Buried Angels

Chapter Seventeen

The terraced house in Falkeliden sometimes seemed much too small. Dan was taking the children to spend the weekend in Göteborg with his sister, and during the packing frenzy that morning, Anna had felt she was in the way, no matter where she stood. She’d also been forced to run down to the petrol station several times to buy sweets, soft drinks, fruit, and comic books for the trip.

‘Do you have everything now?’ Anna surveyed the mountain of bags and other odds and ends piled up in the front hall.

Dan was going back and forth to the car, stowing the luggage. She could already see that there wouldn’t be enough room, but that was his problem. He was the one who had told the children to do their own packing, and he’d promised they could take anything they liked.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I don’t like leaving you alone after what you went through yesterday.’

‘Thanks, but I’m fine. It will actually be nice to have the house to myself for a couple of days.’ She gave Dan a pleading look, hoping he would understand and not be hurt.

He nodded and put his arms around her.

‘I know exactly what you mean, sweetheart. You don’t have to explain. Have a wonderful time, and don’t think about anyone but yourself. Treat yourself to a good meal, go for one of those long swims that you love, and do some shopping. Do whatever you want, so long as the house is still standing when I get back.’ He gave her one last hug, then resumed the task of carrying suitcases to the car.

Anna felt her throat tighten. She came close to telling him that she’d changed her mind, but she bit back the words. Right now she needed time to think, and the scare yesterday wasn’t the only thing that she had to work through. Life stretched out in front of her, and yet she couldn’t keep from staring in the rear-view mirror. It was time she figured out a way to shake off the past and turn her gaze forward.

‘Why aren’t you coming with us, Mamma?’ Emma was tugging at her sleeve.

Anna squatted down, struck by how tall her daughter had grown. She’d really shot up during the spring and summer. She was a big girl now.

‘I told you: I have a lot of things to do here at home.’

‘Yes, but we’re going to Liseberg!’ Emma stared at her mother as if Anna had taken leave of her senses. And in the world of an eight-year-old, that was undoubtedly the case, since she was voluntarily missing out on a visit to the amusement park.

‘I’ll go with you next time. Besides, you know what a scaredy-cat I am. I probably wouldn’t dare to go on any of the rides. You’re much braver than me.’

‘Yes, I am!’ Emma proudly straightened her shoulders. ‘I’m going on the roller-coaster, and even Pappa won’t ride it.’

It didn’t matter how many times Anna heard Emma and Adrian call Dan ‘Pappa’, she was touched every time. And that was yet another reason why she needed these two days of solitude. She had to find a way to become whole again. For the family’s sake.

She kissed Emma on the cheek. ‘I’ll see you Sunday evening.’

Emma ran out to the car, and Anna leaned on the door frame with her arms wrapped around her, enjoying the commotion in the driveway. Dan was starting to sweat, and it appeared he was finally beginning to realize it would be impossible to take everything along.

‘Good Lord, I can’t believe they’ve packed so much stuff,’ he said, wiping his forehead.

The boot of the car was already full to the brim, and there was still a big pile of stuff in the front hall.

‘Don’t say anything!’ He waved his finger at Anna.

She threw out her hands. ‘I won’t say a word.’

‘Adrian! Do you have to take Dino along?’ He picked up Adrian’s favourite stuffed animal, a metre-tall dinosaur that Erica and Patrik had given the boy as a Christmas present.

‘If Dino can’t come, then I’m staying home,’ shouted Adrian, snatching the dinosaur out of Dan’s hands.

‘Lisen?’ Dan then yelled. ‘Do you really need to take all of your Barbie dolls? Can’t you just choose two of them?’

Lisen promptly began to cry, and Anna shook her head. She blew Dan a kiss.

‘I don’t think I should get involved in any of this. One of us has to be left standing. Have fun.’

Then she went inside and climbed the stairs to their bedroom. She lay down on top of the quilt and used the remote to turn on the portable TV. After much consideration, she decided on Oprah on channel three.

Annoyed, Sebastian threw down his pen on top of the notepad. His usual good humour refused to return even though everything had gone as planned.

He loved the feeling of being able to control Percy and Josef, and his joint business ventures with them were about to become very lucrative. Sometimes he didn’t understand other people. He would never consider getting involved with somebody like himself, but they were both desperate, each in his own way. Percy was terrified of losing his ancestral inheritance, while Josef was searching for redress and his parents’ approval. Sebastian understood Percy better than Josef. Percy was about to lose something important: money and status. But Josef’s motive was a mystery. What did it matter what Josef did now? The idea of opening a Holocaust museum made no sense. The project was never going to get off the ground, and if Josef wasn’t such an idiot, he’d be able to see that for himself.

