The Weeping Girl

Начало книги

Winnie Maas died because she changed her mind.

Afterwards there were those who maintained that she died because she was beautiful and stupid — a combination acknowledged to be risky.

Or because she was gullible, and relied on the wrong people.

Or because her father was a shit who had abandoned his family long before Winnie had stopped using nappies or a baby’s bottle.

And there were others who claimed that Winnie Maas used to wear skirts that were rather too short and blouses that were rather too tight, and that in fact she had only herself to blame.

None of these explanations was totally without justification; but the thing that clinched it was that she changed her mind.

The moment before she hit the ground and smashed her skull on the steel rail, she even realized that herself.

She wiped away a tiny bit of extra lipstick and contemplated her image in the mirror. Opened her eyes wide and wondered if she needed a bit more eyeliner. It was a nuisance to have to keep remembering to open her eyes wide — easier to apply a bit more liner underneath. She drew a thin line with the pencil, leaned towards the mirror and checked the result.

Читать дальше →