Rites of Spring

91

The night is filled with blue lights, and Hubert is lying on a trolley. Thea and the paramedics have managed to stop the bleeding.

Arne was covered in mud when the police led him past, hands cuffed behind his back. He wept like a child as they put him in the patrol car. Ingrid was quieter.

It is Kerstin who talks to the police, explains what’s happened. Thea has given only a brief summary, on the basis that she has to attend to her patient. She is standing beside Hubert holding his hand.

‘You have to go now,’ she says. ‘You need to get to the hospital.’

‘Not yet.’ He gives her that smile she likes so much. ‘I should have owned up long ago. Taken responsibility.’

She squeezes his hand.

‘Don’t think about that now. What’s done is done.’

‘I really wanted to confess, but I couldn’t. We were young. We didn’t have the courage.’

He returns the squeeze.

Another car arrives and Per Nyberg jumps out, looking worried. He goes over and speaks to one of the police officers, who points to Thea and Hubert.

Per hurries to join them.

‘How is he?’

‘He’ll survive,’ Thea reassures him. ‘Hubert saved my life,’ she adds, and sees the little man’s face light up.

‘I’m not surprised,’ Per replies. ‘Hubert is one of the most unselfish people I know.’

He reaches out and takes Hubert’s other hand in a touchingly tender gesture.

One of the paramedics catches Thea’s eye.

‘Time we made a move.’

The men load the trolley onto the ambulance. Per holds onto Hubert’s hand for a second before letting go. Thea remains standing beside him. She is exhausted, both physically and mentally.

She looks at Hubert. Sees how his eyes are fixed on Per. He raises a hand in farewell.

The strongest love is unrequited love.

And now, at long last, she finally understands how everything hangs together. The picture is complete.

Be careful with him, Hubert had said on the castle steps. She had interpreted it as a warning, but in fact it was an exhortation.

They stand in silence as the ambulance drives away.

‘He loves you, doesn’t he? The strongest love is unrequited love – that’s what he wrote in his favourite book. It’s you he’s referring to.’

Per doesn’t answer.

‘You were riding Nelson that night,’ she goes on quietly. ‘You were dressed as the Green Man. You were the father of Elita’s child.’

Eventually Per shakes his head slowly. ‘I loved her, more than I’ve ever loved anyone else. But we were so young, all three of us. Hubert helped me to get dressed up, then he hid in the forest and watched. The plan was to scare the kids, pay them back for all the crap Elita had had to put up with over the years. Hubert and I weren’t too keen on the idea, but Elita insisted. She wanted to kill off her old self. We were going to fly away from here together, become something better.’

‘You’d arranged to go to Paris, to Hubert’s aunt. That’s why Elita had her passport in her suitcase. The three of you were going to stay with her until Elita had had the baby. Maybe even longer.’

Per nods. ‘We were dreamers, dreaming of something different. Something bigger. And for a few weeks it actually felt real, as if we could actually do it. A ridiculous dream, of course. Doomed to crash and burn.’

‘So tell me about Walpurgis Night.’

‘Nelson was nervous. Everything frightened him. He reared up, then took off. Galloped all the way home with me clinging to his back. I didn’t know what had happened until Hubert showed up in the stable. He said Nelson had kicked Elita, and that she was dead. He’d laid her on the sacrificial stone. It was all over. I was in total shock, I couldn’t speak. Hubert took care of the horse, then drove me home. Told me not to say a word to anyone. He said the whole thing was an accident, it wasn’t my fault.’

He shakes his head again.

‘I should have said no, but I was terrified of my father and the count. I didn’t have the guts to look them in the eye and admit what I’d done. So I kept quiet, and suddenly Leo was in custody, Hubert was sent away to England, and I was alone with our secret. The children identified Leo, and I suppose I wanted to believe that he really had done it, that I wasn’t responsible for her death. When he confessed, I felt a huge sense of relief. For a while, at least.’

He takes a deep breath.

‘Deep down I knew the truth, but I chose to keep quiet like the pathetic coward I am.’

‘And Hubert didn’t say anything either,’ Thea says. ‘Because he didn’t want to see you get into trouble. He never told his father that he wasn’t a murderer, not even when the count took away the castle and the land.’

‘As I said, Hubert is the most unselfish person I know. Time for me to try and be more like him, don’t you think?’

He pats her arm, then turns and walks over to one of the police officers.

‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ she hears him say. ‘Something I’ve kept quiet about for far too long.’