‘I have no idea.’ Leila shook her head, and they saw the look of dismay on her face. She was clearly very upset. ‘You have to understand that it’s a matter of an extremely complex psychology. You might wonder why a woman doesn’t leave the first time she gets hit, but it’s more complicated than that. In the end, a form of interdependency exists between the batterer and the victim, and sometimes the woman doesn’t behave in a very rational way.’
‘Do you think she has gone back to her husband?’ asked Patrik in disbelief.
‘I don’t know. Maybe she couldn’t take the isolation any longer and she was missing her family. Even though we’ve worked with these issues for years here at the crisis centre, we still don’t always understand how the women think. And they have to make their own decisions about their lives. They’re free to do as they wish.’
‘How do we go about finding her?’ Patrik was feeling quite helpless. Yet another door had slammed in their faces. He had to talk to Madeleine. She might be the key to everything.
For a moment Leila didn’t reply. Then she said, ‘I’d start with her parents. They live in Kålltorp. She may have gone there.’
‘Do you have their address?’ asked Gösta.
‘Yes, I do. But …’ She paused. ‘You’re dealing with extremely dangerous people. Madeleine and her family may not be the only ones at risk. You may be too.’
Patrik nodded. ‘We’ll be discreet.’
‘Are you planning to talk to him too?’ asked Leila.
‘Yes. I’m afraid it’s unavoidable. But first we’d better talk to our colleagues here in Göteborg and find out what’s the best approach to take.’
‘Be careful.’ She handed Patrik a piece of paper with an address written on it.
‘We will,’ he said, but he wasn’t as confident as he tried to sound. They were heading into deep water now, and the only thing to do was to swim as best they could.
‘Nothing from the airlines?’ said Konrad.
‘No,’ said Petra. ‘They didn’t leave the country. At least not under their own names.’
‘There are plenty of ways to get false passports and identities.’
‘If that’s the case, it’s going to take a while for us to find them. We should investigate all the other possibilities first. Then we’ll know what the most likely scenario might be.’ Petra exchanged a glance with Konrad as they sat at their desks across from each other. Neither of them needed to be any more specific than that. The images they were both envisioning were clear enough.
‘It would be pretty vicious if they killed a five-year-old,’ said Konrad. At the same time he knew that these individuals moved in circles where a human life meant nothing. Killing a child might be unthinkable for some of them, but not for all. Money and drugs had a way of transforming people into animals.
‘I’ve talked to some of her women friends. She didn’t have many, from what I understand, and none of them claim to have been very close to her. But they all say the same thing. Nathalie and Fredrik and their son were supposed to go to their house in Tuscany for the summer. And nobody had any reason to think they hadn’t gone.’ Petra took a sip from the water bottle she always kept on her desk.
‘Where’s she from?’ asked Konrad. ‘Are there any relatives she might be staying with? Something might have happened to prevent her and the boy going to Italy. Marital problems. Or maybe she was the one who shot him.’
‘Some of her friends hinted that it wasn’t a particularly happy marriage, but I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions at this stage. Do you know whether the bullets have been sent over to the lab?’ She took another sip of water.
‘Yes, and they’re being given top priority. The narcotics division has been working for a long time on this guy and the organization behind him, so the case is at the top of their list.’
‘Good,’ said Petra, getting to her feet. ‘I’ll check on Nathalie’s family while you lean on the techs. Let me know as soon as they have anything we can work with.’
‘Okay,’ said Konrad, sounding amused. He had long since grown accustomed to Petra acting as if she was the one in charge, even though they held the same rank. But he didn’t mind, since he’d never been interested in competing for status. He knew that she listened to him, and she respected his judgement and opinions, and that was what mattered most. He picked up the phone to ring the technical team.
‘Are you sure this is the right address?’ Gösta glanced over at Patrik.
‘Yes, I’m sure. And I heard somebody moving around inside.’
‘Then I guess she’s here,’ whispered Gösta. ‘Otherwise they would open the door.’
