Sail of Stone

51

Aneta Djanali drove home. It was a brilliant day, really brilliant. Everything above the buildings was blue. There were sharp shadows all over Sveagatan. There was a fresh smell in the wind.

She walked quickly through the hall, after having checked the new lock, and she went into the bedroom and took off her blouse and the thin undershirt, and it was as she was unbuckling her belt that she froze.

She pulled the belt tight again and put on her blouse and felt her pulse. What had she seen? No. What had she not seen?

She walked slowly out into the hall.

The shell.

The shell was in its place on the shelf.

She approached it slowly. She didn’t want to touch it.

She listened for sounds now, listened inward, backward. She turned around slowly, following the sound of bare feet.

“I didn’t think you’d come back so soon,” said Susanne Marke.

The woman was standing barefoot in her hall, in her hall!

Aneta could still hear hammering in her head, a sledgehammer between her eyes. She heard herself:

“Wha… what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you,” said Susanne. She had a strange expression in her eyes. “You were supposed to come home soon.”

“Wh… why?” said Aneta. That was the most urgent question. Not how, when, what, who.

“You still don’t get it?” said Susanne.

Aneta didn’t think to move. Susanne was standing still. She had nothing in her hands.

“What am I supposed to get?”

Susanne suddenly laughed, hard, shrill.

“About Anette and me!”

“Anette and… you?” Aneta echoed.

Susanne took a step forward, and another. She was still a few yards away.

“Why do you think everyone is keeping so quiet about everything?” she said. “Including Anette? Why do you think?”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” Aneta said, and suddenly she could move. “You broke into my house. That’s a crime, and now we-”

“I don’t give a shit!” Susanne screamed, taking another step forward. “Just like I don’t give a shit about anyone else. Why do you think my dear brother can’t leave his dear wife alone, huh? Or why his dear wife’s dad doesn’t want anything to get out? Huh? Huh?”

“You’ve done the most to protect Hans,” said Aneta.

“No, I haven’t,” said Susanne. “But I haven’t been able to tell you everything. I had to think of Anette, too. Of what she wants. Her wishes.”

“Where is she now?”

“Soon she won’t have the strength to deal with it all,” said Susanne.

“Who is Bengt Marke?” asked Aneta.

“He’s my ex-husband. He has nothing to do with this.”

“He owns the car you drive around in.”

“That was a gift. Believe me. Bengt has nothing to do with this. He doesn’t even live in Sweden.”

“Where is Hans? Where’s your brother?”

“He wanted to talk to her one last time. I tried to stop it.”

“Where are they?”

“Anette wanted to make him understand. One last time.”

“I don’t believe it,” said Aneta.

“But you believe this?” she said, making a movement with her arms in the form of a circle. “That someone can get in here whenever they want?”

“I see that you’re here,” said Aneta.

“And before?” said Susanne. “Who was it before? It wasn’t me.” She suddenly pointed at the shell that shone dully in the light from the naked fixture in the hall. “I brought that back. My dear brother had it. Do you believe me now?”

“I… I don’t know what that explains,” said Aneta. “I don’t understand the logic of what you’re saying.”

Susanne continued to look at the shell. As though it would say something to them. It had a sound. Sometimes Aneta put the shell to her ear. It was the rush of the sea.

Aneta asked about Kontômé.

“There was a mask hanging here,” she said. “A mask of a spirit from Africa.”

She saw that Susanne didn’t understand, didn’t know.

“I got his special tools,” said Susanne. “You can get in anywhere.” She looked straight at Aneta. “Do you know who Hans got them from?”

“I can guess,” said Aneta.

“They’re down there now,” said Susanne. She looked at Aneta. “It’s wrong.”

“Wrong? Wrong? What’s wrong?”

“He shouldn’t have gone down. And she shouldn’t have gone down.” She continued to speak in a small voice, like someone else. “Something could happen.”

Aneta walked quickly through the hall, past Susanne. In the bedroom she first called the Lindstens’ house in Fredriksdal but didn’t get an answer. She called the house by the sea but didn’t get an answer. She called Anette Lindsten’s cell phone but didn’t get an answer.

She had to make a decision.

Susanne was truly afraid out there; it wasn’t just a disguise. They could solve the puzzle of everything that led up to this later, but right now Aneta felt that she had to act, act quickly.

She went back out into the hall.

“Are you really sure they’re down there at the cabin?” she asked.

“They’re there.”

“Who exactly is there?”

“Hans and Anette.”

Aneta took her jacket from the coatrack. Susanne was still standing completely still.

“Are you coming along?” asked Aneta.

“Coming along? Coming along where?”

“There,” said Aneta, pulling on her short boots.

Susanne looked at her feet. She walked into the kitchen and came back with a pair of gray sneakers.

“I’m coming along,” she said.

They walked quickly through the front door.

In the car, Aneta called Halders and explained.

“Stay home,” he said.

“I believe Susanne,” Aneta said.

“Doesn’t matter. You could end up in danger.”

“She’s coming with me down there,” said Aneta.

“Is she supposed to protect you?”

“I won’t do anything stupid,” said Aneta. “And I’m armed.”

She heard him mumble something.

“What did you say, Fredrik?”

“Where are you now, Aneta?”

“On the highway. I can see the skyline of Frölunda.”

“Exactly where is this damned place?”

Damned. Yes.

She told him.

“I’m on my way,” said Halders.