Ларс Кеплер - Stalker

‘Yes,’ she replies, and quickly brushes some tears from her cheeks.

‘How can you remember that?’

Her mouth starts to quiver and she bites her bottom lip to pull herself together before she answers.

‘We were on a bender together,’ she says in a whisper. ‘We started on the Friday, and... it was at its worst on Sunday night...’

‘You’re sure about the dates?’

She nods and loses control of her voice:

‘My little boy died in his cot on the fifteenth... I only found him the next day. It was sudden infant death syndrome — that was medically proven, it wasn’t my fault, but if he’d been with me then it might not have happened...’

‘I’m sorry to—’

‘Oh, God,’ she sobs, and gets to her feet.

Olivia turns away from the playground, wraps her arms tightly around herself, and forces herself to be quiet, to stop her grief pouring out. Erik tries to give her a handkerchief, but she doesn’t see it. She takes a few trembling breaths and wipes her tears away.

‘For years after that I just wanted to die,’ she says, swallowing hard again. ‘But I’ve never touched drugs since, I haven’t had sex with anyone... I must never get pregnant again, I don’t have the right, I... He took everything with him... I hate him for getting me to try heroin, I hate him for everything...’

They are interrupted by a ball rolling under the bench. A child comes running over to fetch it and Erik hands Olivia his handkerchief.

‘Don’t worry, Marcus,’ she says warmly to the little boy, who’s standing looking at her with the ball under his arm. ‘I just need to blow my nose.’

The child nods and runs off with the ball. Erik thinks about Rocky’s erratic memory. At some moments during his years at Karsudden he must have known that he had been wrongly convicted, because of Erik’s betrayal.

‘Olivia,’ Erik says quietly, ‘I appreciate that this isn’t easy, but are you prepared to swear on oath that you were with Rocky when the murder took place?’

‘Yes,’ she says, looking him in the eye.

Erik thanks her, and at that moment notices Nelly standing behind the climbing frame, watching them. He starts to walk back, and wonders if she’s going to report him when she finds out. Maybe he himself could file a report about a patient suffering harm while receiving treatment before she does.

Before the paint dries completely, Erik and Madeleine carefully pull off the masking tape from the skirting boards and around the door and window, fold up the stiff protective paper and pull the plastic off the furniture that they stacked in the middle of the room. Although he’s taken two tranquillisers, he still feels overwhelmed with remorse whenever he thinks about the priest who has been locked up for longer than Madeleine has been alive, because of his lie.

They carry on cleaning until the pizza delivery guy rings the bell. Madeleine holds Erik’s hand as they go out into the hall to open the door.

‘How does it look?’ Jackie asks when they come into the kitchen.

‘Great,’ Madeleine says, looking up at Erik.

Outside in the street rain is falling through the thin sunlight and the day feels pleasantly slow, like something from childhood. Erik cuts up the pizza and puts it on their plates.

‘Robots eat pizza,’ Madeleine says happily.

Her face is totally relaxed, she’s so relieved that she starts to sing a song from the Disney film, Frozen , even though Jackie tries to tell her several times that she shouldn’t sing at the dinner table.

‘Clever robot,’ Madeleine keeps saying to Erik.

‘But what if he starts to get rusty?’ Jackie smiles, as she feels something against her foot.

‘He won’t,’ the little girl says.

‘Maddy, what’s this?’ she asks, carefully shaking a blister-pack of Morfin Meda that must have fallen out of Erik’s jacket as it hung over the back of the chair.

‘That’s mine,’ he says. ‘It’s just some headache pills.’

He takes the pills from her hand and puts them in his pocket.

‘Erik,’ Jackie says. ‘Can I ask you for a favour...? Maddy’s got a match on Wednesday, and I’m playing at the evening service in Hässelby Church... I don’t like to ask, it feels wrong, but Rosita who usually brings Maddy home has been ill all week.’

‘You’d like me to pick her up?’

‘I can walk on my own, Mum — it’s only at Östermalm Sports Club,’ Madeleine says quickly.

‘You’re certainly not walking on your own,’ Jackie snaps.

‘I’ll pick her up,’ Erik says.

‘It’s actually a lethal road,’ Jackie says seriously.

‘Lidingövägen and Valhallavägen are completely mad,’ Erik agrees.

‘She’s got her own key, and you don’t have to stay if you can’t — I’ll be back by eight.’

‘I might have time to watch the match,’ Erik says hopefully to Madeleine.

‘Erik, I’m incredibly grateful, and I promise I won’t ask again.’

‘Don’t say that, I’m only too happy to help.’

Jackie whispers a silent thank you to him, and he gets up to clear the table just as his mobile buzzes in his shirt pocket.

It’s Casillas, from Karsudden District Hospital. After his meeting with Olivia Toreby, Erik called him to discuss the chances of Rocky Kyrklund being allowed on excursions outside the hospital, and beginning his rehabilitation.

‘I’ve spoken to the Administrative Court today,’ Casillas tells him. ‘And you won’t be surprised to hear that you and I are in complete agreement.’

‘That’s great,’ Erik says.

‘The big problem is that Rocky refuses to sign... he says he murdered a woman, and that he doesn’t deserve to be free.’

‘I can talk to him,’ Erik volunteers quickly.

‘It’s just that there’s not much time if it’s going to be considered at the next quarterly meeting.’

One and a half hours later Erik passes through the security doors of Section D:4, is shown through the corridor and out into the fenced exercise yard. The patients in Rocky’s section have all committed serious violent crimes under the influence of severe mental disorders, but most of them are doing relatively well with their medication and are no longer considered particularly dangerous.

On the other side of the high fence is a low hedge. The bushes press against the fence as if they wanted to get inside the yard.

Rocky Kyrklund squints at him in the broken sunshine as he approaches along the path.

‘No nice pills today, Doctor?’

‘No.’

A man shouts something at Rocky from a distance, but Rocky ignores him.

‘I’ve spoken to Olivia Toreby,’ Erik begins.

‘Who’s she?’

‘We talked about her last time... and she confirms your alibi.’

‘My alibi for what?’

‘For the murder of Rebecka Hansson.’

‘Good,’ Rocky smiles, and runs his huge hand through his steel-grey hair.

‘She was addicted to heroin at the time, and I don’t think her evidence would have affected the verdict against you, but I wanted you to know that all the evidence suggests that you’re innocent.’

‘You mean this is really happening?’ he says sceptically.

‘Yes.’

‘An alibi,’ Rocky repeats to himself.

‘Olivia Toreby is living a different life these days, and she’s sure of what she says. You were together at the time of the murder.’

Rocky focuses his eyes on Erik’s.

‘So I didn’t murder Rebecka Hansson?’ he says quietly.

‘I don’t think so,’ Erik replies, without looking away.

‘How sure is she?’ Rocky asks, and his jaw muscles tense.

‘She knows, because you were high on the night of the murder... and it was the same night her son died of sudden infant death syndrome.’