Camilla Läckberg - The Drowning

‘It’s almost two hours until the plane takes off. We didn’t really need to get here so early.’ Martin glanced at his watch as they approached Landvetter airport.

‘I don’t think we need to just sit on our tails and wait for him,’ said Gösta as he turned into the car park outside the international terminal. ‘Let’s go in and take a look around, and if we find him, we nab the son-of-a-bitch.’

‘Shouldn’t we wait for backup from Göteborg?’ asked Martin. It always made him anxious if things weren’t done by the book.

‘You and I can easily handle this guy,’ said Gösta.

‘Okay,’ said Martin doubtfully.

They climbed out of the car and went inside the airport.

‘So, how should we do this?’ Martin glanced around the terminal.

‘How about a cup of coffee? We can survey the scene at the same time.’

‘But shouldn’t we walk around and look for Erik?’

‘What did I just say?’ said Gösta. ‘We can keep an eye out for him at the same time. If we sit over there,’ and he pointed to a coffee stand in the middle of the departure hall, ‘we’ll have an excellent view in both directions. He’ll have to walk past us when he gets here.’

‘Okay, you’re right about that.’ Martin relented. He knew there was no use arguing once Gösta had set his mind on having a cup of coffee.

They each bought coffee and an almond cake. Then they sat down at a table. Gösta beamed as he took his first bite.

‘This is food for the soul.’

Martin didn’t bother to point out that an almond cake didn’t really qualify as food. But he couldn’t deny that it was delicious. He had just stuffed the last piece in his mouth when he caught sight of someone out of the corner of his eye.

‘Look, isn’t that him?’

Gösta quickly turned around.

‘Yup. You’re right. Come on, let’s bring him in.’ He stood up with unusual speed, and Martin jumped up to follow. Erik was walking away at a good clip, with a carry-on bag in one hand and a big suitcase in the other. He was impeccably dressed in a suit and tie with a white shirt.

Gösta and Martin had to jog to catch up with him. Since Gösta had been the first to get up from the table, he reached Erik first, clapping a hand on the man’s shoulder.

‘Erik Lind? We’re going to have to ask you to come with us.’

Erik turned around with a look of surprise on his face. For a second he seemed to consider running, but he settled for shaking off Gösta’s hand.

‘There must be some sort of misunderstanding. I’m leaving on a business trip,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what this is about, but I have a plane to catch. I’m going to an important meeting.’ Beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead.

‘I’m afraid you’ll still have to come with us. You’ll have a chance to present your own explanations a little later,’ said Gösta, ushering Erik towards the exit. Everyone nearby had stopped to stare.

‘I’m telling you that I have to get on that plane!’

‘I understand,’ said Gösta calmly. Then he turned to Martin. ‘Would you mind taking his baggage?’

Martin nodded but swore inwardly. He never got to do the fun stuff.

‘So it was Christian?’ Anna’s mouth fell open in surprise.

‘Yes – and no,’ said Erica. ‘I talked to Thorvald about it, and we’ll never know for sure. But by all indications, that’s what happened.’

‘Christian had a split personality? And his two selves didn’t know about each other?’ Anna sounded sceptical. She’d come right over when Erica phoned after returning from the boathouse. Patrik had to go back to the station, and Erica didn’t want to be alone. Her sister Anna was the only one she wanted to confide in about everything she’d found out.

‘Apparently. Thorvald suspected that Christian must have been schizophrenic. His disease also showed aspects of what’s called dissociative identity disorder. That was what caused the split in his personality. It can stem from an enormous amount of stress, as a way of dealing with reality. And Christian definitely had some terribly traumatic events in his past. First his mother’s death, and the week that he spent with her body. Then what, in my opinion, was outright child abuse, if not psychotic behaviour at the hands of Iréne Lissander. The way that Christian’s foster parents decided to ignore him after Alice was born must have felt like being abandoned all over again. And so he blamed the baby – he blamed Alice.’

‘And he tried to drown her?’ Anna placed a protective hand on her stomach.

‘Yes. Alice’s father saved her, but she suffered serious brain damage from oxygen deprivation. Mr Lissander decided to protect Christian by never speaking of what happened. He probably thought he was doing the boy a service, but I’m not sure he made the right decision. Imagine growing up knowing that you’d done something like that. The guilt must have been horrendous. The older Christian got, the more aware he became of what he’d done. And his feelings of guilt were probably even greater because Alice loved him.’

‘In spite of what he’d done to her.’

‘She never knew. Nobody knew, except for Ragnar Lissander and Christian.’

‘And then the rape.’

‘Yes. Then the rape,’ said Erica, and she felt her throat close up. She tallied up everything that had happened in Christian’s life, as if it were a mathematical problem that was finally solved. But in reality, it was a tragedy.

The phone rang and she answered.

‘Erica Falck. Yes? No. No, I have no comment. Don’t call me again.’ And she angrily slammed down the phone.

‘What was that all about?’ asked Anna.

‘A newspaper reporter. They wanted me to say something about Christian’s death. The vultures are circling again. And they don’t even know the whole story yet.’ She sighed. ‘Poor, poor Sanna.’

‘But when did Christian get sick?’ Anna was still looking confused, and Erica could understand why. She had asked tons of follow-up questions when she talked to Thorvald, and he had patiently tried to answer all of them.

‘His mother was schizophrenic, and it’s an inherited condition. It often surfaces during the teenage years, and that’s when Christian may have started to notice something was wrong without fully understanding it. A sense of anxiety, dreams, voices, visions – there are many different symptoms. Mr and Mrs Lissander probably never noticed, because he left home right about that time. Or rather, he was chased away.’

‘Chased away?’

‘Yes, that’s what it said in the letter that Christian left in the boathouse. The Lissanders assumed, without even investigating, that Christian was the one who had raped Alice. And he didn’t defend himself. Presumably he felt so guilty because he hadn’t intervened and protected her, that he thought he might as well have done it himself. But that’s just my own speculation,’ said Erica.

‘So they threw him out?’

‘Yes, and at the moment I can’t say how that might have affected his disease. But Patrik should look for some sort of medical case files. If Christian received any type of care or treatment when he arrived in Göteborg, there should be a record somewhere. It’s just a matter of finding it.’

Erica paused. It was so hard for her to comprehend everything that Christian must have gone through. And everything he had done.

‘Patrik thinks that the police will reopen the investigation into the murders of the woman that Christian was living with, and her little boy,’ she went on. ‘Considering everything that has now come to light.’

‘Do they think that Christian killed them too? But why?’

‘It’s highly likely that we’ll never know for sure whether he did it,’ said Erica. ‘Or why. If the other part of his personality – the Mermaid, or Alice, whatever you want to call her – was mad at the Christian part, maybe she couldn’t stand to see him happy. That’s Thorvald’s theory, anyway, and he may be right. Perhaps Christian’s happiness unleashed something. But as I said, I don’t think we’ll ever really know the answer.’