is for them to get closer to truth, right?'
'Yes, of course,' Beata said. It was her turn to be confused.
'Maybe we should wait a bit before we bring in Fate and Evil, and instead do it in a more chronological order. It will make it easier for the reader to take in the truth later on. Okay?'
Beata nodded eagerly.
'I thought maybe I could ask you a few questions, and you can answer whichever ones of them you want.'
'Okay,' Beata agreed.
'Can you tell me a bit about your childhood?'
'Why?'
'It'll make the readers picture you as a child and that way they'll identify with you.'
'I see. So what should I tell you?'
'Anything you like,' Annika said. 'Where you grew up, who your parents were, if you had any sisters or brothers, pets, special toys, how you did at school, all those things…'
Beata looked at her for a long time. Annika could see in her eyes that her thoughts were far away. She started talking, and Annika put her words into a readable story.
'I grew up in Djursholm. My parents were both doctors. Are both doctors, in fact. They're both still working and still live in the house with the iron gate I grew up in. I had an older brother and a younger sister. My childhood was relatively happy. My mother worked part time as a child psychologist, and my father had a private practice. We had nannies taking care of us- male ones, too. This was in the '70s and my parents were into equality between men and women and open to new ideas.
'I developed an interest in houses early on. We had a playhouse in the garden; my sister and her friends used to lock me inside it. During my long afternoons in the dusk, we started talking to each other, my little house and I. The nannies knew that I'd get stuck in the playhouse, so they'd always come and open the door after a while. Sometimes they'd scold my sister, but I didn't care.'
Beata fell silent and Annika stopped writing. She breathed on her hands; it really was cold. 'Can you tell me a bit about being a teenager?' she asked. 'What happened to your sister and brother?'
The Bomber continued:
'My brother became a doctor, just like our parents, and my sister qualified as a physiotherapist. She married Nasse, a childhood friend, and doesn't have to work. They live with their children in a house in Taby.
'I broke the family pattern a bit because I studied to be an architect. My parents were skeptical. They thought I'd be more suited to be a preschool teacher or occupational therapist. But they didn't try to stop me; they are modern people, after all. I went to the Royal Institute of Technology and finished among the best graduates.
'Why did I choose to work with houses? I love buildings! They speak to you in such an immediate and straightforward way. I love traveling, only to talk to houses in new places- their form, their windows, colors, and luster. I get excited by courtyards sexually. I have thrills up and down my spine when I'm on a train traveling through the suburbs of a city, seeing laundry hung out to dry across the railway line, leaning balconies… I never look straight ahead of me when I'm out walking, always upwards. I have bumped into traffic signs and phone boxes all over the city because I've been studying house facades. I'm simply interested in buildings. I wanted to work with my greatest passion.
'I spent many years learning to draw buildings. But when I graduated, I realized that I had made the wrong choice. Houses on paper don't speak to you; a sketched house is only a template for the real thing. So I went back to the university after only half a year at work and did a degree in constructional engineering. That took several years. When I finished, they were recruiting people for the municipal partnership building the new Olympic stadium in Hammarby Dock. I got a job, and that's how I first came to meet Christina Furhage.'
Again, Beata fell silent. Annika waited a long time for her to continue.
'Do you want to read it?' she asked in the end, but Beata shook her head.
'I know you'll make it sound good. I'll read it later, when you've finished.' She sniffed and then continued:
'Of course, I knew who she was already. I'd seen her in the paper lots of times, ever since the campaign to get the Olympics to Stockholm was mounted, which she won and was appointed MD of the entire project.
'Where did I live during that time? Oh, yes, where I still am now, in an absolutely adorable little house by Skinnarviksparken on South Island. Are you familiar with the area around Yttersta Tvargrand? The house is listed, so I've had to renovate it very gently. My home is important to me, the house I live and breathe in. We talk to each other every day, my house and I; exchanging experiences and wisdom. Do I need to point out that I'm the novice out of the two of us? My house has stood on the hill since the end of the eighteenth century, so in our conversations, I'm usually the one listening and learning. Christina Furhage visited me once. It felt good that my house got to know her a bit; it helped me later on in my difficult decision.'
The woman again fell silent.
'Tell me about your work.'
'Is that really relevant?' Beata asked with surprise.
No, not one bit, but it'll buy me time, Annika thought to herself.
'Yes, of course,' she said. 'A lot of people work. They will want to know what your job was like, what was on your mind when you were doing it, things like that…'
Beata straightened up. 'Oh, yes, I can see that,' she said.
Self-centered little shit, Annika thought to herself and managed a smile.
'I don't know how versed you are in the building trade. Maybe you don't know how the process of procurement is carried out? Actually, it doesn't really matter in this case, since the building of Victoria Stadium was so special that no general rules applied.
'Stockholm was chosen to host the Summer Olympic Games under the leadership of Christina Furhage, you know that. The decision wasn't a straightforward one. She really had to fight for her post.
'Christina really was amazing. She pushed the Olympic suits around something wonderful! We women really enjoyed having a boss like that. Not that I met her very often, but since she kept an eye on every single detail in the entire organization, I did run in to her now and then.
'I admired her a lot. When she came around, everyone pulled their socks up and did their best. She had that effect on people. What she didn't know about the Olympic planning and the building of the arena wasn't worth knowing.
'Anyway, I was employed by Arena Bygg AB. As I was both an architect and a constructional engineer, I was given several major administrative assignments straight away. I took part in negotiations, made construction drawings and calculations, visited subcontractors, and drew up contracts- a kind of general factotum in a semi- important position.
'The actual construction of Victoria Stadium was supposed to begin five years before the Games. Christina herself appointed me project manager. I remember clearly the day she asked me. I'd been called to her office, a grandiose place next door to Rosenbad with a view over the Stockholm Canal. She asked what I had been doing so far and if I was happy. I didn't think I'd done very well and stuttered a bit- my hands were all clammy. She was so impressive behind her polished desk: tall, yet slim; sharp, yet beautiful. She asked me whether I was willing to take responsibility for the building of the Olympic stadium in Hammarby Dock. My head was spinning when she uttered the words. I wanted to shout 'Oh yes!' but just nodded and said it would be a challenge. An exciting responsibility I felt ready to shoulder. She quickly added that I would have several managers and other people above me, and at the top, her. But she needed someone on site who was responsible for the operation, someone who would see to it that it ran according to schedule, that we weren't over budget, and that deliveries of building material arrived in the right place at the right time. I would of course have a team of foremen under me with responsibility for specific sections where they led the work. These foremen would be reporting to me, so that I in my turn could do my job and report to Christina and the board.
' 'I need loyalty,' Christina said and leaned toward me. 'I need your unwavering conviction that what I do is right. That's a prerequisite for anyone taking this job. Can I trust you?'
'I remember her radiance at that precise moment, how she brought me into her light, filling me with her strength and power. I wanted to scream 'YES!' but instead I just nodded. Because I knew what had happened- she had included me in her circle. She had made me her crown princess. I was chosen.'
Beata started crying. She bent her head and her whole body was shaking. The rope lay by her feet, her hands
