'Did you plan to let him out the next morning?'
'Yes.'
'You told us Edwin got into a car,' Sejer said. 'Why did you do that?'
'I had to tell you something. So I thought it would work if I told you someone had picked him up.'
'Didn't you think of the consequences?'
'We thought it would be all right.'
'In what way would it be all right?'
'I don't know. But if we told the truth, we would be in really big trouble.'
Sejer got up and wandered around. The sight of the two boys made him feel infinitely sad.
'Yes,' he sighed, 'there will be really big trouble.'
CHAPTER 50
The public judged the adults and the children.
There had always been something about Sverre and Isak. They were known to shoplift, and there was something about their parents, too; they had clearly failed. The public required an explanation and they thought they had found it.
Kristine Ris had discovered something, too, and she was delirious with happiness. She stood in front of the bedroom mirror and studied her body, she was motivated by something new, something strange. A sense of pride and a strength she had no idea she possessed filled her head and her body and she decided to take action. She tore the wardrobe doors open. On the top shelf was a brown suitcase. She pulled it out and placed it on the bed and started packing. I'm leaving now, she thought quickly, while he's out. That way I'll avoid all the accusations, I'll leave now while I feel strong. I'll be fine, I'm better off without him. All these years he has kept me down, now I'm going to start a new life where he can't tell me what to do. Yes, I've used him, but I feel no guilt. He'll blame me for everything, but I'll tell it like it is, that I can't live in this house any longer. At the back of her mind she was aware that he might try to cause trouble for her, but if he did, she would just have to deal with it. She had rights too, and she would be able to get help and advice. She packed underwear and socks, jumpers, trousers and tops, a dressing gown, a nightgown, some toiletries. Things she would need for the first few days. She went back to the living room, to the desk, where she picked up the telephone and called a cab. She waited by the window and she felt the warmth of the sun. She was going out into the light.
She left a note on the coffee table.
I'm leaving, I want to live my own life.
She imagined him reading the few words. His jaw would clench in defiance, a curse would echo between the walls.
The cab arrived, she got in and soon they were off. She closed her eyes, let it all sink in, her sudden freedom and everything that would happen. It took half an hour to drive to the motel. It consisted of eight tiny separate yellow huts each containing two single beds, a sink and a mirror. Next to the huts were a petrol station and a café where she could get something to eat. She collected the key from reception and let herself into the small room, put her suitcase on the floor and lay down on the bed. Carefully she placed her hand on her stomach: it was growing in there and it would start kicking by summer. It would all become known one day and Reinhardt would be furious. The fear of what might happen rippled through her. My child, she thought, my baby.
Muted laughter emerged from the hut next to hers.
CHAPTER 51
'What are you thinking?' Sejer asked.
'I was remembering my father's anger,' Skarre said. 'It was terrifying. There was nothing I feared more than that. He was an authoritarian and a very old-fashioned man, and I was brought up to fear and love him. Whenever he got angry, it was like he underwent a transformation, he grew one size bigger, literally. He would open his mouth and start a scolding which would blow the curls off my head, then he would turn his back on me and storm upstairs. I would hear the sound of his footsteps and a door slamming. After a while he would stop walking up and down and he would descend to announce my punishment, which would be grounding me for a week or two, or stopping my pocket money.'
'Sverre's father beats him,' Sejer said.
'I know,' Skarre said. 'What can we do about it?'
'I've given him my telephone number. Perhaps he'll call.'
'There's not much evil in him,' Skarre said. 'Just fear.' He looked at the inspector. 'There is something I've been meaning to ask you. Do you remember Andor? The chap we met down on Guttestranda?'
'Of course I remember Andor.'
'Did you move your chair?'
'Yes, I did.'
'And? Is your psoriasis better?'
'Now that you mention it, it is, actually. But apart from that he was totally on the wrong track with those visions of his.'
'Not at all,' Skarre said. 'And it's strange, I hardly know what to say. We found Edwin in the earth cellar lying on a mattress. I went on the net and looked up "Hasselbäck" and yes, it's a place in Sweden, in Västmanland. But I also discovered that Hasselbäck is the name of a sprung mattress from IKEA.'
Sejer drove up to Linde Forest and parked by the barrier. Elfrid Løwe was sitting next to him, her hands resting in her lap.
'This is where he parked the car,' Sejer said. 'He carried Jonas the rest of the way.'
