Rites of Spring

61

The shock doesn’t catch up with her until she’s left the marsh. Suddenly she’s sweating, feeling totally exhausted. She’s already late for work, and considers calling in sick, driving back to the coach house, taking a long shower and thinking through what she’s seen and experienced.

However, before she reaches the turning for the castle, her phone rings.

‘Where are you?’ Dr Andersson says without preamble.

‘Er . . . In the car.’ Stupid answer – she should have pretended to be ill, but the sound of the engine would probably have given her away.

‘Why aren’t you at the surgery? It should have opened half an hour ago. I’ve already had two calls at home from angry patients.’

‘I overslept. Sorry.’

‘Overslept?’

The doctor doesn’t seem to be buying the lie. For a moment Thea gets the idea that the other woman knows where she’s been.

‘Yes – I really do apologise,’ she says hastily. ‘It won’t happen again.’

‘OK.’ Dr Andersson still doesn’t sound convinced. ‘When do you think you’ll be at the surgery?’

Thea passes the turning for the castle. ‘In ten minutes.’

‘Good. It’s important to stick to the opening times, Thea. Otherwise people start talking. Rumours spread quickly in the village.’

‘I understand. As I said, it won’t happen again.’

‘Fine.’ Her voice softens. ‘We’ll keep this little blip between us, Thea. Just this once. Drive carefully!’

Four patients are waiting in the corridor. Thea apologises, asks for two minutes to sort herself out. The look on their faces suggests that she might need longer.

She goes into her room and inspects herself in the mirror above the hand basin. Her face is streaked with dirt, her hair is full of dust. Her legs still feel wobbly.

She cleans herself up as best she can, then starts seeing her patients. She apologises once more; they make reassuring noises, but she can’t help feeling that she’s messed up.

At twelve o’clock she has a gap. She pops out to buy something for lunch, and takes Emee along. Her head is bursting with impressions from the morning. That gloomy boarded-up house, still standing deep in the marsh, filled with silent secrets. The terror of being locked in the cellar hasn’t left her.

Someone must have followed her, watched her from a distance, hidden in the shadows. It’s a horrible thought, and it gets worse as she goes through the details. She drove straight from the castle to the marsh as soon as it was light. She didn’t meet anyone on the main road, and if a car had followed her along the narrow forest track, then surely she would have seen it.

So how had the person in the wellington boots found her? How did he or she know that she was on the way to Svartgården, and why did they lock her in? She can answer the last question at least: for the same reason as they left a nasty little Green Man figure on her windscreen. To scare her, stop her digging into Elita Svart’s death.

As she leaves the community centre, a sports car pulls into the car park. It’s Sebastian. He stops in front of her and gets out.

‘Hi, Thea. I was coming to see you.’

‘Right – I’m on my way out, so . . .’

‘It’ll only take a minute.’ He looks around as if he wants to make sure that no one is listening. ‘It’s about the conversation in the dining room last night.’

‘I wasn’t eavesdropping.’

The lie is out before she has time to think. It’s obvious that she was eavesdropping, and Sebastian knows it, but he plays along.

‘Of course not, but as I’m sure you heard, we had a slight difference of opinion. Actually, I’d like to ask you a favour.’

‘Oh?’

‘When Nettan and I were approached about the castle project we were happy to get involved, both for the village and for David, particularly when we realised that the two of you were in some financial difficulties.’

The choice of words irritates Thea, but she decides not to say anything.

‘As you perhaps heard, David has kind of gone off the rails. The project has seriously exceeded the budget, and now he’s trying to give us an ultimatum. Either we come up with more money, or we lose the capital we’ve already invested. Nettan and I were hoping you might be able to persuade David to come to his senses. Stick to the plan.’

Thea shrugs. ‘David does what he wants. He doesn’t like other people telling him what to do.’

‘I know. He’s always been like that, ever since we were in school.’ Sebastian shakes his head, looking faintly amused. ‘The three of us took part in a radio quiz, did you know that? We got as far as the semi-final, and the scores were even. The last question was the decider. Nettan and I knew the answer, David didn’t agree – but it was two against one. David was our designated speaker, and when it was our turn he ignored what we’d said and gave his own answer.’

‘And you lost.’

‘By one point. The team that beat us went on to win the final. If David had stuck to the plan, then . . .’ He spreads his hands in a gesture of resignation. ‘We’re worried that he’s well on the way to making the same kind of mistake now – reaching the wrong decision off his own bat, and leaving Nettan and me to suffer the consequences.’

Thea nods. There’s a question she simply has to ask.

‘You were talking about Elita Svart yesterday, weren’t you?’

Sebastian stiffens.

‘So you heard that, even though you weren’t eavesdropping. How much do you know?’

‘That all four of you were there when she died – you, David, Nettan and Jan-Olof.’

‘We were.’

‘You told the police it was Leo who killed her.’

‘We said he was riding the horse,’ Sebastian corrects her. ‘Leo confessed to killing Elita.’

‘There are suggestions that he made his confession under duress.’

Sebastian shakes his head angrily.

‘That’s crap. It was Leo we saw. Elita had arranged for him to come galloping into the stone circle and frighten us away, and he did. We ran for our lives.’

‘Except for David. He went back. He saw Leo bending over Elita.’

‘Yes, but you need to talk to him about that, not me.’

Sebastian takes a deep breath, glances demonstratively at his heavy watch.

‘One last question,’ Thea says. ‘A Polaroid was taken at the sacrificial stone at some point before Walpurgis Night. Elita was dressed as the spring sacrifice, and the four of you were wearing animal masks. Who took the picture?’

He stares at her for a few seconds.

‘I’ve no idea. I think maybe Elita took it using the automatic timer, but it’s all so long ago. I can’t really recall the details, and to be honest, it’s not something any of us wants to rake over.’ He looks at his watch again; he’s had enough of her questions. ‘Anyway, I have to go, but as I said, Nettan and I would really appreciate it if you could help us out with David. Stop him from making a mistake that could cost us all dearly.’

He gives her a meaningful look before getting back in the car. As he drives past, Thea glances at the cramped back seat. On the floor is a pair of wellington boots.