Kenneth reluctantly stood up, went out to the hall, and picked up his mobile from the bureau. ‘Erik’, it said on the display. Again he felt annoyance wash over him. Even now he insisted on intruding.
‘Yes?’ he said, making no effort to hide his feelings. But his mood changed as he listened to what Erik had to say. He asked a few, brief questions and then ended the conversation before going back into Lisbet’s room. He took a deep breath as he fixed his gaze on her face, so ravaged by illness but in his eyes so beautiful, framed by a halo of yellow and gold.
‘It seems that they’ve found Magnus. And he’s dead.’
Erica had tried to ring Patrik several times, but there was no answer. He must be really busy down at the station.
She was at home, sitting in front of her computer and doing a search on the Internet. Though she stubbornly tried to focus on the task, there was no denying that it was distracting to have two sets of feet kicking inside her stomach. It was hard to keep her thoughts in check. And her worries. She recalled the early days with Maja, which hadn’t been anything like the rosy visions of baby bliss that she’d imagined. That period was like a black hole, when she thought back on it, and now it was going to be doubled. Two to feed, two babies waking up in the middle of the night, two demanding all her attention, all her time. Maybe she was selfish, maybe that was why she had such a hard time placing her very existence, her whole life in someone else’s hands. The hands of her children. She cringed at the idea, and then instantly felt guilty. Why on earth did she feel so anxious about something as incredible as having two more children, two gifts at one time? But she did. She was so worried that it was practically tearing her apart. Yet this time she knew the result. Maja was such a joy that Erica didn’t regret for one second the difficult period she’d been through. But she still had the memories of what it had been like, and they continued to bother her.
Suddenly she felt a kick that was so hard she had to gasp for breath. One of the babies, or maybe both of them, seemed to have a talent for football. The pain brought her back to the present. She was well aware that she was preoccupied with her speculations about Christian and the letters because it kept other thoughts and worries away. But she didn’t see anything wrong with that.
She opened Google and typed in his name: Christian Thydell. She got several pages of hits. All of them had to do with his book; none of them mentioned anything about his past. She tried adding ‘Trollhattan’. No hits. But if he had lived there, he must have left some traces behind. And she should be able to find out more about him. She chewed on her thumbnail as she thought. Could it be that she was off on the wrong track? There was really nothing in the letters to indicate that they’d come from someone Christian had known before he moved to Fjallbacka.
She kept coming back to the question: why was he so secretive about his past? It felt as though Christian had erased the life he’d lived before he arrived in Fjallbacka. Or was she the only one he refused to talk to? The thought stung, but she couldn’t get it out of her mind. Of course he hadn’t been particularly open with his colleague at work either, but that was a whole different matter. Erica felt that she and Christian had become friends when they worked on his manuscript, tossing around thoughts and ideas, discussing tone and nuances in his writing. But maybe that wasn’t the case after all.
Erica realized that she ought to talk to more of Christian’s friends before she let her imagination run wild. But who? She had only a vague notion of who belonged to Christian’s circle of friends. Magnus Kjellner was the first person who came to mind, but unless some sort of miracle occurred, that wasn’t an option. Christian and Sanna also seemed to socialize with Erik Lind, the man who owned that construction company, and his partner, Kenneth Bengtsson. Erica had no idea how close they were to Christian, or which of them she should talk to in order to obtain the most information. And besides, how would Christian react if he found out that she was going around questioning everyone he knew?
She decided to ignore any such scruples, which were far outweighed by her curiosity. And it was in Christian’s own best interest, after all. If he refused to get to the bottom of who was sending those threatening letters, then she would just have to do it for him.
Suddenly she knew who she would talk to first.
Ludvig glanced at the clock again. It would soon be time for break. Maths was his absolute worst subject, and the hour was dragging along, as usual. Five more minutes. Today his class had break-time together with 7A, which meant the same time as Sussie. Her locker was in the next row over, and if he was lucky, they’d arrive there at the same time to put their books away after class. He’d had a crush on her for more than six months now. Nobody knew about it, except for his best friend Tom. And Tom knew that he would die a slow and painful death if he ever told anyone.
The bell rang, and Ludvig gratefully picked up his maths book and dashed out of the classroom. He kept looking around as he walked towards his locker, but Sussie was nowhere in sight. Maybe her class wasn’t over yet.
Soon he was going to get up the courage to talk to her. That’s what he’d decided. He just wasn’t sure how to begin or what he would say. He’d tried to get Tom to run into one of her friends, so that he could approach her that way. But Tom had refused, so Ludvig was forced to come up with some other plan.
The area around his locker was deserted. He opened the padlock, put his books inside, and carefully locked it again. Maybe she wasn’t in school today. He hadn’t seen her earlier either, so maybe she was sick or had the day off. The thought made him feel so depressed that he considered cutting his last class. He jumped when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
‘Sorry, Ludvig. I didn’t mean to scare you.’
The principal was standing behind him. She looked pale and tense, and in a fraction of a second, Ludvig knew why she wanted to talk to him. His thoughts of Sussie and everything else, which only a moment ago had seemed so important, instantly vanished, to be replaced by a pain so strong that he felt it would never let him go.
‘I’d like you to come with me to my office. Elin is waiting for us there.’
He nodded. There was no reason to ask what this was all about, since he already knew. The pain seemed to radiate from his fingertips, and he couldn’t feel his feet as he followed the principal. He was moving his feet forward, as he knew he had to, but they were completely numb.
In the corridor, halfway to the principal’s office, he saw Sussie. She looked at him, staring him right in the eye. But it felt like an eternity ago that such an encounter had meant anything to him, and he looked right through her. Nothing existed but the pain. Everything else was a reverberating void.
Elin burst into tears when she saw him. She had probably been sitting there, fighting back the sobs, and when he entered the room she rushed into his arms. He hugged her tight, stroking her back as she cried.
The police officers, whom he’d met a few times before, were standing nearby, giving the two siblings a moment to comfort each other. He still hadn’t uttered a word.
‘Where did you find him?’ Ludvig asked at last, even though he wasn’t aware of having formulated the question. He wasn’t even sure that he wanted to hear the answer.
‘Down by Salvik,’ said the officer whose name was apparently Patrik. His colleague took a couple of steps back. She seemed at a loss for words. Ludvig understood how she felt. He didn’t know what to say either. Or what to do.
‘We thought we’d drive you home now.’ Patrik nodded at Paula to lead the way. Elin and Ludvig followed. In the doorway Elin stopped and turned towards Patrik.
‘Did Pappa drown?’
Ludvig stopped too, but he could see that the officer had no intention of saying anything more at the moment.
‘Let’s go home, Elin. We’ll find out all the details later,’ he said quietly, taking his sister’s hand. At first she resisted. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to know what happened. But then she turned again to follow Paula.
‘All right. Let’s have a look…’ Mellberg paused for effect. He pointed at the corkboard where Patrik had carefully pinned up all the material they’d collected pertaining to Magnus Kjellner’s disappearance. ‘I’ve gathered here what we know so far, and there’s not much to write home about. Three months on the case, and this is all you’ve managed to dig up? It’s just as well you’re all out here in the sticks – back in Goteborg we knew what it was
