Buried Angels

VALÖ, EASTER EVE 1974

Everything was supposed to be the same as usual. That was what Rune expected. Most of the students had gone home for the holiday, and she had timidly asked whether the remaining boys might have Easter lunch with them, but Rune hadn’t even deigned to answer her. Naturally Easter lunch was only for the family.

She’d spent the last two days cooking: roast lamb, devilled eggs, poached salmon… Rune’s wishes were endless, although ‘wishes’ was not the right word. They were demands.

‘Carla always made these dishes. Every year,’ he’d told her when he handed Inez the list for their first Easter together.

She knew there was no use protesting. If Carla had done it, that was how it had to be done. God forbid she should do anything different.

‘Could you put Ebba in her highchair, Johan?’ Inez said as she set the big roast lamb on the table. She prayed that she had cooked it properly.

‘Does she really have to be here? She’ll only make a fuss.’ Annelie came sauntering in and sat down at the table.

‘What do you suggest I do with her?’ said Inez. After slaving away in the kitchen, she was in no mood for her stepdaughter’s caustic remarks.

‘I don’t know, but it’s disgusting to have her here at the table. It makes me want to throw up.’

Inez felt something snap inside of her. ‘If it’s that difficult for you, maybe you shouldn’t eat with the rest of us,’ she retorted.

‘Inez!’

She jumped. Rune had come into the dining room, and his face was bright red.

‘What did you just say? My daughter’s not welcome at the table?’ His voice was ice cold as he fixed his eyes on his wife. ‘In this family, everyone is welcome at the table.’

Annelie didn’t say a word, but Inez saw that her father’s angry remarks, offered in her defence, made the girl so gleeful that she was about to burst.

‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.’ Inez turned and then set the dish of potatoes on the table. But inside she was boiling. She wanted to scream out loud, obey her heart, and run away. She didn’t want to be stuck in this hellish place any longer.

‘Ebba spit up a little,’ said Johan with concern as he wiped his little sister’s chin with a napkin. ‘She isn’t sick, is she?’

‘No, she probably just ate too much baby formula,’ said Inez.

‘That’s good,’ he replied, although he didn’t sound convinced. He’s getting more and more protective, thought Inez, wondering again how he could have turned out so different from his siblings.

‘Roast lamb. I’m sure it’s not as good as Mamma’s,’ said Claes, sitting down next to Annelie. She giggled and gave him a wink, but he pretended to ignore her. Those two should have been bosom buddies, but Claes didn’t seem to care about anyone. Except his mother. He was always talking about her.

‘I’ve done the best I could,’ said Inez. Claes snorted.

‘Where have you been?’ asked Rune, reaching for the potatoes. ‘I was looking for you. Olle unloaded the boards I asked him to get. I need you to help me bring them up from the dock.’

Claes shrugged. ‘I was taking a walk. I can fetch the boards later.’

‘Right after lunch,’ said Rune, although he seemed satisfied with his son’s explanation.

‘It should be more pink,’ said Annelie, wrinkling her nose at the piece of lamb that she’d put on her plate.

Inez clenched her teeth. ‘Our oven isn’t great. The temperature is uneven. As I said, I did my best.’

‘Yuck,’ said Annelie, pushing the meat aside. ‘Could I have some gravy?’ she said to Claes, since the gravy bowl was on his left.

‘Sure,’ he said, reaching for it.

‘Whoops…’ He was staring at Inez. The gravy bowl had landed on the floor with a crash, and brown gravy spilled all over, seeping down through the cracks in the floorboards. Inez looked him in the eye. She knew that he’d done it on purpose. And he knew that she knew. ‘That was clumsy of you,’ said Rune, peering at the mess. ‘You’d better wipe it up, Inez.’

‘Right,’ she said with a strained smile. Of course it never occurred to him that Claes should clean up the mess he’d made.

‘And could you bring us some more gravy?’ said Rune as she headed for the kitchen.

She turned around. ‘That’s all there is.’

‘Carla always had a little extra in the kitchen, in case we ran out.’

‘But I don’t. I put all of it in the gravy bowl.’

After she’d wiped up the mess, getting down on all fours next to Claes’s chair, she went back to her seat at the table. Her food had gone cold, but it didn’t matter. She no longer had any appetite.

‘That was really good, Inez,’ said Johan, holding out his plate for another helping. ‘You’re a great cook.’

His eyes were so blue, so innocent, that she almost cried. As she put more food on his plate, he fed Ebba, using her little silver spoon.

‘Here come some good potatoes. Mmm, they’re really yummy,’ he said, and his face lit up when Ebba opened her mouth and swallowed a bite.

Claes laughed sarcastically. ‘What a bloody wimp!’

‘Don’t talk like that to your brother,’ snapped Rune. ‘He gets the highest marks in all his classes, and he’s smarter than the two of you put together. You haven’t exactly been a model student, so I think you should speak politely to your brother until you show that you’ve got some brains in your head. Mamma would have laughed if she saw your marks and how incompetent you’ve turned out to be.’

Claes flinched, and Inez saw the tiny veins in his temples begin to throb. His eyes were as dark as could be.

For a moment no one spoke at the table. Even Ebba didn’t make the faintest sound. Claes was staring at Rune, and Inez clenched her fists in her lap. She was witnessing a power struggle, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to see how it would end.

For several minutes father and son simply stared at each other. Then Claes looked away.

‘Sorry, Johan,’ he said.

Inez shivered. His voice was filled with hatred, and she knew that she ought to obey her instincts. There was still time for her to get up and flee. She should seize the opportunity, no matter what the consequences might be.

‘Excuse me for disturbing you in the middle of lunch. But I need to have a few words with you, Rune. It’s urgent.’ Leon was standing in the doorway with his head bowed politely.

‘Can’t it wait? We’re still eating,’ said Rune with a frown. Having his meals interrupted was something he wouldn’t tolerate, even under normal circumstances.

‘I realize that, and I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.’

‘What’s this all about?’ said Rune, wiping his mouth on his napkin.

Leon hesitated. Inez glanced at Annelie. She couldn’t take her eyes off the boy.

‘There’s an emergency at home. Pappa asked me to speak to you.’

‘Oh, your father? Why didn’t you say so.’

Rune got up from the table. He always had time for the wealthy parents of his students.

‘Keep on eating. This won’t take long,’ he said, moving towards the doorway where Leon was standing.

Inez’s eyes were fixed on Rune. She felt her stomach churn. Everything that she’d been through over the past few months settled into a hard knot. Something was about to happen.