The Preacher (30 page)

‘Ah, this is paradise, don’t you think, Madde?’

He closed his eyes, so Erica reckoned that she could sneak inside for a while.

Then he opened one eye and said, ‘Would it be too much trouble to ask you to bring us something to drink? A big glass of juice would be wonderful. Madde would probably like one too.’

His wife just nodded without looking up. She had been engrossed in a book about tax law since she first came outside, and she too seemed to have a panicky terror of getting any kind of suntan. Ankle-length slacks and a long-sleeved shirt took care of that risk. She also had a sun hat on and a neon-coloured nose. Evidently one could never be safe enough. Side by side they looked like two aliens who had landed on Erica and Patrik’s lawn.

Erica waddled inside and mixed some juice. As long as she didn’t have to talk to them. They were the most amazingly tedious pair she’d ever encountered. If anyone had asked her last night to choose between talking with them or watching paint dry, there was no doubt which she would have chosen. When the time came, she would give Patrik’s mother a piece of her mind for so generously giving them their phone number.

Patrik could at least escape for a while by going to work. Although she could tell that he was exhausted. She’d never seen him so haunted, so determined to produce results. But there had never been so much at stake before.

She wished she could have been more help to him. During the investigation of her friend Alex’s death, she was able to help the police in several instances, but then she’d had a personal involvement with the case. Now she was also hindered by her gigantic body. Her belly and the heat had conspired to force her into involuntary idleness for the first time in her life. In some sense it felt as though her brain was also in neutral. All her thoughts were directed at the baby in her belly and the Herculean effort that would be required very soon. Her mind stubbornly refused to focus on other matters for long. She was amazed by the mothers who worked right up until the day before delivery. Perhaps she was simply different, because as the pregnancy progressed she had become more and more reduced – or elevated, depending on how you wanted to look at it – to a brooding, pulsating, nourishing organism of propagation. Every fibre in her body was concentrated on giving birth to the baby, and that’s why interlopers were even more of a bother. They disturbed her concentration. She couldn’t believe that she’d felt so restless being at home by herself. Right now the prospect seemed like paradise.

With a sigh, she mixed up a big pitcher of juice with crushed ice and carried it outside along with two glasses to the people from Mars on her lawn.

A quick check of Västergården revealed that Linda was not there. Marita looked puzzled when the two policemen showed up, but she didn’t ask any questions. Instead she directed them to the manor house. For the second time in as many days, Patrik drove down the long avenue. Once again he was struck by how beautiful the place was. He could see Martin sitting next to him with his mouth hanging open.

‘Damn, some people sure know how to live.’

‘Yes, some have it good,’ said Patrik.

‘So only two people are living in that huge house?’

‘Three if you count Linda.’

‘Jesus, it’s no wonder there’s a housing shortage in Sweden.’

This time it was Laine who answered the door when they rang the bell.

‘How can I help you?’

Did Patrik sense a hint of nervousness in her voice?

‘We’re looking for Linda,’ Martin said. ‘We were just at Västergården, but your daughter-in-law told us she was here.’ Martin nodded vaguely in the opposite direction.

‘What do you want from her?’ Gabriel came up behind Laine, who still hadn’t opened the door enough to allow them in.

‘We have some questions for her.’

‘Nobody asks questions of my daughter unless we know what it’s about.’ Gabriel puffed out his chest, preparing to defend his offspring.

As Patrik was about to launch into his argument, Linda came walking round the corner of the manor house. She was dressed in riding clothes and appeared to be on her way to the stable.

‘Are you looking for me?’

Patrik nodded, relieved at not having to enter into a direct confrontation with her father. ‘Yes, we have a few questions for you. Would you like to go inside or stay out here?’

Gabriel interrupted. ‘What’s this all about, Linda? Have you been up to something we should know about? We have no intention of letting the police question you unless we’re present, just so you know.’

Linda, who all at once looked like a frightened little girl, nodded weakly.

‘Let’s go inside,’ she said.

Listlessly, she followed Martin and Patrik through the front door and into the living room. She didn’t seem to worry about the furniture as she flopped down on the sofa in clothes that stank of horse. Laine couldn’t help wrinkling her nose and casting a worried glance at the white upholstery. Linda gave her mother a defiant look.

