Hell Fire

25 August 2005

Sejer and Skarre went back to see the Haydens because they had some more questions. They saw that the chair by the window was empty as soon as they came in.

“Is he at Hallingstad?”

“No, he’s in bed. I can’t always get him up,” Henny explained. “And it doesn’t really matter where he is. He just sits with his hands in his lap and hardly ever speaks, and when he does, it’s just nonsense.”

“And how are you?” Sejer asked with concern.

“I take it hour by hour,” she said in a tired voice. “Sometimes I go into her old room and lie down on the bed. And it feels like there is no reason in the world to get up. Have you found anything? Is that why you’re here? Have you got some more information?”

Sejer had to admit that they didn’t.

“All you have is a footprint,” she said despondently. “And that’s not going to get you very far.”

“I’m afraid we have to talk to you about something,” Skarre said. “There are things in Bonnie’s life that we need to investigate more closely.”

“I see.” She didn’t look at them when she answered.

“Bonnie was bright,” Skarre started, “and her dream was to become a doctor. Instead she ended up as a home health aide, which is not quite the same. Why was that, do you think?”

“I suppose it was just one of many dreams that weren’t fulfilled,” Henny said with a sigh. “That’s what happens sometimes. And she liked her work as a home health aide; she put her heart and soul into it.”

“Was she in any way disappointed that she never fulfilled her dream?”

“I don’t think so. She certainly never said anything about it. But life was a struggle for her, especially after Olav left. I will never forgive him. Fortunately he had the sense to stay away from the funeral. If he had shown up, I would definitely have told him what I thought. That a grown man can fall for a teenager and give up all he has is more than I can understand.”

“I need to ask you some difficult questions,” Skarre ventured. “But please remember we are on your side. Do you have any family secrets that we should know about?”

“Don’t all families have secrets?” Henny replied. “I think perhaps you should show a little more sensitivity. Things are bad enough as they are — we’re in shock.”

“But a murder is a matter of public concern,” Skarre told her. “In fact, you are duty-bound to answer our questions. Only when the witness is a close relative of the accused are they absolved of that duty. And that’s not the case here, is it? I think you should let us decide what is important or not.”

She didn’t say anything. She looked down at her hands and then at the empty chair. They could see she was struggling. She had no doubt imagined the scene in the trailer, the raised knife, over and over again. She had heard their screams in her head; she would hear them until she died. Sometimes Sejer was filled with despair at all the questions he had to ask, but he was also used to the family being keen to help.

“I’ve got something else on my mind too,” he said.

“I’m terribly tired,” she said. “I just want to be left alone.”

“I understand that, and we’ll leave you in peace very soon. But it’s been brought to our attention that Bonnie suffered from anorexia when she was a teenager. And we have to talk to you about it. Now, you might not think that it has anything to do with the case, but we ask you to bear with us. So, can you tell us about it?”

She straightened her back as though she were about to defend herself. As though she wanted to say that she had nothing to hide when it came to her daughter’s illness, and that she and her husband were not to blame in any way.

“She was seventeen when she went on a diet,” she explained. “She weighed one hundred and forty-seven pounds, which wasn’t much for Bonnie really, as she was quite tall. And then it got out of control and the weight fell off her. She sat and picked at her food and withdrew into herself, as if she wanted to disappear altogether. She went down to eighty-eight pounds within the year and we went to lots of doctors for help. She couldn’t have cared less. She even started to lose her hair, and she had pressure sores, as if her bones were trying to break out of her skin. It was awful to see. She was in the hospital several times. The doctors were worried about organ failure, so it was extremely serious. We were terrified we were going to lose her. Neither Henrik nor I could sleep at night.”

“How did she manage to turn it around?” Skarre asked.

“Eventually we found a doctor whom she connected really well with. It was as though he found the key. And then slowly but surely she started to get better. I’ve never been more relieved in all my life than when she started to eat again. At first, she only ate soup and porridge because she found chewing hard. But then finally it was all in the past. And she’s never had any problems like that since.”

“I imagine that you and Henrik gave considerable thought to what might have caused the illness,” Skarre said. “What was your conclusion?”

She looked as if she was about to cry. “It wasn’t our fault,” she said, distraught. “But we often felt that that was what the doctors thought — that they judged us and the way we treated Bonnie.”

“And how did you treat her?”

“We were rather strict, I suppose. Especially Henrik, as he was very overprotective. He would stand at the window every time she went out and watch her go to the gate. Sometimes we worried that someone with a big motorbike might be waiting for her on the main road. And that she might not have a helmet. Isn’t that what all parents think?”

“Yes,” Sejer said and smiled. “I have a daughter too.”

“He always told her to be back by nine at the latest,” Henny continued. “And generally she was home on time because she was a good girl. But every now and then she was late. Henrik would stand by the window and wait, and when she finally came home, he would bombard her with questions. Why didn’t you come home when you were told to? Who were you with? Where have you been and what did you do, and are you going to see him again? Have you been drinking or taken anything else? Can we trust you? And Bonnie would get really upset. She’d say she’d been with her girlfriends and forgotten the time. And she would apologize a thousand times and then scuttle off to bed to get away from it. Some girls who develop eating disorders do it to gain some kind of control over their lives, that sort of thing.”

“Do you think Bonnie had lost control of her life?” Sejer asked.

“No teenager is in control, really,” Henny replied. “They’re still so unprepared. And Bonnie was the sort of girl who couldn’t say no.”

“Do you think there’s more?” Skarre asked later. “Is there something she’s not telling us?”

“Perhaps. But she’s started processing it now, so we’ll just give her space. I’m sure she’ll tell us in her own time. Maybe she’s ashamed of something. And shame is a powerful enemy.”

They drove into the parking garage in the basement and then walked up to reception. There was a girl waiting there. She looked around eighteen, maybe twenty, and her hair was bleached by the sun.

“I’ve been on vacation in Spain, and I’ve just come home,” she said. “I left on July sixth, at seven in the morning. It’s about what happened at Skarven Farm. The papers are full of it and I’ve read everything. And, well, I’ve been thinking.”

“Did you see something?” Sejer interjected.

“Possibly.”

“Come up to the office and tell us about it.”

She followed him into the elevator and up to the fifth floor. When they came into the office, Frank got up from under the desk. She greeted him enthusiastically, admiring his wrinkly head and black eyes.

“I was in the parking lot in Geirastadir on July fifth,” she said. “A friend and I wanted to get out in the good weather and go for a walk. We thought we’d go up to Saga.”

“Carry on.”

“Well, I was sitting in the car waiting because my friend had called to say she was running a bit late.”

“And what did you do while you were waiting?”

“I sat in the car and listened to the radio. I had the engine running because I needed the air conditioning on. The parking lot was almost full, but then, a while later, another car came. It was an old red station wagon, I think. I don’t know much about makes, but it was definitely not a small car. And the driver struggled to find a space to park. But eventually he managed to squeeze in.”

“So it was a man?”

“Yes.”

Two red cars, Sejer thought, one at Skarven Farm and one in Geirastadir.

“Then he got out of the car,” the girl continued. “I thought he was probably going to walk to Saga or Svarttjern, but he didn’t. He disappeared down across the fields instead. Toward Skarven.”

“Did you notice what he looked like?”

“Well, I wasn’t paying much attention, but he certainly wasn’t a lightweight, let’s put it that way. He was tall and pretty big. And he was wearing black clothes.”

“But there was something else about him that you remember, which is why you’re here now. Am I right?”

She smiled. “Yes, you see, July fifth was a really hot day. And while the rest of us were melting, the man was wearing a jacket and gloves.”