Ia closed her eyes, feeling the coolness of the windowpane against her forehead. She didn’t want to be part of what Leon was planning to do, but she longed for the time when they would once again be together.
Anna glanced around the bare room that was now revealed in the light from the single bulb. It smelled of earth and something else, harder to identify. She and Ebba had both tried in vain to get the door to open, but it was locked and refused to budge.
Along one wall stood four chests with metal mountings, and above them hung a flag, which was the first thing they’d seen when the light was switched on. It was dark with mildew and mould, but the swastika was still vivid against the red-and-white background.
‘Maybe there’s something in those chests that you could put on,’ said Ebba, looking at Anna. ‘You’re shivering.’
‘Sure. I’ll take whatever we can find. I’m about to freeze to death,’ replied Anna. She was ashamed of her nakedness under the sheet. She was the sort of person who never liked to be seen in the nude in a locker room, and after the accident, this feeling had intensified, thanks to all the scars criss-crossing her body. Although modesty was the least of her worries at the moment, her sense of embarrassment managed to outweigh both her fear and the cold.
‘Those three are locked, but this one is open,’ said Ebba, pointing at the chest nearest the door. She lifted the lid to find a heavy grey woollen blanket inside. ‘Here,’ she said, tossing the blanket to Anna, who wrapped it around herself on top of the sheet. It smelled vile, but she was grateful for the warmth and the protection it offered.
‘There are canned goods in here too,’ said Ebba, lifting out several dusty tins from the chest. ‘In the worst-case scenario, we can probably survive here for a while.’
Anna stared at her. Ebba’s almost cheerful tone seemed oddly misplaced, considering their situation and her earlier emotional state. Most likely it was just a coping mechanism.
‘But we have no water,’ Anna pointed out, allowing the statement to hover in the air. Without water, they wouldn’t last long, but Ebba didn’t seem to be listening as she continued to dig through the chest.
‘Look at this!’ she said, holding up a garment.
‘A Nazi uniform? Where did all these things come from?’
‘Apparently there was a crazy old man who used to own this house during the war. These things must have belonged to him.’
‘How disgusting,’ said Anna. She was still shaking. The warmth from the blanket was slowly seeping into her body, but the cold had settled in her marrow, and it would take time for her to get warm.
‘How did you end up here?’ Ebba suddenly asked, turning to face Anna. It was as if she only now realized how strange it was for them to have landed here together.
‘Tobias must have attacked me too.’ Anna wrapped the blanket tighter around her body.
Ebba frowned.
‘But why? Was it unprovoked? Or did something happen that…’ She put her hand to her mouth and the look in her eyes hardened. ‘I saw the tray in the bedroom. Why did you really come out here yesterday? Did you stay for dinner? What happened?’
The words slammed like bullets against the walls, and with each question Anna flinched, as if she’d been slapped. She didn’t have to say anything. She knew that the answers could be read on her face.
Ebba’s eyes filled with tears. ‘How could you? You know what we’ve been going through, what things have been like for us.’
Anna tried to swallow, but her mouth was as dry as cotton, and she didn’t know how to explain her actions or apologize for what she’d done. Her eyes brimming with tears, Ebba stared at her for a long time. Then she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Calm and composed, she said:
‘Well, let’s not talk about this now. We need to stick together to get out of here. Maybe there’s something in the chests that we can use to prise open the door.’ She turned away, her whole body rigid with suppressed anger.
Anna gratefully accepted the offer of a temporary truce. If they didn’t get out of this place, there’d be no reason to work anything out. No one would miss them for a while. Dan and the children were away, and it would be several days before Ebba’s parents would start to worry. The only other person who might wonder what was going on was Erica, who usually became frantic if she couldn’t get hold of Anna. Normally that would infuriate her, but right now she wished that Erica would start feeling anxious and begin asking questions with as much stubbornness as she usually displayed if she didn’t get the right answer. Dear, sweet Erica, please be as curious and worried as you always are, prayed Anna in the light from the bare bulb.
Ebba had started kicking at the lock on the chest next to the one she’d already opened. The padlock didn’t show any sign of budging, but she kept on kicking and at last got it to open.
‘Come over here and help me,’ she said, and together they pulled off the padlock. Then they leaned down and tried to raise the lid. Judging by the dirt and dust, it had been closed for years, and it took their combined strength to force it open. With a lurch, the lid finally yielded.
They peered inside and then stared at each other. Anna saw her own surprise mirrored in Ebba’s expression. A scream bounced off the walls in the bare room, but she wasn’t sure whether it came from her or from Ebba.
‘Hi. Are you Kjell?’ Sven Niklasson came forward and shook hands as he introduced himself.
‘You didn’t bring a photographer?’ Kjell looked around the small space next to the luggage carousel.
‘He’s driving up from Göteborg. He’ll meet us there.’
Sven pulled his small carry-on suitcase behind him as they walked out to the car park. Kjell had the impression that he was used to packing quickly and travelling light.
‘Do you think we should inform the Tanum police?’ asked Sven as he got into the passenger seat of Kjell’s big SUV.
Kjell thought about this as he drove out of the car park and turned right.
‘I think we should. But you need to talk to Patrik Hedström. Nobody else.’ He glanced at Sven. ‘I didn’t think you usually worried about informing a particular police force.’
Sven smiled and gazed out the window at the passing landscape. He was in luck. Trollhättan Bridge was most beautiful in the sunshine.
‘You never know when you might need a favour from somebody on the force. I already have an agreement with the Göteborg police, ensuring that we get to be present when they move in, since we’ve supplied them with information. Just think of it as a courtesy that we tell the Tanum police what’s going on.’
‘The Göteborg police probably weren’t planning to offer the same courtesy, so I’ll make sure that Hedström knows how generous you’re being.’ Kjell grinned. He was deeply grateful that Sven Niklasson was allowing him to ride along. This was more than a scoop for him as a journalist – this story was going to have reverberations in Swedish politics and shock the entire country. ‘Thanks for including me,’ he muttered, feeling suddenly embarrassed.
Sven shrugged. ‘We wouldn’t have been able to finalize things if you hadn’t provided the information that you did.’
‘So you were able to decode the numbers?’ Kjell was practically bursting with curiosity. Sven hadn’t told him all the details on the phone.
‘It was a ridiculously simple code.’ Sven laughed. ‘My kids could have cracked it in fifteen minutes.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘One was “A”, two was “B”. And so on.’
‘You’re joking.’ Kjell glanced over at Sven and almost drove off the road.
‘No, I wish I was. It just shows how stupid they think we are.’