Stalker

109

Nestor was taken to the Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, where a team operated on him and managed to stop the bleeding. Nestor was lucky, his condition is already stable, and he’s been moved from the Intensive Care Unit.

Margot has put two uniformed officers outside the post-operative care unit.

Nestor is conscious again, but in a state of severe shock. He’s being given extra oxygen through a tube in his nose, and the saturation of his blood is under constant monitoring. A pleural drain has been inserted above his diaphragm, and bubbly blood is running out through the tube.

Nelly has spoken to Nestor’s consultant and has suggested a low-level sedative out of consideration for his medical history.

Nestor cries the whole time Margot tries to explain the chain of events from the police’s point of view, up to the storming of his flat.

‘But Erik wasn’t there – so where was he?’ she asks.

‘I d-don’t know,’ Nestor sobs.

‘Why did you call and say that…’

‘Nestor, you have to understand that none of what happened is your fault, it was just an accident,’ Nelly says, holding his hand.

‘Has Erik been in touch with you at all?’ Margot asks.

‘I d-don’t know,’ he repeats, staring past her.

‘Of course you know.’

‘I d-don’t want to talk to you,’ he says quietly, and turns his face away.

‘What line of work are you in?’ Margot asks, taking a ham sandwich out of her large bag.

‘I’m retired… but I d-do a bit of gardening work…’

‘Where?’

‘For the council… d-different places,’ he says.

‘Do you have a lot of trouble with weeds?’ Margot asks.

‘Not really,’ he says, looking curious.

‘Stinging nettles?’

‘No,’ he says, picking at a tube.

‘Nestor,’ Nelly says gently. ‘You’ve probably worked out that Erik and I are good friends… and like you I think it would be best for him to hand himself in to the police.’

Tears well up in Nestor’s eyes again, and Margot goes over to the window so she doesn’t have to watch him cry.

‘I’m riddled with b-bullets,’ he says in a loud voice, and puts his hand on top of the bandage covering the wound in his chest.

‘It was a terrible accident,’ Nelly says.

‘God wants to k-kill me,’ he says, pulling the oxygen tube from his nose.

‘Why do you think that?’

‘I can’t bear it,’ he whimpers.

‘You know… the Jews say that a righteous man can fall seven times and get up again, but the ungodly stumble when calamity strikes… and you’re going to get up.’

‘Am I r-righteous?’

‘How should I know?’ she smiles.

‘That’s what you m-meant, isn’t it?’

Nelly can see that the oxygenation of his blood is falling, and reattaches the tube to his nose.

‘Erik saved me and I just wanted to save him,’ he whispers.

‘Yesterday, you mean?’ she asks tentatively.

‘He c-came to me and I gave him food and l-lodging,’ he says, and coughs lightly. ‘They p-promised not to hurt him.’

‘How did he look when he came to you?’

‘He had an ugly c-cap on, and his hand was bleeding. He was d-dirty and unshaven, and had scratches on his face.’

‘And you just wanted to help him,’ Nelly says.

‘Yes,’ he nods.

Margot is standing by the window eating her sandwich, but can still hear Nestor’s careful answers. His description of Erik fits someone who ran off through a forest and has been sleeping rough.

‘Do you know where Erik is now?’ she asks slowly, turning round.

‘No.’

Margot meets Nelly’s gaze, then leaves the room to set a large-scale police operation in motion.

‘I’m starting to get t-tired,’ he says.

‘It’s a bit early for the medicine to take effect.’

‘Are you Erik’s g-girlfriend?’ Nestor asks, looking at her.

‘What did Erik say before he left?’ Nelly asks, but can’t help smiling. ‘Do you think he’s planning to give himself up?’

‘You m-mustn’t be angry with Erik.’

‘I’m not.’

‘My mother says he’s b-bad, but… she c-can just shut up, I think…’

‘Get some rest, now.’

‘He’s the nicest m-man you could get,’ Nestor goes on.

‘I think so too,’ she smiles, and pats his hand.

‘We meet sometimes… but you c-can’t see me,’ Nestor says. ‘You can’t hear me, and you c-can’t smell me. I was b-born before you and I’ll be waiting for you when you die. I can embrace you, b-but you can’t hold on to me…’

‘Darkness,’ she replies.

‘Good,’ Nestor nods. ‘If a man carried my b-burden, he… he would…’

Nestor closes his eyes and gasps for breath.

‘I’m going to go home now,’ Nelly says quietly, and carefully gets up from the edge of the bed.

When she leaves the post-operative care unit she notices that the police officers are no longer guarding the door.