‘Of course you can,’ she said. Johan was another reason why she stayed. He loved her, and he loved his little sister. And the feeling was mutual. Whenever Ebba caught sight of Johan, her whole face would light up. Right now she was holding out her arms to him as she stood in her playpen.
‘Come on, Ebba,’ said Johan. She put her arms around his neck and allowed him to lift her out. Then she pressed her face close to his.
Inez stopped folding the laundry to watch them. She was surprised to feel a pang of jealousy. Ebba never looked at her with the same sort of unconditional love. Instead, there was always a mixture of sorrow and yearning in her eyes.
‘Let’s go out and watch the birds,’ said Johan as he rubbed his nose against Ebba’s, making her laugh. ‘Can I take her outside?’
Inez nodded. She trusted Johan and knew that he would never let anything happen to Ebba.
‘Of course, you go ahead.’ She went back to folding the laundry. Ebba began laughing and babbling merrily as they left the room.
After a while Inez couldn’t hear them any more. The silence echoed between the walls, and she sat down on the floor, resting her head on her knees. The house held her in such a tight grip that she could hardly breathe. The feeling that she was a prisoner grew stronger with every day that passed. They were heading for a precipice, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing that she could do about it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Patrik wasn’t going to answer his mobile when it started ringing. Percy looked as if he might fall apart at any moment, and since he still held a gun in his hand, that might be disastrous. At the same time, they were all mesmerized by Leon’s voice. He was talking about Valö, about how the boys had become friends, about the Elvander family and Rune, and about how everything slowly but surely began to go wrong. Ia stood next to him, stroking his hand. After giving them the background for his story, Leon seemed to hesitate, and Patrik realized that he was approaching the event that had ended the boys’ friendship.
Soon they’d hear the truth. But Patrik was so worried about Erica that he couldn’t help glancing at his mobile. An incoming message from Anna. He quickly tapped on the display. When he read what it said, his hand started shaking uncontrollably.
‘We have to go out to Valö! Right now!’ he shouted, interrupting Leon in mid-sentence.
‘What’s happened?’ asked Ia.
Martin nodded and said, ‘Calm down and tell us what’s going on.’
‘I think Tobias was the one who set the fire and shot at Ebba. And now Gösta and Erica are out there with him. Anna and Ebba have disappeared. Nobody’s heard from either of them since yesterday…’
Patrik could hear that he was babbling, so he made an effort to regain his composure. If he was going to be of any help to Erica, he needed a clear head.
‘Tobias has a gun, and we think it’s the same one that was used on that Easter weekend. Does that tell you anything?’
The men exchanged glances. Then Leon held out a key.
‘He must have found the air-raid shelter. That’s where the gun was. Right, Sebastian?’
‘Yes. I haven’t touched anything since the day we locked the door. I don’t understand how he could have got inside. That’s the only key, as far as I know.’
‘That doesn’t mean there couldn’t be others.’ Patrik stepped forward and took the key. ‘Where is this air-raid shelter?’
‘In the basement, behind a secret door. It’s impossible to find if you don’t know where to look,’ said Leon.
‘Is that where Ebba might be?’ Ia had turned very pale.
‘That’s a reasonable guess,’ said Patrik, heading for the front door.
Martin pointed at Percy. ‘What do we do about him?’
Patrik turned, walked straight over to Percy, and took away the gun before he could even react. ‘That’s the end of this nonsense. We’ll straighten everything out later. Martin, you call for back-up while we drive, and I’ll phone the Coast Guard to tell them we need a lift. Which one of you is going out there to show us where this air-raid shelter is?’
‘I’ll go,’ said Josef, getting up.
‘I’ll go too,’ said Ia.
‘One person is enough.’
Ia shook her head. ‘I’m coming too, and there’s nothing you can say that will stop me.’
‘Okay, come on then.’ Patrik motioned for them to follow.
On the way out to the cars, he practically collided with Mellberg.
‘Is John Holm inside?’ asked Mellberg.
Patrik nodded. ‘Yes, but we have to go out to Valö. Erica and Gösta are in trouble.’
‘Oh?’ said Mellberg, puzzled. ‘But I’ve just been talking to Kjell and Sven here, and apparently the Göteborg police are looking for John. They don’t know that he’s here, so I thought…’
‘He’s all yours,’ said Patrik.
‘Where are you going?’ Kjell Ringholm came over to join them, along with a blond man who seemed vaguely familiar.
‘Another police matter. If you’re looking for John Holm, he’s inside. Mellberg is at your disposal.’
Then Patrik ran for the car. Martin was close on his heels, but Josef and Ia were slow to catch up, and Patrik impatiently held the back door open for them. It was against all regulations to take civilians along to a potentially dangerous situation, but he needed their help.
During the boat ride out to Valö, he paced restlessly in the bow, as if that might get them there faster. Behind him Martin was talking to Josef and Ia, instructing them to keep out of the way as best they could and follow directions. He couldn’t help smiling. Over the years Martin had developed from a high-strung and tense cadet into a stable and reliable officer.
As they approached Valö, Patrik gripped the railing hard. At least once a minute he glanced at his mobile, but no more messages had come in. He had considered sending a reply to say they were on their way, but he decided not to, in case it gave away the fact that Erica had a phone.
He noticed that Ia was watching him. There were so many things he wanted to ask her. Why had she fled and never returned until now? What role had she played in the death of her father and the rest of the family? But those questions would have to wait. There’d be time enough later on to get to the bottom of things. Right now he needed to focus on the fact that Erica was in danger. Nothing else mattered. He’d been so close to losing her in the car accident a year and a half ago. That was when he realized how much he depended on her, and what a huge place she had in his life and his future.
When they jumped ashore, he and Martin both took out their service weapons, as if on cue. They motioned for Josef and Ia to keep behind. Then they cautiously started walking towards the house.
Percy was staring at some indefinable point on the wall. ‘Oh well,’ he said.
‘What the hell’s the matter with you?’ John ran his hand through his blond hair. ‘Were you planning to shoot all of us?’
‘Hmm. Actually I was only thinking of shooting myself. I just wanted to have a little fun with you first. Scare you a bit.’
‘Why would you want to kill yourself?’ Leon looked at his old friend with a tender expression. Percy was so fragile in spite of his haughty manner, and Leon had noticed even back on Valö that he might fall to pieces at any time. It was a miracle that he hadn’t. It had been easy to see that Percy would have a hard time living with the memories, but perhaps he’d also inherited a capacity for denial.
‘Sebastian has stripped me of everything. And Pyttan has left me. I’m going to be a laughing-stock.’
Sebastian threw out his hands. ‘Who uses the word “laughing-stock” these days?’
They were like children. Leon could clearly see that now. They were all suffering from arrested development. They were still out there on the island, living in their memories. Compared to them, he was actually much better off. He looked at these men and saw them as the boys they once were. And no matter how odd it might seem, he felt a kind of love for them. They had shared an experience that had shaken them to the core and shaped their lives. The bond between them was so strong that it could never be severed. He’d always known that he would return, that this day would arrive, but he hadn’t thought that Ia would be at his side when it happened. Her courage surprised him. Maybe he had deliberately chosen to underestimate her so as not to feel guilt about her sacrifice, which was greater than anyone else’s.