Patrik nodded. ‘But the question is, what do we do now? We need to get them to let us in voluntarily.’ He paused to think. Then he took out his notebook and pen. He wrote down a few lines and tore out the page. Then he leaned down and slipped it under the door along with his business card.
‘What did you write?’
‘I suggested a place where we could meet. I hope she agrees,’ said Patrik as he started down the stairs.
‘Do you think she might run instead?’ Gösta had to hurry to keep up.
‘I don’t think so. I wrote that we wanted to talk to her about Mats.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ said Gösta as they got into the car. ‘Where are we going?’
‘The Delsjön nature reserve,’ said Patrik, and drove off with a lurch.
They left the vehicle in the car park and walked over to a picnic area at the edge of the woods. Then they waited. It felt great to be out in the country for a change, and the early summer day was as beautiful as could be. Pleasantly warm and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. Birds were chirping, and there was a quiet rustling in the trees.
It took about twenty minutes before they saw a slender woman walking towards them. Her shoulders were hunched, and she kept glancing around anxiously.
‘Has something happened to Matte?’ She had a surprisingly girlish-sounding voice.
‘Why don’t we sit down?’ Patrik pointed to the bench they were standing next to.
‘Tell me what’s happened,’ she said, as she sank on to the bench. Patrik sat down next to her. Gösta chose to stand off to the side and let Patrik handle the conversation.
‘We’re from the Tanumshede police,’ Patrik told her. The expression on Madeleine’s face made his stomach start to churn. He felt like an idiot for not having realized that they would have to deliver the news of Mats’s death. He was going to have to tell this woman that someone who had clearly meant a great deal to her was now dead.
‘Tanumshede? But why?’ Her hands, which were lying on her lap, clenched into fists, and she gave him a pleading look. ‘Matte is from that area, but …’
‘Mats moved home to Fjällbacka after you disappeared. He got a job there and sublet his flat here in Göteborg. But he …’ Patrik hesitated, but then went on. ‘He was shot almost two weeks ago. I’m sorry, but Mats is dead.’
Madeleine gasped for breath. Her big blue eyes filled with tears.
‘I thought they would leave him alone.’ She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
Patrik patted her awkwardly on the back.
‘Did you know that your ex-husband and his friends had assaulted Mats?’
‘Of course I knew. I didn’t believe for a minute that story about a gang of teenagers attacking him.’
‘And that was why you decided to flee?’ said Patrik gently.
‘I thought they would leave Mats in peace once we were gone. Before that happened, I was hoping that things could be worked out. That we could hide somewhere in Sweden. But when I saw Mats in the hospital … I realized that no one connected to us would be safe as long as we stayed here. We had to disappear.’
‘Why did you come back? What happened?’
Madeleine pressed her lips together, and Patrik could tell that she wasn’t going to answer that question.
‘It doesn’t do any good to flee. If Mat
te is dead … That just proves that I’m right,’ she said, standing up.
‘Is there anything we can do to help you?’ asked Patrik, also getting to his feet.
She turned around. Her eyes were still filled with tears, but her expression was stony.
‘No, there’s nothing you can do. Nothing.’
‘How long were you and Mats together?’
‘That depends on how you look at it,’ she said, her voice quavering. ‘But about a year. It wasn’t allowed, so we kept it secret. We also had to be careful because of …’ She didn’t finish her sentence, but Patrik understood. ‘Matte was so different compared to what I was used to. So gentle and warm. He would never dream of hurting anyone. And that was … new for me.’ She laughed bitterly.
‘There’s something else that I have to ask you,’ said Patrik. He could hardly look at her. ‘Do you know whether Mats was mixed up in anything to do with drugs? Cocaine?’
Madeleine stared at him. ‘Why would you ask that?’
‘A bag of cocaine was found in a litter bin outside the building where Mats lived in Fjällbacka. With his fingerprints on it.’
