The Ice Princess (45 page)

‘And how do you feel about it? About the fact that your brother was a paedophile and that your mother knew about it and protected him?’

Jan didn’t let the question throw him off balance. He brushed off some invisible flecks of dust on his lapel. Then he merely raised one eyebrow when he replied after thinking for a few seconds.

‘Naturally, I understand Mother. She acted the only way she could, and the damage was already done, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, I suppose one could look at it that way. But the question is, where did Nils go after that? Has anyone in the family ever heard from him?’

‘As far as that goes, we naturally informed the police like good citizens.’ The irony was so expertly blended into his tone of voice that it was hardly noticeable. ‘But I can understand why he chose to disappear. What was left for him here? Mother had already figured out what sort of person he was, and he couldn’t keep working at the school. Mother would have seen to that. So he took off. He’s probably living in some nice hot country with easy access to little girls and boys.’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Oh no, why not? Have you found the proverbial skeleton in the closet somewhere?’

Patrik ignored his bantering tone of voice. ‘No, we haven’t. But I have a theory, you see…’

‘How thrilling.’

‘I don’t think Nils molested only Alex and Anders. I think that his primary victim was someone he had within close reach. Someone who was most easily accessible. I think that you were molested as well.’

For the first time Patrik thought he saw a crack in Jan’s shiny, polished exterior, but the next second he once again had control, or at least so it seemed.

‘That’s an interesting theory. What do you base it on?’

‘Not much, I must admit. But I found a common link between the three of you. In your childhood. I saw a little leather patch in your office when I visited you. I assume it’s fairly important to you, isn’t it? It symbolizes something. A pact, a solidarity, a blood oath. You’ve saved it for over twenty-five years. Anders and Alex saved theirs as well. On the back of all of them there’s a smudged fingerprint in blood, and that’s why I think that you all swore a blood oath in the melodramatic way that children do. Then three letters were burned onto the front of the patch: T.T.M. I haven’t managed to decipher that. Perhaps you could help me out on that point?’

Patrik could see how two different forces were almost literally struggling within Jan. On one hand, common sense told him not to say anything at all; on the other hand, the desire to share a secret should not be underestimated, the urge to confide in someone. Patrik was confident in Jan’s ego and put his money on the fact that it would be irresistible for him to unburden his heart to someone who would listen with interest. He decided to try to facilitate Jan’s decision.

‘Everything we say here today will remain between us. I have neither the energy nor the resources to follow up on something that happened twenty-five years ago. And I hardly think I could find any proof if I tried. This is for me personally. I have to know.’

The temptation was too great for Jan.

‘“The Three Musketeers”, that’s what “T.T.M.” stands for. Silly and ridiculously romantic, but that was how we saw ourselves. It was us against the world. When we were together we could forget about what had happened to us. We never talked about it with each other, but we didn’t need to. We understood without words. We made a pact that we would always be loyal to each other. With a piece of broken glass we each made a cut in one finger and mixed our blood and then stamped the emblems with it.

‘I was the strongest of the three of us. I was forced to be the strongest. The others could at least feel safe at home, but I was always looking over my shoulder. At night, I lay with the covers pulled up to my chin and listened for the footsteps I knew were coming, first down the hall and then closer and closer.’

It was as if a dam had burst. Jan talked at a furious pace, and Patrik kept quiet so he wouldn’t interrupt the flow of words.

Jan lit a cigarette, rolled down the window a crack to let out the smoke, and went on. ‘The three of us lived in our own world. We met when nobody else was looking and sought comfort and consolation with each other. The strange thing was that although we should actually have served as a reminder of the evil for each other, it was only together that we could escape for a while. I don’t even know how we knew. Or why we first sought out each other’s company. But somehow we knew. It was inevitable that we would seek each other out. I was the one who decided that we should solve the problem in our own way. Alex and Anders saw it as a game at first, but I knew it would have to turn serious. There was no other way out.

‘One cold, clear winter day we went out on the ice, my foster brother and I. It wasn’t hard to entice him to come along. He was overjoyed that I had taken the initiative, and he was looking forward to our little expedition. I had spent many hours on the ice that winter and knew precisely where to take him. Anders and Alex were waiting there. Nils was surprised when he saw them, but he was so arrogant that he never saw us as a threat. We were only kids, after all. The rest was easy. A hole in the ice, a shove, and he was gone.

‘At first we were so relieved. The first few days were wonderful. Nelly was beside herself with worry over where Nils had gone, but I lay in my bed at night and smiled. I was listening to the absence of footsteps. Then all hell broke loose. Alex’s parents had found out about things—how, I don’t know—and they went to Nelly. Alex probably caved under all the pressure and questions and told them everything, both about me and about Anders. Not about what we did to Nils, but about everything that happened before that. If I ever thought that I would meet with sympathy from my foster mother, I learned my lesson back then. Nelly never again looked me in the eye. She never again asked where Nils was. Sometimes I wonder whether she suspected something.’

‘Vera was also told about the assaults.’

‘Yes, but Mother was clever. She played on Vera’s need to protect Anders and keep up appearances. She didn’t even have to pay her off, or bribe her with a good job to make her keep quiet.’

‘Do you think that Vera found out as well, sooner or later, what happened to Nils?’

‘I’m completely convinced of it. I don’t think that Anders would have been able to keep something like that from Vera for all those years.’

Patrik was thinking out loud. ‘So presumably Vera murdered Alex not only to keep her quiet about the assaults, but because she was afraid that Anders would be indicted for murder.’

