The Boy in the Suitcase - Lene Kaaberbol [71]
“What do you mean?”
“He came to the clinic some months ago. He wanted to know who you were, and he was willing to pay a fortune to find out, but Mrs. Jurkiene couldn’t tell him because nothing was written down. But he recognized me because I had been the one to hand over the baby, back then. Yours, that is. And he asked me if I didn’t remember something, anything, about who you were and where you came from. And of course I did remember, because you nearly died, and I looked after you for so many days. But I told him I didn’t.”
Julija was crying as she spoke, in a strange noiseless fashion, as if her eyes were merely watering.
“He didn’t want to believe me, and he kept offering me all this money if only I would tell him something. And all the while the other man stood there in the background with his arms across his chest, and it was so obvious that he was there to look after the Dane and all his money. You know, like a bodyguard. I didn’t understand why he wanted to find you after so many years. And in the end, he went away, and I thought that was the end of it. But it wasn’t.”
“The Dane.” Sigita tried to bring her wildly straying thoughts into some sort of order. “Was he the one who… .”
“Yes. He was the one who got your child. The first one, that is.” Julija looked at her with bright, dark eyes. “We thought we were doing a good thing, you understand? For the girls, and for the babies. They were always rich people, because getting a child that way is very expensive. We thought they would be good to them and treat them like they were their own. Why else was it so important that no one should think they were adopted? And the women were always so very happy. They would cry and cry, and hug the babies tight. But with the Dane, it was just the man who picked up the baby, and I never saw the wife. I’ve thought about that afterwards.”
“You said you thought they would be good to them… . Don’t you think so anymore?”
“Yes. In most cases, anyway. But I’ve given the clinic my notice. I don’t want to work there anymore. It won’t be easy, because the salary was good, and Aleksas is a schoolteacher and doesn’t make very much. But I don’t want to work there anymore.”
“But I don’t understand. Was it the Dane who took Zita?”
“Not directly. It was that bodyguard. I don’t know his name. And it was more than a month later, when I had almost forgotten about the Dane. But the bodyguard didn’t believe I couldn’t remember about you. And he had Zita. So I told him your name was Sigita, but that wasn’t enough. He wanted to know your last name, too, and where you lived. I didn’t know anything about that. That was too bad for Zita, he said, because she really, really wanted to come home to her mama again. So in the end, I searched the files until I found it. The receipt for your money. It wasn’t your name on it, it was your auntie’s. But it must have been enough, because he let Zita come home.”
Ass. herbs for the production of natural remedies: 14.426 litai.
Oh yes, Sigita remembered the receipt. But she couldn’t make head or tails of the rest.
“If you do as they say,” said Julija, “don’t you think they’ll let you have your little boy back? Like Zita?”
“But I don’t know what they want me to do,” wailed Sigita desperately. “They’ve told me nothing!”
“Maybe something has gone wrong,” said Julija. “Maybe the bodyguard can’t get hold of the Dane, or something.”
Sigita just shook her head. “It still makes no sense.” Then she suddenly raised her head. “You said you don’t register the girls. But what about the people who get the babies—does it say anything about them?”
“Yes, of course. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to register the births.”
“Good. Then get me his name.”
“The Dane?”
“Yes. Julija, you owe me that. And his address, if you can.”
Julija looked terrified. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You did it to save Zita. Now you must help me save my son. Otherwise.…” Sigita swallowed, not liking it at all. But this was for Mikas. “Otherwise, I may have to go to the police after all. Then they can come and search your files.”
“You promised!