The Quarry

Per closed his eyes, feeling the heat from the sky reflected by all the stones. He picked up a smooth piece of stone from the makeshift grave and turned his back on the quarry.

Then he wheeled Gerlof back up to the cottage and placed the last contracts of employment – including Regina’s – on the burning coals. It flared up and burnt just as well as all the rest.

When the fire began to die down he turned to Gerlof and Nilla. ‘I won’t be long,’ he said. ‘I’m just going to give this stone to Vendela Larsson.’

‘In that case I’ve got something for her as well,’ said Gerlof, picking up something he had on his knee.

It was a large white envelope. As Per took it he heard something rattling inside.

‘What is it?’

‘A few pieces of jewellery,’ said Gerlof. ‘You can give them to Vendela.’

Per didn’t ask any more questions. He went past his cottage and out on to the gravel track, then turned off towards the Larssons’ house and walked up to the front door. He rang the bell, the envelope and the polished piece of stone in his hand.

The thick walls of the house rose above him. As the bell died away he could hear a dog barking excitedly somewhere inside, but no one opened the door.

He rang again. Then he took a step backwards out into the sunshine, feeling the warmth and the breeze on the back of his neck.

The May sunshine makes both the trolls and the elves disappear, he thought. They burst like soap bubbles. Only human beings remain, for a little while. We are a brief song beneath the sky, laughter in the wind that ends in a sigh. Then we too are gone.

In front of Per the latch was suddenly turned, and the door opened.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

There are many quarries along the coast of Oland where the trolls (or trullen, as my great-uncle Axel Gerlofsson called them) used to get the blame once upon a time if something broke or was stolen. On the alvar there are also elf stones from the Bronze Age where people still place coins or other gifts for the elves. Courses on how to meet elemental beings such as elves have been run in Sweden, but not, as far as I know, on Oland or Gotland, and the places where the quarry and the elf stone are located in The Quarry are freely invented by me, as are all the characters and companies in the novel.

Two excellent non-fiction books which influenced the writing of this novel were Flickan och skulden (Guilt and the Girl) by Katarina Wennstam, which deals among other things with sexual morals and double standards, and Porr – en bastsaljande historia (Porn – a Bestselling History) by Mattias Andersson, which is a detailed analysis of the Swedish sex industry.

Johan Theorin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Throughout his life, Johan Theorin has been a regular visitor to the Baltic island of Oland. His mother’s family – sailors, fishermen and farmers – have lived there for centuries, nurturing the island’s rich legacy of strange tales and folklore.

Johan’s first novel, Echoes from the Dead (originally published in Sweden as Skumtimmen), won the CWA John Creasey Dagger for Best Debut Crime Novel 2009, was a top ten bestseller in Sweden, and has been sold all over the world. His second novel, The Darkest Room (originally published in Sweden as Nattfak), won the CWA International Dagger 2010 and was a Swedish number one bestseller.

A journalist by profession, Johan is currently working on the final novel in his Oland quartet of books, all of which are set on the island that means so much to him.

Also by Johan Theorin

Echoes from the Dead

The Darkest Room