Karin Fossum - The Water's Edge

'Were you paying him back for something?'

Sverre adopted a guilt-laden expression. 'He told on us.'

'Whom did he tell?'

'Everyone. Meyer and all the other teachers. He was such a telltale.'

'You had been stealing sweets from the shop, hadn't you?'

'Only sometimes.'

'What did Edwin do when you bolted the trap door?' Sejer asked. 'Did he call out for you?'

'No, it was all quiet. He just sat there. We thought he would start screaming.'

'And then,' Sejer said, 'you went home. Why did you do that?'

'It was tea time,' Sverre said, 'and we thought he could sit there until we had finished eating.'

'Just for fun?'

'Yes, just for fun. Just for a little while. He would be all right on the mattress.'

'I see,' Sejer said. 'So this is what happened: you left Edwin in the earth cellar and went home. You had your dinner. What had you and Isak planned afterwards?'

'That we would meet up outside the Kiwi shop. That we would walk back together and let him out.'

'So why didn't you?'

'I wasn't allowed,' he said.

'What?'

'Mum wouldn't let me go back out.'

Mathilde Nohr gasped.

'It was Gran's birthday,' Sverre said.

Sejer looked up. 'It was your gran's birthday and you were supposed to visit her?'

'We were going over to her house with her present. I did know it was her birthday, but I had forgotten all about it. I said I was going out with Isak, that we had to do something really important, but Mum said no. She said that Gran was more important. Then we started arguing. And then Dad joined in and he got really angry and we all ended up screaming at each other.'

'And you were afraid to tell the truth? That Edwin was trapped?'

'Yes.'

'What would have happened if you had told them the truth?'

Sverre looked at his mother again. 'I've got to do what my dad tells me,' he whispered.

'I understand. But what happens if you disagree with your dad?'

Sverre looked at the floor.

'Don't you want to answer?'

'No.'

Sejer kept looking at him. 'Is it supposed to be a secret?'

'Yes.'

'Did you talk to Isak?'

'I called him. I told him he had to go there alone, but he didn't want to. It was late when we came back from Gran's. I had to go straight to bed.'

'Did you plan to let him out the next morning?'

'Yes.'

'You told us Edwin got into a car,' Sejer said. 'Why did you do that?'

'I had to tell you something. So I thought it would work if I told you someone had picked him up.'

'Didn't you think of the consequences?'

'We thought it would be all right.'

'In what way would it be all right?'

'I don't know. But if we told the truth, we would be in really big trouble.'

Sejer got up and wandered around. The sight of the two boys made him feel infinitely sad.

'Yes,' he sighed, 'there will be really big trouble.'

The public judged the adults and the children.

There had always been something about Sverre and Isak. They were known to shoplift, and there was something about their parents, too; they had clearly failed. The public required an explanation and they thought they had found it.

Kristine Ris had discovered something, too, and she was delirious with happiness. She stood in front of the bedroom mirror and studied her body, she was motivated by something new, something strange. A sense of pride and a strength she had no idea she possessed filled her head and her body and she decided to take action. She tore the wardrobe doors open. On the top shelf was a brown suitcase. She pulled it out and placed it on the bed and started packing. I'm leaving now, she thought quickly, while he's out. That way I'll avoid all the accusations, I'll leave now while I feel strong. I'll be fine, I'm better off without him. All these years he has kept me down, now I'm going to start a new life where he can't tell me what to do. Yes, I've used him, but I feel no guilt. He'll blame me for everything, but I'll tell it like it is, that I can't live in this house any longer. At the back of her mind she was aware that he might try to cause trouble for her, but if he did, she would just have to deal with it. She had rights too, and she would be able to get help and advice. She packed underwear and socks, jumpers, trousers and tops, a dressing gown, a nightgown, some toiletries. Things she would need for the first few days. She went back to the living room, to the desk, where she picked up the telephone and called a cab. She waited by the window and she felt the warmth of the sun. She was going out into the light.

She left a note on the coffee table.

I'm leaving, I want to live my own life.

She imagined him reading the few words. His jaw would clench in defiance, a curse would echo between the walls.

The cab arrived, she got in and soon they were off. She closed her eyes, let it all sink in, her sudden freedom and everything that would happen. It took half an hour to drive to the motel. It consisted of eight tiny separate yellow huts each containing two single beds, a sink and a mirror. Next to the huts were a petrol station and a café where she could get something to eat. She collected the key from reception and let herself into the small room, put her suitcase on the floor and lay down on the bed. Carefully she placed her hand on her stomach: it was growing in there and it would start kicking by summer. It would all become known one day and Reinhardt would be furious. The fear of what might happen rippled through her. My child, she thought, my baby.

Muted laughter emerged from the hut next to hers.

'What are you thinking?' Sejer asked.

'I was remembering my father's anger,' Skarre said. 'It was terrifying. There was nothing I feared more than that. He was an authoritarian and a very old-fashioned man, and I was brought up to fear and love him. Whenever he got angry, it was like he underwent a transformation, he grew one size bigger, literally. He would open his mouth and start a scolding which would blow the curls off my head, then he would turn his back on me and storm upstairs. I would hear the sound of his footsteps and a door slamming. After a while he would stop walking up and down and he would descend to announce my punishment, which would be grounding me for a week or two, or stopping my pocket money.'

'Sverre's father beats him,' Sejer said.

'I know,' Skarre said. 'What can we do about it?'

'I've given him my telephone number. Perhaps he'll call.'

'There's not much evil in him,' Skarre said. 'Just fear.' He looked at the inspector. 'There is something I've been meaning to ask you. Do you remember Andor? The chap we met down on Guttestranda?'

'Of course I remember Andor.'

'Did you move your chair?'

'Yes, I did.'

'And? Is your psoriasis better?'

'Now that you mention it, it is, actually. But apart from that he was totally on the wrong track with those visions of his.'

'Not at all,' Skarre said. 'And it's strange, I hardly know what to say. We found Edwin in the earth cellar lying on a mattress. I went on the net and looked up "Hasselbäck" and yes, it's a place in Sweden, in Västmanland. But I also discovered that Hasselbäck is the name of a sprung mattress from IKEA.'

Sejer drove up to Linde Forest and parked by the barrier. Elfrid Løwe was sitting next to him, her hands resting in her lap.

'This is where he parked the car,' Sejer said. 'He carried Jonas the rest of the way.'

She looked at the barrier.

'This is where he met the couple who later identified him. Without them we would never have caught him. Shall we get out?'

She opened the door and put her feet on the ground. Sejer walked around the car and took her arm. She felt the warmth from the setting sun and the strength from the man next to her.