The Ice Princess

by Camilla Lackberg

  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.�
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  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.’

  ‘But dear God, did they really believe that?’

  Anna gave Erica a crooked smile. ‘You know how charming Lucas can be. He completely turned the heads of the doctor and the nurses, and they felt almost as sorry for him as they did for Emma.’

  ‘But Anna, you have to report him to the police. Surely you can’t let him get away with this?’

  She looked at her weeping sister. Sympathy was competing with fury. Anna was shrinking before her eyes.

  ‘It will never happen again, I intend to see to that. I pretended that I was listening to his excuses, and then I packed up the car and drove off as soon as he left for work. I never intend to go back to him; Lucas will never have a chance to hurt my children again. If I’d reported him to the police they would have brought in social services, and then maybe they might have taken the children from both of us.’

  ‘But Lucas is never going to sit still for you taking the children, Anna. Without a police report and an investigation, how are you going to prove that you should have sole custody of the children?’

  ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, Erica. I can’t think about it now, I just had to get away from him. The rest of it will have to be worked out later. Please don’t yell at me!’

  Erica set down her cup on the table, got up from her chair and put her arms round her sister. She stroked her hair and murmured consoling words. She let Anna cry on her shoulder and felt her jumper getting wetter and wetter. At the same time her hatred towards Lucas grew. She really wanted to punch that fucker in the mouth.

  Birgit looked out at the street, hidden behind her curtain. Karl-Erik could see from her hunched shoulders how tense she was. She had been pacing anxiously up and down ever since the police rang. For the first time in ages, he felt utterly calm inside. Karl-Erik intended to give the police officer all the answers - if he asked the right questions.

  The secrets had been burning inside him for so many years. In a way it had been easier for Birgit. Her manner of handling the situation had been to deny that it ever occurred. She refused to talk about it and fluttered on in life as if nothing had happened. But it did happen. Not a day had passed when he hadn’t thought about it, and each time the burden had felt even heavier to bear. He knew that from the outside it looked as if Birgit were the stronger of them. At all social events she glittered like a star while he was the grey, invisible man at her side. She wore her beautiful clothes, her expensive jewellery and her make-up like a suit of armour.

  Whenever they came home after yet another glittering, exhilarating evening, and she took off her armour, she seemed to collapse into nothingness. All that was left was a quivering, insecure child who clung to him for support. During their entire marriage he had been torn between conflicting feelings for his wife. Her beauty and fragility aroused tenderness and a protective instinct that made him feel like a man. But her unwillingness to face life’s more difficult aspects sometimes drove him to the brink of madness. What made him most furious was that he knew that she wasn’t stupid, but her upbringing had taught her that a woman must at all costs conceal the fact that she had any sort of intelligence. Instead, she should focus all her energy on being beautiful and helpless. And pleasing others. When they were newlyweds he hadn’t seen this as anything odd; that was the spirit of the times back then. But times had changed, placing whole different demands on both women and men. He had adapted, but his wife never did. So this day was going to be very hard on her. Karl-Erik believed that deep inside she knew what he was intending to do. That was why she had been pacing back and forth across the room for almost two hours. But he also knew that she didn’t intend to let him drag their family secrets out into the open without a fight.

  ‘Why does Henrik have to be here?’ Birgit turned towards him, anxiously wringing her hands.

  ‘The police want to talk with the family, and Henrik is part of the family, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, but I think it’s unnecessary to get him mixed up in this. The police will probably just ask some general questions. Do we really have to drag him all the way out here for that? No, I think it seems unnecessary.’

  Her voice rose and fell with unspoken questions. He knew her so well.

  ‘Here he comes.’

  Birgit quickly stepped away from the window. It took a moment before the doorbell rang. Karl-Erik took a deep breath and went to open the door, while Birgit retired to the living room where Henrik was already sitting on the sofa, deep in his own thoughts.

  ‘Hello, I’m Patrik Hedström.’

  ‘Karl-Erik Carlgren.’

  They shook hands politely. Karl-Erik estimated that the police officer was about Alex’s age. He often did this these days: thought about other people in terms of Alex.

  ‘Come in. I thought we could sit in the living room and talk.’

  Patrik looked a bit taken aback when he saw Henrik, but recovered quickly and greeted both Birgit and Henrik politely. They all sat down around the coffee table and there was a long moment of oppressive silence. Finally Patrik spoke.

  ‘Well, I realize this was a bit sudden, but I’m grateful you could see me on such short notice.’

  ‘We were just wondering if something has happened. Have you found out anything new? We haven’t heard from you in a while…’ The sentence petered out and Birgit looked hopefully at Patrik.

  ‘The investigation is progressing slowly but surely, and that’s about all I can say at this point. The murder of Anders Nilsson has also thrown a whole new light on the case.’

  ‘Yes, that’s obvious, but have you determined whether the person who murdered Anders is the same person who murdered our daughter?’

  Birgit’s chatter had a frenetic tone to it that made Karl-Erik check an impulse to lean forward and place a soothing hand on hers. Today, he had to steel himself against assuming the protector role in which he was so well practised.

  For a moment he allowed himself to drift away in his mind, away from the present to a past that now seemed so distant to him. He looked around the living room with something that resembled distaste. They had fallen so easily for the temptation, one could almost smell the blood money. The house in Kålltorp was more than they ever dared dream of when the children were small. It was big and airy, with the fine details from the Thirties preserved, even as they had indulged all the modern creature comforts. With the salary from his job in Göteborg, they could finally afford all of this.

  The room they were sitting in was the largest room in the house. Much too over-furnished for his taste, but Birgit had a penchant for shiny, glittery objects and everything was as good as brand-new. About every three years, Birgit would begin to complain that everything looked so worn out. She would tell him how
bored she was of everything in their house, and after a few weeks of her entreating looks he usually gave in and pulled out his wallet. It was as though she could keep re-inventing herself and her life over and over again, by replacing everything. At present she was into a Laura Ashley period, and the room was so full of rose patterns and flounces that it felt suffocatingly feminine. Karl-Erik knew that he wouldn’t have to tolerate it for more than a year, max. If he got lucky on the next redecoration Birgit would be partial to Chesterfield armchairs and the English hunting motif. On the other hand, if he was unlucky it would probably be tiger stripes next time.

  Patrik cleared his throat. ‘I have a number of questions, and I’d appreciate your help in clarifying a few matters.’

  Nobody said anything so he continued. ‘Do you know anything about how Alex and Anders Nilsson happened to know each other?’

  Henrik looked shocked, and Karl-Erik said he had no idea. It pained him to say that, but it couldn’t be helped.

  ‘They were in the same class, but that was so many years ago.’

  Birgit squirmed nervously as she sat on the sofa next to her son-in-law.

  Henrik said, ‘I recognize the name. Didn’t Alex have some of his paintings for sale at the gallery?’

  Patrik nodded. Henrik went on, ‘I don’t understand, was there supposed to be some further connection between them? What reason could there be for someone to murder both my wife and one of her artists?’

  ‘That’s precisely what I’m trying to work out.’ Patrik paused before he continued. ‘Unfortunately we were also able to confirm that they had an intimate relationship.’