Not Another Broken Doll

Chapter 10

The following morning, Matthias was waiting for Chris at the café with a horrid look on his face. It wasn’t that he hadn’t slept, it was something else.

“Moin” he greeted.

“The unspeakable has been here” Matthias said. “She says she has brought some of your records from her place. She wants the space back.”

“Did you tell her that she can eat those up if she wants to?” Chris said “As if I was ever going to take anything that has been in that place. That’s at least cursed by seven witches, hell no.”

“She left the box right there for you” Matthias said “But that is not all. Chris, you may want to sit down.”

Chris looked at Matthias’ face and he knew he wasn’t joking. He sat down and moved his arms welcoming whatever he had.

“Chris. She’s pregnant” Matthias said.

Chris took a second to get that information in. While they were together, the main reason why Marie and he would argue was because she was the one who insisted she didn’t want any kids. She was the one who never wanted to even speak about it. They had been together for four years, and he had gone as far as buying a ring before finding out about Tom. She wasn’t lying about not having children, but she had never mentioned that what she didn’t want was to have children with him.

“I suppose I should send her a cake for her baby shower then” he said after a few seconds digesting the information.

He grabbed the box and took it to the back of the shop. It had not been a year since Marie had walked out of his life into the arms of her lover, Thomas. Chris had mixed feelings about it. At least he did in that precise moment. Maybe her rejection when he finally decided to propose, and her confession of having an affair with a married man, was exactly what needed to happen to him. He stared at the box full of records as he tried to picture himself trying to bring a child into this messed up world with a horrible woman like Marie. He simply couldn’t see himself there. He pushed the box under a table and decided he had better things to do than dwelling in the past. After all, the past had never given him anything good.

“Moin” Greeted a husky voice showing an ID “inspector Alaistar.”

“Moin. Matthias Ukepbor. How can I help?” Matthias asked.

“I am looking for Christoff Krüeger?” Alaistar said, as Chris came out from the back “I came to pick up a camera” the inspector explained. He had greying hair and tired brown eyes. His voice sounded like someone who had smoked most of his life.

“Moin, Inspector” Greeted Chris. “Here’s the camera we found” He gave it to the man. He was in his early forties and he reeked of stale tobacco. “Is that all you need?” Chris asked.

“Well, if you see anything suspicious or you find another… lost object, please let me know” he said, handing out a business card. Chris understood he would have to get Matthias up to speed. “Have a good day, gentlemen.”

When the inspector left, Matthias had a ton of questions. Chris told him about the P.I. following Ruth and how she had handled it.

“She’s rough then” Matthias concluded. “Can you for once in your life find a normal woman?”

“You are definitely not the expert. When have you even tried to actually date one for more than two hours?” Chris pointed out.

“Fair point, but still. One is a home breaker and the next one…”

“Don’t even finish that. It’s not like we are actually together” Christoff said, rather annoyed at listening to his own words. “Five more lunches and a concert, that was the deal. From there, it’s up to her.”

Matthias looked at him. “She doesn’t know who you are, does she?”

“I don’t know who she is either, so that’s only fair” Chris shrugged his shoulders. “Besides, my name has brought me enough problems as it is, and she seems to have her own things to handle.”

Flipping the door sign to “open” Matthias opened the door. The first few costumers of the morning started to arrive. Saturdays were never a quiet day.