‘Is it all right if we ask you some questions with your parents present? If this were an official interview we wouldn’t be able to forbid them from taking part since you’re underage, but right now we just want to ask a few questions, so …’

Gabriel looked as though he were about to cast himself into a new argument about this point, but Linda shrugged her shoulders. For a moment, Patrik also thought he glimpsed a certain amount of expectant satisfaction mixed with her nervousness. But it vanished instantly.

‘We recently received a call from Stefan Hult, your cousin. Do you know what it might have been about?’

Linda shrugged again and began absently picking at her cuticles.

‘The two of you have been seeing each other a good deal, right?’

Patrik was advancing cautiously, one step at a time. Stefan had explained a little about their relationship, and Patrik understood that the news would not be well received by Gabriel and Laine.

‘Yes, that’s right, we’ve been seeing each other a good deal.’

‘What the hell are you saying?’

Both Laine and Linda jumped. Like his son, Gabriel never used strong language. They couldn’t remember ever hearing him utter such words before.

‘What do you care? I’ll see whoever I want to see. It’s none of your business.’

Patrik intervened before the situation had a chance to deteriorate. ‘We don’t care whether you’ve been seeing each other or how often, and as far as we’re concerned, you can keep that to yourself. But there is one occasion we are extremely interested in. Stefan said that you met one evening about two weeks ago, in the hayloft of the barn at Västergården.’

Gabriel’s face turned beet-red with fury, but he said nothing as he waited for Linda’s reply.

‘That’s possible. We’ve met there several times, but I’m not sure exactly when.’

She was still picking at her fingernails with great concentration and not looking at any of the grown-ups around her.

Martin took up where Patrik had left off. ‘On this particular evening you saw something special, according to Stefan. You still don’t know what I mean?’

‘Since you seem to know, why don’t you tell me instead?’

‘Linda! Don’t make matters worse by talking back! Now please answer the officer’s questions. If you know what he’s talking about, then tell us. But if it’s something that that … hoodlum got you into, then I’m going to – ’

‘You? You don’t know shit about Stefan. You’re so fucking sanctimonious, but – ’

‘Linda …’ Laine’s voice warned her off. ‘Don’t make matters worse for yourself. Do as Pappa says and answer the policeman’s questions. Then we’ll talk about the rest later.’

After pondering for a moment, Linda seemed to accept her mother’s reprimand and continued sulkily, ‘I assume that Stefan told you that we’d seen that girl?’

‘What girl?’ The question mark was evident on Gabriel’s face.

‘That German girl, the one who was murdered.’

‘Yes, that’s what Stefan told us,’ said Patrik. He waited Linda out in silence.

‘I’m not as sure as Stefan was that it was her. We saw the photo on the flyers and it looked something like her, but there must be plenty of girls that look something like that. And what would she be doing at Västergården anyway? It’s not exactly on the tourist route.’

Martin and Patrik ignored the question. They knew precisely what sort of business she had at Västergården. She was following the only clue she had that was linked to her mother’s disappearance – Johannes Hult.

‘Where were Marita and the children that night? Stefan said that they weren’t at home, but he didn’t know where they went.’

‘They were staying for a few days with Marita’s parents in Dals-Ed.’

‘Jacob and Marita do that occasionally,’ Laine explained. ‘When Jacob wants a little peace and quiet to do some carpentry on the house, she and the kids spend a few days with the children’s maternal grandparents. It gives them a chance to see each other a little more often. We live so close by that we see the children almost every day.’

‘Let’s forget whether it was Tanja Schmidt or not that you saw. But can you describe what the girl looked like?’

Linda hesitated. ‘Dark hair, normal build. Shoulder-length hair. Like almost anybody. Not very pretty,’ she added with the superiority of someone who knows she was born good-looking.

‘And how was she dressed?’ Martin leaned forward to try and catch the teenager’s eye. He failed.

‘Well, I don’t really remember. It was about two weeks ago and it was getting dark outside …’

‘Try,’ Martin urged her.

