The Fire Witness

90

Elin and Daniel follow Almira into the small kitchen. Lu Chu and Indie are sitting at a pine table in the adjacent dining room, eating ice cream right from the carton while flipping through old comic books.

“Good thing you’re here,” Indie says when she sees Daniel. “You’ve got to talk to Tuula. She’s sick in the head. I think she needs to go back on her meds.”

“Where is Solveig?” asks Daniel.

“She had to go somewhere,” Almira says, and takes a spoon from a drawer.

“When did she leave?” asks Daniel with skepticism in his voice.

“Right after dinner,” Lu Chu mumbles without looking up from her comic book.

“So there’s just the security guard here?”

“Anders. He was only here the first and second nights.”

“What are you telling me?” Daniel says. “Are you girls all on your own?”

Almira shrugs and starts to eat the ice cream.

“Tell me,” Daniel says.

“Solveig is supposed to come back,” Indie says.

“But it’s eight in the evening!” Daniel says. He pulls out his cell phone and calls the health company. He is given a complaint number, but no one replies. He leaves an irritated message saying there must always be competent staff on the grounds. They can’t cut costs-they have responsibilities.

While Daniel is talking on the phone, Elin watches the girls. Almira is sitting in the lap of a cute girl with East Asian looks, who also has acne all over her face. While she’s flipping through an old Mad magazine, she keeps kissing Almira on the neck.

“Almira,” Elin says. “Do you have any idea where Vicky might be hiding?”

“No idea,” Almira says, and sucks on her spoon.

“Vicky is fucking dead,” Indie says. “Didn’t you hear? She killed herself and that little boy.”

“Shit!” Lu Chu exclaims. She points right at Elin. “I recognize you! Aren’t you, like, the richest woman in Sweden?”

“Cut it out,” Daniel says.

“Fuck! I swear!” Lu Chu says, and drums on the table. Then she yells right at Elin. “Give me some money!”

“Please lower your voice,” Daniel says.

“I only said I recognized her. I can say that, right?”

“Yes, you can say what you want,” Daniel says.

“We just want to ask if you have any idea where Vicky might be hiding,” Elin says.

“She kept to herself,” Daniel says. “But you girls had the chance to talk to her. You don’t have to be best friends to know something about another person. For example, I know the name of your former boyfriend, Indie.”

“We got back together,” Indie says with a grin.

“When did that happen?” asks Daniel.

“I called him yesterday. We talked for a long time,” she said.

“Wonderful. I’m happy for you,” Daniel says with a smile.

“Those last few days, Vicky tended to hang with Miranda,” Indie says.

“And with Caroline,” adds Daniel.

“Because they had All Day Lifestyle classes together,” Indie replies.

“Who is Caroline?” asks Elin.

“She’s one of the older girls,” Daniel says. “She also was in a class called Life Training with Vicky.”

“I don’t get how anyone could care about Vicky,” Almira says. “She slaughtered Miranda like a pig.”

“That’s not completely clear,” Elin tries to say.

“Not completely clear?” Almira raises her voice. “You should have seen her! She was really fucking dead! There was blood all over the place!”

“Please don’t shout,” Daniel asks.

“Well, what the fuck are we supposed to say? Are we supposed to pretend that nothing ever happened?” Indie yells. “Are we going to pretend that Miranda is still alive? That Elisabet is still alive? Or what?”

“I only meant-”

“You weren’t fucking there!” Almira screams. “Vicky turned Elisabet’s head to applesauce with a fucking hammer! You act like she’s still alive!”

“Please try to speak one at a time,” Daniel says, doing his best to keep his composure.

Indie holds up a hand as if she’s in school. “Elisabet was a fucking drug addict! I hate drug addicts and I-”

Almira grins. “Because your mother overdosed.”

“I don’t give a fuck about Elisabet! She can burn in hell for all I care!” Indie says.

“How can you say something like that?” asks Elin.

“We heard her screaming that night,” Lu Chu lies. “She called for help for a long, long time. We just stayed in bed and listened to her scream.”

“She screamed and screamed,” Almira says, smiling.

Daniel has turned away from them. The girls stop talking. Daniel says nothing and eventually he dries his face with his sleeve.

“You realize that it’s a rotten thing to do, to talk like that,” he says finally.

“But it’s fun,” Almira says.

“Do you really think so?”

“I sure do!”

“You, too, Lu Chu?”

Lu Chu shrugs.

“You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t.”

“We’ve talked about situations like this,” he says.

“Okay. I’m sorry. It was a rotten thing to say.”

Daniel tries to smile reassuringly at Lu Chu, but it only makes him look unbearably sad.

“Where is Caroline?” asks Elin.

“In her room,” Lu Chu answers.

Elin asks, “Can you show us the way?”