The confused look returned to Hansi’s face. He was getting agitated.

“Wah wah.”

“Uh uh. Go on home, Hansi. Go home to the kitten.”

For a moment Hansi’s frown had Felix thinking there’d be trouble.

“Get some of your mutti’s strudel, okay? Yum yum?”

How could he not take the big lug’s hand again. He wondered if Gebi had a digital camera he hadn’t let on about.

“Sleep.”

“Right, Hansi. A nice nap. Wouldn’t that be good?”

But Hansi had stopped and he wasn’t going to budge. His grip had grown tighter. Felix looked over. Hansi was half turned toward the woods and the boggy uplands behind the barn. The look of concentration on his face could mean anything. Felix glanced down for any signs of a diaper.

“Sleepy.”

“Let’s go, Hansi. Your mother wants you.”

“Komm.”

The tug was more a yank. Felix pulled back. For a moment he saw Giuliana’s face: how she’d throw her head back and do that laugh that came from the back of her throat. The Italian Witch Laugh.

“Hansi, you are getting annoying. You know? Now let’s get out of here. You’ve been cured, okay? Here you are, outdoors. I’ve done my duty. Everyone’s had a good laugh, okay?”

“Sleep.”

What it was exactly that made Felix Kimmel give in was something he would think about a great deal later that day, and into the evening after the detectives had arrived from the Kriminaldiest in Graz. He let himself be led on a 10-minute walk that began almost as a trot, and left him winded. Hansi had been babbling, or intoning, words that Felix could not understand, but he stopped abruptly near a clump of pines that edged out toward a path leading through the woods.

SEVEN

The way back down felt like it took but moments. Felix’s throat and his chest hurt from the spasms that had had him almost doubled up. There was still vomit on parts of his shoes. It was he who had grabbed Hansi by the hand hard to get him to return to the house. On the way up here, his annoyance had vanity for company. He had been proud to have gotten Hansi’s trust, even to cure him in some way. Hadn’t he won him over, when even his own parents hadn’t?