Camilla Läckberg - The Stone Cutter

Six hours later they still hadn't got any news. Niclas had gone in to talk with the doctors repeatedly, but they didn't have any more information. The prognosis for Stig was still uncertain.

'Somebody has to drive home and see to Albin,' said Charlotte, talking as much to Lilian as to Niclas. She saw that her mother opened her mouth to protest, unwilling to let either her daughter or son-in-law go, but Niclas anticipated what she was going to say.

'Yes, you're right. He'll be terrified if Veronika tries to put him to bed at her house. I'll go, so you can stay here.'

Lilian looked annoyed, but she knew that they were right and reluctantly gave in.

Niclas kissed Charlotte on the cheek and then patted Lilian on the shoulder. 'Everything will work out, you'll see. Ring if you hear anything.'

Charlotte nodded. She watched him vanish down the corridor and then leaned back in the uncomfortable chair and closed her eyes. It was going to be a long wait.

The disappointment ate at Mary from the inside. Nothing had turned out the way she'd thought. Nothing had changed, except that now she didn't even receive the brief displays of kindness and tenderness her mother had given her when Äke was around. In fact, Mary hardly ever saw her. She was either on her way out to meet Per-Erik, or she had to go to a party somewhere. Her mother also seemed to have abandoned all attempts to control Mary's weight, so she could eat anything in the house. By now she had far surpassed her former top weight. Sometimes when she looked at herself in the mirror she saw only the monster that had been growing inside her for so long. A voracious, fat, loathsome monster, constantly surrounded by a nauseating smell of sweat. Mother didn't even bother to conceal the disgust she felt when she looked at her. Once she had even demonstratively held her nose when she passed by. The humiliation still stung.

This wasn't the way that Mother had promised things would be. Per-Erik was supposed to be a much better father than Äke ever was, Mother would be happy, and they would finally live together like a real family. The monster would disappear, she would never again have to sit in the cellar, and that dry, sickening, dusty smell would never again fill her mouth.

Duped. That was how she felt. Duped. She'd tried to ask her mother when things were going to be as she'd promised, but got only brusque answers in return. When she insisted, she'd been locked in the cellar, after first being fed a little Humility. She had cried bitter tears that contained far more disappointment than she could handle.

Sitting in the dark she felt the monster thriving. It liked the dryness in her mouth. It ate it and rejoiced.

The door closed heavily behind him. Moving slowly, Patrik went into the hall and wriggled out of his jacket. He left it lying on the floor, too exhausted to bother hanging it up.

'What happened?' said Erica in a worried voice from the living room. 'Did you find out something new?'

When he saw her face, Patrik felt a pang of guilt that he hadn't stayed at home with her and Maja. He must look like a wreck. He had rung home from time to time, of course, but the chaos at the station after what happened had made the conversations extremely abrupt and stressful. As soon as he confirmed that everything was all right at home, he had more or less hung up on her.

He plodded into the living room. As usual, Erica was sitting in the dark and watching TV with Maja on her lap.

'I'm sorry I was so curt on the phone,' he said, rubbing his face wearily.

'Did something happen?'

He collapsed onto the sofa and at first couldn't reply.

'Yeah,' he said after a moment. 'Ernst got the idea of bringing in Morgan Wiberg for questioning, completely on his own authority. He managed to stress the poor boy out so badly that he escaped out of a window, ran into the street, and was run over.'

'My God, that's horrible!' said Erica. 'What happened to him?'

'He died.'

Erica gasped. Maja, who was asleep, whimpered but then settled down again.

'It was so horrendous, you wouldn't even believe it,' said Patrik, leaning his head back and staring up at the ceiling. 'As he lay there in the street, Monica arrived and caught sight of him. She rushed forward before we could stop her, took his head in her lap, and then sat rocking him and wailing in a way that hardly sounded human. We finally had to tear her away from him. Jesus Christ, it was ghastly.'

'And Ernst?' said Erica. 'What happened to him?'

'For the first time I actually think he's going to be sacked. I've never seen Mellberg so mad. He sent him home on the spot, and after this I don't think he'll be coming back. Which would be a blessing.'

'Does Kaj know?'

'Yeah, and that's a whole other story. Martin and I were questioning him when the accident happened, and we had to run outside. If it had happened a few minutes later, I think we could have got him to talk. Now he's totally clammed up and refuses to say a word. He blames us for Morgan's death, and to some degree he's right. Some colleagues from Göteborg were supposed to arrive this morning to interrogate Kaj, but they had to postpone it indefinitely. Kaj's lawyer put a stop to all questioning for the time being, considering the circumstances.'

'So you still don't know whether he was involved in Sara's murder? And in… in what happened yesterday?'

'No,' said Patrik wearily. 'The only thing that's sure is that it couldn't have been Kaj who took Maja out of the pram. We had him in custody at the time. Has Dan been here, by the way?' he said, caressing his daughter and lifting her over to his own lap.

'Yes, he was. He's been like a faithful watchdog.' Erica smiled, but it didn't reach all the way to her eyes. 'I finally had to send him away, more or less. He left half an hour ago. I wouldn't be surprised if he spends the night in our garden in a sleeping bag.'

Patrik laughed. 'Yeah, that sounds plausible. At any rate, I owe him one. It feels good to know that you two weren't alone here today.'

'You know, we were just on our way upstairs to go to bed, Maja and I. But we can sit up a while longer if you'd like company.'

'Don't be offended, but I'd prefer to sit by myself for a while,'

Patrik replied. 'I brought home some work to do, and then maybe I'll watch TV to wind down for a while.'

'Do whatever you feel like doing,' said Erica. She got up and took Maja from Patrik after giving him a kiss on the mouth.

'By the way, how was your day?' he asked when she was halfway up the stairs.

'Fine,' said Erica, and Patrik could hear that there was new energy in her voice. 'Today she didn't need to sleep at my breast at all; she slept in the pram. And now she doesn't cry for more than twenty minutes. In fact, last time it was actually only five.'

'Good,' he said. 'It sounds like you're starting to get control of the situation.'

'Yeah, what a miracle that it actually works,' she said with a laugh. Then she turned serious. 'Although Maja can only sleep indoors now. I don't dare put her outside ever again.'

'I'm sorry I was so… dumb last night,' said Patrik hesitantly. He didn't want to risk saying anything stupid again which left him fumbling for every word, even to apologize.

'That's okay,' she said. 'I've been a little oversensitive too. But I think the tide has turned now. The fright I got when she was missing had at least one beneficial effect. It made me realize how thankful I am for every minute with her.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean,' he said with a wave as she continued upstairs.

He shut off the sound on the TV, took out his cassette player and pressed 'rewind' and then 'play'. He had already listened to the tape several times at the station. It was the few minutes that were recorded of Ernst's so-called 'interrogation' of Morgan. Not much was said, but there was still something that bothered him, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.