Camilla Läckberg - The Hidden Child

‘So I assume it’s too late to start filling me in on who your latest boyfriends are, and things like that,’ laughed Göran, pointing at Patrik and Dan. ‘Looks like that’s a stage that I’ve missed, unfortunately.’

‘Yes, I suppose it is,’ said Erica, smiling and taking another Dumle.

‘By the way, I heard that you caught the murderer – the victim’s brother,’ said Göran, turning serious.

Patrik nodded. ‘Yes, he was waiting for a plane at the airport. It was strange, because he could have left at any time, and we probably never would have caught him. According to my colleagues, he was extremely cooperative.’

‘But why did he kill his brother?’ asked Dan, putting his arm around Anna’s shoulders.

‘They’re still interviewing him, so I don’t really know,’ replied Patrik, handing a piece of chocolate to Maja, who was sitting on the floor next to him, playing with the doll that Göran’s mother had given her.

‘Well, I can’t help wondering why the brother who died paid money to my father all those years. From what I understand, he wasn’t my father. It was the Norwegian. Or do I have it backwards?’ said Göran, looking at Erica.

‘No, you’re right. According to Mamma’s diaries, your father was named Hans Olavsen, or rather, Hans Wolf. Erik and Mamma don’t seem to have ever had a romantic relationship. So I don’t know…’ Erica chewed on her lip as she thought. ‘We’ll probably know more when we find out what Axel Frankel has to say.’

‘Probably,’ said Patrik, nodding agreement.

Dan cleared his throat, and everyone turned to look at him. He and Anna exchanged glances, and then Anna said, ‘Well, er… we have some news.’

‘What is it?’ asked Erica, stuffing another Dumle into her mouth.

‘Well…’ Anna paused, but then the words came tumbling out of her. ‘We’re going to have a baby. In the spring.’

‘Really! That’s great!’ cried Erica, getting up to run around the table and give first her sister a hug and then Dan before she sat down again, her eyes sparkling. ‘So how do you feel? Is everything all right? Do you feel good?’ Erica fired off questions one after the other, and Anna laughed.

‘I’m fine, but I feel lousy. It was the same way when I was expecting Adrian. And I have this constant craving for rock candy.’

‘Ha ha, rock candy, of all things,’ laughed Erica. ‘But I shouldn’t talk. I remember stuffing myself with Dumlekola sweets when I was pregnant with…’ Erica stopped in mid-sentence and stared at the heap of Dumle wrappers on the table. She looked up at Patrik, and saw by his open mouth that he was thinking the same thing. Frantically she began calculating. When was her period due? She had been so focused on everything about her mother that she hadn’t even thought about… Two weeks ago! She should have had her period two weeks ago. She stared dumbfounded at the Dumle wrappers again. Then she heard Anna start to hoot with laughter.

Axel heard voices downstairs. With great effort he climbed out of bed. It would take time for him to fully recover. That was what the doctor had said when he was examined upon arriving back in Sweden. And his father had looked worried and said the same thing when Axel finally got home yesterday. It had been so blissful to be back home. For a moment it felt as if all the terror, all the horrible things he had been through, never existed. But his mother had wept at the sight of him. And she had wept even more when she put her arms around his gaunt and frail body. That had hurt. Because they weren’t just tears of joy. She was also crying because he was no longer the same. And he never would be. The outspoken, daredevil, cheerful Axel no longer existed. The past years had beaten all that out of him. And he saw in his mother’s eyes that she was grieving for the son she would never get back, at the same time that she rejoiced over the small part of him that had returned.

She hadn’t wanted to go with her husband and be away overnight, even though the plans had been made long ago. But his father had understood that Axel needed some time alone, and so he had insisted that she accompany him.

‘The boy is home now,’ his father had said. ‘There will be plenty of time to spend with him. He needs some peace and quiet so he can rest. And Erik will be here to keep him company.’

Finally she relented and they had left. Axel was relieved to have the chance to be alone; he was having a hard enough time adjusting to being at home again. Getting used to being Axel.

He turned his right ear towards the door and listened. The doctor had told him that he would just have to accept that he had lost the hearing in his left ear for good. He hadn’t expected anything else. When the guard swung the rifle butt and struck him above the ear, Axel knew that something was destroyed. His injured ear would remain a constant reminder of what he’d been through.

With halting steps he went out into the hall. Since his legs were still so weak, his father had given him a cane to use for the time being. It had once belonged to his paternal grandfather. A solid, stout, silver-tipped cane.

Axel had to grip the banister as he slowly made his way down the stairs, but he had been resting in bed for a long time, and he was curious to see who the voices he’d heard belonged to. Even though he had been longing for solitude, right now he wanted company.

Frans and Britta were sitting in armchairs in the library, and Axel thought it strange to see them there again, as if nothing had happened. For them, life had continued along its customary path. They hadn’t seen corpses piled up in heaps, or watched the man standing next to them jerk backwards and collapse with a bullet in his forehead. For a moment Axel was furious at how unfair it all was, but then he reminded himself that he had made the choice to put his life at risk, and thus had to endure the consequences. Some of his anger remained, though, smouldering inside of him.

‘Axel! It’s good to see you awake!’ said Erik, sitting up straight in the chair behind the desk. His face lit up when he saw his brother. That was what had warmed Axel’s heart the most when he came home. Seeing his brother’s face again.

‘Right. The old man is managing to get around with the use of his cane,’ laughed Axel, raising the cane in jest to show it to Frans and Britta.

‘There’s somebody here I’d like to introduce you to,’ said Erik eagerly. ‘Hans is Norwegian. He was in the resistance movement, but he fled by stowing away on Elof’s boat when the Germans were on his trail. Hans, this my brother Axel.’ Erik’s voice was filled with pride.

At first Axel noticed that someone was standing at the far end of the room. He had his back to the door, so Axel saw only a slender figure with curly blond hair. Axel took a step forward to say hello, and then the person turned around.

At that moment the world stood still. Axel saw the rifle butt. He relived the sense of betrayal, how it felt to trust someone he thought was on the side of the good, only to be disappointed. He saw the boy in front of him and recognized him at once. There was a rushing sound in his ear, and the blood raced wildly in his chest. Before Axel was even conscious of what he was doing, he lifted the cane high overhead and swung it right at the boy’s face.

‘What are you doing!’ yelled Erik, rushing over to Hans, who had fallen to the floor, his hands over his face, with blood gushing out between his fingers. Frans and Britta had also jumped up and were staring at Axel in disbelief.

He pointed his cane at the boy and, his voice shaking with hatred, he said, ‘He lied to you. He’s not a Norwegian resistance fighter. He was a guard at Grini when I was a prisoner there. He’s the one who robbed me of my hearing. He smashed his rifle butt into my ear.’