The Drowning

by Camilla Lackberg

  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.

  When he finally arrived at the station and she saw his exhausted expression, she was even more worried. Paula had told her that she’d ordered Patrik to stay home and take it easy, and Annika had silently applauded the decision. Lately she’d been thinking of doing the very same thing.

  ‘You were looking for me?’ said Patrik as he entered her office behind the glass separating it from the reception area. She spun around in her chair.

  ‘Yes, and it hasn’t been easy to reach you by phone,’ she said, peering at him over the rims of her computer glasses. The tone of her voice wasn’t reproachful, just concerned.

  ‘I know,’ said Patrik, sitting down on the visitor’s chair next to the wall. ‘I’ve had a lot on my mind.’

  ‘You need to take better care of yourself. I have a friend who hit the wall a few years ago, and her health still isn’t a hundred per cent. It’s a long way back up once you let yourself hit bottom.’

  ‘I know, I know,’ said Patrik. ‘But things aren’t that bad. I’ve just had a lot of work to do.’ He ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. ‘So what did you need to talk to me about?’

  ‘I finished looking into Christian’s background.’ She fell silent. Only now did she remember where Patrik had been all morning. ‘How did it go, by the way?’ she asked quietly. ‘How did Sanna take it?’

  ‘How would anyone take it?’ said Patrik. He nodded for her to go on, indicating that he didn’t want to discuss the news he had just been forced to deliver.

  Annika cleared her throat. ‘Okay, first of all, Christian is not listed in our own police records. He has never been charged with a crime or even suspected of anything. Before he came to Fjällbacka, he lived for several years in Göteborg. He was studying at the university there, and then online to get his library degree. The library school is in Borås, you know.’

  ‘Uh-huh …’ said Patrik a bit impatiently.

  ‘Furthermore, he has never been previously married, nor does he have any children other than the two sons with Sanna.’

  Annika fell silent.

  ‘Is that all?’ Patrik couldn’t hide his disappointment.

  ‘No. I haven’t told you the interesting part yet. I discovered very quickly that Christian was orphaned when he was only three years old. He was born in Trollhättan, by the way, and that was also where he was living when his mother died. The father was never in the picture. I decided to dig a bit deeper into the past.’

  She picked up a paper and began reading. Patrik was now listening intently. Annika could see that thoughts were swirling around in his mind, attempting to link this new information with the little they already knew.

  ‘So it was his mother’s last name that he took back when he turned eighteen,’ said Patrik. ‘Thydell.’

  ‘That’s right. I also found out quite a bit about her.’ She handed a paper to Patrik, who quickly read through it, eager to learn more.

  ‘It looks like we’re getting closer to untangling a few threads,’ said Annika when she saw Patrik’s reaction. She loved digging up information, combing through the public records and researching small details that could be later connected to form a whole picture. Especially when her work turned up a lead that could move the investigation forward.

  ‘Yes, and now I know where to start,’ said Patrik, getting to his feet. ‘I’m going to begin with the blue dress.’

  Annika looked at him in astonishment as he left her office. What in the world was he talking about?

  Cecilia was not surprised to see who was standing outside when she opened the door. She had actually been expecting this. Fjällbacka was a small town, and secrets could never be kept for long.

  ‘Come in, Louise,’ she said, stepping aside. She had to resist an impulse to place her hand over her stomach, which was something she’d started doing often, now that her pregnancy had been confirmed.

  ‘I hope Erik’s not here,’ said Louise. Cecilia could hear how she was slurring her words, and for a moment she felt a pang of sympathy. Now that the love affair was over, she realized what a hell it must be to live with Erik. In Louise’s place, she probably would have taken to drink as well.

  ‘No, he’s not here. Come in,’ she repeated, leading the way to the kitchen. Louise followed. She was elegantly dressed, as usual, wearing an expensive outfit classically tailored, along with discreet gold jewellery. Cecilia felt slovenly in her casual attire. The first customer wasn’t due at the salon until one o’clock, so she was allowing herself a relaxing morning at home. Besides, she was also suffering from morning sickness and couldn’t keep up her usual pace.

  ‘There have been so many women in his li
fe that I’m finally feeling worn out.’

  Cecilia turned to look at Louise in surprise. This was not the opening that she’d been expecting. Instead, she was prepared for anger and accusations. But Louise merely looked sad. And when Cecilia sat down across from her, she noticed some cracks in the elegant facade. Louise’s hair was dull-looking, and the polish was chipping off her fingernails. She had buttoned her blouse wrong, and one end was sticking out of the waistband of her trousers.

  ‘I told him to go to hell,’ said Cecilia, noticing how wonderful it felt to say the words out loud.

  ‘Why?’ asked Louise, listlessly.

  ‘I got what I wanted from him.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Louise was staring at her with a vacant, distracted expression.

  Cecilia suddenly felt such a tremendous sense of gratitude that she had to gasp for breath. She would never be like Louise; she was a much stronger person. But maybe Louise had also been strong at one time. Maybe she had been filled with expectations and a will to make things good. Those hopes were now gone. All that remained were the years of lies and the wine.

  For a moment Cecilia considered lying to Louise, or at least holding back the truth for a while. It would come out soon enough. But then she realized that she had to tell her. She couldn’t lie to someone who had lost everything she had ever held dear.

  ‘I’m pregnant. It’s Erik’s child,’ she said. For a moment neither woman spoke. Then Cecilia went on: ‘I made it very clear that the only thing I want from him is financial support. And I threatened to tell you everything.’

  Louise snorted. Then she started to laugh. Her laughter got louder and shriller. Tears began running down her face, and Cecilia looked at her in fascination. This was not the reaction she had expected either. Louise was certainly full of surprises.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Louise after her laughter subsided.

  ‘Why are you thanking me?’ wondered Cecilia. She had always liked Louise. She just hadn’t liked her enough to stop fucking her husband.