The Ice Princess (37 page)

In the fourth drawer he checked, he found a notepad, which he took out and placed on the kitchen table for closer inspection. He held up the pad at an angle to the window to see whether there were any impressions on it. He saw quite rightly that what had been written on the top page had made an impression on the paper underneath, and he used an old proven trick to try to make out some of the text. Using a pencil he found in the same drawer, he lightly rubbed the side of the pencil lead across the page. He could only make out parts of the text, but it was enough to tell him what the message was about. Patrik gave a low whistle. That was interesting, very interesting. It set all his gears in motion. He carefully put the pad into one of the plastic bags he’d brought along from the car.

He continued his search of the drawers. Most of the contents were sheer junk, but in the last one he went through he did find something interesting. He looked at the piece of leather he was holding between his fingers. It was exactly like the one he had seen at Alex’s house when he and Erica were there. It had lain on her nightstand and he had read precisely the same burned-in inscription that he now read here: ‘T.T.M. 1976’.

When he turned it over he saw that just like the one at Alex’s house, there were some blurry spots of blood on the reverse. The fact that there was a link between Alex and Anders that they didn’t yet understand was nothing new. But what did puzzle him was the gnawing feeling he got when he looked at the piece of leather.

Something in his subconscious was demanding attention. Something was trying to tell him that the little patch was significant in some way. Patrik was obviously missing something here; he just couldn’t see it. But he did know that the patch told him that the connection between Alex and Anders went far back in time. At least until 1976. The year before Alex and her family moved away from Fjällbacka and vanished without a trace for twelve months. A year before Nils Lorentz disappeared for good. Nils, who according to Erica had been a teacher at the school that both Alex and Anders had attended.

Patrik realized that he needed to talk to Alex’s parents. If the suspicions that were beginning to take shape in his mind were correct, they were the ones in possession of the final answers, the answers that could put together the pieces he already thought he could see.

He picked up the notepad and the leather patch in their plastic bags and glanced once more at the living room before he left. Again he saw the image of Anders’s pale, skinny, swaying body in his mind’s eye. He vowed to get to the bottom of this, to find out why Anders had ended his sad life in a noose. If the glimpses he had seen so far were right, it was a tragedy beyond all comprehension. He sincerely hoped that he was wrong.

Patrik found Gösta’s name in the phone book and dialled the number to his extension at the station. He would probably be interrupting him in a game of solitaire.

‘Hi, it’s Patrik.’

‘Hi, Patrik.’ Gösta’s voice sounded as weary as always on the other end. Boredom and despondency had given him both an outer and an inner weariness.

‘Look, have you scheduled a visit to the Carlgrens in Göteborg yet?’

‘No, I haven’t got around to it yet. I’ve had a lot of other things to take care of.’

Gösta sounded defensive. Patrik’s question put him on guard; he was nervous that he would be criticized because he still hadn’t carried out his assignment. He simply couldn’t bring himself to do it. Picking up the phone and placing a call seemed impossible; getting into the car and driving to Göteborg was insurmountable.

‘Would you have any objection if I made the visit in your place?’

Patrik knew that this was simply a rhetorical question. He was well aware that Gösta would be overjoyed to get out of it. As he had thought, Gösta replied with new-found joy in his voice, ‘No, absolutely not! If you feel that you want to take over, be my guest. I have so much else to get done, that I don’t know how I’d be able to fit it in anyway.’

They were both aware that they were playing a game, but their roles had been established years ago and they worked well for both of them. Patrik could do what he wanted to do, and Gösta, secure in the knowledge that the job was being done, could go back to his computer game.

‘If you could find their number for me, I’ll ring them at once.’

‘Yes, of course, I have it right here. Let’s see…’ Gösta read off the number.

Patrik wrote it down on the pad he always had fastened to the dashboard of his car. He thanked Gösta and hung up so he could call the Carlgrens. He crossed his fingers that they would be at home. He was in luck. Karl-Erik answered after the third ring. When Patrik explained his business he sounded hesitant at first, but then agreed that Patrik could come by and ask a few questions. Karl-Erik tried to find out what sort of questions they were, but Patrik said only that there were a few hazy points that he hoped they could clarify for him.

