The Drowning (35 page)

Annika stared at him without saying a word. Mellberg began to fidget. He’d expected her to shower him with excuses and apologies on behalf of her colleagues. Instead, he suddenly had a most unpleasant feeling come over him.

After a moment Annika said calmly:

‘They were called out to Fjällbacka. A lot of things have happened while you were working in your office.’ She said the word ‘working’ without a hint of sarcasm, but something told him that she was fully aware that he’d been taking a little siesta. So it was up to him to salvage the situation.

‘Why didn’t anyone tell me?’

‘Patrik tried. He knocked on your door for a long time. But you had locked the door, and there was no answer. Finally he was forced to leave.’

‘Er … yes, well, sometimes I get so immersed in my work that I don’t hear a thing,’ said Mellberg, swearing to himself. Why did he have to be such a bloody sound sleeper? It was both a gift and a curse.

‘Hmmm …’ replied Annika, turning back to her computer screen.

‘So what’s happened?’ Mellberg demanded, still feeling that he’d been played for a fool.

Annika quickly gave him a summary of what had happened at Christian’s house and to Kenneth on the jogging trail. Mellberg listened, open-mouthed. Things were getting stranger and stranger.

‘They’ll be back soon; at least, Patrik and Paula will. They’ll be able to tell you more of the details. Martin and Gösta drove down to Uddevalla to have a talk with Kenneth, so it might be a while before they get back.’

‘Tell Patrik to come and see me as soon as he gets in,’ said Mellberg. ‘And tell him to knock louder this time.’

‘Okay, I’ll tell him. And I’ll make sure that he does knock louder. In case you’re engrossed in your work again.’

Annika looked at him with a serious expression, but Mellberg still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was mocking him.

‘Can’t you come with us? Why do you have to stay here?’ Sanna tossed a couple of shirts into her suitcase.

Christian didn’t reply, which just made her more upset.

‘Answer me! Why do you have to stay here all alone in the house? It’s so crazy, so …’ Angrily she threw a pair of jeans at the suitcase, but she missed and they landed on the floor at Christian’s feet. She went over to pick them up, but instead cupped his face in her hands. She tried to catch his eye, but he refused to look at her.

‘Christian, sweetheart. I don’t understand. Why won’t you come with us? It’s not safe for you to stay here.’

‘There’s nothing to understand,’ he said, removing her hands. ‘I’m staying here, and that’s all there is to it. I have no intention of running away.’

‘Running away from whom? From what? I hope to God you don’t know who is doing this and you’re just not telling us.’ Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and she could still feel the warmth of Christian’s face on the palms of her hands. He never let her come close, and that stung. In situations like this, they ought to be able to support each other. But he was turning his back on her, refusing to let her in. Humiliation made Sanna’s cheeks turn red, and she looked away. Then she went back to her packing.

‘How long do you think we need to stay there?’ she asked, stuffing into the suitcase a fistful of knickers and stockings that she’d taken from the top drawer.

‘How should I know?’ Christian had taken off his bathrobe, washed the red paint from his chest, and put on jeans and a T-shirt. She still thought he was the handsomest man she’d ever seen. She loved him so much it hurt.

Sanna closed the drawer and glanced out into the hall where the boys were playing. They were quieter than usual. More serious. Nils was pushing his cars back and forth, while Melker was making his action figures fight
with each other. Both were playing without making the normal sound effects, and without quarrelling, which almost never happened.

‘Do you think they …?’ She started to cry again and had to start over. ‘Do you think they were harmed?’

‘They don’t have a scratch on them.’

‘I don’t mean physically.’ Sanna couldn’t understand how Christian could be so cold, so calm. This morning he had seemed just as shocked, confused, and scared as she was. Now he was acting as if nothing had happened, or as if it were a mere trifle.

Someone had come into their home while they were asleep and gone into the boys’ room. And now they might feel scared and unsafe for ever after, no longer secure in the knowledge that nothing could happen to them when they were at home in their own beds. That nothing could happen when their parents were only a few yards away. Their feeling of security might now be gone for good. Yet their father sat there, so calm and distant, as if he didn’t care. And because of that, right now, at this particular moment, she hated him.

