The Drowning (43 page)

‘Hello?’

‘I can’t pick up the phone on my own,’ Kenneth explained. ‘I have to have help to put on the Bluetooth. I can’t hold the phone,’ he said, without any self-pity in his voice.

For a moment Erik thought he should have taken the trouble to visit Kenneth in the hospital. Or at least sent him flowers. Oh well, he couldn’t think of everything, and somebody had be to at the office. He was sure Kenneth would understand.

‘How are you doing?’ he asked now, trying to sound as if he were actually interested.

‘Fine,’ said Kenneth curtly. He knew Erik too well to think that he had asked about his health because he cared.

‘I have some unpleasant news.’ Might as well get right to the point. Kenneth didn’t reply as he waited for him to go on. ‘Christian is dead.’ Erik tugged at the collar of his shirt. He was still sweating heavily, and he could feel that the hand holding the phone was damp. ‘I just heard about it. The police rang. He’s hanging from the diving tower at Badholmen.’

Still no answer.

‘Hello? Did you hear what I said? Christian is dead. The officer I talked to refused to tell me more, but any idiot can see that it’s the same nutcase who’s been doing everything else.’

‘Yes, it’s her,’ said Kenneth at last. His voice was icy and calm.

‘What do you mean? Do you know who it is?’ Erik
practically screamed. Kenneth knew who it was, and yet he hadn’t told anyone? If nothing else happened to Kenneth first, he was going to kill the man himself.

‘She’ll be coming after us next.’

The eerie calm in his voice made the little hairs on Erik’s arms stand on end. For a moment he wondered whether Kenneth might have suffered a blow to the head.

‘Would you please let me in on what you know?’

‘She’ll probably save you for last.’

Erik had to restrain himself from slamming his mobile on to the desk out of sheer frustration. ‘Who is it?’

‘You mean you really don’t know? Have you hurt and injured so many people that you can’t pick her out of the crowd? For me it was easy. She’s the only person that I ever harmed. I don’t know whether Magnus ever realized that she was after him. But I do know that he suffered. That’s not something you’ve ever done, have you, Erik? You’ve never suffered or lain awake at night because of what you’ve done.’ Kenneth didn’t sound upset or accusatory. He was still calm and composed.

‘What are you talking about?’ snarled Erik, as thoughts raced through his head. A vague memory, an image, a face. Something began stirring. Something that had been buried so deep that it was never supposed to resurface again.

He gripped the phone hard. Could it be …?

Kenneth was silent, and Erik didn’t need to say out loud that he now knew too. His own silence spoke volumes. Without saying goodbye, he ended the conversation with Kenneth, trying to push away the certainty that had been forced upon him.

After that he opened his email and swiftly began doing what had to be done. It was urgent.

As soon as he saw Erica’s car parked in the drive in front of Agneta’s house, Patrik got an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Erica had a tendency to get involved in matters that didn’t concern her. And even though he had many times admired his wife for her sense of curiosity and the way she used it to produce results, he didn’t like her to interfere with police business. He would have preferred to protect Erica, Maja, and the unborn twins from all the evil in the world. But that was a tough job when it came to his wife. Time after time she had landed in the centre of the action, and he realized that without his knowing it she had probably landed herself up to her ears in this investigation too.

‘Isn’t that Erica’s car?’ asked Gösta laconically as they drove up and parked next to the beige Volvo.

‘Yes, it is,’ replied Patrik. Gösta didn’t ask any more questions, simply raised one eyebrow.

They didn’t have to ring the bell. Sanna’s sister had already opened the front door and was waiting for them, a worried look on her face.

‘Has something happened?’ she asked tensely.

‘We’d like to talk to Sanna,’ said Patrik, without answering her question. He wished that he’d brought Lena the pastor along this time too, but she had been out when he phoned, and he didn’t want to delay delivering the news.

The expression on Agneta’s face was even more concerned as she stepped aside to let them in.

‘She’s on the veranda,’ she said, pointing.

‘Thanks,’ said Patrik. ‘Could you make sure that the children are kept busy for a while?’

Agneta swallowed hard. ‘Yes, I’ll do that.’

