In the car on their way south he felt himself relaxing more with every mile they put behind them. They were playing Simon and Garfunkel full blast. The wintry landscape slid past outside the windows, with expanses of white fields and an occasional farm.
A beautiful layer of snow covered the yard when they arrived.
It’s actually silly to call this place a summer cabin, thought Knutas. It’s more like a manor house. The typical Gotland-style limestone house from the mid-nineteenth century was impressive with its whitewashed walls, pitched roof, and smooth gables. During that era bigger houses were being built on Gotland to keep pace with the increasing prosperity in the countryside. This house had no less than seven rooms and a kitchen, divided into two wings. The farm also had a boathouse that was used as a storeroom and food cellar. Next to the house stood a sauna, only a few yards from the dock where Leif’s fishing boat bobbed up and down all year-round.
The place was rather isolated. The nearest neighbor lived a couple of hundred yards away.
“I can just imagine how cold it is in the house,” Leif warned his friend when he opened the heavy, creaking front door.
“It doesn’t feel so bad,” said Knutas as they stepped inside. He carried the bags of food out to the kitchen and started putting away the provisions. “But I suppose it will seem worse if we sit still.”
“I’ll turn on the electric heat and make a fire in the fireplace, but it will take a while to get rid of the dampness.”
Several hours later they sat at the table with plates of roast beef and potatoes au gratin that smelled of garlic, along with a bottle of a robust Rioja wine. It had been a long time since Anders Knutas had felt so good.
“How many times have we done this? Is this the fifth or the sixth year? This year it seems even more necessary than usual.”
“Yes, I think we both needed to get away,” Leif agreed. “There’s been a hell of a lot to do at the restaurant. The worst is when there are problems with the staff. One of my best waitresses had a miscarriage and had to go to the hospital. Then another waitress had to go to Stockholm because her mother died. And to top it off, I caught one of the bartenders stealing from the till. All within a couple of weeks. And as usual, these kinds of situations always happen at the least convenient time. Right now we’re up to our necks in Christmas reservations. It’s lucky I have such a superb chef, otherwise I’d never be able to handle all this. He can fix pretty much anything. I actually offered to stay home this weekend, but he persuaded me to go. I was thinking we could postpone this to some later date,” he added apologetically.
“I’m glad we didn’t. Tell him thanks from me.” Anders took a sip of his wine. “At least you should be happy that the restaurant is doing so well. It’s always full of people, and it’s been like that ever since you opened. I don’t know how you do it.”
“So what about you? How’s it going with the investigation?”
“Good. We finally seem to be on the right track.”
“What a nasty business.”
“It’s been damn tough. When we know that a murderer is on the loose and we’re blindly fumbling around, not being able to make sense of things… it’s frustrating.”
“So you’re not doing that anymore? Blindly fumbling around, I mean?”
“No, I’m convinced that we’re close to solving the case. You know that I can’t discuss any investigations with you, but this much I can tell you: I think we’re very close now.”
“Is it someone you’ve suspected for a long time?”
“No. Actually, someone completely unexpected has turned up.”
“So why haven’t you caught him?”
“Enough questions, Leif. You know I can’t answer them.”
Leif held up his hands. “Of course. Would you like some more wine?”
They spent the rest of the evening playing chess in front of the fireplace. And they opened another bottle of Rioja.
It turned out to be a late night. They didn’t get to bed until after midnight. Anders was given one of the upstairs bedrooms. The room was simply but beautifully furnished. The limestone walls were rough and bare. The slate roof was supported by heavy timbers. A wide wooden bed with a white flowered bedspread stood along one wall, and next to it were three country chairs painted blue. A little window with a deep recess faced the sea. The rhythmic sound of the waves lapping against the shore lulled him to sleep.
When he awoke, he had no idea how long he had slept. It was pitch dark in the room. He couldn’t understand what had awakened him. He lay still with his eyes open and unseeing in the night, listening for sounds that weren’t there.
He reached out his hand and turned on the lamp on the nightstand next to the bed. It was three ten in the morning.
His mouth was dry, and he needed to go to the bathroom.
Afterward he paused next to the window. He could hear the sea, but it seemed very calm. There was a light on in the boathouse. Strange. Was Leif out there at this hour? Maybe he had forgotten to turn off the light.
The snow gleamed white in the darkness, and the glow from the outdoor lights cast long shadows. Nothing was going on, so he went back to bed.
It took a long time before he fell asleep.
The days had passed and Johan hadn’t heard a word from Emma. He had been back in Stockholm almost a week, since nothing new had occurred on Gotland that would warrant a trip to the island. At least nothing that he knew about. The police were being very tight-lipped. He had tried to put the pressure on Knutas several times, but he hadn’t gotten anything useful out of him. Experience told him that they were close to catching the perpetrator. The police always reacted the same way when an investigation entered a sensitive stage. They all just clammed up.
He was longing for Emma terribly, but she refused to talk to him. Maybe a solution was near on more than one front. Oh, just let it happen, he felt at the same time. Bring on the shit, so we can get this over with once and for all. He was tired of all the worrying and all the planning for a future with Emma. Wondering how he would manage on Gotland, as a stepfather, as a man with responsibilities. Cooking pasta and reading good night stories and blowing noses and balancing things among Emma, her ex-husband, the kids, the in-laws; birthday parties, deciding where to spend Christmas Eve, and feeling torn between Stockholm and Gotland. And, to be honest, how much fun would it be to take over a family that already existed? He was a romantic who dreamed of getting married and eventually becoming a father. For Emma, none of it would be for the first time.
Marrying again, having children again. Did she even want to have children with him? They had never talked about that. Why hadn’t they?
It was probably just as well that they put an end to things, once and for all. He might meet some girl in Stockholm who didn’t have a broken marriage and kids as baggage. Then it could be a magical experience for both of them. Everything would be so much simpler-just the fact that they could live in Stockholm, close to their families, their work, and their friends. The conditions for having a successful and good life together would be so much better. Why make life more difficult than necessary? It was hard enough to make a relationship work. Did he also have to hassle with other people’s children and ex-husbands? No thanks.
But there was just one hitch. Emma was the one he wanted.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22
On Saturday morning Anders woke up when Leif knocked on the door and barged into the room.
“Wake up, sleepy-head! It’s eight o’clock and breakfast is ready!”
Groggy with sleep, he sat up in bed. Leif was looking shamelessly frisky.
“I’ve already been out to chop wood. It’s glorious weather. Just have a look outside,” he said, nodding toward the window.
Anders turned his head. To his great surprise, he saw the sun gleaming over the expanse of the sea, which was blue and relatively calm.
