Rites of Spring

18

The atmosphere is subdued during the drive home.

‘I’m sorry,’ Thea says in an attempt to fix things. ‘I had no idea . . .’

‘It’s fine,’ David murmurs. ‘Dad’s not himself. Mum had high hopes for the new medication, but it doesn’t seem to be helping. Not yet, anyway.’

‘What do you think he meant?’

‘Nothing – he mixes things up. Names, people, events. Everything somehow blends into one.’

‘But he remembered Elita Svart. Dr Andersson told me the whole story. All four of you were there – you, Nettan, Sebastian and Jan-Olof. You saw Elita’s brother . . .’ She breaks off. ‘Why have you never mentioned any of this?’

David sighs. ‘It happened such a long time ago. I don’t want to rake up the past.’

‘It must have been terrible – to see your friend . . .’

‘Elita Svart wasn’t our friend.’ His tone has hardened.

‘Oh – I thought . . .’

‘You thought wrong.’ He doesn’t say anything for a little while. ‘Elita was sixteen, and very . . . mature for her age. We were only twelve, nerdy kids who played board games. As far as we were concerned, Elita was in a different league. When she suddenly started taking an interest in us, it was amazing. She made us feel special. She was good at that – she knew exactly what to do.’

He slows down, turns left out of the village and follows the narrow lane leading to the castle. There are no street lamps here, and the darkness closes around the car.

‘So what did Elita get out of it?’ Thea wonders.

‘I don’t know, to be honest. Maybe she enjoyed being in the centre of attention. Whatever it was, she started sending us on little errands – to buy sweets, collect her clothes or school books, take messages. We became her secret little servants, but the sick part is that we were more than happy to go along with it. We were completely bewitched by her.’

He shakes his head as if he finds it hard to believe what he’s saying.

‘Even though she was a gyppo?’

That word again, bitter as bile.

‘That was the kind of thing other people said behind her back. Adults, mostly.’

‘Your parents?’

David pulls a face, confirming Thea’s suspicions.

‘Elita made us promise not to tell anyone what we were doing. It wasn’t difficult; none of our parents would have approved of us spending time with her, which of course made the whole thing even more exciting.’ He falls silent.

‘So what happened on Walpurgis Night?’ Thea ventures after a moment.

No answer. David is clutching the wheel, eyes fixed on the road ahead. He looks as if he might be working up to telling her.

They come from nowhere, suddenly appearing in the beam of the headlights. Black creatures with humped backs, pouring across the lane.

David slams his foot on the brake and wrenches the wheel to the side. The tyres screech on the tarmac and Thea just manages to grab the handle on the roof before the car lurches across the ditch and ends up in a field of rape. The front wheels sink into the soft ground, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt stop. The engine dies, and there is total silence for a few seconds.

‘Are you OK?’ David asks eventually.

Thea nods. Her heart is racing, the air inside feels thick, it smells of petrol and exhaust fumes.

‘W-what the hell was that?’

‘Wild boar. A whole fucking herd of them.’

He gets out and walks around the car to inspect the damage. She hears him swear, and decides to join him. The cold air makes her shiver. It’s dark, but she can clearly see the front wheels buried in the ground. One of the headlights has stopped working.

David jumps back in the car, starts the engine and tries to reverse. Earth and greenery spurt up around the tyres, but the only result is that the car sinks even lower.

‘Fuck!’ He slams his fists against the wheel. Gets out again and kicks one of the tyres.

‘Shall we call the roadside recovery firm?’ Thea suggests.

‘We can’t do that, for fuck’s sake! We’ve both been drinking. If the recovery guy calls the police and I go down for drunk driving, the restaurant is fucked!’

He takes several deep breaths then spreads his hands in an apologetic gesture.

‘What I mean is, we can’t risk any negative publicity. Not now, with the preview night coming up.’

Maybe you should have thought of that before you decided to drive home, Thea thinks, but decides to keep her opinion to herself. To be fair, she could have stopped him, suggested they ring a taxi.

‘So what do we do now?’

David is chewing his thumbnail. ‘I’ll call someone who can help us. Get back in the car and keep warm.’

She does as he says, leaves the door open for a minute or so to get rid of the fumes. She can hear him on the phone, but she can’t work out who he’s talking to.

She finds it difficult to understand why he’s never mentioned Elita Svart. On the other hand, there are plenty of things she hasn’t told him, things she hasn’t even told Margaux. The reason why Elita Svart’s story feels so personal. So close.

She leans her head back and closes her eyes. David’s conversation fades to a faint murmur, before being replaced by her big brother Ronny’s voice.

Jenny, Jeeenny!

She opens her eyes, sees lights approaching, dazzling headlights accompanied by the sound of a powerful engine. A tractor with double front and rear tyres rolls easily off the road and stops a few metres behind their car.

The driver clambers down from the cab and shakes hands with David. Thea gets out of the car. She shades her eyes against the bright lights and waits for David to introduce her, but the tractor driver gets there first. He’s in his early fifties, dressed in a fleece jacket, overalls and heavy boots. His hair and the stubble on his chin are peppered with grey, his eyes so intensely blue that Thea can see them in the darkness. He pulls off one glove.

‘Hi – Per Nyberg. We’re neighbours.’

His hand is surprisingly soft.

‘Thea Lind.’

‘I live over at Ängsgården – my father Erik and I lease most of the castle’s land.’ He smiles broadly. ‘He’s one of your patients – I think you’re due to see him tomorrow. He can be pretty bad-tempered, just so you know, but he doesn’t mean any harm.’ Per winks at her in a way that could almost be flirtatious, then turns back to David.

‘Wild boar, you say – it doesn’t surprise me. The population has exploded since we were young. They do a tremendous amount of damage to the crops.’ He inspects the car. ‘Good job you managed to swerve – you don’t want to crash into a herd of wild boar. It’s like hitting a concrete block.’

Per releases a chain wound around the weights at the front of the tractor and attaches it to the back of their car.

‘If you get behind the wheel, David, I’ll pull you out. Thea, move back so that you’re not too close to the chain, in case it breaks.’

He climbs into the cab, puts the tractor in gear then begins to reverse slowly so that the chain gradually tightens.

Within a couple of minutes they’re back on the road. The car looks somewhat the worse for wear, with only one functioning headlight and the sides covered in mud.

‘Thank you so much for your help,’ David says. ‘And Per . . . It would be good if we could keep this little incident between us.’

‘You’re welcome. And don’t worry, this isn’t the first car I’ve hauled out of a ditch. Out here in the country we help each other. We keep each other’s secrets, don’t we?’

He turns to Thea, winks again in that way that’s so hard to interpret.

‘Good to meet you, Thea. I hope to see you again soon.’