“Yes, yes, I know, and that’s fine. But maybe Uffe knows something that hasn’t come out.”
“His sister is dead, so what good would it do? Uffe hasn’t spoken a single word since his accident, so he can’t help you.”
“What if I came out to visit you? Do you think I could ask you a few questions?”
“Not if it has anything to do with Uffe.”
“I simply don’t understand this. When I’ve talked to people who knew Merete Lynggaard, I’ve heard that she always spoke so highly of you. She said she and her brother would have been totally lost without your attentive casework.” She tried to say something, but Carl refused to let her interrupt. “So why won’t you at least do your best to protect Merete’s reputation, now that she’s not here to do it for herself? I’m sure you know that the general opinion is that she committed suicide. But what if that wasn’t what happened?”
The only sound now audible on the other end of the line was a muted radio. She was still weighing the words “spoke so highly of you.” Quite a mouthful to digest.
It took her ten seconds to swallow completely. “As far as I know, Merete never said anything to anybody about Uffe. Only those of us at Social Services even knew of his existence.” That was what she said, but she sounded wonderfully unsure of herself.
“You’re right, of course, that was true for the most part. But there were other family members. OK, they lived in Jutland, but she did have relatives, you know.” He paused a moment for effect, giving himself time to consider what sort of family members he could invent for the situation if she insisted on pursuing the topic. But Karen Mortensen had already taken the bait. He could tell.
“Was it you personally, who visited Uffe in the past?” he asked.
“Only at the request of the police. But I was in charge of the case during all those years.”
“Was it your impression that Uffe’s condition was getting worse as time passed?”
She hesitated. She was about to slip away again, so it was just a matter of holding on tight.
“I’m asking you this because I think it might be possible to get through to him today, but I could be wrong,” he continued.
“You’ve met Uffe?” She sounded surprised.
“Yes, of course. A very charming young man. And what a dazzling smile he has. It’s hard to comprehend that there’s anything wrong with him.”
“Plenty of people have thought the same thing in the past. But that’s often how it is with victims of brain injuries. Merete deserved a lot of credit for keeping him from completely withdrawing into himself.”
“And you think there’s a danger of that happening?”
“Absolutely. But it’s true that he can seem very lively if you look at his face. And no, I don’t think he got any worse over the years.”
“Do you think he understood at all what happened to his sister?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Doesn’t that seem strange? I mean, he would get upset if she didn’t come home on time. Start crying, I mean.”
“If you ask me, he couldn’t have seen her fall into the water. I don’t think so. He would have become hysterical, and in my opinion he would have jumped in after her. As for his personal reaction, he wandered around for days down on Fehmarn. He had all the time in the world to cry and feel confused and try searching for her. When they found him, only his basal functions were left. I mean, he’d lost almost ten pounds and apparently hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since he was on board the ship.”
“But maybe he pushed his sister overboard by accident and realized that he’d done something wrong.”
“Now look here, Mr. Morck! I thought that might be where you were headed.” Carl felt the wolf in her baring its teeth, so he needed to be careful. “But instead of slamming down the phone, which is what I feel like doing, I’m going to tell you a little story to give you something to chew on.”
He tightened his grip on the receiver.
“You’re aware that Uffe saw his father and mother die, right?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s my opinion that since that day, Uffe has been simply floating around. Nothing could replace his ties to his parents. Merete tried, but she was not his father and mother. She was his big sister, and they used to play together, and that was all. When he cried because she wasn’t there, it wasn’t because of a feeling of insecurity; instead, it was because he was disappointed that his playmate had forgotten him. Deep inside there is still a little boy waiting for his father and mother to come back. As for Merete, sooner or later all children get over the loss of a playmate. So here’s the story.”
“I’m listening.”
“I went to visit them one day. I dropped by unannounced, which didn’t usually happen, but I was in the neighborhood and just wanted to say hello. So I walked up the garden path, noticing along the way that Merete’s car wasn’t there. She arrived a few minutes later. She’d just gone down to do some shopping at the grocer’s by the intersection. That was back when it still existed.”
“The grocery store in Magleby?”
“Yes. And when I was standing on the path, I heard a quiet babbling coming from over near their garden hothouse. It sounded like a child, but it wasn’t. I didn’t discover that it was Uffe until I was standing right in front of him. He was sitting on a pile of gravel on the terrace, talking to himself. I couldn’t understand the words, if they really were words. But I understood what he was doing.”
“Did he see you?”
“Yes, he saw me at once, but he didn’t have time to cover up what he’d been constructing.”
“And that was…?”
“It was a little furrow he’d dug into the gravel on the flagstones. On either side of the furrow he’d placed small twigs, and in between them he’d put a little wooden block, standing on end.”
“And?”
“You don’t realize what he was doing?”
“I’m trying.”
“The gravel and the twigs were the road and the trees.
The block was the car that belonged to his father and mother. Uffe was reconstructing the accident.”
Jesus Christ. “OK. And he didn’t want you to see it?”
“He wiped out the whole thing with a single sweep of his hand. That was what convinced me.”
“About what?”
“That Uffe remembers.”
There was a moment’s pause. The radio in the background suddenly became audible again, as if somebody had turned up the volume.
“Did you tell Merete about this when she came home?” he asked.
“Yes, but she thought I was reading too much into it. She said he often sat and played with whatever happened to be in front of him. That I probably startled him, and that was why he reacted the way he did.”
“Did you tell her you had the feeling he acted as if he’d been caught at something?”
“Yes, but she just thought he’d been startled.”
“And you don’t agree?”
“I agree that he was startled, but that wasn’t the whole explanation.”
“So Uffe understands more than we think?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that he remembers the accident. Maybe it’s the only thing he actually remembers. It’s not at all certain he remembers anything from when his sister disappeared. It’s not even certain that he remembers his sister anymore.”
“Didn’t they try to interview him in connection with Merete’s disappearance?”
“It’s difficult with Uffe. I tried to help the police get him to open up when he was under arrest. I wanted him to remember what happened on board the ferry. We put pictures of the ship’s deck up on the wall and placed tiny little human figures and a model of the boat on the table next to a basin of water. We thought maybe he would play with them. I sat and watched him in secret along with one of the psychologists, but he never played with the toy ship.”
“He didn’t remember anything even though it was only a few days later?”
