Lars Kepler - The Fire Witness

“If you find anything that indicates a place or a person, call me immediately,” Joona says.

“Sure, sure.”

Around the hammer beneath the pillow, Holger uses one hundred and twenty swabs, which he packs individually and marks. He tapes hairs and fibers onto clear plastic film and carefully folds white paper around tufts of hair. He has tubes for tissue scraps and skull fragments. These will be chilled to prevent bacteria growth.

At the hotel where the girls are staying, the conference room is occupied, so Joona has to wait in the breakfast room. Susanne Öst is talking to the nervous hotel manager about another room they can use for questioning. Joona rings Anja Larsson back in Stockholm and is connected to her voice mail. He leaves a message requesting information on a good forensic doctor in Sundsvall. Anja may be eccentric, but she is good at her job. Even though she knows her love for Joona is hopeless and she can’t quite let go.

A television is suspended from the ceiling on metal wires. The lead story on the news tonight is about the murders at Birgittagården. They’re giving up-to-the-minute dramatic reports. There are pictures of the police tape, the red buildings, and the sign at the end of the driveway: BIRGITTAGÅRDEN, HVB: A HOME FOR YOUTH WITH SPECIAL NEEDS. The probable route of the killer’s flight is marked on a map, and a reporter is standing in the middle of Highway 86 talking about the kidnapping and the failed roadblocks.

Joona stands up and walks closer to the television when the news anchor says that the mother of the kidnapped child has asked to plead with the kidnapper on live television.

The screen now shows Pia Abrahamsson sitting at a kitchen table and holding a sheet of paper. Her face looks tortured.

“If you can hear this,” she starts, “please listen to me. I understand that you’re the victim of injustice. But, please, Dante doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

Pia looks directly into the camera. “Please bring him back,” she whispers, her voice shaking. “You are probably a kind person at heart. Dante is only four years old, and I know how frightened he must be. He is so...”

She looks down at the sheet of paper and tears start running down her cheeks.

“Please don’t hurt him. Please don’t hit him or...” She starts to sob and turns her face away from the camera.

The news returns to the studio in Stockholm. A forensic psychologist from Säter Hospital explains to the news anchor how dangerous the situation is.

“I have not seen the girl’s medical records and I do not want to speculate on whether or not she is guilty of these two murders, but just considering where she has been placed, she is most likely psychologically unstable. Even if—”

“What kind of threat does she pose to the child?” asks the anchor.

“It could be that she’s not concerned about the boy at all. She might have forgotten about him entirely. He’s just four years old, though, and if he starts crying or calling for his mother, she could become angry and dangerous.”

Susanne smiles as she arrives to get Joona. He follows her to the elevator and they ride to the top floor and enter a gloomy bridal suite. The minibar is padlocked and there’s a Jacuzzi with golden feet in the bedroom.

Tuula Lehti is lying on a king-size bed covered with bolsters. She’s watching the Disney Channel. The person from the Office of Victim Services nods as they enter. Susanne closes the door and Joona pulls out a chair with red plush cushions and sits down.

“Why did you tell me that Vicky was meeting a man named Dennis?” Joona asks.

Tuula sits up and clutches a heart-shaped pillow to her chest.

“I thought she was,” she replies.

“Why did you think that?”

Tuula shrugs and looks back at the television.

“Did she tell you about a man named Dennis?”

“No.” Tuula smiles.

“Tuula, I really need to find Vicky.”

Tuula kicks the bedcover off the bed and turns her gaze back to the television.

“Do I have to be stuck here all day?” she asks.

“No, you can return to your room whenever you want,” the support person says.

“ Sinä olet vain pieni lapsi ,” Joona says in Finnish. “You’re just a small child.”

“ Ei ,” she replies and looks him in the eye.

“You shouldn’t have to live in institutions.”

“I’m fine here,” she says flatly.

“Don’t bad things happen to you?”

She turns red and her white eyelashes flutter.

“No,” she snaps.

“Miranda hit you yesterday.”

“That’s right.” Tuula holds the pillow even tighter.

“Why was she angry?”

“She thought I went to her room and was messing around.”

“Did you?”

Tuula licks the pillow. “Yeah, but I didn’t take anything.”

“Why were you messing around in her room?”

“I mess around in everyone’s room.”

“Why?”

“For fun.”

“But Miranda thought you’d taken something from her room.”

“Yeah, she got mad.”

“Why did she think you’d taken something?”

“She didn’t say,” Tuula says, and smiles.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. Usually people think I take their pills. Lu Chu pushed me down the stairs when she thought I’d taken her freaking uppers.”

“If it wasn’t pills, what did Miranda think you’d taken?”

“Who cares? Makeup, earrings.”

Tuula moves until her legs are dangling off the edge of the bed and then flops backward. She whispers something and Joona catches the words “rhinestone necklace.”

“What about Vicky?” asks Joona. “Did Vicky like to hit people?”

“No.” Tuula smiles again and sits up.

“What does she do?”

“I can’t say because I don’t know her. She hasn’t said a single word to me. But...” The girl shrugs and stops talking.

“Why didn’t she talk to you?”

“Don’t know.”

“You must have seen her angry at some point?”

“She cuts herself... You can...” Tuula shakes her head.

“What were you going to say?”

“You can forget about her. She’ll kill herself soon enough, then you’ll have one less problem.”

Tuula looks at her fingers, says something inaudible, then gets up abruptly and leaves the room.

Caroline, who looks somewhat older than the others, enters the room with the support person. She’s wearing a long, baggy T-shirt with a picture of a kitten on it. There’s a tattoo of runes along one of her arms and there are old injection scars on the insides of her elbows.

As she greets Joona, she smiles shyly. Then she sits down in the armchair next to the brown desk.

“Tuula says that Vicky usually sneaks out at night to meet a guy,” Joona begins.

Caroline laughs. “No, she doesn’t.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I know she doesn’t.” Caroline is smiling.

“You’re absolutely sure?”

“Tuula believes that we’re all sluts.”

“So Vicky doesn’t sneak out?”

“No, she does.” Caroline looks serious.

“What does she do when she sneaks out?”

Caroline looks him briefly in the eye and then looks out the window.

“She goes behind the brewery and calls her mother.”

Joona knows that Vicky’s mother died before Vicky arrived at Birgittagården. He decides not to confront Caroline with this information. Instead, he calmly asks, “What did they usually talk about?”

“Well, the thing is, she just leaves messages on her mother’s voice mail. I don’t think her mother ever calls her back.”

Joona nods and thinks that perhaps no one has told Vicky that her mother is dead.