‘Jeans, I think. Some sort of tight T-shirt and a jacket. Blue jacket and white T-shirt, I think, or was it the other way round? Oh, and a red shoulder bag.’

Patrik and Martin exchanged glances. She had described exactly what Tanja was wearing the day she disappeared. The T-shirt was white and the jacket blue, not the other way round.

‘What time did the two of you see her?’

‘Fairly early in the evening, I think. About six, maybe.’

‘Did you see whether Jacob let her in the house?’

‘Nobody came to the door. Not when she knocked, at least. Then she went round the house and we couldn’t see her any longer.’

‘Did you see whether she left?’ said Patrik.

‘No, you can’t see the road from the barn either. And as I said, I’m not as sure as Stefan that the girl we saw was Tanja Schmidt.’

‘Do you have any idea who else it could have been? I mean, there aren’t very many strangers who come and knock on the door out here at Västergården, are there?’

Another indifferent shrug. After a moment Linda said, ‘I have no idea who it might have been. For all I know, it could have been someone selling something.’

‘But Jacob didn’t mention a visitor later?’

‘No.’

She didn’t embellish her answer, and both Patrik and Martin understood that she was considerably more worried about what she’d seen than she wanted to let on. Either to them or to her parents.

‘May I ask what it is you’re looking for?’ said Gabriel. ‘As I said before, I think this is beginning to look like harassment of my family. As if it’s not bad enough that you dug up my brother! How did that go, anyway? Was the coffin empty?’

Gabriel’s tone was scornful, and Patrik couldn’t help taking the bite of his criticism personally.

‘We did find a body in the coffin. Probably your brother Johannes.’

‘Probably,’ Gabriel snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. ‘Are you going to start pestering poor Jacob too?’

Laine shot her husband a dismayed look. Only now did she seem to understand the implications of the officers’ questions.

‘You don’t think that Jacob …’ Laine’s hands wandered up to her throat.

‘We don’t think anything just yet. But we’re extremely interested in finding out where Tanja went before she disappeared. So Jacob may be an important witness.’

‘Witness! You’re certainly trying to wrap things up nice and neat, I have to give you that. But don’t think for a moment that we’re going to fall for it. You’re trying to clear up what your clumsy-ass colleagues started in ’79, and it doesn’t matter who you throw in jail, as long as it’s a Hult, am I right? First you make it look like Johannes is still alive and started murdering girls here after twenty-four years. Then when he turns up dead as a doornail in his coffin, you start in on Jacob.’

Gabriel stood up and pointed to the door. ‘Get out! I don’t want to see you here again unless you have the proper warrant and I’ve had a chance to ring my lawyer. Until then you can go to hell!’

The curse words had begun to roll off his lips with ease, and a foam of spit had formed in the corners of his mouth. Patrik and Martin knew when their presence was no longer welcome, so they packed up and headed for the door. As the front door closed with a dull thud behind them, the last thing they heard was Gabriel’s voice yelling at his daughter, ‘Now what the hell have you been up to, young lady?’

‘Even in the calmest waters …’

‘Yes, I wouldn’t have believed that there was such a volcano smouldering beneath that surface,’ said Martin.

‘Although I can’t say that I blame him. Seen from his perspective …’ Patrik’s thoughts slipped away again to the morning’s monumental fiasco.

‘I told you not to think about that any more. You did the best you could. You can’t keep wallowing in self-pity forever,’ Martin said curtly.

Patrik looked at him in astonishment. Martin saw the look and shrugged his shoulders in apology. ‘I’m sorry. The stress is starting to get to me too, I think.’

‘No, no. You’re quite right. This is no time to be feeling sorry for myself.’ He took his eyes off the road for a second and looked at his colleague. ‘And don’t ever apologize for being honest.’

‘Okay.’

They rode in embarrassed silence for a moment. When they passed the Fjällbacka golf course Patrik lightened the mood by saying, ‘Aren’t you going to get that green club card soon, so we can go out and shoot a round?’

Martin smiled impishly. ‘Are you sure you dare? I might turn out to be a born golfer and mop the floor with you.’

‘I doubt it. I’m a bit of a talent with a golf ball.’

‘Well, we’ll have to hurry, because there won’t be much time later for games.’