Little Sister Read Online Free Page A

you first. He wants . . .’
    The nurse stepped out of the room and gently closed the door behind him.
    ‘He wants to ask you a question.’
    Mia said, ‘What question?’
    ‘I don’t know. But it’s important. You need to give the right answer.’
    They walked up to him . . .
one, two, three, one, two, three.
    ‘What’s the right answer, Simon?’ Kim pleaded.
    Mia laughed and said straight off, ‘If he doesn’t know the question . . .’
    He struggled for a moment as he often did with them of late. They were so . . . confident.
    ‘Just tell the truth,’ he suggested. ‘You can’t go wrong with that.’
    They giggled and looked at him.
    ‘All the truth?’ Kim asked.
    He blushed.
    ‘It’ll just be a silly question.’
    Klerk went back and opened the door then led them in.
    Veerman sat at the desk. Freya, their mother, had a phrase for that expression. She said it looked as if someone had swallowed an angry wasp. Irene Visser stroked her short blonde hair and told
them to sit.
    It was like the hearing they’d had when they were eleven. They were about to be judged.
    Across the water Volendam sat listening.
    ‘What you did . . . the reason you’re here,’ Veerman began awkwardly. ‘It was very bad. You know that?’
    ‘Of course we do,’ Kim said.
    ‘Not a day goes by when we don’t regret it,’ Mia added, always the one to soften her sister’s curt candour.
    ‘You killed a man—’
    ‘So they told us,’ Kim cut in.
    ‘You murdered him,’ Veerman said. ‘You do accept that, don’t you?’
    ‘They punished us,’ Mia agreed with a nod. ‘They said we deserved it.’
    ‘Did he?’ Veerman asked in a firm, loud voice now. ‘Did Rogier Glas?’
    The girls sat in silence.
    Irene Visser moved forward and placed her elbows on the desk, the way she did when they were talking in her office.
    ‘Did Rogier Glas murder your parents?’ she asked. ‘Your sister Jo? Do you still think that?’
    The girls looked at each other. They seemed ready to cry.
    ‘No,’ Mia whimpered.
    ‘No!’ Kim was breaking too. ‘You said he didn’t, Irene. You wouldn’t lie. Mr Glas . . .’
    Tears did fill her eyes then. And her sister’s.
    ‘Give them a minute,’ Visser pleaded. ‘Henk. You can see for yourself. We’re going somewhere that should be private. Between the two of them and me.’
    ‘I’m the director,’ Veerman insisted. ‘I sign the release.’
    ‘Mr Glas . . . we’re sorry,’ Mia said in a timid voice close to a hurt whisper. ‘We were scared. We were young. We didn’t know what we were doing—’
    ‘Innocent,’ her sister added. ‘Mr Glas was innocent.’
    ‘There!’ Irene Visser declared. ‘You wanted an admission, Henk. You’ve got it. No one knows who killed your family, girls. Do they now?’
    They nodded.
    ‘No one,’ Kim agreed.
    ‘And,’ Mia added, ‘they never will.’
    Visser looked at Veerman. So did Simon Klerk.
    ‘Very well,’ the director said and got his pen. ‘You can leave. Go with the nurse. He’ll drive you into the city. Do as he says. We don’t want you back here. Please
. . .’
    They blinked as if ready to cry. Then got to their feet and stuttered out their thanks.
    ‘May we pack?’ Mia asked. ‘We have a few things. Just a few. No case though.’
    ‘We’ll find you something,’ Visser said.
    Mia added, ‘You’ve been so kind. Director Veerman. Irene. Simon. So very kind. We didn’t deserve such . . . such a
family
. Yes. That’s the right word.’
    ‘The proper word,’ Kim agreed.
    ‘Go and get ready,’ Klerk said. ‘I’ll come for you. We’ll take my car.’
    They left, arm in arm, nodding, bowing, grateful.
    Veerman sat in silence. Visser checked her messages. Klerk texted his wife to say he’d be late home.
    Down the corridor Mia and Kim Timmers walked, happy, hand in hand.
    Two voices in harmony singing an old and happy folk song. A third accompanying them in their head.

6
    Bakker never came back from records. At ten to