He backed out of the parking space in front of the block of flats and turned first right and then left at the next intersection towards the motorway to Göteborg. The first part was slow, with meandering small roads through the forest, but as soon as he got out onto the motorway things went much faster. He passed Dingle, then Munkedal, and when he came to Uddevalla he knew he was halfway there. As always when he was driving, he played music full blast. He thought there was something very relaxing about driving a car. He sat for a moment outside the big light-blue villa in Kålltorp, gathering his faculties. If his hunch was right, he was about to shatter this family idyll inexorably. But sometimes that was his job.

A car drove up the driveway. She didn’t see it, but she heard the sound on the gravel. Erica opened the front door and peered out. Her mouth fell open in astonishment when she saw who was getting out of the car. Anna waved wearily to her and then opened the back doors to lift the children out of their car seats. Erica slipped on a pair of clogs and went out to help her. Anna hadn’t said a word about driving over, and Erica wondered what was going on.

Anna looked pale in her black coat. She carefully lifted Emma down to the ground, and Erica loosened the belt of Adrian’s child-seat and lifted him up in her arms. She got a big toothless smile in thanks and felt a smile spreading over her own face in reply. Then she gave her sister a questioning look, but Anna just shook her head as if to say, ‘Don’t ask.’ Erica knew her sister well enough to know that Anna would tell her when she was good and ready. Before that it would be impossible to drag anything out of her.

‘Imagine what fine visitors I’m going to have today. Imagine that you’ve all come to see Auntie.’

Erica babbled and smiled at the baby in her arms and then looked down to say hello to Emma too. She had always been a big favourite of Emma’s, but this time she didn’t return her smile. Instead she clutched her mother’s coat tightly and stared suspiciously at Erica.

Erica walked ahead into the house with Adrian. Anna followed close behind, holding Emma by one hand and carrying a small bag in the other. Erica saw to her astonishment that the baggage area of the mini-van was packed full, but she made a supreme effort not to ask any questions.

With clumsy, unpractised hands she took off Adrian’s outer clothing while Anna helped Emma out of her coat, although with considerably more skill. Only then did Erica see that one of Emma’s arms was in a cast up to the elbow. She gave Anna a shocked look. Again her sister almost imperceptibly shook her head. Emma was still looking at Erica with big, serious eyes and staying close to her mother the whole time. She had stuck her thumb in her mouth; that also told Erica that something serious had happened. Anna had announced a year ago that she had finally weaned Emma from sucking her thumb.

With Adrian’s warm baby body solidly anchored in her arms, Erica went into the living room and sat down on the sofa with him on her lap. Adrian looked at her with fascination. Little smiles flitted across his face, as if he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to laugh or not. He was so sweet that Erica almost thought she could eat him up.

‘Did you have a good trip?’

Erica didn’t know exactly what to say, but small talk would have to do until Anna decided to tell her what was going on.

‘Yes, it’s a fairly long drive. We went through Dalsland. Emma got car-sick on the curvy roads through the forest, so we had to stop several times on the way for her to get some fresh air.’

‘I suppose that wasn’t much fun, Emma, was it?’

Erica made an attempt to establish contact with Emma. The girl shook her head but kept peering out from under her fringe and holding onto her mother.

‘I thought you could take a nap now, Emma,’ said Anna. ‘Do you think that will be all right? You haven’t slept a wink the whole trip, so you must be very tired.’

Emma nodded in agreement and as if on demand she began rubbing her eyes with her good hand.

‘Can I put them to bed upstairs, Erica?’

‘Yes, of course. Put them in Mamma and Pappa’s bedroom. I’m sleeping there now, so the beds are all made up.’

Anna took Adrian from Erica, who to her delight grunted in protest at being lifted out of his nice aunt’s arms.

‘The blankie, Mamma,’ Emma reminded her when they were already halfway up the stairs, and Anna came back down to fetch the bag she’d left in the hall.

‘Would you like some help?’

Erica thought it looked a little difficult for Anna to be balancing Adrian on one arm and carrying the bag in the other, while Emma stubbornly refused to relinquish her hold on her mother.