Jan’s smile was almost gleeful. ‘Which is almost comical. First of all, the murder falls under the statute of limitations, and second, no one would bother bringing indictments against us now, so long afterwards, in view of the circumstances and the fact that we were only children then.’

Reluctantly Patrik was forced to agree with him. There wouldn’t have been any consequences if Alex had gone to the police and told them everything that happened. But presumably Vera didn’t understand that; she believed that there was a real danger that Anders would be convicted of murder.

‘Did you stay in contact afterwards? You and Alex and Anders?’

‘No. Alex moved away almost immediately and Anders retreated into his own little world. Of course, we did see each other occasionally, but we hadn’t spoken to each other in twenty-five years until Anders rang me after Alex’s death, screaming and yelling that I was the one who had murdered her. Naturally I denied it. I had nothing to do with her death, but he wouldn’t give up.’

‘Didn’t you know that she had thought about going to the police and telling them about Nils’s death?’

‘Not before she died, no. Anders told me that afterwards.’ Jan nonchalantly blew some smoke rings in the car.

‘What would have happened if you had known?’

‘I suppose we’ll never know, will we?’ He turned to Patrik and regarded him with his cold blue eyes. Patrik shuddered. No, they would never know.

‘As I said, no one would ever have bothered to send us to prison for what we did. But of course I’ll be the first to admit that it has complicated my relationship with my mother a bit.’

Then Jan abruptly changed the subject.

‘They were apparently screwing, according to what I heard, Anders and Alex. Talk about beauty and the beast. Maybe I should have had a go myself, for old times’ sake…’

Patrik felt absolutely no sympathy for the man next to him. It’s true that he had gone through hell as a child, but there was something more than that in Jan. Something evil and rotten that oozed out of his pores. On pure impulse Patrik said, ‘Your parents died under tragic circumstances. Do you know anything more about what happened, other than what came out in the investigation?’

A smile played at the corners of Jan’s mouth. He rolled down the window another inch or two and flicked his fag-end out the window.

‘An accident can happen so easily, can’t it? A lamp falling over, a curtain fluttering. Tiny incidents that join forces and cause a major event. Then again, it could be said that it’s purely God’s will that accidents happen to people who deserve them.’

‘Why did you agree to meet with me? Why are you telling me all this?’

‘I was surprised myself, actually. I hadn’t intended to come, but curiosity got the best of me, I think. And we all have a need to tell someone about what we’ve done. Especially when that someone can’t do anything about the deeds he’s hearing about. Nils’s death lies far back in time, it’s my word against yours, and no one would believe you, I’m afraid.’

Jan climbed out of the car but turned round and leaned inside.

‘I believe that crime actually does pay for some people. One day I’m going to inherit a considerable fortune. If Nils had lived I doubt that I’d be in this situation.’

He saluted facetiously with two fingers to his brow, closed the door and walked back to his own car. Patrik could feel a malicious grin spreading over his face. Jan obviously didn’t know about Julia’s relationship with Nelly or the role she would play on the day the will was read. The ways of God were undeniably inscrutable.

The warm breeze caressed his furrowed cheeks as he sat on the little balcony. The sun warmed and healed his aching joints; he was moving more easily with each day that passed. Every day, he went to his job at the fish market where he helped sell the catch that came in early in the morning from the fishing boats.

Here there was no one who tried to take away from older people their right to make themselves useful. Instead he found himself more respected and appreciated than ever before in his life, and slowly but surely he had begun to make friends in the little town. It’s true there was a bit of trouble with the language, but he could tell that he was managing all right with gestures and good intentions, and his vocabulary was also growing steadily. A little drink or two after a good day’s work also helped loosen the bonds of shyness; he found to his surprise that he was starting to turn into something of a chatterbox.

As he sat there on the balcony looking out over the lush vegetation that merged into the bluest water he had ever seen, Eilert felt that he would never get any closer to paradise than right here.

An added bit of spice in his life was the daily flirting with the buxom proprietress of the boarding-house, Rosa. Occasionally, he permitted himself to toy with the thought that over time it might even develop into something more than a playful flirtation. The attraction was there, no question about that, and people were not made to live alone.

For a moment, he happened to think of Svea back home in Sweden. Then he dismissed that unpleasant thought, closed his eyes and enjoyed a well-earned siesta.

1. The ability to evoke visual imagery in the reader’s “mind’s eye” is a key component for any novel.
The Ice Princess
opens with an extremely stark visual of the body frozen in a bathtub, and later, a girl arranged on two skeletons. What other specific images moved the plot forward and/or haunted the main characters, especially Erica and Patrik?

2. As Erica’s romance blossoms, so too do the crimes in Fjällbacka grow increasingly sinister. Discuss the delicate balance between the inherent “ordinariness” of Erica’s personal life and the extraordinary circumstances of her investigation into Alex’s death.

3. Camilla has been described as Sweden’s own Agatha Christie, and the Christie-like provincial village of Fjällbacka gives credence to the comparison to Christie’s classic “locked room” mystery formula. Yet
The Ice Princess
takes this formula to a new level. Discuss how Camilla’s writing is inherently contemporary in her portrayal of modern society and personal relationships within this tight context.

4. Humor is an unexpected element in this book, especially in the character of Mellberg, who would be detestable if he were not so ridiculous. How do his antics provide a light relief? And is this different from the more traditional “gallows humor” usually employed in so dark a setting?