Ларс Кеплер: The Rabbit Hunter

‘Ow,’ Sammy whispers.

Rex opens his eyes and sees that James has put the rifle down on the floor and is bending over Sammy holding the water bottle and a bundle of paper napkins.

Very slowly, he gets to his feet. His legs are numb and feel like lumps of wood. One of the strips of cloth is dangling from the cuff of his shirt, but comes loose and falls to the floor, making a soft sound as it lands.

Rex stops and waits.

James hasn’t heard anything. He turns the water bottle upside down on the napkins and goes on bathing Sammy’s cheek.

Rex moves slowly over to the coffee table and picks up the wine bottle, taking care not to make a sound.

‘A bit more water,’ Sammy says. ‘Ow... ouch, that really...’

‘Almost done,’ James says, with an odd intensity in his voice.

Rex walks towards James but manages to step on the shirt that was in his suitcase. It’s still in plastic and rustles beneath his foot. He rushes forward, raising the wine bottle, and sees James drop the napkins and turn towards him just as he strikes. James raises his arm to defend himself, but the bottle hits him on his cheek and temple, so hard that the glass breaks. Green splinters and dark-red wine rain down on James and across the wall behind him.

James groans heavily and falls sideways. Sammy moves out of the way and Rex grabs the rifle and backs away. James slumps back against the wall, feels his temple and looks groggily up at Rex just as he steps forward and rams the butt of the rifle against the bridge of James’s nose, slamming his head back against the wall.

‘Come on,’ Rex says to Sammy. ‘We have to get out of here.’

They leave the room, close the door and hurry along the cold hallway towards the reception area.

‘Nice work, Dad,’ Sammy says with a smile.

‘You too,’ Rex says.

They can hear heavy thudding coming from somewhere, and Rex turns back, but the dimly lit hallway is empty and the door to his room closed. The barrel of the rifle scrapes the wall and Rex raises it slightly. At that precise moment he gets such a splitting headache that he has to stop.

‘What is it?’ Sammy whispers.

‘Nothing, just give me a second,’ Rex replies.

‘What are we going to do?’

‘We’re going to get away from here... Let me look at you,’ he says, and leads his son into the light. ‘You might end up with a scar...’

‘On my pretty face,’ Sammy jokes.

‘Yes.’

‘You should see yourself, Dad.’

Rex looks back at the hallway again, and now he sees that one of the doors they passed is ajar.

Rex and Sammy walk towards the lobby in silence. The thick carpet muffles their footsteps.

They emerge into the lobby. There’s no one there, but one of the computers is lying on the floor. The rain is still pounding furiously against the black windows. The gutters are overflowing, the water splashing down onto the terrace outside.

‘ Ten little rabbits, all dressed in white ,’ they suddenly hear a child say. ‘ Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite. ’

Rex and Sammy turn around and see an old tape-player standing on a table.

‘ Kite string got broken ,’ the child’s voice continues. ‘ Down they all fell. Instead of going to heaven, they all went to... ’

‘What’s going on?’ Sammy whispers.

Rex recognises the rhyme from the phone call he got at the restaurant. He walks over to the table and sees that there’s blood on the tape-player buttons.

‘ Nine little rabbits, all dressed in white, tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite ...’

‘Go to the front door,’ Rex says nervously.

‘Dad...’ Sammy says.

‘Walk down to the main road, then turn right and keep walking,’ Rex calls.

‘Dad!’

Rex turns and sees James Gyllenborg coming towards them quickly. He’s holding a hunting knife in his hand, his clothes are stained with wine, and he’s breathing through his mouth as if his nose is broken.

‘ Eight little rabbits, all dressed in white ,’ the voice on the tape drones on.

James looks at the knife in his hand, then marches towards Rex.

‘Just calm down, James!’ Rex says, raising the rifle.

James stops and spits some bloody saliva on the floor. Rex backs away and puts his finger on the trigger.

‘You’re an idiot,’ James snarls, holding the knife out in front of him.

There’s a crack as one of James’s legs snaps at the knee. Blood spurts onto the floor and he collapses. He arches his body back and shrieks with pain.

It takes Rex a few moments to understand what’s happening.

DJ is standing in the doorway leading to the spa area, a pistol fitted with a silencer in his hand.

He’s wearing a leather strap around his head, strung with rabbits’ ears.

Rex notices that his trousers are wet, right up to his thighs. He walks into the lobby, tosses a plastic-covered rope on the floor and tucks the pistol into a shoulder holster.

DJ stops, closes his eyes, then slaps himself on the cheek, across one of the rabbits’ ears.

James is screaming and trying to crawl back down the hallway.

DJ looks at him, then walks over to Rex and takes the rifle, removes the cartridges and puts it on the coffee table with the other guns.

‘ Six little rabbits, all dressed in white, tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite ,’ the child’s voice chants on the tape.

James is lying on the floor gasping. A pool of blood is spreading out around his shattered leg.

‘We need to bind the wound,’ Rex says to DJ. ‘He’ll bleed to death unless we...’

DJ grabs James by his unharmed leg and drags him into the dining room. Rex and Sammy follow him in. James knocks into one of the tables, sending the candlesticks rolling to the floor.

DJ turns James onto his stomach, puts one knee between his shoulder-blades, fastens his hands behind his back with cable ties, then stuffs a linen napkin into his mouth. Very methodically, he pulls a chair over and feeds the black rope through the chandelier hook in the ceiling.

‘What are you doing?’ Rex asks.

DJ ignores his questions and ties a noose, then pulls it over James’s head, tightens it, winds the rest of the rope around a pillar and then starts to hoist him up by his neck.

The weight of James’s body pushes the chandelier to one side, and the prisms tinkle as he twitches and writhes. Panicked quacking sounds can be heard through the linen napkin. Some of the crystals fall to the floor.

‘That’s enough,’ Rex says, and goes over and tries to hold James’s weight.

DJ wraps the rope around the pillar several times, then ties a knot and shoves Rex out of the way.

James swings sideways, his legs flailing.

The chandelier tinkles above him.

DJ watches James as he slowly spins, then he pushes the chair over towards him and watches as he stands up on it with his one good leg and tries to keep his balance.

In the lobby, the tape has reached the final verse about the last rabbit who ends up going to hell. DJ looks at his watch, then walks over and loosens the noose slightly. James tries to breathe in through his broken nose. Tears are streaming down his cheeks and his whole body is shaking.

‘If you fall or pass out, you’ll die,’ DJ says calmly.

‘Are you crazy? What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Rex asks.

‘You still don’t get it,’ DJ says blankly. ‘All the others understood, but not you.’

‘Dad, let’s go,’ Sammy says, trying to pull Rex away.

‘What is it I don’t get?’ Rex asks, swallowing hard.

‘That I’m going to kill you too,’ DJ replies. ‘As soon as I’m done with James I will... I think I’ll slice your back open and pull your shoulder-blades out.’