Patrik and Gösta made their way out to the veranda. Sanna and Erica looked up when they heard them come in. Erica had a guilty expression on her face, but Patrik
motioned to her, indicating that they would talk later. He sat down next to Sanna.

‘I’m afraid I have some very bad news to tell you,’ he said, keeping his voice calm. ‘Christian was found dead early this morning.’

Sanna gasped for breath and her eyes filled with tears.

‘We don’t know very much at the moment. But we’re doing everything we can to find out what happened,’ he added.

‘How …?’ Sanna’s whole body began shaking uncontrollably.

Patrik hesitated, unsure how to tell her.

‘He was found hanged. From the tower at Badholmen.’

‘Hanged?’ Her breathing was fast and shallow. Patrik put his hand on her arm to calm her.

‘That’s all we know right now.’

She nodded, her eyes glassy. Patrik turned to Erica and said in a low voice:

‘Could you trade places with her sister? Ask Agneta to come down here while you take care of the kids?’

Erica got up at once, casting a glance at Sanna before she left the veranda. A moment later they heard her heading upstairs. Then, as soon as they could tell that someone was on the way down, Gösta went out to the hall to speak to Sanna’s sister. Patrik was grateful to his colleague for wanting to report what had happened out of earshot so that Sanna wouldn’t have to hear it twice.

Agneta came in, sat down next to Sanna, and put her arms around her. And that was how the two women stayed as Patrik asked if they’d like him to call anyone, and whether they wanted to speak to a pastor. All the usual questions that he clung to in order not to fall apart at the thought of the two little boys upstairs who had lost their father.

But he really needed to be on his way. He had a job to do, a job that entailed doing something for this family. First and foremost for them. It was the victim and the victim’s family members that he always pictured in his mind as he sat in his office at the station and spent so many long hours trying to find a solution to cases he was investigating – some of them more complicated than others.

Sanna was sobbing uncontrollably as Patrik met her sister’s gaze. Agneta gave an almost imperceptible nod in answer to his unvoiced question, so he stood up.

‘Are you sure there isn’t someone you’d like me to phone?’

‘I’ll ring Mamma and Pappa as soon as I can,’ said Agneta. Even though she was very pale, she had a calm air about her that made Patrik feel okay about leaving them.

‘Call us anytime, Sanna,’ he said, pausing in the doorway. ‘And we …’ He was uncertain how much he dared say. Because the worst thing that could happen to a police officer in the midst of an investigation had now happened to him. He was about to lose hope. The hope that they’d ever find out who was behind all of these horrible events.

‘Don’t forget the drawings,’ said Sanna, sniffling as she pointed to some papers lying on the table.

‘What drawings?’

‘Erica brought them. Someone sent them to Christian’s old address in Göteborg.’

Patrik stared at the pictures and then carefully gathered them up. What had Erica been up to now? He needed to have a talk with his wife as soon as possible; this demanded a proper explanation. At the same time, he couldn’t deny that he felt a certain sense of anticipation when he saw the drawings. If they turned out to be important, it
wouldn’t be the first time Erica had stumbled upon a crucial piece of information.

‘You’re certainly doing a lot of babysitting lately,’ said Dan as he came into Erica and Patrik’s house. He had rung Anna on her mobile, and when she explained where she was, he had driven over to Sälvik.

‘Uh-huh. I don’t really know what Erica is mixed up in, and I’m not sure I want to know, either,’ said Anna, as she sauntered over to Dan and turned her face up for a kiss.

‘So they won’t mind if I crash the party?’ said Dan. In the next second he was almost bowled over by Maja, who threw herself into his arms. ‘Hi, cutie! How’s my girl? You’re still my girl, right? You haven’t found some other guy, have you?’ said Dan, looking stern. Maja laughed so hard that she started hiccupping, and she rubbed her nose against his, which he took to mean that he hadn’t lost his high-ranking status.

‘Did you hear what happened?’ asked Anna, her expression suddenly turning serious.

‘No, what?’ asked Dan, hoisting Maja up and then dropping her down. Considering how tall he was, Maja was getting quite a ride, much to her delight.

‘I don’t know where Erica is, but Patrik had to go off to Badholmen. Somebody found Christian Thydell there this morning – hanged.’

Dan stopped instantly, which left Maja upside down. She thought it was all part of the game and laughed even louder.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Dan slowly put Maja down on the rug.