Sebastian got up and went to the window. The entire harbour was filled with boats flying Norwegian flags, and out on the street, everyone was speaking Norwegian. Not that he had anything against that. He’d made some excellent estate sales to Norwegians. The wealth they’d acquired from the North Sea oil had made them willing to spend money, and they’d paid way too much for their houses with views of the sea along the Swedish west coast.

Slowly he turned his gaze towards Valö. Why did Leon have to come back here and start stirring things up again? For a moment Sebastian thought about Leon and John. Although he had them both in his power, he’d always been careful not to exploit the situation. Instead, like a born predator, he’d identified the weaker elements in the herd and separated them from the rest. Now Leon was trying to gather the herd back together, and Sebastian had a feeling that it would not be to his advantage. But events had already been set in motion, and there was nothing he could do about it. He wasn’t about to start worrying about things that were beyond his control.

Erica watched from the window until she saw Patrik’s car disappear. Then she quickly got the children dressed and put them in the car. She left a note for Ebba, who was still asleep, saying that she’d gone out to run an errand and had taken the children with her. There were breakfast items in the fridge. Erica had sent a text message to Gösta the moment she awoke, so she knew that he would be waiting for them.

‘Where are we going?’ Maja was sitting in the back seat, holding her doll on her lap.

‘To visit Uncle Gösta,’ said Erica, instantly realizing that Maja was bound to tell Patrik. Oh well, sooner or later he’d find out about the agreement that she’d made with Gösta. She was more worried that she hadn’t told Patrik about the break-in at their house.

She took the turn-off towards Anrås, refusing to contemplate who might have been rummaging about in her work room. In truth, she knew who it must be. Or rather: there were only two possibilities. It was either someone who believed that she’d dug up some sensitive information concerning the summer camp, or it was because of her visit to John Holm and the note that she’d taken. Considering the timing of the break-in, she was inclined to think it was the latter.

‘I see you brought your entire brood,’ said Gösta when he opened the door. But the gleam in his eye made up for the cross tone of his voice.

‘If you’ve got any family heirlooms, you’d better move them out of reach right now,’ Erica said as she took off the children’s shoes.

The twins were shy and clung to her legs, but Maja stretched out her arms and cried: ‘Uncle Gösta!’

He seemed startled, unsure how to handle this overwhelming gesture of affection. Then his expression softened, and he picked Maja up.

‘What a good little girl you are.’ He carried her into the house and announced without turning around: ‘I’ve set the table out in the garden.’

Erica gathered up the twins, balancing one on each hip, and followed. Overcome with curiosity, she peered at everything in Gösta’s small house, which was conveniently situated near the golf course. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but this was not a dreary bachelor’s home. It was pleasant and comfortable, with potted plants on the windowsills. The garden behind the house was also surprisingly well-kept, even though it was so small that it probably didn’t require much work to keep it tidy.

‘Are they allowed to have juice and buns, or are you one of those parents who insists that everything should be organic and healthy?’ Gösta set Maja down on a chair.

Erica couldn’t help laughing and wondered if he spent his spare time secretly reading Mama magazine.

‘Buns and juice would be wonderful,’ she said, putting the twins down. Slowly they began moving away from her.

Maja caught sight of some raspberry bushes, and with a shout of joy she jumped off her chair and ran over to them.

‘Is it all right for her to pick raspberries?’ Erica knew her daughter well enough to predict that in a very short time there wouldn’t be a single berry left.

‘Sure, let her eat them,’ said Gösta, pouring coffee for Erica and himself. ‘Otherwise the birds will get them all. Maj-Britt used to pick the berries to make jam and juice, but it’s not the sort of thing I enjoy. Ebba…’ He stopped himself and pressed his lips tight as he stirred a lump of sugar in his cup.

‘What about Ebba?’ said Erica. She recalled Ebba’s expression during the boat trip back from Valö. A mixture of relief and concern. She seemed to be torn between a desire to stay there and a wish to leave.

‘Ebba also liked to pick raspberries, and she’d eat every single one of them,’ said Gösta reluctantly. ‘There weren’t any left to make jam or juice during that summer she lived with us. But Maj-Britt didn’t care. It was so much fun to see the little lass standing there in her nappy, stuffing handfuls of raspberries into her mouth, with the juice running down her tummy.’

‘Ebba lived here with you?’

‘Yes, but only for the summer. Then she moved to a family in Göteborg.’

