The Fire Witness

132

Susanne Öst and Signe Ridelman have requested a break and have left the room for a moment. The gray morning light is reflected in the IV pole and the chrome bed railings. Vicky Bennet is sitting up in bed and cursing to herself.

“Isn’t that the truth,” Joona says. He has taken Susanne’s place on the chair beside the bed.

“All I can think about is Dante,” she says.

“Dante is going to be just fine.”

Vicky is going to say something else, but the two women return. Joona gets up and walks over to the window.

“So,” Susanne says, full of energy. “You have admitted that you left Birgittagården in the middle of the night and went straight into the forest. This is not something that people do for no reason. You did have a reason to run away, didn’t you?”

Vicky looks away, runs her tongue over her lips, and says nothing.

“Answer me,” says the prosecutor.

“Yes.”

“Why did you go on the run?”

The girl shrugs.

“You did something that’s hard to talk about, right?”

Vicky rubs her face.

“I have to ask you these questions,” Susanne says. “You think I’m being difficult, but I know that you’ll feel much better after you confess.”

“Will I?”

“You will.”

Vicky shrugs her shoulders and meets the prosecutor’s eyes.

“So what do you want me to confess?”

“Just tell me what you did that night.”

“I killed a fly.”

The prosecutor leaves the room abruptly without saying another word.