‘Children forget so quickly,’ said Christian, looking down at his hands.

She saw that he had deep scratches on the palm of one hand, and she wondered how he’d got them. But she didn’t ask. For once she didn’t ask. Could it be that their marriage was over? If Christian couldn’t let her in and love her even when something evil and horrible was threatening them, maybe it was time for her to give up.

She kept on tossing things into the suitcase, not caring what sort of clothes she was packing. Her tears made everything look blurry, and she simply grabbed whatever she could pull off the hangers. Finally the suitcase was filled to overflowing, and she had to sit on it to close it properly.

‘Wait, let me help you.’ Christian got up and added his
weight to the suitcase so that Sanna could close the zipper. ‘I’ll take it downstairs.’ He grabbed the handle and carried it out of the room, past the boys.

‘Why do we have to go to Aunt Agneta’s? Why are we taking so many things with us? Are we going to be gone for a long time?’ Melker sounded so anxious that Christian stopped halfway down the stairs. Then he continued on, without saying a word.

Sanna went over to her sons and squatted down next to them. She tried to sound calm as she said:

‘Let’s pretend that we’re going on holiday. But we’re not going far away, just over to visit your aunt and cousins. You usually think that’s lots of fun. And I’ll make you a special treat for dinner tonight. Since we’re on holiday, you can have some sweets after dinner, even though it’s not Saturday.’

The boys looked at her a bit suspiciously at first, but the promise of sweets seemed to work magic. ‘Are we all going?’ asked Melker, and then his brother repeated, with a slight lisp: ‘Are we all going?’

Sanna took a deep breath. ‘No, just the three of us. Pappa has to stay here.’

‘That’s right. Pappa has to stay here and fight with those stupid people,’ said Melker.

‘What stupid people?’ said Sanna, patting his cheek.

‘The people who messed up our room.’ He crossed his arms and looked angry. ‘If they come back, Pappa can beat them up!’

‘Pappa isn’t going to fight with any stupid people, because they’re not coming back.’ She stroked Melker’s hair, silently cursing Christian. Why wouldn’t he go with them? Why didn’t he say anything? She stood up.

‘This is going to be so much fun. A real adventure. I just need to go and help Pappa load everything in the car, then I’ll come back and get you. Okay?’

‘Okay,’ both boys said, but they didn’t sound very enthusiastic. She could feel them watching her as she went downstairs.

She found Christian at the car, loading the suitcases in the boot. Sanna went over to him and took him by the arm.

‘This is your last chance, Christian. If you know something, if you have the slightest clue about who is doing these things to us, I beg you to tell me now. For our sake. If you don’t tell me, and later I find out that you did know something, then it’s over. Do you understand? It’s over!’

Christian stopped, the suitcase hovering halfway inside the boot. For a moment she thought that he was really going to tell her something. Then he shook off her hand and dropped the suitcase inside.

‘I don’t know anything. Stop nagging me!’

He slammed the boot shut.

When Patrik and Paula arrived back at the station, Annika stopped Patrik before he headed to his office.

‘Mellberg woke up while all of you were gone. He was a bit upset that he hadn’t been informed.’

‘I stood outside his office and pounded on the door, but he never opened it.’

‘That’s what I told him, but he claimed that he must have been so engrossed in his work that he didn’t hear you.’

‘Oh, right,’ said Patrik, noticing once again how sick and tired he was of his incompetent boss. But to be honest, it had been a relief not to have Mellberg in tow. He cast a quick glance at his watch. ‘Okay, I’ll go and inform our honourable leader now. Let’s meet in the kitchen for a quick briefing in fifteen minutes. Please tell Gösta and Martin too. They’re on their way back right now.’

He headed straight for Mellberg’s office and loudly knocked on the door.

‘Come in.’ Mellberg looked as if he were deeply immersed in studying a stack of documents. ‘I heard that things are heating up, and I must say that it doesn’t look good for the police to respond to important emergency calls without the chief in attendance.’

