The Fire Witness

136

Two nursing assistants steer the bed through the door. Vicky’s face has swollen considerably since the morning. Her cheeks and forehead are covered in scabbed wounds. Her arms have been freshly bandaged and her thumb is in a cast. The assistants park the bed in place and move the drip bag to the freestanding IV pole. Vicky is lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. She doesn’t listen to the two women pushing the bed, who are trying to carry on a conversation with her. She looks grim.

The side bars of her bed are up, but all the belts used to tie her down have been loosened.

As they leave, Saga notices that there are now two officers posted outside the door.

Saga waits until the girl looks her way before she goes up to her side and sits down.

“My name is Saga Bauer, and I’m here to help you remember the past few days.”

“Are you a social worker or what?”

“I’m a detective.”

“From the police?”

“From Säpo,” Saga replies.

“You are the prettiest person I’ve ever seen in real life.”

“What a nice thing to say!”

“I’ve cut open pretty faces,” Vicky says, and smiles.

“I know,” Saga says calmly.

She takes out her cell phone and presses Record. She quickly mentions the date, time, place, and the names of everyone in the room. Then she looks at Vicky quietly for a while.

“You’ve been through some awful stuff,” she says.

“I saw a newspaper,” Vicky says. She swallows, continues. “My face and Dante’s. They wrote some terrible things about me.”

“Did you recognize yourself in their articles?”

“No.”

“Tell me what happened instead. Use your own words.”

“I ran and ran and I froze… was freezing.”

Vicky looks at Saga wondering what to say next. She’s trying to remember what she’s already said. Has she told them the truth? Has she lied? She doesn’t know.

“I know nothing about why you ran away, but if you would like to tell me, I’m listening,” Saga says.

“I don’t want to,” Vicky says.

“Okay. Then let’s start with the day before,” Saga continues. “I know that you had classes in the morning, but after that.”

Vicky closes her eyes. “The usual. Boring stuff. Routines.”

“Don’t you normally have activities in the afternoon?”

“Elisabet took everyone down to the lake. Lu Chu and Almira went swimming all naked. You’re not supposed to swim naked, it’s against the rules, but they do whatever they want.” Vicky suddenly smiles. “Elisabet got angry with them and then everyone took off all their clothes.”

“You, too?”

“No, not me. Not Miranda and not Tuula.”

“What did you do?”

“I paddled a little bit and watched the others play around.”

“What did Elisabet do?”

“She got all naked, too, and went swimming.” Vicky is still smiling.

“What did Tuula and Miranda do?”

“They sat and threw pinecones at each other.”

“While Elisabet was swimming with the other girls?”

“She swam like all the old ladies do.”

“And you? What did you do?”

“I was bored so I went back.”

“How did you feel that evening?”

“Fine.”

“Were you really feeling fine? Why did you cut yourself, then? You cut yourself on your arms and stomach, right?”