Erica sat in silence, trying to take in what Gösta had just told her. How odd. When she’d done her research on the case, she’d found no mention of Ebba living with Gösta and Maj-Britt. Suddenly she understood why he was so involved in this investigation.

‘Did you ever think about keeping her?’ she asked.

Gösta stared at his coffee cup as he stirred the spoon round and round. For a moment Erica regretted asking the question. Although his face was turned away from her, she sensed that tears had welled up in his eyes. Then he cleared his throat and swallowed hard.

‘Of course we did. We talked about it many times. But Maj-Britt didn’t think we were the right people to take care of her. And I let her persuade me to give Ebba up. I suppose we convinced ourselves that we didn’t have much to offer her.’

‘Did you have any contact with her after she moved to Göteborg?’

Gösta hesitated. Then he shook his head. ‘No, we decided it would be best to make a clean break. The day that she left…’ His voice broke, and he couldn’t finish the sentence, but it wasn’t necessary. Erica understood.

‘How does it feel to see her again?’

‘It’s a bit strange. She’s a grown woman now, a stranger. At the same time, I can still see the little lass in her, the girl who stood here picking raspberries and laughing at us.’

‘She’s not doing much laughing these days.’

‘No, she’s not.’ He frowned. ‘Do you know what happened to their son?’

‘I haven’t wanted to ask. But Patrik and Paula are on their way to Göteborg to talk to Ebba’s adoptive parents. I’m sure they’ll find out.’

‘I don’t like her husband,’ said Gösta, reaching for a bun.

‘Tobias? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him. They just seem to be having some problems in their marriage. They have to work through the loss of their child, and I know from my sister’s experience how that can take its toll on a relationship. A shared sorrow doesn’t always bring people closer together.’

‘You’re right about that.’ Gösta nodded, and Erica realized that he knew all too well. He and Maj-Britt had lost their first and only child days after he was born. And then they lost Ebba too.

‘Look, Uncle Gösta! There’s tons of raspberries!’ shouted Maja from the bushes.

‘Eat as many as you want,’ he told her, his eyes sparkling again.

‘Maybe you’d like to babysit sometime,’ said Erica, only half joking.

‘I’m not sure I could handle three of them, but I’d be happy to look after the little girl if you ever need help.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ Erica decided to see to it that Gösta had a chance to babysit for her daughter someday soon. Maja was never shy with strangers, but she seemed to have taken a special liking to Patrik’s morose colleague. And it was obvious that Gösta had an empty space in his heart that Maja might help fill.

‘So what do you think about the shooting yesterday?’

Gösta shook his head. ‘I can’t make head or tail of it. The family disappeared in 1974, most likely murdered. Since then, nothing’s happened. Not until Ebba returned to Valö. Then all hell breaks loose. But why?’

‘It can’t be because she witnessed anything. Ebba was so young that she can’t possibly remember.’

‘I know. I’m more inclined to think that someone wanted to prevent Ebba and Tobias from finding the blood. But the shots fired yesterday don’t fit with that theory. By that time, the damage had already been done.’

‘The card Tobias brought in is proof that somebody means to harm her. And since the cards began arriving in 1974, we can conclude that everything that has happened to Ebba during the past week is somehow connected to her family’s disappearance. On the other hand, this is the first time the message on the card has seemed threatening.’

‘Well, I…’

‘Maja! Don’t push Noel!’ Erica jumped up and ran over to the children, who were in the midst of a loud quarrel next to the raspberry bush.

‘But Noel took the raspberry. It was mine. And he ate it!’ cried Maja, trying to give Noel a kick.

Erica took her daughter by the arm and warned her, ‘Stop it! You’re not allowed to kick your little brother. And there are still plenty of raspberries left.’ She pointed at the bush, which was loaded with ripe red berries.

‘But I wanted that one!’ Maja’s face made it clear that she felt herself unfairly treated, and when Erica let go of her arm to pick up Noel and comfort him, she rushed off.

‘Uncle Gösta! Noel took my raspberry,’ she sniffled.

He looked down at the little girl, covered in raspberry juice. With a smile he picked her up and set her on his lap. She promptly curled herself in a pitiful little ball.

‘It’s okay, sweetie,’ said Gösta, stroking her hair as if he had long experience soothing unhappy three-year-olds. ‘You know what? That raspberry wasn’t the best one.’

‘It wasn’t?’ Maja abruptly stopped crying and gazed up at Gösta.

‘No. I happen to know where the very best berries are. But it’s a secret. You can’t tell your brothers or even your mother.’

‘I promise.’

‘All right then. I trust you,’ said Gösta. And he bent down and whispered something in her ear.