‘There must be some mistake. Matte would never touch drugs. But you know as well as I do who has access to such things,’ said Madeleine in a low voice. The tears began spilling down her face again. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to go home to my children now.’
‘Keep my card, and call if there’s anything we can do, anything at all.’
‘Okay,’ she said, though they both knew that she would never call. ‘What you can do for me is catch the person who murdered Matte. I should never have …’ She rushed off, sobbing.
Patrik and Gösta stood there, watching her leave.
‘You didn’t ask her very many questions,’ said Gösta.
‘It’s clear who she thinks killed Mats.’
‘Yes. And I’m not looking forward to what we have to do now.’
‘I know,’ said Patrik, taking his mobile out of his pocket. ‘But we’d better phone Ulf. We’re going to need help.’
‘That’s the understatement of the year,’ muttered Gösta.
As the phone rang, Patrik had a nagging sense of uneasiness. For a fraction of a second he saw in his mind a crystal clear image of Erica and his children. Then Ulf came on the line.
‘Did you two have a nice time last night?’ asked Paula. For a change she and Johanna were both home at the same time for lunch. Since Bertil had also arrived for a home-cooked meal, they were all gathered around the kitchen table.
‘Well, that depends on how you look at it,’ said Rita with a smile, which clearly showed the dimples on her round cheeks. In spite of all the dancing she did, her body was still quite curvaceous. In Paula’s eyes, her mother was extremely beautiful, and by all accounts, Bertil felt the same way.
‘That stingy bastard served us cheap whisky,’ muttered Mellberg. Normally he would have enjoyed drinking Johnnie Walker, and he’d never dream of spending his own money on an expensive bottle of whisky. But why would Erling bring out the good stuff if he wasn’t going to offer any to his guests?
‘Yuck,’ said Johanna. ‘Drinking cheap whisky would do anyone in.’
‘Erling poured glasses of expensive whisky for himself and for Vivianne, and then he gave us the cheap kind,’ Rita clarified.
‘How rude,’ said Paula in astonishment. ‘I didn’t think Vivianne was like that.’
‘I don’t think she is. She seemed very nice, and she looked thoroughly embarrassed. But there must be something about Erling that she finds attractive, because they surprised us by announcing their engagement.’
‘Wow.’ Paula tried in vain to imagine Erling and Vivianne together, but she couldn’t. It would be hard to find a more mismatched couple. Well, her mother and Bertil might fit the bill. But oddly enough, she’d started viewing them as a perfect combination. She’d never seen her mother happier, and that was the only thing that mattered. For that reason, it was even more difficult to tell Rita what she and Johanna needed to say.
‘How nice to have you both home,’ said Rita as she served the steaming hot soup from a big pot that she’d set on the table.
‘Yes, especially since it seems like the two of you haven’t been getting along lately.’ Mellberg stuck out his tongue at Leo, making the boy whoop with laughter.
‘Be careful he doesn’t choke on his food,’ said Rita, which made Mellberg immediately stop clowning around. He was deathly afraid of anything happening to Leo, who was the apple of his eye.
‘Chew your food properly for Grandpa Bertil,’ he said.
Paula couldn’t help smiling. Mellberg could be the most annoying man she’d ever met, yet she forgave him everything when she saw the way he looked at her son. Then she cleared her throat, fully aware that what she was about to say would be like a bomb exploding.
‘Well, you’re right that things have been a bit chilly between us lately. But yesterday Johanna and I had a chance to talk things over, and …’
‘You’re not going to split up, are you?’ asked Mellberg. ‘It would be impossible to find somebody new. There aren’t many dykes around here, and you’d probably never meet anyone else.’
Paula rolled her eyes and prayed for patience. She counted backwards from ten and then said:
‘We’re not breaking up. But we …’ She cast a glance at Johanna for support.
‘We just can’t live here any more,’ Johanna said.
‘You can’t live here?’ Rita looked at Leo as her eyes filled with tears. ‘But where are you going to move? How are you … and the boy …?’ Her voice broke and the words didn’t seem to want to come out in the right order.
