Karin Fossum - Eva's Eye

Suddenly Eva realized how tired she was. She could hardly lift her legs and kept tripping over heather and tussocks. The tin weighed a ton in her weary hand, but there were no pockets in the down snowsuit, and she didn’t want to put the money in with her dirty clothes in the day sack. It might get tainted with the smell, you could never tell. Now she was out on the road the walking was easier. She went as fast as she could, but her legs didn’t seem to be able to keep up with her. She felt her heels come down, but not the push from the flat of her foot, that part was numb. The plateau lay before her, completely deserted; she looked for the cabin that had had the light in it, but it was dark now. The thought of the long car journey ahead almost demoralized her, but if she’d got this far, she’d manage to get home again as well, and maybe she’d find an open service station along the way. Somewhere they sold sausages and hamburgers, Coke and chocolate, or perhaps those Danish pastries in packets of two. And hot coffee. She was terribly hungry. Now that she’d begun to think about food she couldn’t stop. Even if she did find somewhere, it was hard to know what people might think if she was to enter the place stinking to high heaven. Presumably the smell was stronger than she realized herself, she’d simply become accustomed to it. And now she could make out the little road down to the lake, she moved the tin over to her left hand and held the torch in her right. Everything seemed empty and deserted, but she wouldn’t switch it on until she was down by the car and ready to go. The less visible she was the better. Never before had she longed for her own car and a cigarette so much. She’d refrained from smoking, didn’t want to leave butts around. She sniffed a little out of pure emotion at all the things that had happened and increased her speed.

She had only a few meters to go when something brought her up short. A tremendous roar split the silence and suddenly she found herself bathed in a flood of halogen light. She stood paralyzed with her tin and torch and for a moment she couldn’t move her feet. Then she recognized the light and sound as a car starting up right in front of her, and she ran out of the beam, out into the heather and tussocks of grass. She ran for her life, clutching the paint tin tightly. She could still hear the engine, and as long as she heard it she would continue running, if it stopped she’d have to get down. But she didn’t get that far. All at once she tripped and fell forward, full length onto her stomach, she twisted one foot and felt twigs and straws scratching at her face. She lay quite still. The engine died too, and a car door opened. She understood now. He’d found her car, he’d sat there waiting for her. It’s all over, she thought. Perhaps he had a gun. Perhaps a bullet in the back of the head would be the last episode in her life. Money didn’t mean that much, she marveled suddenly at all the exertions she’d undergone just for money. It was really quite amazing. The only things that really mattered were Emma, and her father. That you had a bit of bread, and a bit of light and warmth. She thought all this as she heard his movements through the heather, but she couldn’t tell if he was getting closer, or going in the wrong direction.

She rested her head on one arm and just wanted to sleep, the money wasn’t to be hers after all, that was why it had all gone wrong, and she didn’t give a damn about money. But then she pulled herself together again, she thought of Emma, how she had to get away from this man who was tearing through the heather. She began to crawl on her stomach, sliding cautiously away in the smooth down suit. She could still hear his footsteps and, as long as he was moving, he couldn’t hear her. She crawled a little way then stopped, crawled and stopped, and kept on like this. He was still some distance away, the plateau was large and he had no torch with him. Talk about being ill-prepared, she thought, as she struggled to drag the tin along without making too much noise. Then she heard his car start up again, and saw the headlights sweeping across the landscape. She ducked and flattened herself as much as she could. It was lucky that her hair was dark and the suit was navy blue, but the tin was almost white. She had to cover it with her body or it would be visible as a bright spot. It was ridiculous of her to have lugged this big tin along, he’d certainly have seen it. Soon he’d come crashing through the heather in his car and catch her in his headlights. Perhaps he’d just run her down, run over her with all four wheels, and nobody would be able to work out what had happened. Why she was lying there; killed by a car high up in the mountains, in an undersized down snowsuit. Smelling of sewage. No one would ever know. And maybe, she thought, maybe Maja’s killer would go free.

The man shook his head and accelerated. He was certain he’d seen something in the darkness, something white which seemed to fly through the air. He scanned the sides of the road as he drove slowly up it, but the headlights left the mountain landscape around him in complete darkness. It must have been something he’d imagined. A sheep perhaps. They probably weren’t grazing up here anymore, but perhaps there were birds up here, and foxes and hares. There were lots of explanations. It had taken him a little by surprise as he’d just bent forward to stub out his cigarette. But it was odd about the car. Unless there’d been someone staying in that small cabin after all. He hadn’t got time to think about it any more. There were many things that had to be cleared up. He was going to get the money. It was his now, and no one should think otherwise. He accelerated and turned on to the road. There he changed up into third and shortly afterward passed the tourist hostel on the left. Then his lights vanished around a bend.

The blobs of foam were like the mountains of Hardanger and the water was boiling hot. Eva dipped one foot in cautiously, it was almost scalded, but the bath couldn’t be hot enough. She would have liked the water inside her body too, inside her veins. On the edge of the tub was a large glass of red wine. She’d thrown the day sack into the rubbish bin and unplugged the phone. Now, she sank into the water, which had turned a pale turquoise color from the bath salts. Heaven couldn’t be better than this. As they thawed, she stretched her fingers and toes. She took a sip of wine and felt the pain in her foot recede a little. Driving had been a nightmare, as her ankle had swollen considerably. She pinched her nose and submerged completely for a moment. When she surfaced again she had a large dot of foam on the top of her head. That’s the picture of a millionaire, she thought with surprise, as she looked at her reflection in the mirror above the bath. The soft blob began to teeter sideways, then slide down to hang beneath her ear. She settled in the water again and did some mental arithmetic. She tried to work out how long the money would last if she used two hundred thousand per year. Well, it would be around ten years. If there really was two million there, she hadn’t counted it yet, but she would once she’d bathed and cleaned up and had some food. The only thing she’d found on the way home was a sweet dispenser that contained nothing but raspberry drops and throat lozenges. She closed her eyes and heard how the foam rustled in her ear as it disintegrated. Her skin was beginning to accustom itself to the temperature; afterward she’d be wrinkled and pink from the hot soapy water, like a baby. It had been a long time since she’d taken a bath. She usually made do with a quick shower, and she’d forgotten just how good it was. Emma was the one who always liked a bath.

She reached out for her wine glass and took several large sips. Afterward, when she’d bathed and counted the money, she would sleep, perhaps right through until it was evening again. The tiredness lay across her eyes like a lump of lead. Now it pulled her head forward until her chin rested on her chest. The last thing she knew was the taste of soap in her mouth.