‘No thanks, it’s okay. I’m used to it.’

Anna gave her a crooked, bitter smile that Erica had a hard time interpreting.

While Anna put the children to bed, Erica busied herself making fresh coffee. She wondered how many pots she had drunk lately. Her stomach was going to start protesting soon. She froze in the middle of holding a scoop of coffee over the filter. Damn. Patrik’s clothes were spread over the entire bedroom, and Anna would have to be an idiot not to put two and two together. Her mocking smile when she came down the stairs a minute later was confirmation enough.

‘So-o-o, Sister. What is it that you haven’t told me? Who’s the man who has such a hard time hanging up his clothes properly?’

Erica felt herself blush.

‘Well, er, it all happened rather fast, you see.’

She could hear herself stammering and Anna was even more amused. The weary lines in her face were briefly smoothed out, and Erica caught glimpses of her sister the way she used to be, before she met Lucas.

‘All right, who is it? Stop mumbling and give your little sister the juicy details. You could start with his name, for instance. Is it somebody I know?’

‘Yes, it is actually. I don’t know if you remember Patrik Hedström?’

Anna hooted and slapped her knee. ‘Patrik! Sure I remember Patrik! He used to follow you around like a little puppy with his tongue hanging out. So he finally got the chance…’

‘Yes, I mean, I knew that he had a slight crush on me when we were younger, but I had no idea how he really felt…’

‘Good Lord, you must have been blind! He was head over heels in love with you. God, how romantic. Here he’s been pining for you all these years, and finally you look deep into his eyes and discover the great love of your life.’

Anna clutched her heart dramatically, and Erica couldn’t help laughing. This was the sister she knew and loved.

‘Well, it wasn’t quite like that. He’s been married in the meantime, but his wife left him a few years ago and now he’s divorced and lives in Tanumshede.’

‘So what does he do? Don’t tell me he’s just a carpenter. I’d be sooo jealous. I’ve always dreamed about hot carpenter sex.’

Erica childishly stuck her tongue out at Anna, who stuck hers out in turn.

‘No, he’s not a carpenter. He’s a cop, if you must know.’

‘A cop, my, my. A man with a truncheon, in other words. Well, that’s not so dumb either…’

Erica had almost forgotten what a tease her sister could be. She simply shook her head as she poured coffee into two cups. Anna made herself at home. She went to the fridge, took out the milk and poured a little in her cup and a little in Erica’s. The teasing smile disappeared from her face, and Erica understood that she would now find out the reason why Anna and her kids had suddenly appeared in Fjällbacka like this.

‘Well, my love story is over. For good. I suppose it really has been for years, but it was only now that I realized it.’

Anna fell silent and gazed sadly into her coffee cup.

‘I know you never liked Lucas, but I really did love him. Somehow I managed to rationalize why he hit me. He always asked forgiveness and swore that he loved me, at least he used to. Somehow I managed to convince myself that it was all my fault. If only I could be a better wife, a better lover, and a better mother, then he wouldn’t have to hit me.’

Anna was answering Erica’s silent questions.

‘Yes, I know how absurd it sounds, but I was incredibly good at fooling myself. Since he was a good father to Emma and Adrian, that excused a lot. I didn’t want to take their Pappa away from them.’

‘But something happened?’

Erica was prodding Anna. She could see how hard it was for her to talk about this. Her pride was hurt, and Anna had always been an incredibly proud person who would only reluctantly admit when she was wrong.

‘Yes, something happened. Last night he went off on me like he usually does. More and more often lately, actually. But yesterday…’

Her voice broke and Anna swallowed a couple of times to stifle her tears.

‘Last night he went off on Emma. He was so furious, and in the middle of everything she came into the room and he couldn’t stop himself.’ Anna swallowed again. ‘We drove to the emergency room, and they confirmed that she had a fracture in her arm.’

‘I assume you reported Lucas to the police?’

Erica felt rage forming a hard knot in her stomach, a knot that was growing bigger and bigger.

‘No.’ The word came almost inaudibly from Anna and the tears started rolling down her pale cheeks. ‘No, we said that she fell down the stairs.’