‘You can’t move back to Stockholm. I hope you’re not even considering that,’ said Mellberg. ‘Leo can’t grow up in a big city like that. You understand that, don’t you? He might grow up to be a delinquent or a drug addict or something equally bad.’
Paula refrained from pointing out that both she and Johanna had grown up in Stockholm without suffering any damage. She realized that certain topics weren’t worth arguing over.
‘No, we’re not going to move back to Stockholm,’ Johanna hastened to say. ‘We’re happy here. But it might be hard to find a flat in the area, so we’re going to have to look in Grebbestad and Fjällbacka too. Of course the best thing would be if we could find one nearby. But at the same time …’
‘At the same time, we do need to move,’ said Paula. ‘You’ve both been incredibly helpful, and it has been fantastic for Leo, but we need to have our own place.’ She squeezed Johanna’s hand under the table. ‘So we’ll just have to take whatever we can find.’
‘But Leo needs to see his grandpa and grandma every day. That’s what he’s used to.’ Mellberg looked as if he wanted to pull the boy out of his high chair and hold him close, never to let him go.
‘We’ll do what we can, but we need to move as soon as possible. Then we’ll see what happens after that.’
Silence descended over the table, and only Leo was his usual cheerful self. Rita and Mellberg exchanged worried glances. The girls were going to move and take the boy with them. That might not be the end of the world, but it certainly felt like it.
It was impossible to forget the blood. The red colour had looked so garish against the white silk. She was filled with a terror that was worse than anything she’d ever felt. And yet the years she’d lived with Fredrik had been filled with frightening moments – episodes that even now she refused to think about, pushing them instead to the very back of her mind. Instead, she tried to focus on Sam and his love.
On that night she had stood there, frozen in place, staring at the blood. Then she had sprung into action, moving with a determination that she hadn’t known she possessed. Their suitcases were already packed. She was wearing her nightgown, and in spite of the fear she felt, she took the time to pull on a pair of jeans and a sweater. Sam could wear his pyjamas. She picked him up and carried him out to the car after loading everyth
ing else into the vehicle. He wasn’t asleep, but he didn’t say a word.
Everything had seemed so quiet. The only sound was a faint rumbling from the sparse nighttime traffic. She hadn’t dared think about what Sam might have seen, or how it had affected him, or what his silence meant. He usually loved to chatter, but he hadn’t said a word. Not one word.
Nathalie drew up her legs and wrapped her arms around her knees as she sat on the dock. She was surprised that she didn’t feel restless after two weeks on the island. But the days seemed to have raced by. She hadn’t yet decided what to do next, or what the future might hold for Sam and herself. Who knew if they even had a future? She had no way of knowing whether she and her son would be targeted by the people Fredrik was associated with, or whether they would be safe hiding out here. She would have preferred to withdraw from the world entirely and stay on Gråskär for ever. That was easy enough to do in the summertime, but when winter arrived, they wouldn’t be able to live here. And Sam needed friends and other people. Real people.
But he had to get well before she could make any decisions. Right now the sun was shining, and the sound of the sea lapping against the bare rocks lulled them to sleep at night. They were safe in the shadow of the lighthouse. Everything else could wait. And with time, the memory of the blood would fade.
‘How are you feeling, sweetheart?’ She felt Dan wrap his arms around her from behind, and she had to fight not to pull out of his embrace. She had emerged from the darkness and was able to see her children again, to spend time with them and feel the love she had for them. But she still felt dead inside whenever Dan touched her or gave her that entreating look.
‘I’m okay,’ she said, wriggling out of his arms. ‘Just a little tired, but I’ll try to stay up for a while. I need to retrain my muscles.’
‘Which muscles?’
She tried to smile at his joke, the way she always used to whenever he teased her. But she managed only a grimace.
‘Could you go and get the children?’ she asked him, wincing as she bent down to pick up a toy car lying on the kitchen floor.
Patrick Hedstrom 07: The Lost Boy Page 38
