The Stonecutter (20 page)

‘It was a good idea that we had a word with Stig as well, because he made a remarkable statement. Perhaps you’d be willing to help out by explaining it.’

Lilian didn’t ask what sort of statement her husband had made. She waited in furious silence for them to continue. It was Gösta who spoke next.

‘He said that you came up to his room after Kaj left, and that there were no signs that anyone had struck you. Nor did you mention it to him. Can you explain that?’

‘I suppose it takes a while before the marks are visible,’ Lilian muttered in a brave attempt to salvage the situation. ‘And I didn’t want to worry Stig, considering his condition. I’m sure you understand.’

They understood more than that. And she knew it.

Patrik took over. ‘I hope you realize the seriousness of fabricating false accusations.’

‘I didn’t fabricate anything,’ said Lilian, flaring up. In a somewhat calmer tone she said, ‘Well, maybe I … exaggerated a bit. But only because he was on the verge of attacking me. I could see it in his eyes.’

‘And the injuries you showed us?’

She said nothing, nor did she need to. It was clear that Lilian had inflicted them on herself before they arrived. For the first time Patrik began to wonder whether there was actually something wrong with her mind.

Obstinately she said, ‘But it was only because you needed a reason to take him in for questioning. Then you could have searched in peace and quiet for proof that he or Morgan murdered Sara. I know it was one of them, and I just wanted to help put you on the right track.’

Patrik gave her an incredulous look. Either she was more single-minded than anyone he’d ever met, or she was simply crazy. In any case, they needed to put a stop to these idiocies.

‘In the future, we’d appreciate it if you’d let us do our job. And leave the Wiberg family alone. Is that understood?’

Lilian nodded, but they could see that she was furious. During the whole conversation her friend had watched her with astonishment. Now she made a point of leaving at the same time Patrik and Gösta did. That friendship had no doubt suffered a shock.

They didn’t discuss Lilian’s story on the way back to the station. The whole thing was much too depressing.

Stig felt a pang of unease as he lay in bed. He knew that Lilian would be angry now, but he didn’t quite know what he could have done differently. She had looked completely normal when she came up to his room. He just didn’t understand all this nonsense about Kaj assaulting her. Why would she lie about something like that?

The footsteps on the stairs sounded as angry as he had feared. For an instant he wanted to pull the covers over his head and pretend to be asleep, but he thought better of it. Surely it couldn’t be such a big deal. He had simply told the truth; Lilian had to realize that. And besides, the whole thing must have been a mistake.

The expression on her face said more than he wanted to know. Evidently she was furious with him, and Stig literally cringed under her gaze. He hated it when she was in one of these moods. He couldn’t understand how someone like his Lilian, who was so amiable and warm, could transform into such a disagreeable person. Suddenly he wondered whether what the police had hinted at really might be true. Had she made up an accusation against Kaj? But he dismissed the idea. They just needed to straighten out this misunderstanding.

‘Can’t you ever keep your big mouth shut?!’ She loomed over him, her voice sending lightning bolts through his head.

‘But my dear, I only told—’

‘Told them the truth?! Is that what you wanted to say? That you simply told them the truth? How fortunate we all are to have such upright people as you, Stig. Honest, honorable people who don’t give a damn whether they put their own wife in jeopardy. I thought you were supposed to be on my side.’

He felt saliva spray across his face and hardly recognized the distorted features hovering above him.

‘But I’m always on your side, Lilian. I just didn’t know …’

‘Didn’t know? Do I have to spell out everything for you, you stupid idiot?’

‘But you didn’t say anything to me … And the police are probably just imagining the whole absurd thing. I mean, you wouldn’t make up things like that, would you?’ Stig struggled bravely to find some sort of logic in what was happening. Only now did he notice the mark on Lilian’s face that was starting to turn purple. His eyes narrowed as he searched her face.

‘What’s that bruise, Lilian? You didn’t have it when you came up to see me. Were the police right? Did you tell them Kaj hit you when he was here?’ His voice was incredulous, but he saw Lilian’s shoulders droop a bit and needed no further confirmation.

