PROLOGUE

"But if he wants it so much, Heiko."

Heiko groaned in annoyance. It was 24 December and just eight o'clock in the morning. He had been looking forward to a cosy breakfast with his wife and his newspaper - especially his newspaper! - but although it was still early in the day and the children were still asleep, the house was once again in a bad way. And why? Because of Christmas, of course! It had been going on for days, no, weeks. But fortunately it was soon over. Two days and the rest of today, and it was done.

He shook his head vigorously. "Out of the question, Sandra. I don't give a damn how much the boy wants that damn My Little Pony figure - it's pink, for God's sake. Pink!"

"It's just a toy ... And you were never so strict with Katja. If she wants to play with cars, you don't have a problem with that."

"That's also something completely different," Heiko only replied.

Sandra sighed softly and lowered her head. Then she raised it again and put on that puppy dog look with which she had often wrapped her husband around her finger in the course of their ten-year marriage.

But not this time! Heiko remained firm on the subject. There was no way he would let his wife raise the boy to be a homo! And if pink horse figurines didn't turn a five-year-old into one, what did? Of course he was already dreading when Leon would open his present tonight and then have another screaming fit because "only" a toy car park was hidden under the wrapping paper and not a goddamn pink plastic pony. But then they all had to go through it.

"Toy or no toy." He gave her a hard look. "You know my point."

Before she could say anything back, the doorbell rang. At this hour? Heiko narrowed his eyes. A real impertinence, ringing righteous people out of bed at such an early hour!

He energetically pushed his chair back and stood up. Whoever might be standing outside on his doorstep could dress warmly now - and not because it was freezing cold outside. Another thing that gave him a headache. If the weather forecast was to be believed, there would finally be a white Christmas again this year. And apparently the whole of Germany was looking forward to it. Heiko wasn't. Sure, it might be nice for the children. Building snowmen, sledging ... but he was thinking more about what it would mean: shovelling snow, scraping car windows, traffic chaos on the roads ...

When he pulled open the door, two guys were standing in front of it. They were both in their early twenties and so obviously gay that it almost bordered on cheekiness. One wore a shirt with the provocative inscription "Boy Toy" under his thick open down jacket, the other had one of those silly emo hairstyles that covered half his face and such tight jeans that practically everything showed underneath.

The sight involuntarily made Heiko's blood boil - and not in a good way. What in the name of the devil did these guys want from him?

"Good morning," one of them began with a blinding 100-watt beam. "We are from the Sterntaler association and we are collecting for ..."

"But not with me," Heiko interrupted him immediately. "I don't donate anything to ..." He refrained from saying the rest of the sentence. One had to be careful what one said today. "And it might have been a good morning if you hadn't interrupted my breakfast."

With these words he slammed the door in the boys' faces. There, that's done, he thought contentedly. Now I can relax and enjoy my breakfast again ...

But he had not reckoned with his wife, who apparently refused to let go.

"Think about the present again, will you? Leon would be so happy. And it's Christmas. If you want, I'll go and buy the p..."

"No way," Heiko remained adamant. "The boy gets his parking garage, and that's it. We'll add anything else later for all I care - but a pink pony figure? Over my dead body!"

Sandra looked at him as if she was seriously considering this option. But before she could say anything else in reply, the ringtone of his business mobile phone rang out.

Heiko had been the proud owner of his own electrical shop for a few months. Originally, the company had belonged to his brother-in-law Andreas. One and a half years ago, Heiko had moved to Berlin with his family because it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to make ends meet as an electrician at home in the village. After the company where he had trained had to close down, he had kept his head above water for a while with odd jobs. But the money was not enough. And when Sandra's brother then offered them to join him in the company ...

At that time, no one could have guessed that Andreas would drop dead from one moment to the next just two months later.

Well, in any case, Heiko was now alone with the shop. Or rather - as good as alone, because there was still Samuel Braun. Sam, as everyone called him, worked for him. At least, when he wasn't on sick leave again.

That slacker!

Just the thought of him made anger rise in Heiko. He hadn't been able to stand this guy from the beginning. And that was not only because Sam was gay. But probably to a not insignificant degree. It just got on his nerves how the guy pranced around the shop and in front of the customers all day. The affected behaviour, the exaggerated gestures... terrible!

Sam had done his apprenticeship with Sandra's brother and only finished it shortly before his death. At first, Heiko wanted to get rid of him at all costs - sooner rather than later. But then he changed his mind. Why let him off the hook so easily? It was much more effective to make his life as an employee as difficult as possible. Overtime without end and always the work that no one else wanted to do voluntarily - and with a salary that was hardly worth mentioning.

Heiko was curious to see how long Sam would play along. So far it had not been enough for him to quit on his own. But that could only be a matter of time.

Now, however, he had been on sick leave again for almost a week.

And who is left with all the work once again? Me, of course!

"Hello," Heiko now answered after the third ring.

"Yes, this is Tom Erding from Club DT," a deep male voice sounded on the other end of the line. "Your emergency electrical service was the first one Google threw up at me. We have a little problem here with our electrics. No, forget about that right now. We have a huge problem. And our electrician has gone to his family in Bavaria for the holidays. Well, nothing works here any more, and tonight we're having our big Christmas party."