Patrik opened his mouth to reply, but Mellberg held up one hand. Apparently he wasn’t done yet.

‘It sends the wrong signal to the citizens if we don’t take such situations seriously.’

‘But –’

‘No, not another word. I accept your apology. Just don’t do it again.’

Patrik could feel his pulse hammering in his ears. The bastard! He clenched his hands into fists, but then opened them again and took a deep breath. He had to try to ignore Mellberg and focus on what was important: the investigation.

‘Tell me what happened. What have you found out?’ Mellberg leaned forward eagerly.

‘I was thinking we should all get together for a meeting in the kitchen. If that works for you?’ said Patrik, his jaw tight.

Mellberg thought for a moment. ‘That might actually be a good idea. Then we won’t have to go over everything twice. All right, shall we get going, Hedström? Time is of the essence, you know, when it comes to this type of investigation.’

Patrik turned his back on his boss and left the room. Mellberg was undeniably right about one thing. Time was of the essence.

17

All that mattered was to survive. But it required more effort with each year that passed. The move had been good for everyone but him. Father had found a job he enjoyed, and Mother liked living in the Old Bitch’s house, remodelling it until the place was no longer recognizable, since she had erased all trace of the woman. Alice seemed to be doing well in the calm and peaceful atmosphere in Fjällbacka, at least for nine months of the year.

Mother was teaching her at home. At first Father had been against the idea, saying that Alice needed to get out and meet children her own age. She needed to be around other people. But Mother had merely looked at him and said in a cold voice:

‘I’m the only one Alice needs.’

That was the end of the discussion.

In the meantime, he kept getting fatter, and he was constantly eating. It was as if his craving for food had taken on a life of its own. He stuffed into his mouth everything he could get his hands on. But it no longer drew any attention from Mother. Occasionally she would cast a disgusted glance in his direction, but she mostly ignored him. It had a been a long time since he’d thought of her as his beautiful mother and yearned for her love. He had given up, accepting the fact that he was someone that nobody could love; he didn’t deserve to be loved.

The only person who loved him was Alice. And she was a monstrosity, just like him. She lurched about, slurring her words, and she couldn’t manage even the most basic tasks. She was eight years old and couldn’t even tie her shoes. She was always following him like a shadow. In the morning when he left to catch the school bus, she would sit in the window to watch him, the palms of her hands pressed against the glass and a wistful expression on her face. He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t try to make her stop.

School was a torment. Every morning when he got off the school bus, it felt like he was on his way to prison. He looked forward to the classes, but the rest filled him with terror. They were always after him, teasing and punching him, vandalizing his locker and yelling taunts at him in the schoolyard. He wasn’t stupid; he knew that he was the perfect scapegoat. His fat body made him guilty of the worst sin of all: he was different. He understood it, but that didn’t make things any easier.

‘Can you find your dick when you have to piss, or does your stomach get in the way?’

Erik. Perched on one of the tables out in the schoolyard, where he was surrounded by a bunch of eager hangers-on, as usual. He was the worst of the lot. The most popular boy, handsome and self-confident. He talked back to the teachers and had ready access to cigarettes, which he smoked and also handed out to his followers. He didn’t know who he detested most. Erik, who seemed driven by sheer wickedness and was always looking for new ways to hurt him. Or the sneering idiots who sat next to Erik, filled with admiration for their popular classmate and basking in his glory.

At the same time, he knew that he’d give anything to be one of them. To be allowed to sit on the table with Erik, accept the cigarette he offered, and comment on the girls going past, who would respond with delighted giggles and flushed cheeks.

‘Hey! I’m talking to you. Answer me when I ask you a question!’ Erik got down from the table, and the two others watched him with excitement. The athletic one, Magnus, actually met his eyes. Sometimes he thought he saw a glimpse of sympathy in the boy’s expression, but if so, it wasn’t enough to make Magnus risk falling out of favour with Erik. Kenneth was simply a coward and always avoided looking him in the eye. Right now he was staring at Erik, as if waiting to follow orders. But today Erik didn’t seem to have the energy to cause any trouble, because he sat down again and said with a laugh: