Ю Несбё - The Kingdom

‘Don’t,’ she said in a quiet voice.

‘Shannon…’

‘Don’t!’ She turned towards me. There were tears in her eyes.

‘We can’t just carry on as though nothing has happened,’ I said.

‘We must.’

‘Why must we?’

‘You don’t understand. We must, believe me. So just do as I tell you.’

‘Which is?’

‘Carry on as though nothing has happened. Jesus Christ, nothing has happened. It was… it was just…’

‘No,’ I said. ‘It wasn’t nothing. It was everything. I know it. And you know it too.’

‘Please, Roy. I’m asking you.’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘But what is it you’re afraid of? That he’ll hit you again? Because if he so much as touches you…’

She uttered a sound, part-laughter, part-sob. ‘It’s not me who’s in danger, Roy.’

‘Me? You’re afraid Carl might beat me up?’ I smiled. I didn’t want to, but I did.

‘Not beat you up,’ she said. She folded her arms across her chest as though she were cold, and she must have been, because the outside temperature had fallen rapidly, and the walls had started to creak.

‘Presents!’ cried Carl from the living room. ‘Someone’s put presents under a bloody spruce tree in here!’

Shannon went to bed early, complaining of a headache. Carl wanted to smoke and insisted that we wrap up warmly and sit out in the winter garden, which is obviously a highly fucking misleading name when the thermometer falls below fifteen minus.

Carl pulled out two cigars from his jacket pocket. Held one of them out to me. I shook my head and held up my snuffbox.

‘Come on,’ said Carl. ‘Got to get in training for when you and me light the victory cigars, don’t you know.’

‘An optimist again?’

‘Always the optimist, that’s me.’

‘Last time we spoke there were a couple of problems,’ I said.

‘There were?’

‘Cash flow. And Dan Krane poking about.’

‘Problems are there to be solved,’ said Carl, puffing out a mixture of condensed air and cigar smoke.

‘And how did you solve those?’

‘The important thing is, they were solved.’

‘Maybe the solution to both problems is connected to Willumsen in some way?’

‘Willumsen? What makes you think that?’

‘Only that the cigar you’ve got there is the same brand as he hands out to people he’s doing deals with.’

Carl removed the cigar and looked at the red band. ‘Is it?’

‘Yes. So they aren’t particularly exclusive.’

‘No? You could’ve have fooled me.’

‘So what sort of deal have you done with Willumsen?’

Carl sucked on the cigar. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think you’ve borrowed money from him.’

‘Cripes. And some people think I’m the brainy one.’

‘Have you? Have you sold your soul to Willumsen, Carl?’

‘My soul?’ Carl emptied the last drop of aquavit into the absurdly small glass. ‘Didn’t know you believed in souls, Roy.’

‘Come on.’

‘It’s always a buyer’s market when it comes to souls, Roy, and looked at in that light he gave me a good price for mine. Plus, his business can’t afford to let this village go under. And by now he’s so heavily into the hotel that if I fall, then he falls too. If you’re going to borrow from someone, Roy, it’s important to borrow a lot . That way you’ve got as much hold on them as they have on you.’ He raised his glass to me.

I had neither glass nor response. ‘What did he get in security?’ I asked.

‘What security does Willumsen usually ask for?’

I nodded. Just your word. Your soul. But in that case the loan couldn’t really be all that big.

‘But let’s talk about something else besides money, it’s so boring. Willumsen has invited Shannon and me to his New Year party.’

‘Congratulations,’ I said curtly. Willumsen’s New Year party was where everybody who was somebody in the village gathered. Old and current council chairmen, landowners selling off their land for cabins, those with money, and those with farms big enough to pretend they had. Everyone on the inside of an invisible divide here in the village, the existence of which everyone who was inside it denied, of course.

‘Anyway,’ said Carl. ‘So what was the problem with my lovely little Cadillac?’

I coughed. ‘Minor stuff. It’s no wonder, it’s done a lot of kilometres and been driven hard. Lot of steep hills here in Os.’

‘So nothing that can’t be repaired?’

I shrugged. ‘Sure I can do a temporary repair, but it might be time to think about getting rid of that jalopy. Get yourself a new car.’

Carl looked at me. ‘Why is that?’

‘Cadillacs are complicated. When small parts start to go it’s a warning there’s bigger trouble on the way. And you’re no grease monkey when it comes to cars, are you?’

Carl wrinkled his brow. ‘Maybe not, but that’s the only car I want. Can you repair it or can’t you?’

I shrugged. ‘You’re the boss.’

‘Good,’ he said and sucked on his cigar. Took it out and looked at it. ‘In a way it’s a shame they never got to see what you and I achieved in life, Roy.’

‘Mum and Dad, you mean?’

‘Yes. What d’you think Dad would be doing now if he was alive?’

‘Scratching on the inside of his coffin lid,’ I said.

Carl looked at me. Then he started to laugh. I shuddered. Looked at my watch and forced a yawn.

That night I dreamed about falling again. I was standing on the edge of Huken and heard Mum and Dad calling to me down there, calling me to join them. I leaned over the edge, the way Carl had described the old sheriff doing before he fell. I couldn’t see the front of the car that was closest to the rock face, and at the back, on top of the boot, two huge ravens were sitting. They took off and came flying up towards me and as they got closer I saw they had Carl and Shannon’s faces. As they passed me I heard Shannon cry out twice, and I woke with a start. I stared out into the darkness and held my breath, but not a sound came from the bedroom.

On Christmas Day I lay in bed for as long as I could stand it. By the time I got up Carl and Shannon had left for the church service. I’d seen them from the window, middle class, subtly dressed up. They drove off in the Subaru. I hung around the house and the barn, repaired a couple of things. Heard the crisp ringing of the church bells wafting all the way up from the village on the cold air. Then I drove down to the workshop and started on the Cadillac. There was enough there to keep me busy until far into the evening. At nine I called Carl, told him the car was ready and suggested he come down and fetch it.

‘I’m in no fit state to drive,’ he said. As though I hadn’t reckoned on that.

‘Send Shannon then,’ I said.

I heard his hesitation. ‘Then the Subaru will have to stay down at your place,’ he said. And two meaningless thoughts flitted across my brain. That by your place he meant the workshop, which meant that he thought of the farm as his place.

‘I’ll drive the Subaru and Shannon the Cadillac,’ I said.

‘That leaves the Volvo behind.’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘Then I’ll drive the Cadillac up and Shannon can drive me back down to pick up the Volvo.’

‘Goats and oats,’ said Carl.

I held my breath. Had he really just said that? That leaving Shannon and I alone at the same place was like leaving the goat alone with the sack of oats? How long had he known? What was going to happen now?

‘You still there?’ said Carl.

‘Yes,’ I said, strangely calm. And I felt it now, I felt the relief. Yes. It was going to be brutal, but at least now I could stop slinking around like a fucking cheat. ‘Come again, Carl,’ I said. ‘What was that about goats and oats?’