‘No, but that’s all Patrik told me before he raced off. Christian is dead.’ Anna didn’t know Sanna Thydell very well, but occasionally she would run into her, which was
inevitable since so few people lived in Fjällbacka. Now she was thinking about those two little boys.

Dan dropped on to a chair at the kitchen table, and Anna tried to chase away the images that kept cropping up in her mind.

‘Bloody hell,’ he said, staring out of the window. ‘First Magnus Kjellner, and now Christian. Not to mention Kenneth Bengtsson, who’s in the hospital. Patrik must be up to his ears with this investigation.’

‘I’m sure you’re right,’ said Anna, pouring some juice for Maja. ‘But let’s talk about something else, okay?’ She always got very upset thinking about other people’s troubles, and her pregnancy had made her a hundred times more sensitive. She couldn’t stand to hear about anyone having difficulties.

Dan understood the signals and pulled her close. He closed his eyes and placed his hand on her stomach, spreading out his fingers.

‘Soon, sweetheart. Soon he’ll be here.’

Anna’s face lit up. Every time she thought about the child, it felt as if nothing bad could reach her. She loved Dan so much, and she practically burst with joy whenever she thought about how the small creature inside her was uniting the two of them. She stroked Dan’s hair, murmuring:

‘You need to stop saying “he”. Because I think we’ve got a little princess inside here. I think this baby kicks like a ballet dancer,’ she teased him.

After having three daughters, Dan was longing for a boy. At the same time, Anna knew that he would be overjoyed with the baby, no matter whether it was a girl or a boy. Because it was their child.

Patrik dropped Gösta off at Badholmen. After thinking for a moment, he decided to drive home. He needed to talk to Erica and find out what she knew.

As soon as he stepped inside, he paused to take a deep breath. Anna was still there, and he didn’t want to drag her into any dispute that he had with Erica. Anna had the annoying habit of always siding with her sister, and he didn’t need two people facing him in the opposite corner of the ring. But after thanking Anna – as well as Dan, who had turned up as an extra babysitter – Patrik tried to make it as clear as possible that they should leave him and Erica in peace. Anna picked up on what he wanted and took Dan with her, although he had a bit of a struggle before Maja would let him go.

‘I assume that Maja isn’t going to the day-care centre today,’ said Erica cheerfully, glancing at the clock.

‘Why were you at Agneta’s house talking to Sanna? And what were you doing in Göteborg yesterday?’ asked Patrik in a sharp tone of voice.

‘Er, well, I …’ Erica tilted her head, trying to look as sweetly innocent as she could. When that brought no response, she sighed and realized that she might as well confess. She had intended all along to tell Patrik everything; he had just beat her to it.

They sat down at the kitchen table. Patrik clasped his hands in front of him and stared her straight in the eye. Erica took her time as she decided where to begin.

Then she explained how she couldn’t stop wondering why Christian had always been so secretive about his past. So she had decided to work backwards and drive to Göteborg, to the address where he had lived before moving to Fjällbacka. She told Patrik about the kindly Hungarian man and about the letters that had arrived for Christian. But he had never received them because he hadn’t left any forwarding address. Erica took a deep breath and then explained how she had surreptitiously read through the case material and hadn’t been able to resist listening to the cassette tape. And how she had
heard something that had stuck in her mind, until she realized that she needed to get to the bottom of it. That was the reason for her visit to Sanna earlier that morning. She also told Patrik what Sanna had said. About the blue dress and what was almost too awful to comprehend. When Erica was finished, she was out of breath and hardly dared look at Patrik, who hadn’t moved a muscle since she began her report.

He was silent for a long time, and she swallowed hard, prepared for the worst lecture she’d ever received in her life.

‘I just wanted to help you,’ she added. ‘You’ve been looking so tired lately.’

Patrik stood up. ‘We’ll talk more about this later. I need to go back to the station. I’m taking the drawings with me.’

Erica sat staring into space for a long time after he was gone. This was the first time since they’d known each other that he’d left the house without giving her a kiss.

It wasn’t like Patrik not to call back. Annika had phoned him several times since yesterday, leaving him a message that she needed to speak to him, but not explaining why. She wanted to tell him in person what she had found.