Stalker

82

Margot and Adam wait outside the church and watch the congregation emerge. They’re smiling and chatting, switching their phones on and reading messages as they head towards their cars, waving and saying their goodbyes.

After a while Pasi comes out alone.

His red shirt is unbuttoned down his chest and the fabric is dark with sweat under the arms. He’s holding a plastic bag from Statoil in his hand as he carefully locks the door.

‘Pasi?’ Margot says, taking a few steps towards him.

‘The pallets are in the garage… but I need to get to the Co-op before they shut,’ he says, heading towards the gates.

‘We’re from the National Criminal Investigation Department,’ Adam says.

‘Would you please stop!’ Margot says in a sharper tone of voice.

He comes to a halt with one hand on the gatepost and turns towards Margot.

‘I thought you were here because of the advert… I’ve got five pallets of Polish Mr Muscle that I usually sell to a discount store, but they’ve cut their order…’

‘Do you live here?’

‘There’s a smaller cottage a little way away.’

‘And a garage,’ Margot adds.

He doesn’t answer, just prods a rusty pipe that’s been stuck into the ground.

‘Can we take a look?’ Adam asks.

‘No,’ Pasi leers.

‘We’ll have to ask you to come with us…’

‘I haven’t seen any ID,’ he says, almost in a whisper.

Adam holds his badge up in front of Pasi, but he barely looks at it. He just nods to himself and pulls the pipe from the ground.

‘Drop that now!’ Margot says.

Holding the pipe with both hands, Pasi walks slowly towards her. Adam moves aside and draws his Sig Sauer.

‘I have sinned,’ he says softly. ‘But I-’

‘Stop!’ Adam shouts.

Something lets go of Pasi’s tense frame. He stops and tosses the pipe into the grass.

‘I have actively sought out sin, but I am forgiven,’ he says wearily.

‘By God, maybe,’ Margot replies. ‘But I need to know where you’ve been for the past two weeks.’

‘I’ve been in Alabama,’ he explains calmly.

‘In the USA?’

‘We were visiting a church in Troy. We were there two months, I got home the day before yesterday… there was a revivalist meeting on a wooden bridge with a roof,’ Pasi smiles. ‘Like the barrel of a cannon filled with prayer and song, that in itself made the whole trip worthwhile.’

Margot and Adam keep hold of Pasi while they confirm what he says with the passport authority. It all checks out, and they apologise for troubling him, get back in the car and drive off through the dark forest.

‘So, did you see the light?’ Adam says after a while.

‘Almost.’

‘I need to go home.’

‘OK,’ she says. ‘I can talk to Thomas Apel on my own.’

‘No,’ Adam says.

‘We know he isn’t violent.’

Thomas Apel is the stake president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, out in Jakobsberg. Of the five hundred names on their list, he’s the only one who has suffered from a borderline psychotic personality disorder.

‘Let’s do that tomorrow,’ Adam pleads.

‘OK,’ she lies.

He glances sideways at her.

‘It’s just that Katryna doesn’t like being at home on her own,’ he confesses.

‘Yes, you’ve been away a lot recently.’

‘It’s not that…’

She drives slowly along the winding forest track. The baby in her stomach moves and stretches out.

‘I could have a word with Jenny,’ Margot says. ‘I’m sure she could go and be with Katryna.’

‘I don’t think so,’ he says with a smile.

‘What?’ she laughs.

‘No, stop it…’

‘Are you worried Katryna might lose her virginity?’

‘Stop it,’ Adam says, squirming in his seat.

Margot picks up a biscuit and waits for him to say whatever he’s trying to say.

‘I know Katta, and she wouldn’t want me to arrange for someone to keep her company. She just wants me to prove that I care about our relationship… I’ll go home as soon as we’ve spoken to Thomas Apel.’

‘OK,’ Margot says, and can’t help feeling relieved that Jenny isn’t going to have to spend the night with Katryna.