Camilla Lackberg - The Lost Boy

‘I hear the whole town is talking about the event.’

‘I’m not surprised. This is the biggest thing to happen in the area since …’ He didn’t finish his sentence, but Anders knew what he had planned to say. He’d heard about the reality show Sodding Tanum and what a disaster it had turned out to be for Erling.

‘So where’s my little turtledove?’ Erling craned his neck and looked around.

Again Anders pointed to the next room, and Erling raced off in that direction. Vivianne was certainly in demand today. He went out to the kitchen, sat down on a chair in the corner and rubbed his temples. He could feel a bad headache coming on. He found the first-aid box and took two aspirin. Soon, he thought. Soon he would make up his mind.

Erica could still feel the lump in her throat as she steered the motorboat out of the harbour. The engine had started up immediately, and she was enjoying listening to the familiar sound of the motor. The boat had been her father’s baby. Even though she and Patrik weren’t nearly as conscientious as her father had been, they tried to keep it in good repair. This year the wooden deck needed to be sanded down and re-varnished. It was starting to peel in places. If she could persuade Patrik to babysit the children, she had a mind to do the work herself. Since writing books was such a sedentary job, she loved to do work that required more muscle-power once in a while. And she was better at practical things than Patrik, although that didn’t really say very much.

She glanced to the right to catch a glimpse of Badis. She was hoping that they could go to the dedication event, at least for a little while, but they hadn’t yet decided. Patrik had looked very tired this morning, and Erica didn’t know whether Kristina would feel like babysitting all evening.

At any rate, she was looking forward to this visit to Gråskär. When she and Patrik had gone out there before, she had felt captivated by the atmosphere. Now that she’d read about the island, she was even more fascinated. She had looked at a lot of pictures of the archipelago, and there was no doubt that the Gråskär lighthouse was one of the most beautiful. Erica wasn’t surprised that Nathalie liked being out there, although she thought that personally she’d go crazy after a few days without seeing any other people. Then she thought about Nathalie’s son, and hoped he was feeling better. Presumably he was on the mend, since Nathalie hadn’t phoned to ask for help.

A short time later Gråskär appeared on the horizon. Nathalie hadn’t sounded very enthusiastic when Erica called, but after a little coaxing, she’d agreed to the visit. Erica was convinced that she would enjoy hearing more about the island’s past.

‘Can you manage to bring the boat in on your own?’ Nathalie shouted from the dock.

‘No problem. As long as you’re not worried about the pier.’ She smiled to show she was joking and smoothly brought the boat alongside. She switched off the motor and tossed the mooring line to Nathalie, who carefully fastened it.

‘Hi,’ Erica said as she climbed out of the boat.

‘Hi.’ Nathalie smiled but didn’t meet her eye.

‘How’s Sam?’ Erica looked up towards the house.

‘Better,’ said Nathalie. She looked thinner than the last time Erica saw her, and the outline of her collarbone was visible through her T-shirt.

‘I brought you some freshly baked buns,’ said Erica, taking out a bag. ‘Oh no, I forgot to ask if you needed any groceries.’ She was annoyed with herself. She should have asked when she phoned. Nathalie probably hadn’t wanted to bother her with such a request again, since they didn’t know each other very well.

‘No, don’t worry. You brought over so much last time, and I can always ask Gunnar and Signe. But I don’t know if I should trouble them right now.’

Erica hesitated, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell Nathalie the news just yet. She would wait until they sat down.

‘I thought we could have coffee in the boathouse. It’s such beautiful weather.’

‘Yes, it’s not the kind of day to spend indoors.’ Erica followed Nathalie to the open-sided boathouse where coffee cups were set on a weather-beaten table with benches on either side. Fishing gear hung on the walls, along with the gleaming blue and green glass balls that were used as floats. Nathalie filled their cups with coffee from a thermos.

‘How do you handle living so isolated like this?’ asked Erica.

‘You get used to it,’ said Nathalie quietly, gazing out at the water. ‘And I’m not totally alone out here.’

Erica gave a start and looked at her inquisitively.

‘I mean, I do have Sam, you know,’ Nathalie said.

Erica had to laugh at herself. She’d immersed herself so deeply in the stories about Gråskär that she’d actually started to believe them.

‘So there’s no truth behind the nickname Ghost Isle?’

‘I don’t think anybody believes those old ghost stories,’ said Nathalie, again looking out at the water.

‘Well, the name does give the island a certain allure.’

Erica had put all the information she’d collected about Gråskär in a folder, which she now took out of her purse and slid across the table towards Nathalie.

‘It may be a small island, but it has quite a colourful past. With a few highly dramatic events.’

‘Yes, I’ve heard a little about that. Mamma and Pappa knew a lot about the island, but I’m afraid I never paid much attention to what they said about it.’ Nathalie opened the folder. A light breeze riffled the pages.

‘I put everything in chronological order,’ said Erica. Then she fell silent as Nathalie leafed through the photocopies.

‘I can’t believe all the information you’ve found,’ said Nathalie, crimson patches appearing on her cheeks.

‘It was fun doing the research. I need to do something other than change nappies and feed crying babies.’ She pointed at an article that Nathalie was looking at. ‘That’s the most mysterious incident in the island’s history. A whole family disappeared without a trace from Gråskär. Nobody knows what happened to them or where they went. The house looked as if they’d got up and walked out the door, leaving everything just as it was.’

Erica could hear that she sounded a bit too enthusiastic, but she found the incident so intriguing. Mysteries had always sparked her imagination, and this one was a true-life suspense story.

‘Look what it says there,’ she said, her voice calmer now. ‘The lighthouse keeper Karl Jacobsson, his wife Emelie, their son Gustav, and the lighthouse assistant Julian Sontag lived here on the island for several years. Then they simply vanished, as if they’d gone up in smoke. Their bodies were never found, and there wasn’t a single clue as to what might have happened to them. Nor was there any reason to believe that they’d left voluntarily. There was nothing. Isn’t that strange?’

Nathalie glanced at the article with an odd expression on her face.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Very.’

‘You haven’t seen them lurking about, have you?’ asked Erica jokingly, but Nathalie didn’t respond. She merely continued to stare at the article. ‘I wonder what happened,’ Erica went on. ‘Maybe somebody came here by boat, murdered the whole family, and then disposed of the bodies. Their own boat was still moored to the dock.’

Nathalie murmured to herself as she ran her finger over the page. Something about a blond little boy, but Erica couldn’t really hear what she was saying. She turned to look at the house.

‘Aren’t you worried that Sam might wake up and wonder where you are?’

‘He fell asleep just before you got here. He usually sleeps for a long time,’ said Nathalie, sounding distracted.