Heiko suppressed a sigh. That was it for the cosy breakfast!

Club DT ... he couldn't remember having heard the name before. But no matter, he told himself, once is always the first time.

"I could be on my way to you right away," he offered. Actually, it didn't suit him at all to work today, but on the other hand he couldn't let such an assignment slip through his fingers. "Where do I have to go?"

The caller gave him the address. Heiko ended the call, got up and left the kitchen to put on his work overalls.

"You're working today?" Sandra came running after him into the hallway. "On Christmas Eve?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's an important job. But don't worry, I'll be back in time for the presents."

***

A little over half an hour later, after some searching, he reached the club to which he had been ordered. Before that, he had to fill up with petrol - and what did he notice at the cash register? Half a dozen of those stupid pink pony figures his son was so crazy about! Apparently they were available everywhere at the moment. In any case, his mood was back to zero for the time being.

The entrance to the club was inconspicuous. There was a neon sign above the door, but it was off because the place was not open at the moment. He read something about MOVIE LOUNGE, but couldn't imagine what it meant. Was this supposed to be some kind of cinema?

Next to the door, he discovered a bell and pressed it. It took quite a while until someone finally opened the door. But then Heiko found himself face to face with a tall, slim guy.

"Are you the electrician?" he asked frantically.

Heiko nodded. "Yes, I ..."

"Thank God you're here!" The guy grabbed his heart theatrically. "Because I really need to get away. Still have some shopping to do for the event tonight, you know? Come on, I'll show you around. By the way, I'm Tom Erding, I called you."

Heiko entered, opened his coat and saw in the light of the overhead lighting that it seemed to be quite a nice place. A big bar and some niches where you could make yourself comfortable ... quite modern, but also cosy. There were artificial Christmas trees everywhere, which of course were not lit now, and there were also lots of other Christmas decorations, in the form of snowmen, Father Christmases and reindeer.

Heiko couldn't take a closer look now, because he had to follow Tom Erding, who rushed to the counter and pointed to the lighting above the counter. Heiko saw at first glance that it was a self-constructed construction of halogen lights that was supposed to illuminate the entire counter and the shelves behind it, which contained glasses, bottles and other stuff.

"Nothing works here at all anymore," Erding explained. "And this is a disaster. Without a bright bar area, tonight will be a disaster."

That made sense, of course. "No problem, I'll fix it," Heiko quickly assured him, so that the guy calmed down again to some extent.

It was obvious to Erding that a load had been lifted off his mind. "Would you be able to manage here on your own?" he asked a little uncertainly. "As I said, I still have some errands to run and my staff won't be here until the afternoon."

Heiko shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, if you tell me where the electricity box is and what to do when I'm done here ..."

"Of course." Erding pointed to a mirror on the counter wall. "Behind it you will find the electricity box. When you leave, please just pull the door shut behind you. My staff will come later, after all. And you'll send me the bill then? Because I don't have any cash here at the moment."

"Yes, that's no problem," Heiko replied, nodding. "I'll get the bill ready after the holidays then."

"All right, then I hope you can find the problem quickly and fix it. I really have to go now, too." He looked at Heiko once more, grateful and relieved, then turned and hurried out of the bar.

As soon as Heiko was alone in the bar, he took off his coat and put it on one of the bar stools. Confused, he shook his head. Somehow it was strange, the whole thing. After all, this Erding didn't know him at all and still let him work around here all by himself. And that he should just close the door afterwards ... In any case, that would have been too dangerous for him in this corner of Berlin. But that shouldn't be his problem.

Shrugging his shoulders, he went behind the bar to the electricity box hidden behind the mirror. He paused in front of it for a moment and looked at his own reflection in the not-so-good lighting conditions. Not for the first time, he realised that he could be quite pleased with himself. Well, his face was a bit roundish, and all in all he couldn't exactly call himself slim, but he certainly looked a few years younger than he actually was. This was not least due to his dark, still full hair. A pair of half-rim glasses gave his face a serious look. But above all, he looked like what he was: completely normal. And he attached great importance to that. To be a normal family man who worked hard to support his wife and two children.

He reached for the mirror and pulled it open towards the front. Behind it, a standard electricity box was revealed, with a lot more switches than in a private household, of course. Heiko pulled out his torch, which was of course part of his equipment, turned it on and pointed the cone of light at the switches. He was about to familiarise himself with the labels underneath when he discovered a small spider in a corner of the power box.

Yuck! He never liked these disgusting creatures! While he took the torch in his left hand and shone it on this creepy-crawly creature, he stretched out his right to crush it between his thumb and forefinger.

Get rid of it, once and for all!

He had almost reached the spider when suddenly a flash of lightning twitched out of the electricity box. A feeling as if he had been smacked ran through Heiko. Startled, he jumped back, staggered and lost his balance.

He toppled backwards without holding on. The next moment, the back of his head hit something hard, he felt a hammering pain run through his head, then nothing more.

Only blackness.

***

Dazed, Heiko opened his eyes.

At first he didn't know what was going on and where he was. Had he been asleep? If so, it was definitely

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Bildmaterialien: Lorand Okos/Shutterstock
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 11.08.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-4940-9

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