Maja listened carefully, then slid off his lap and headed back to the bush. By now Noel had calmed down, and Erica returned to the table and sat down.

‘What did you say to her? Where are the best raspberries?’

‘I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,’ said Gösta with a smile.

Erica turned to see Maja, standing on tiptoe, reaching for the raspberries that were too high up for the twins to pick.

‘That was clever of you,’ she said, laughing. ‘So where were we? Oh, yes, the attempt on Ebba’s life yesterday. We need to work out how to proceed. Have you found out what happened to the family’s belongings? It could be so helpful to have a chance to go through them. Was everything thrown away? Did someone come in afterwards to clean up the house? Did they employ a cleaner and gardener, or did the family do it all themselves?’

Gösta suddenly sat up straight. ‘Good Lord, how could I be so stupid? Sometimes I think I must be going senile.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I should have thought of this before… He was like part of the scenery out there, but that’s all the more reason why it should have occurred to me.’

Erica glared at him. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Junk-Olle.’

‘Junk-Olle? You mean the old guy who has a junkyard out in Bräcke? What does he have to do with Valö?’

‘He came and went as he pleased, doing odd jobs whenever he was needed.’

‘And you think that Junk-Olle might have taken possession of the family’s belongings?’

Gösta threw out his hands. ‘That might be one explanation. The old guy collects stuff, and if no one claimed the belongings, I wouldn’t be surprised if he carted it all away.’

‘The question is whether he still has it.’

‘You mean Junk-Olle might have done a bit of spring-cleaning and actually got rid of something?’

Erica laughed. ‘No, if he took the family’s things, we can be pretty sure that he still has them. Maybe we should go out there now and have a chat with him.’ She was already halfway out of her chair, but Gösta motioned for her to sit down.

‘Relax. If those items are in the junk heap, they’ve been lying there for over thirty years. They’re not about to disappear overnight. And that’s no place to take the kids. I’ll ring him later, and if he has the stuff out there, we can drive over when you have a babysitter.’

Erica knew he was right, but she couldn’t shake off the sense there was something she ought to be doing.

‘How is she?’ asked Gösta, and it took a second for Erica to realize who he was talking about.

‘Ebba? She seems completely worn out. I had the feeling that, in spite of everything, she was relieved to get away from the island for a while.’

‘And away from Tobias.’

‘I think you’ve misjudged him, but you’re probably right. It’s just the two of them out there, and they seem to be getting on each other’s nerves. She’s interested in learning more about her family’s history, so when I get home and put the twins down for their nap, I thought I’d show her what I’ve found.’

‘I’m sure she would appreciate that. She has quite a colourful past.’

‘You can say that again.’ Erica drank the rest of her coffee. It had gone cold, and she grimaced. ‘By the way, I had a talk with Kjell at Bohusläningen. He gave me some background information on John Holm.’ She briefed Gösta on the family tragedy that had set Holm on such a hateful path. She also told him about the note that she’d found. She hadn’t dared mention it to Gösta before.

‘Gimle? I have no idea what it means. There’s nothing to suggest that it’s connected with Valö.’

‘I know, but it might have made him nervous enough to get someone to break into our home,’ she said before she could stop herself.

‘Someone broke in? What does Patrik say about that?’

Erica didn’t reply, and Gösta stared at her.

‘You haven’t told him?’ His voice rose to a falsetto. ‘How certain are you that Holm and his followers are behind it?’

‘I’m only guessing, and it’s really no big deal. Someone got in through the veranda door and snooped around in my work room. They tried to log in to my computer, without success. Thankfully they didn’t steal my hard drive.’

‘Patrik will go berserk when he finds out. And if he hears that I knew about it and didn’t tell him, he’s going to be furious with me too.’

Erica sighed. ‘I’ll tell him. But the interesting part is that I appear to have something in my work room that’s valuable enough to risk breaking in. And I reckon it’s that note.’

‘Would John Holm really go to such lengths? The Friends of Sweden have a lot to lose if it got out that he’d broken into a policeman’s home.’

‘It might be important enough. But I’ve given the note to Kjell, so it’s up to him to work out what it means.’

‘Good,’ said Gösta. ‘Now promise me you’ll tell Patrik about it when he gets home tonight. Otherwise I’ll be in trouble too.’

‘Okay, okay,’ she said wearily. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation, but it had to be done.

Gösta shook his head. ‘I wonder whether Patrik and Paula will find out anything in Göteborg. I’m beginning to feel a little discouraged.’

‘We can always hope that Junk-Olle will have something to tell us,’ said Erica, happy to change the subject.

‘We can always hope,’ agreed Gösta.