She looked at the barrier.
'This is where he met the couple who later identified him. Without them we would never have caught him. Shall we get out?'
She opened the door and put her feet on the ground. Sejer walked around the car and took her arm. She felt the warmth from the setting sun and the strength from the man next to her.
'Brein is a pathetic creature,' she said.
'Do you believe him?'
'No.'
They walked on in silence. Sejer tried to match his long stride to her short steps.
'Did you take a lot of photos?' she asked.
'Yes, we did. We have to, they're an important part of the investigation.'
'What happens to them when the case is closed?'
'They're filed with the rest of the documents. No outsider will have access to them, if that's what you meant. If I were you, I wouldn't ask to see them.'
'I haven't.' Then in a milder voice. 'The weather was fine, wasn't it? Do you remember how warm it was last September, summer temperatures.'
'Yes.'
Sejer recalled it. 'We were working in shirt-sleeves. The day after, it grew cooler and the autumn set in.'
They were further into the woods. Sejer held some branches back and Elfrid ducked under them.
'He chose this place with care,' Sejer said. 'People are complex. Despite the awful thing he had done, he tried to do something right. Jonas should not be found in a ditch.'
'You don't expect me to be grateful for that, do you?'
'No,' he smiled. 'I was just thinking out loud.'
Finally he saw the clearing. He recognised the small cluster of trees and the log pile.
'Here, Elfrid, by those trees,' he said.
She stopped. Put her hand over her mouth.
'He lay face down,' Sejer said, 'with his arms by his side.'
'And without his trousers,' she said.
'Yes. That was how it was.'
'What did you think?' she asked. 'What was your first thought when you saw Jonas lying there without his trousers?'
'I wondered what I would say when I met you. I was also relieved. He was whole and fine.'
She smiled a brave smile.
'It's a fine place,' she said. 'Very fine.' She sat down on the logs. Sejer remained standing looking at the scenery, all the smells of the forest wafted through the air.
'His punishment was far too lenient,' she said.
'Brein's, you mean?'
'Yes.'
'What kind of punishment do you think he deserved? What would have satisfied you and Jonas?'
'Not the death penalty,' she said quickly. 'You didn't think that's what I meant?'
'Not for one second.'
'Well,' she hesitated. 'I don't want him to have too much nourishment. And I don't mean food. I mean all other sources of nourishment, for the soul and the heart. Experiences, warmth and kindness.'
'He'll have some of those. Does that torment you?'
'Yes. His days shouldn't be good.'
She looked up at him with despair in her eyes.
'Imagine if he's laughing right this moment,' she said. 'Sometimes I can see him laughing. It's unbearable.'
'But he'll have his dark moments, too,' Sejer said. 'Alone in his cell. And he has nowhere to go.'
'There are many like Brein,' said Elfrid.
'Yes,' he said. 'As long as adults make mistakes and as long as parents abuse, they will create new abusers.'
'Thank you,' she said softly.
'What are you thanking me for?'
'Everything.'
'Please forgive me for putting it this way,' Sejer said, 'but it has been a privilege to know both you and Jonas August. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.'
They walked back to the car. They did not speak for a long time, but finally when they reached the main road, she turned to him and asked:
'Can I call you?'
'Of course.'
'I mean, can I call you when things get really bad?'
'You can call me any time,' he said. 'We know each other now.'
'There's a bond between us,' she said, 'and I need to keep that bond for ever.'
That night it started to rain.
Yet he stayed in the park, there was nothing for him to go home to, the rooms were empty and cold. She had left him in the most cowardly way imaginable and she had planned it carefully. He felt a violent need to vent his rage, but he gritted his teeth. He was not going to whine, it was not his style. There was a grid of narrow tarmac paths in the park. He wandered around aimlessly. Soon he reached a crossroads. In the centre of it was a rotunda with a pretty statue of a little girl, she was naked. He slumped on to a bench and watched her. She was frozen mid leap, she was laughing and her arms were outstretched. He started thinking she was coming towards him, that at any second now she would jump on to his lap, but when he tried to catch her eye, she stared blindly past him. The rain trickled down the back of his neck and his shoes were letting in water, but he stayed where he was. Things would turn out the way he wanted them to, sooner or later. A little girl would emerge from the trees, she would be wearing a red raincoat, and he would get up from the bench and flash her a dazzling smile.
Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title
By the Same Author
Title Page
Copyright Page
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51