‘I knew that whore was up to something,’ said Claes suddenly. ‘There’s no mistaking those kinds of looks. How long have you been fucking my stepmother, Leon?’
Inez didn’t say a word. Annelie turned from her to Leon.
‘Is that true?’ For a moment Annelie seemed to forget her fear. ‘You bloody slut! Isn’t there anyone your own age that you-’
Her words were cut off. Claes had calmly raised the gun and fired a shot through her temple.
‘I told you to shut up,’ he said tonelessly.
Inez felt tears welling up in her eyes. How long did they have left to live? They were powerless. There was nothing to do but wait to be slaughtered, one by one.
Ebba began crying again, and Claes flinched. Her cries got louder, and Inez could feel her whole body tense. She ought to stand up, but she couldn’t make herself move.
‘Make the kid stop.’ Claes glared at her. ‘I said, make the brat stop crying!’
She opened her mouth but no words came out, and Claes shrugged.
‘Okay. In that case, I’ll have to do it myself,’ he said and again pointed the gun at Ebba.
As he pulled the trigger, Inez threw herself forward to protect her daughter with her own body.
But nothing happened. Claes pulled the trigger again. The gun didn’t go off, and he stared at it in surprise. At that instant, Leon rushed forward to attack him.
Inez picked up Ebba and held her close, her heart pounding wildly. Claes was pinned to the floor under Leon, but he was twisting and turning to get free.
‘Help me!’ shouted Leon, and then he screamed when Claes punched him in the stomach.
It looked as though he was about to lose his hold on Claes, who was struggling ferociously. But a well-aimed kick from John struck Claes in the head and they heard a horrible cracking sound. His body went limp and he stopped fighting.
Leon quickly rolled away, landing on all fours on the floor. Percy kicked Claes in the stomach as John kept on kicking his head. At first Josef just stood and watched. Then he resolutely walked over to the table, stepped over Rune’s body, and reached for the knife that had been used to carve the roast. He fell on his knees next to Claes and glanced up at John and Percy, who stopped kicking as they gasped for breath. A gurgling sound came from Claes’s mouth, and his eyes rolled. Slowly, almost as if savouring the moment, Josef raised the big knife and laid the sharp edge against Claes’s throat. Then he made a swift incision, and the blood began pumping out.
Ebba was still crying, and Inez held her even closer. The instinct to protect her child was stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. Her whole body was shaking as Ebba curled up like a little animal in her arms. She clung so hard to her neck that Inez could hardly breathe. On the floor in front of them sat Percy, Josef and John next to Claes’s ravaged body. Like a pride of lions surrounding its prey.
Leon came over to Inez and Ebba. He took several deep breaths.
‘We need to clean this up,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.’ He kissed her gently on the cheek.
As if from a great distance, Inez heard him start to issue orders to the other boys. Scattered words reached her, about what Claes had done, about the evidence that had to be concealed, about the shame, but it sounded as if someone were speaking from far away. With her eyes closed, she rocked Ebba. Soon this would all be over. Leon would take care of everything.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
They felt strangely empty. It was Monday evening, and the events of the past days had slowly begun to sink in. Erica had gone over and over what had happened to Anna – and what might have happened. Yesterday Patrik had spent the whole day coddling her as if she were a child. At first she’d found it endearing, but by now she’d grown tired of his attention.
‘Do you want a blanket?’ asked Patrik, kissing her on the forehead.
‘It’s over eighty-five degrees in here at the moment. So, no thanks. No blanket. And I swear, if you kiss me on the forehead one more time, I’m not going to have sex with you for a month.’
‘Sorry if I’m a little anxious about my wife.’ Patrik went out to the kitchen.
‘Did you see the newspaper today?’ she called after him, but received only a mumbled reply. She got up from the sofa and went to join him. It was gone eight o’clock but the heat hadn’t abated. She felt an urge for some ice cream.
‘Unfortunately, I did,’ said Patrik. ‘I especially liked the front page: Mellberg posing with John Holm next to the police car under the headline: HERO IN FJÄLLBACKA.’
Erica snorted. She opened the freezer and took out a container of chocolate ice cream. ‘Want some?’
‘Sure, thanks.’ Patrik sat down at the kitchen table. The children had gone to bed and a sense of calm had settled over the house. They needed to enjoy it while they could.
‘I take it that Mellberg’s quite pleased with himself?’
‘That doesn’t begin to describe it. And the Göteborg police are upset that he hogged all the credit. But the main thing is that Holm’s plans were exposed and the attack was prevented. It’s going to take a long time for the Friends of Sweden to recover.’
Erica wished she could believe that. She gave Patrik a sombre look.
‘How did things go when you talked to Leon and Inez?’
He sighed. ‘I’m not too sure. They answered all my questions, but I still don’t understand.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Leon explained what happened, but I have a hard time following his reasoning. It started when he began to suspect that there was something not quite right at the school. And finally Josef broke down and told him what Claes had done to him. And to John and Percy.’
‘Was it Leon’s idea to tell Rune?’
Patrik nodded. ‘The boys didn’t want to, but he persuaded them. I had the impression that since then he’s spent a lot of time thinking about what would have happened and how their lives would have been different if he hadn’t coaxed the other boys to talk.’
‘It was the only right thing to do. He couldn’t have known how insane Claes was. It was impossible for him to foresee what would happen.’ Erica scraped the last of the ice cream from her bowl, keeping her eyes fixed on Patrik. She had wanted to accompany him when he went to see Leon and Inez, but he refused to allow it. So she’d had to make do with his report after the fact.
‘That’s exactly what I told him.’
‘What about afterwards though? Why didn’t they ring the police?’ asked Erica.
‘They were afraid that no one would believe them. And I think shock also played a part. They weren’t thinking clearly. Plus, we can’t underestimate the shame that they felt. The thought that people would find out what they’d endured probably made them go along with Leon’s plan.’
‘But Leon had nothing to lose by notifying the police. He wasn’t one of Claes’s victims, and he didn’t take part in killing him.’
‘No, but he did risk losing Inez,’ said Patrik. He set down his spoon without even tasting the ice cream. ‘If the details had been made public, the scandal would have been so huge that they probably couldn’t have stayed together.’