Punishment aka What Is Mine

TWO

I’ve never managed to let go of this case. Perhaps it’s my bad conscience. But then again. I was a newly qualified lawyer at a time when young mothers were expected to stay at home. There wasn’t much I could do or say.”

Her smile gave the impression that she wanted to be left alone. They’d been talking for nearly two hours. The woman in the bed gasped for breath and was obviously bothered by the strong sunlight. Her fingers clutched at the duvet cover.

“I’m only seventy,” she wheezed, “but I feel like an old woman. Please forgive me.”

Johanne Vik stood up and closed the curtains. She hesitated, not turning around.

“Better?” she asked after a while.

The old woman closed her eyes.

“I wrote everything down,” she said. “Three years ago. When I retired and thought I would have…”

She fluttered a thin hand.

“… plenty of time.”

Johanne Vik stared at the folder lying on the bedside table beside a pile of books. The old woman nodded weakly.

“Take it. There’s not much I can do now. I don’t even know if the man is still alive. If he is, he’d be… sixty-five. Or something like that.”

She closed her eyes again. Her head slipped slowly to one side. Her mouth opened a fraction and as Johanne bent down to pick up the red folder, she caught the smell of sick breath. She put the papers in her bag quietly and tiptoed toward the door.

“One last thing.”

She jumped and turned back toward the old woman.

“People ask how I can be so sure. Some think it’s just an idée fixe of an old woman who’s of no use to anyone anymore. I’ve done nothing about it for so many years… When you’ve read through it all, I would be grateful to know…”

She coughed weakly. Her eyes slid shut. There was silence.

“Know what?”

Johanne whispered, not sure if the old lady had fallen asleep.

“I know he was innocent. It would be good to know whether you agree.”

“But that’s not what I’m…”

The old woman slapped the edge of the bed lightly with her hand.

“I know what you do. You are not interested in whether he was guilty or innocent. But I am. In this particular case, I am. And I hope you will be too. When you have read everything. Promise me that? That you’ll come back?”

Johanne smiled lightly. It was actually nothing more than a noncommittal grimace.