Echoes From the Dead

34

The police radio beside the steering wheel in Lennart’s car had been silent until he started making calls to an emergency center in Kalmar — after that it started broadcasting crackling responses Julia couldn’t understand.

But Lennart was listening with great concentration.

“The dog patrols will be a little while,” he said, looking out into the darkness through the windshield, “but a helicopter will be here soon.”

“When?” said Julia.

“They’re taking off from Kalmar in a few minutes,” said Lennart, and added, “And they’ve got a thermal imaging camera.”

“A what?”

“A camera,” repeated Lennart. “It registers body heat. Very useful in the dark.”

“Very,” said Julia, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

She kept on looking out of the windows, but it was so dark out there. It was half past six and it was almost pitch-black.

Earlier, back at the home, Boel had been annoyed at first because Gerlof hadn’t been in touch.

“Are we going to have to lock him in?” she said with a heavy sigh. “Are we?”

But all too soon she had become almost as worried as Julia. She’d pulled together a search party made up of staff on the evening shift, who set off on foot from the home to see if Gerlof was sitting at some bus stop.

Lennart had been calmer, but he too knew the situation was serious. He had used his radio to alert the duty officer down in Borgholm.

After a few brief telephone calls he had also managed to locate the bus driver, who had turned around in Byxelkrok and was back in Borgholm with his bus. The man hardly even remembered that Gerlof had been on board, but he did know that he had made at least a couple of stops on the main road before Marnäs, and at least three more between Marnäs and Byxelkrok.

It was just after six when Julia and Lennart got back in the car and joined the search. Two other cars with staff from the home set off at the same time. Boel stayed behind in her office to man the phone.

It was raining hard. Julia and Lennart drove south from the home — even if it wasn’t definite that Gerlof had got off the bus there. He could have fallen asleep and got off after Marnäs. But they had to start looking somewhere.

Lennart kept his speed down, driving not much faster than a moped, and pulled in at every bus stop and parking lot so that he wouldn’t miss anything.

“You can’t see a thing...” Julia muttered impatiently.

Not that there was much to see; nobody was out wandering along the main road on this frigid, rainy evening. All she could see was black ditches, bushes, and pale trees twisting in the wind.

The police radio started crackling again.

“The helicopter’s taken off,” Lennart said. “They’re heading for Marnäs now.”

Julia nodded. It was probably their only hope, she realized with a sinking heart.

“Is this like Gerlof?” said Lennart after a while.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean... has he been... unreliable before?”

“No.” Julia shook her head fiercely, feeling a spurt of anger at Lennart. Then she thought about it and added, “But I’m not totally surprised... I mean, if he has got off the bus and just wandered off, or whatever it is that’s happened. I think he thinks too much.”

“We’ll find him,” said Lennart quietly.

“He had his winter overcoat on when he set off this morning. He’ll be all right in that, won’t he?”

“He’ll be perfectly all right if he’s outside all night, as long as he’s got his overcoat,” said Lennart. “Particularly if he can find some shelter from the wind.”

But there was no shelter from the wind out on the alvar, thought Julia.