her name, I know her character.
I know who she truly is.
Two blocks later, something lights up in her hand. A mobile phone. She's making a call, and that could be important. I need to get closer, so I quicken my pace.
"Hej," she says wearily. "Thank you for arranging the conversation with the doctor."
She spoke with a doctor? That can only mean one thing: the redhead knows what's going on with this Blohm.
I continue to close in, determined not to miss anything.
"It doesn't look good. He..." A city bus roars past me. "Tomorrow," is the next thing I hear, and that's despite the fact that only a few yards now separate us.
If her high heels didn't clatter so loudly, she would have surely heard me by now. If I close the distance any farther, I might risk blowing my cover. Is it worth it? For a gossip article I'd rather not write in the first place?
God, I hate this assignment.
"Listen, Lil, I've been thinking." She clears her throat. "Let me... Yes, I know... Nevertheless..." She abruptly stops under the glow of a wrought-iron streetlamp. It's bright enough for me to see her clench her fist. "Stop it," she snaps at this Lil, the same person she spoke with on the phone when we collided at the hospital entrance.
Ah, there she is again. The arrogant cow from back then who believes the entire world belongs to her. That performance earlier was all an act, nothing more. And I almost believed it...
At least it's something to hold on to. Because if this were a smear article about someone else, I don't know if I could bear it. The memory of how she used to treat me makes it slightly easier to endure, if only a little.
"He won't be back anytime soon. And until he does, I'll take over his job." Her voice is firm, almost threatening. She raises her head as if to look at the sky and turns halfway around. A sigh escapes her lips. I quickly jump behind one of the bushes next tothe sidewalk. Now, at the beginning of winter, the bush consists only of bare branches. If the redhead turns around any farther, she'll spot me.
She moves again.
Dammit. I crouch down as low as I can.
"You know I have to do this," she says, feigning compliance. "Yes, I've been gone a long time—far too long. But please, Lil, understand this. He's still my father."
What? The redhead is Blohm's daughter?
Wow.
Why didn't I find anything about a daughter in my research? Is she an illegitimate child?
Oh man. What a bombshell!
Long-lost daughter takes control of the fashion empireTouch av lyx.
The story is probably exactly what Jakob wants from me. But it's incomplete because a thousand questions remain unanswered. Why was she gone for so long? How long exactly was it? And where has she been?
"I love him," she says.
