The morning was gray and dull. It was cold and had been raining for hours, so that the large windows of the apartment building were covered in drops of water.
It would take longer today for the mopped floor to dry, thought Amanda Nnadi as she pushed the cleaning trolley out of the small storage room and into the entrance hall.
She glanced at the clock on the wall as she waited patiently for the elevator. It was only half past ten. The guests should have been out of the apartment for exactly two and a half hours, so she now had all the peace and quiet she needed to prepare the apartment for the next guests.
"Good morning, Mandy!" Benjamin Erikson, the receptionist, greeted her as usual and placed a large cup of coffee next to the computer. "It's been a hell of a day, isn't it? Raining cats and dogs all morning."
"Don't tell me," Amanda grumbled, shaking her head. "My sister wanted to take her children to the park today. They can surely forget that."
"Maybe it will get better later on." Benjamin smiled encouragingly as the elevator doors opened. "See you later!"
Amanda raised her hand and pushed the cleaning trolley into the elevator. She pressed the button with the number 17.
Humming a song, she leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling. One of the small lamps was crooked. She held back from straightening it and decided to tell Benjamin about it later. He would let the caretaker know and hopefully he would have it straightened soon.
A plink sounded, announcing the 17th floor.
Amanda pushed the cleaning trolley out of the elevator and walked towards the door with the number 27. She took her lanyard out of her coat pocket and unlocked the door. Immediately afterwards, she was taken aback.
Three jackets were still hanging on the coat rack and there were two pairs of shoes on the shoe rack. Expensive sneakers, she realized.
Frowning, she looked at the number on the door. 27. She was in the right place.
Carefully she pushed the trolley through the door. "Hello? Anyone here?"
No answer. A cool breeze blew through the flat and the door slammed shut behind her with a loud bang. Startled, she flinched and almost knocked over one of the cleaning products.
"For the love of god." She shook her head and took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart.
Had the previous guests left a window open? She placed the keys onto the small sideboard next to the door and pulled on blue plastic gloves before grabbing a cleaner from the trolley.
She carefully circled the trolley and walked towards the kitchen when she suddenly lost her breath.
She stood rooted to the spot.
Legs peeked out from behind the kitchen counter.
Trembling, she caught her breath and took a step closer, peering over the counter.
It was a something she would never forget.
A boy was lying there. He was pale, paler than he should be, his green eyes wide open and staring into space. Red spots covered the skin of his arms, which looked strangely stiff.
The ground around him was covered in a huge pool of blood. Blood that had oozed from the many stitches in his abdomen.
Her heart stopped. Her breathing stopped. Then she dropped the bottle of cleaning agent with a screech and stumbled back to the door, shaky and dazed.
A corpse. A corpse. A corpse.
Those words were the only ones she could grasp at that moment.
A corpse. A corpse...
YOU ARE READING
Murder in Vienna
Mystery / ThrillerOne murder, three dead friends, three different modus operandi - the case is closed. Three years later, the ambitious journalist Joycelyn Riley takes on the case of her life, travels to the former crime scene and follows the murderer's trail. The de...
