The Fire Witness

188

Joona drove the 145 kilometers to Ludvika without thinking. His head was roaring but empty-frighteningly so.

He drove without thinking and finally arrived.

His headlights lit up massive metal structures. He turned into the industrial area and drove down to the empty harbor near the power station. A large gray car was already parked between two huge piles of sawdust. Joona pulled up next to it. He was remarkably calm; so calm that he knew he was in some form of shock.

He got out of his car and looked around. The Needle was waiting for him, standing next to a door. He was wearing white overalls and his face looked worn and serious.

“So? They’ve left?” he asked in the sharp tone he used whenever something bothered him.

“They’re gone,” Joona said.

The Needle nodded a few times. The white frames of his glasses shone coldly in the weak light.

“You didn’t give me a choice in this matter,” The Needle said glumly.

“True enough,” Joona said. “You had no choice.”

“We’re both going to get fired if this comes out.”

“Then we’ll be fired.”

“Two at the same time. I moved as fast as I could when they arrived.”

“Good.”

“Two of them,” The Needle repeated, almost to himself.

Joona thought back to just a few days ago, when he woke up next to his wife and daughter. His cell phone was ringing in his jacket in the hall.

Someone had sent a text message. The minute he saw it was from The Needle, he knew what it was about.

They had agreed. Once The Needle found two bodies that were approximately right, Joona would leave town with Summa and Lumi on the pretext of going on the vacation they’d been talking about for such a long time.

Joona had waited to hear from The Needle for more than three weeks. Time was running out. He was keeping watch over his family as best he could, but he recognized that this was not going to work in the long run. Jurek Walter was a man who could wait.

Joona knew right away that The Needle’s message meant he was about to lose his family. He could ensure that Summa and Lumi would be protected, but only if he never saw them again.

The Needle opened the hatchback of his gray car.

On two stretchers, covered in a cloth, were two body bags, one large and one small.

“A woman and a girl. They died in a car crash three days ago,” The Needle explained. He began to pull out the larger body.

“I’ve worked on them a little. There’s not a trace left that could identify them. Not a single identifying mark.”

He groaned as he removed the body from his car. The undercarriage of the stretcher fell into place. The small wheels clattered as they hit the gravel.

Without saying a word, The Needle zipped open the body bag.

Joona clenched his jaw and forced himself to look.

A young woman lay there. Her eyes were closed and her face was calm. Her chest was crushed. Her arms appeared to have been broken in many places and her pelvis had been wrenched awry.

“The car drove off a bridge,” The Needle said. “The reason she has so many injuries is that she’d unbuckled herself. Perhaps she was picking up the pacifier for the little one. I’ve seen it before.”

He reached for the second stretcher and pulled it out of the car.

Joona contemplated the woman. He could see no fear or pain in her face. Nothing in her expression revealed the injuries done to her body.

The Needle unzipped the small bag. When Joona saw the little girl inside, tears filled his eyes.

The Needle mumbled something to himself and then zipped the body bags up again.

“Well, then,” he said. “No one will ever find Catharina and Mimmi. No one will ever identify their bodies.”

His emotions overwhelmed him for a moment, and then he continued, almost angry.

“The little girl’s father has been going from hospital to hospital looking for them. He’s even called my department. I had to talk to him.”

The Needle’s mouth twisted.

“They’re going to be buried as Summa and Lumi. I’ve already arranged false dental records for them.”

He gave Joona one last questioning look.

Joona said nothing.

Then they put the bodies in Joona’s car.