‘Why on earth would you do something so stupid?’ Now their roles were reversed. Stig’s voice was sharp, and Lilian sank down on the edge of the bed, burying her face in her hands.

‘I don’t know, Stig. I can see now that it was stupid, but I wanted them to start looking more seriously at Kaj and his family. I’m positive that somehow they’re mixed up in Sara’s death. Haven’t I always told you that man is totally lacking in scruples? And that weird kid, sneaking about in the bushes and spying on me. Why don’t the police
do
something?’

Her body was shaking with sobs, and Stig summoned his last strength to sit up in bed despite the pain and put his arms around his wife. He stroked her back reassuringly, but his eyes were restless.

When Patrik came home, Erica was sitting alone in the dark, thinking. Kristina had taken Maja out for an evening walk, and Charlotte had long since gone home, but she was worried about what Charlotte had told her.

When Erica heard Patrik open the front door, she got up and went to meet him.

‘Why are you sitting here in the dark?’ He set a couple of grocery bags on the counter and began turning on lamps. The glare blinded her for a second before she got used to it. Then she sat down heavily at the kitchen table and watched her husband as he unpacked what he had bought.

‘How pleasant things are here at home,’ he said cheerfully, looking around. ‘It certainly is nice that Mamma can come by and help out occasionally,’ he went on, unaware that Erica was giving him the evil eye.

‘Oh, yes, it’s just peachy,’ she said acidly. ‘It must be wonderful to come home to a clean and well-organized home for a change.’

‘Yeah, it sure is!’ said Patrik, still clueless that he was digging his own grave deeper with each passing second.

‘Then maybe you should see about staying home in the future, so things will be more orderly around here!’ Erica yelled.

Patrik jumped from her sudden increase in volume. He turned around, astonished.

‘What did I say now?’

Erica got up from her chair and stormed out. Sometimes he was too stupid for words. If he didn’t get it, she didn’t have the energy to explain.

She sat down again in the dim light of the living room and looked out of the window. The weather outside precisely reflected how she felt inside. Gray, stormy, raw, and cold. Deceptively calm periods with occasional strong storms. Tears began running down her cheeks. Patrik came and sat down beside her on the sofa.

‘I’m sorry for being so dumb. I guess it’s not that easy to have Mamma here in the house, is it?’

She could feel her lower lip quivering. She was so tired of crying. She felt she hadn’t done anything else these past few months. If only she’d been prepared for how it would be. It was so different from the joy she’d always believed she would feel when she had a baby. In her darkest moments, she almost hated Patrik because he didn’t feel the same way she did. The rational part of her was relieved because someone had to keep the family going. But she wished that for just a moment he could put himself in her situation and understand how she felt.

As if he was able to read her thoughts he said, ‘I wish I could change places with you, I really do. But I can’t, so you have to stop being so bloody brave and tell me what’s going on. Maybe you should think about going to talk with a professional. The people at the child care center could probably help us out.’

Erica shook her head. Her depression would surely pass of its own accord. It had to. Besides, there were women who had it much worse than she did.

‘Charlotte stopped by today,’ she said.

‘How’s she doing?’ Patrik said quietly.

‘Better, whatever that means.’ She paused. ‘Are you getting anywhere?’

Patrik leaned back in the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. He heaved a deep sigh and said, ‘No, unfortunately. We hardly know where to start. And besides, Charlotte’s screwy mother seems to be more interested in finding more ammunition for her feud with her neighbor than in helping us find her granddaughter’s murderer. It hasn’t made our work any easier.’

‘What’s that all about?’ Erica asked with interest. Patrik gave her a brief rundown of the day’s events.

‘Do you really think anyone in Sara’s family could have had anything to do with her death?’ Erica asked.

‘No, I have a hard time believing that,’ said Patrik. ‘They all have plausible alibis for where they were that morning.’

‘Do they?’ said Erica in an odd tone of voice. Patrik was about to ask what she meant when the front door opened and Kristina came in with Maja in her arms.

