Then they were outside.
‘It’s down here, just below the common.’
She hesitated. A path leading into the woods.
‘You promised.’
Something in his tone made her realise that she had better keep her promise.
‘What is it?’
‘You’ll see. But it’s something really beautiful.’
They started walking. The path sloped down and soon she glimpsed water between the trees. He didn’t say a word. Just below the common, he had said, but their walk was a good bit longer. She was just about to protest, plead that it was too cold, but didn’t.
‘Here. It’s over here.’
A house and a sign but it was too dark to see what it said. An iron gate and a chain-link fence around it. He turned off the walking path, went over to the fence and raised it so there was about half a metre’s room between the ground and the bottom of the fence. He nodded to her to crawl under it.
‘Can we really go in here?’
‘There’s no danger, I’ve been here plenty of times. Don’t worry about getting dirt on those jeans.’
She didn’t want to, but she had promised. If she refused now, she’d have to walk back to town. She sighed, got down on all fours and crawled under the fence, stood up and brushed off her knees.
He followed.
She looked around. Boats covered by tarpaulins. ‘No trespassing.’ The sign was readable now: ‘Arstadals Boat Club’.
‘Where are we going?’
‘Just out on the wharf over there. The one on the right.’
It was cold without a jacket and she shivered as they made their way through the boats to reach the wharf. Then they went out on the pier and she did as he said, followed it to the right. He was right behind her. When she reached the end of the pier she stopped and looked around. The woods to her right, to her left the island of Sodermalm across the water.
She turned around.
‘What was it you wanted to show me?’
He gazed out across the black water, as if he wanted to draw out his answer as long as possible.
‘Something you have never seen or experienced before.’
‘And what’s that?’
She felt impatient now. Impatient and freezing.
He stood completely still. Then he placed his hand over his heart.
‘Here.’
‘Come on now, stop it. I want to go now. If you don’t intend to give me a lift then I’ll walk.’
A furrow between his eyebrows.
‘Why are you always in such a hurry?’
‘I’m freezing.’
She regretted the words at once, they could be taken as an invitation to warm her up.
He looked out over the water again.
‘I’m going to show you what real love is.’
And then his eyes back to hers.
‘If you have time for it.’
This was starting to feel unpleasant, but her irritation was greater than her fear.
‘But I’ve already explained that I’m married. I thought we were finished talking about that.’
‘You understand that real love is when you love someone so much that you’re prepared to do anything to get the one you love.’
‘Oh please . . .’
He interrupted her.
‘That’s how much I love you.’
‘You don’t even know me. You have no idea who I am. And whatever you say, you can’t force me to love you, it doesn’t work that way. I love my husband.’
Suddenly he looked sad.
‘All I want is for you to be happy. Why can’t you let me make you happy?’
‘I really have to go now.’
He took a step to the side and blocked her way. She tried to pass him on the other side but he blocked her again.
Her uneasiness was growing stronger and she realised that it was best to admit it.
‘You’re scaring me.’
He smiled sadly and shook his head.
‘How can you be afraid of me? I’ve told you that I love you. He, on the other hand, the one you’re in such a hurry to go home to . . . Why don’t you just let him go? Or even better, tell him to go to hell.’
She rubbed her arms to try and warm up.
‘Because I love him, that’s why.’
He sighed.
‘How can someone like you love a man like that? You deserve someone so much better. And Eva, if you want to be completely honest with yourself, deep inside you know that he doesn’t love you any more.’
A sudden jolt through her body.
Eva? What the hell. Eva?
‘How . . .’
She couldn’t find words to formulate the question. Everything had suddenly changed.
‘It’s so sad to see a woman like you believe that you have to be like Linda to be loved. That you even use her name. Linda is a whore, she’s nothing compared to you.’
She stood mute. Mute and suddenly robbed of all frame of reference. Who was this man in front of her? How could he know? She was scared now, really scared, robbed of all control. Every cell in her body signalled that she had to defend herself. That he was a greater threat than she could ever have imagined.
‘How could you be so stupid to believe that some roses had made him change. I know how jerks like that operate.’
He lifted the plastic bag he had brought with him and emptied it over her head. Instinctively she put her hands up in front of her face to shield herself. She felt the contents fall over her and all around her. And then the smell. She looked down at her feet. Twenty red roses. Cut off and stolen from her coffee table.
She stared at him, terror-stricken.
‘Now, on the other hand, now you are receiving them out of true love. But I, I who truly love you, love you for who you are, I’m not even allowed to rest my head for a while on your lap.’
She looked around. Water on all sides. Not a person to be seen. A train passed by on the bridge far off behind him. The sounds of the city. All quite close but out of reach.
‘I wanted to give you time to understand that you can trust me. That I will always be there for you. I’ve already got to know Axel, so it wouldn’t have been any problem if we just took it easy in the beginning. But you don’t want to. You’re forcing me to prove how much I love you.’
She backed up a step, felt with her foot behind her and realised that she was dangerously close to the edge. Then he took a step towards her, put his hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.
‘I love you.’
She never felt the fall. Only an icy cold surrounding her and pressing all the air out of her lungs. Her body came up to the surface and took a deep gasping breath, with a furious will to survive. She reached out for the pier but couldn’t find it. In the next moment something closed around her body and pulled her down, down below the surface. With all her strength she struggled to keep her head above water, arms flailing as she tried to defend herself against the weight. Then she suddenly felt his lips on hers, his tongue pressing into her mouth. His legs clamped her in an iron grip and pressed her down, down into the darkness, down in the icy cold. Time did not exist.
