“Look who’s scared now, you little whore.” He gripped her tighter. “Aren’t you sorry for making a fool out of me in court?” Madlen suppressed a scream as he grabbed her even tighter. What was the point? It was the guard who had lured her into the trap.
Matthias let go of her shoulder and grabbed her hair. The shawl that covered it fell to the ground. Madlen thought she heard someone whimper from the corner. “Adelhaid, are you here? Say something!” Madlen begged.
“Of course she’s here.” He threw her like a sack of potatoes onto the bed, hurling her with so much force that she landed on her stomach and bumped her head into something hard. She screamed loudly.
“Go ahead and scream, you little whore. That’s what I like.”
Again, Madlen heard somebody whimper, this time a little louder. “Please, Adelhaid, help me,” she pleaded. “If you’re in the room, please help.” Madlen couldn’t hold back her tears. Soon, he’d be throwing himself on her to rape her.
“You want to see my wife?” she heard him say. He seemed to be standing a little farther away now. A small flame glimmered as a candle was lit. Madlen sat up. Slowly, she recognized a silhouette. Matthias Trauenstein stood motionless, staring at her. In spite of the weak light, she could see the insane twinkle in his eyes. She broke into a cold sweat. There must be something else lying on the bed. She was sitting on something hard and immovable. Madlen raised her hands to her face. She screamed when she realized that they were both red with blood. From the corner near the door, she again heard somebody whimper and slowly realized what was going on. Shakily, she looked at the bed where she sat. Madlen yelped, jumped up, and landed on all fours on the ground. Matthias Trauenstein laughed scornfully, louder and louder. “What’s the rush? Didn’t you long to see my wife? Well, she’s lying there, as you can see.”
Madlen gasped again; breathing seemed all but impossible. Her whole body knotted up like a rope, as Matthias laughed louder and louder until he finally grabbed her by the hair again and stood her up. He held her head and forced her to look at the bed.
“Yes, go ahead and look. Isn’t my wife wonderful? Don’t be scared of all the blood.” He held Madlen even tighter and clutched her head so she couldn’t look away. “This is all your fault. She didn’t have to die, but you and your oh-so-clever advocate forced me to do this. Now who am I supposed to sleep next to at night?” His mouth was right next to her ear. “Unfortunately for you, you’ll be locked away until you swing from the gallows.” He pushed her forward, and Madlen landed again on Adelhaid’s corpse.
“Barbara, you know what you have to do.”
Madlen dimly recognized Barbara, who staggered over to the door and opened it. A faint glow of light fell into the room. Madlen couldn’t see what Barbara was doing. She couldn’t think clearly. She looked to the side and saw Adelhaid’s face. Blood flowed over the white linen pillow. Her eyes were still open, and Madlen had the feeling that Adelhaid was staring at her reproachfully.
“Do you know what’s going to happen now?” Matthias laughed, but it wasn’t the full, deep laugh he’d had before. It sounded high and light, as if he’d lost his mind. “Barbara has informed the guard. Now he’ll go to the street and scream as loud as he can that you’ve killed my wife.”
“Nobody will believe you.” Madlen became sick to her stomach.
“Oh, of course they will. There’s the knife with which you stabbed my wife over and over. I advise you to surrender yourself to the sheriff.”
“Why would I do that?” Madlen asked weakly.
“You still don’t understand?” Again he laughed. “I would have thought you were smarter than this. But what can you expect from a little whore like yourself? You’ve stabbed my beloved wife to death with a knife because she wanted to tell the truth that it was you that poisoned her and killed our child.”
“Nobody will believe that. Not after what happened in the courtroom today.”
“Oh, but I think they will. Our lovely Barbara will swear that she got money from you to lie in court.” He tapped his head. “I figured it all out.”
“You’ll never get away with it. When the sheriff arrives, he’ll believe me, not you. And where would I have gotten enough money to pay Barbara? No, nobody will believe you.” Madlen looked desperately for a way out. There had to be a way to convince him that his scheme would fail.
“You were able to pay that expensive advocate.”
“From the money that Adelhaid gave me in thanks for saving her life,” she sobbed.