‘I don’t know what you’ve done to this child,’ she said in annoyance. ‘She was screaming the whole way back in the stroller and refuses to settle down. This is what happens when you keep picking her up just because she frets a little. You’re spoiling her. You and your sister never cried this much …’

Patrik interrupted her harangue by going over to take Maja. Erica could hear from Maja’s cries that she was hungry, and she sat down with a sigh in the easy chair, undid her nursing bra, and plucked out a shapeless, milk-soaked pad. It was time again …

As soon as she entered the house, Monica knew something was wrong. Kaj’s anger streamed toward her like sound waves through the air, and she sighed with exhaustion. What was it this time? She had tired of his hot temper long ago, but he’d always been this way. They had been together since their early teens, and maybe back then his shifting moods had seemed exciting and attractive. She couldn’t even remember any longer. Not that it mattered; life had run its own course. She got pregnant, they got married, Morgan was born, and then one day piled on top of another. Their sex life had been dead for years; she had long ago moved into her own bedroom. Maybe there was something more than this to life, but by now she was used to it. Of course she had toyed with the thought of divorce from time to time. Once, almost twenty years ago, she had even packed a bag in secret and was ready to take Morgan with her and leave. But then she’d decided to fix dinner for Kaj before she left, iron a few shirts, and run the washing machine so that she wouldn’t leave a bunch of dirty clothes behind. Before she knew it she’d quietly unpacked her suitcase.

Monica went out to the kitchen. It was where Kaj always sat when he was upset about something. Maybe because he could keep an eye on the usual cause of his agitation. Now he had pulled the curtain aside a crack and was staring at the house next door.

‘Hi,’ Monica said, but got no civilized greeting in reply. Instead he launched into a long and hateful harangue.

‘Do you know what that bitch did today?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, nor did Monica intend to give him one. ‘She called the police and claimed that I assaulted her! Showed them some fucking marks she’d inflicted on herself and said I was the one who hit her. She’s bloody well off her rocker!’

When Monica had come into the kitchen, she’d been determined not to get drawn into Kaj’s latest dispute, but this was far worse than she’d expected, and she felt her anger rising. But first she had to ask: ‘You’re quite sure you didn’t attack her, Kaj? You do have a tendency to fly off the handle …’

Kaj looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. ‘What the hell are you saying? Do you really think I’d be so bloody stupid to play right into her hands like that? I’d love to throttle the bitch, but don’t you think I know what she’d do then? Sure, I went over there and gave her a piece of my mind, but I didn’t touch her!’

Monica could see that he was telling the truth. If only Lilian would leave them in peace!

‘So, what happened? Did the cops fall for her lies?’

‘No, thank God. They could tell she was lying. They were going to talk to Stig, and I bet he quashed the whole idea. But it was a close call.’

She sat down facing her husband at the kitchen table. His face was bright red and his fingers drummed the table mercilessly.

‘Shouldn’t we just throw in the towel and move away? We can’t go on like this.’ It was an appeal she had made many times before, but her husband’s stubborn response was always the same.

‘Out of the question, I told you that. She’s never going to drive me out of my home. I refuse to give her the satisfaction.’

He slammed his fist on the table to punctuate his words, but it wasn’t necessary. Monica had heard it all before. She knew it was useless. And to be honest, she didn’t want to hand Lilian the victory either. Not after all she had said about Morgan.

The thought of her son prompted her to change the subject. ‘Have you looked in on Morgan today?’

Kaj reluctantly shifted his gaze from the Florins’ house and muttered, ‘No, should I? You know he never leaves his room.’

‘Okay, but I thought you might go over and say hi. Check on how he’s doing.’ She knew that this was wishful thinking, but she still couldn’t help hoping. Morgan was his son, too, after all.

‘Why should I?’ Kaj snorted. ‘If he wants company, he can come over here.’ He stood up. ‘Is there anything to eat, or what?’

Silently she got up and began fixing dinner. Years ago it might have occurred to her that Kaj could have made dinner, since he was home anyway. That thought no longer crossed her mind. Everything was the way it had always been. And would always be.

14

Fjällbacka 1924

Not a word had been spoken during the trip to Fjällbacka. After spending so many nights whispering in each other’s ears, they now had not a single word left for each other. Instead they sat stiff as tin soldiers, staring straight ahead, both of them brooding over their own thoughts.