The Red Light Girls (Unsolved Mysteries Book 2) by Kim Knight (most romantic novels TXT) 📗

soon come their way from Amsterdam, regarding the murders they may now have a conclusion for.

35

Forever Friends

Madeline Sloane

At the sound of the announcement, Madeline stopped typing an article and looked away from the laptop and toward the television.

“Shit, you crazy ass,” she muttered under her breath.

Her face pinched up at the painful memories of her so-called property manager, Mr. Fitz, now confirmed as Jonas Schmitdt from Germany.

Her nightmares were ongoing. And it was always the same one—him as he tried to force her into a car with a knife held to her spine. His rancid breath, stale stench of body odour, and the physical roughness had plagued her memories over the last two weeks, ever since the attempted kidnapping had happened, and the Politie finally took him down.

Madeline watched the news update on his case with great interest. The charges, and the interconnecting links made to all the Red Light Girls who had disappeared, as well as the missing or dead girls cases across Germany, splashed across almost every news channel all day.

She turned up the volume on the television just in time to listen to a live report.

“DNA evidence found on Suzy Chan’s body confirmed Jonas Schmitdt had taken her life on the Amsterdamse Bos,” said the female news reporter. “During the psychoanalysis carried out with professionals, he admitted to the murders of the other women over the last eight months, and across Germany. When pressed further, he denied he had admitted to a single thing.”

Madeline’s eyes widened. She shook her head and moved from the table over to the sofa in disbelief.

“Liar,” she yelled.

She plopped on the lumpy sofa and listened closely as the reporter confirmed details of the murders he had carried out in Germany.

“Three years ago, three fucking years ago, you did that? My God, you sick monster,” she yelled at the screen.

The reporter announced the names of the unsolved cases, surrounding six women in Berlin, Germany.

Madeline switched off the television, rose to her feet, and made her way over to her laptop on the table, then focused on the half-written article.

I’ve got a deadline this week. She groaned. One I can’t afford to miss.

Fleur, her boss, had been really understanding when it came to her emotional state and withdrawal over the last two weeks. But still, she wanted to show that she could keep up with the workload.

Ring.

Ring.

Madeline looked at her phone.

Chris’ name flashed across the screen. She ignored him at first, letting it ring and ring. The phone silenced for several seconds, and then rang again. Hesitating, she picked it up with a shaky hand.

“Hello, Chris.”

“Oh, my gosh.” Chris sighed into the phone. “For a moment, I thought you’d ignore my call again. It’s been weeks I’ve, uhm, I’ve…Madeline, I’ve really wanted to speak to you. I m-miss you.”

“I don’t know what to say, Chris. I’m sorry I pulled you into this mess. I—”

“Don’t be sorry! You did what any woman would do if they suspected they were dating a murderer. Forget all that, anyway, how have you been?”

“Okay, I guess.” Madeline lied through her teeth.

“Are you sure? I doubt after everything you’ve been through there’s much truth in that.” A brief pause hit the line. “C’mon, Madeline.”

“Fine, things have been a little rough, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m just happy that freak is behind bars where he belongs.”

“I hear that. You did good. It was so brave of you to put yourself out there like that. But please, don’t do it again. I don’t wanna lose you.”

“Lose me? Chris, that’s rich coming from you. You lost me when Stacey showed up, remember her?”

“She’s long gone. As soon as I met you, I knew my intentions were to get to know you. Like I said, when we went to find out about those girls, that was the day I wanted to talk to you about it. Sure, we’d only just met, but I knew what I wanted. Stacey would have been long gone once I knew how you felt.”

Madeline paused and considered what Chris said for moment. “Look, I’m not looking for any bullshit, okay. I’ve been there, done that, if you want—”

“No bullshit, I promise,” Chris’ voice came across the line with a layer of warmth that had a plea attached to it. “Let’s start again. A fresh slate. How about it, beautiful? Now that you know I’m not a serial killer.”

Madeline laughed. “All right, let’s try.”

“Thank God for that!” Chris sighed down the line.

“Chris.”

“What?”

“I mean it, don’t fuck me around. No bullshit. Got it?”

Chris laughed again. “Got it loud and clear.”

36

The Red Light Girls

Madeline Sloane

Two months later, in the fresh bitter air on Saturday morning, Madeline walked around Amsterdamse Bos. No longer fearful for her life, or any of the lives of the working girls around the city, she felt good.

The early morning winter sun had shown up. But it was still chilly. She wrapped a scarf around her tighter with one hand, and balanced her coffee in the other. She walked along in peace and took the time to appreciate the trees, grass, people exercising around her, and life in general.

A pond nearby had a few baby ducklings with their mother, crossing the length of the body of water.

Stopping, she sipped her drink and watched them paddle across in a single line. As she did, she thought about the recent events.

She had followed the coverage of Jonas Schmitdt’s case closely over a number of weeks, and she reported on the German serial killer with hard hitting journalistic news. As a result, the De Telegraaf newspaper’s sales peaked from her hard work.

Her reputation as a journalist grew, and so did her love for investigating unsolved mysteries. During the evenings, when she was alone, she had spent hours on the Internet searching for leads and information on cold cases. Often, she wrote about them in the new column the De Telegraaf newspaper had given her full creative control over.

The paper’s column was