Katja had three addictions. She was addicted to candy and caffeine and, above all, pathologically jealous. Everyone was surprised that her friend Leo had not given her the passport long ago.
The two lived about two hundred yards apart. Leo’s apartment was in a house he and his sister Marie had inherited from their parents. Marie also lived there, next door to her brother.
One day, when Katja happened to pass Leo’s house on the other side of the street, she saw her friend step out of the door, accompanied by a slender young woman. At that very moment, a friend spoke to her, and when she had abked them pretty rude and turned back, she saw only how they drove away in Leo’s car. Furious, she grabbed her cell phone and called Leo. “Who is the chick with whom you are traveling? I saw you coming out of the house! “
“Good day, Katja, do not be so jealous for no reason! This is Harriet, Marie’s pen pal from England. She lives with her for a week. Be glad that she does not understand German, she can hear you. We are driving straight to Marie’s office. She’s leaving work soon. They both want to do something in the city. “
In fact, Katja remembered that Leo’s sister had mentioned her penpals with an Englishwoman at one of their rare encounters – the figure-conscious Marie did not like the ever-napping Katja. Still, she was worried that a pretty young woman was living right next to Leo.
On the evening of the announced departure day she called him. “Is she gone?”
“Who? Oh, Harriet. Nope, she extended her vacation by a few days. “
Katja exploded. “Clear! She never wants to leave! Do not you realize she’s after you? “
“Listen, you’re really crazy now. Harriet is engaged! Besides, I do not know what to do with a beanstalk like that. You know that I prefer chubby women. “
“I hope you only favor me!”, Katja hissed.
*
Over the next few days, Katja’s jealousy became more and more grotesque. When she finally learned that the Briton wanted to stay for a full two weeks because of some schedule, she was fully convinced that Harriet had caught Leo.
“This beast!”, Sobbed Katja, when she was alone in her apartment. “I would like to poison her!”
Poison. Poison. What did she remember that word? Finally she remembered. The “Gift Shop” in the airport … “Gift” was the English word for gift!
For a long time she thought. Then her plan was firm. First, she slipped on gloves and stuffed her hair under a tight-fitting hat to leave no fingerprints or DNA marks.
From the far corner of a cupboard, she brought out a vial of a skull on the label. It came from the household of her deceased parents and contained an odorless, tasteless and colorless rat poison, which meanwhile could no longer be produced because of its dangerousness for humans. As Katja knew from the internet, several murders had been committed. As a rule, the victims did not notice anything for half an hour, and then, after feeling an emerging discomfort, died within minutes.
Katja cut off a piece of marble cake and dribbled it with the deadly substance. When it was infiltrated, she wrapped it in wrapping paper and wrote with obscene writing Harriet’s name and the word poison.
“If Harriet dies of it, it’s her own fault!” She hissed. “There is finally big and clear poison on it. If she thinks it means ‘gift’ because she’s too lazy to learn the language of her host country, then I can not help her. “
That evening, Katja knew, Leo, Marie and Harriet were all away. She headed for the house to which she had a key, opened the door and put the package of poison in front of Marie’s apartment. Then she returned home.
The next day was a Saturday. Every Saturday afternoon Katja went to Leo and spent the weekend with him. Once again, she arrived at 3 pm and expected to hear the news of death as soon as she arrived. But Leo behaved completely normal. As always, he had given his girlfriend a large plate of sweets, without which she was not in the mood, and told her, while she ate while drinking a cup of coffee after another, from his experiences during the past days. Katja, however, could concentrate on nothing. When she ate everything and drank the last sip, she could not stand it any longer. Apparently casually, she asked, “How is Harriet?”
“Well. She’s going on a trip with Marie and her friends. “
Katja tried to hide her disappointment. “When did you last see her?”
“Are you starting with your jealousy again? This morning, if you want to know for sure. In Marie’s kitchen. I had to bring Marie something and then talked a bit with the two. Something against?”
“What did you talk about?”
“Good luck, I did not realize that. Mainly about the trip. Oh, and then it was all about cake. “
“For cake?” Katja held her breath.
“Yes. Harriet had been given a piece of cake by someone, but neither she nor Marie wanted to eat it. You both have such a slimming figure. But Harriet did not want to throw it away. It was so lovingly packaged as a gift. Finally I took it and put it on your plate. “