She glanced at the time again. She was waiting for Elmer, who’d now been at work for six hours and who’d soon have got through his first working day as a murderer. From now on he would count the days, watch the calendar as time passed. Sigh with relief each evening he went to his bed as a free man. One day, somehow or other, she’d send him a little reminder. So that he’d lose his feeling of security and lie awake at night, waiting and waiting. Slowly, he’d go to pieces, perhaps start drinking, and finally skip work. And then he’d go straight to the dogs. Eva smiled an acid smile. She got up from her seat and went to G-Sport. There she bought a well waterproofed windcheater with a hood, dark green, a pair of Nike trainers, and a small day sack. She’d never possessed such things in her life before. But if she were to trudge along mountain tracks in the middle of the night she should at least resemble a hut owner. In case anyone saw her. She paid almost fourteen hundred kroner for the stuff and rolled her eyes, but it didn’t make much of a dent in her wallet. How simple everything was when you didn’t have to count the kroner. Just pull them out and slap them down on the counter. She felt so light-headed and strange, almost like some other person, but it was she, Eva, who stood here strewing notes about her. It wasn’t that she yearned for luxury of any kind, she cared nothing for that at all. Simply an existence that was untroubled, so that she could paint in peace. She wanted no more. Lastly, she went to the bank and paid her bills. Electricity, phone, road tax, insurance, and council tax. She stuffed all the receipts into her bag and walked out again with head held high. She crossed the square and down to the benches by the river, where she watched the dark water rushing past. The current was strong. A paper carton which once, perhaps, had contained fast food flew past like a miniature speedboat. Maybe Elmer was looking at the clock now, more often than he usually did. But no one had asked after him, no one had come through the production hall to lead him away to a waiting car. Nobody had seen anything. He thought he could get away with it. Perhaps, perhaps he could get away with it. Eva rose again and went back to her car. She drove to the swimming baths and parked at the front so that she could see the barrier. The Securitas guard was still patrolling the lines of cars. She lowered her head and began studying her road atlas. It was a quarter to three.
At last they appeared, a group of three men together. He halted by the white car and ran a hand through his hair. It hung loose now, but she recognized his profile, and his beer belly. He chatted and gesticulated, and thumped the other two good-naturedly with his fist.
As if nothing had happened!
They were talking about the car. She saw that from their gestures, they examined the tires, one of them bent down and pointed under the radiator, Elmer shook his head as if in disagreement. He placed a hand on the roof of the car, as if to demonstrate that it was his. A strutting type with macho body language. Eva put the car in gear and slid slowly out of the lot. Maybe he was a real hot-rodder and would pull away from her immediately. His car looked lively, hers was falling to bits. But the traffic was dense at this time of day, it should be all right. His engine roared angrily as he started up, as if there was something quite special beneath the bonnet. The other two leapt clear. He waved, and came slowly toward the barrier, which was open. She was in luck. He was indicating right and would drive past her, if she were quick she could get in right behind him. He’d put on a pair of sunglasses. Just as she nipped out, he looked in his mirror. She had an unpleasant feeling, tried to keep a courteous distance and rolled slowly along behind him down the congested main street, and out of town. He drove past the hospital and the undertaker, and soon afterward moved into the right-hand lane, he was driving well but fairly fast, past the video shop and the Data superstore. They were approaching Rosenkrantzgate now, he glanced in the mirror once and suddenly indicated right. She had to drive straight on, but in her mirror she managed to see that he’d drawn up at the first entrance of a green house. A small boy had just run out. Perhaps it was his son. Then they were gone.
So he lived in that green house in Rosenkrantzgate. Possibly he had a son, of about five or six. Same age as Emma, she thought.
Could he continue to be a father after all that had happened? Take the boy on his lap in the evenings and sing songs? Help him brush his teeth? With the same hands that had made him a murderer? She couldn’t turn until she got to the trotting course, but then she made a cheeky U-turn and drove back the way she’d come. Now she had the green house on her left. A woman stood outside with a wash basket in her hands. Bleached hair piled high. A typical bimbo, just the sort he would like, she thought. She had him now. And soon, quite soon, she’d have two million.
24
It was nine in the evening when she set off in the car. Two and a half hours later she’d smoked ten cigarettes and the yellow shop was nowhere to be seen. Her legs had begun to feel stiff and her back ached. All at once, the project seemed more like some idiotic stunt. Outside it was as black as pitch, she’d passed Veggli, and the café with the big troll, she’d left the small towns behind and gradually the names began to awaken memories. This must be right. The shop should be on the left and it should be lit up, the way shops were, fully illuminated all night. But everything was dark, not a house to be seen, no traffic. The forest lined the road on each side like black walls, as if she were driving along the bottom of a ravine. There was music on the radio, but now she found it annoying. Damn shop!
She pulled into the side of the road and stopped. Lit another cigarette and pondered a bit. It was almost midnight and she was tired. Perhaps she wouldn’t find it, perhaps her memory was playing tricks on her. It had been so long ago, over twenty-five years, they were just kids then. Maja had led the gang and the others had trotted along behind like sheep, Eva, Hanne, Ina, and Else Gro. Old, green sleeping bags and tinned food. Cigarettes and lager. Maybe the old shop had been pulled down and they’d put up some huge shopping center instead, she thought, or maybe they didn’t build shopping centers deep in the forest. She’d just have to drive on, she gave herself twenty minutes more, and if she didn’t find it she’d have to turn back. Or she could spend the night in the car and carry on looking when it got light. But the notion of sleeping on the back seat wasn’t very appealing, this was pure wilderness, she didn’t know if she dared. She put the car in gear and moved out on to the road again, extinguishing her cigarette in the ashtray, which was now full to overflowing. She took another look at the time and accelerated. She seemed to recall that the road had crossed a bridge, there’d been sheep and goats there, then they’d zigzagged upward, driving around hairpin bends. In the winter they cleared the road only as far as the tourist hostel, and Maja had to do the final bit on skis. But luckily there was no snow yet, or perhaps there was higher up, perhaps she’d have to wade through it on the final stretch, she hadn’t considered that. Eva wasn’t exactly the outdoors type, but now she felt ridiculous. She lit yet another cigarette, they were making her feel thoroughly queasy by this time, and peered into the gloomy forest, searching for light. She turned up the heater. The air was different up here, sharper. It was so damned far! Elmer was probably in bed now, nightmares lurking, or perhaps he sat alone in his living room with his third whiskey, his wife long since gone to bed, sleeping the sleep of the innocent under the duvet. It couldn’t be easy lying there with the image of Maja in his head, the feeling of those legs kicking under him as he pushed her into the mattress with the pillow, she must have put up a fight. Maja was strong, but men were so much stronger, it never ceased to amaze her. They didn’t even need to be particularly big, it was as if they were made of totally different stuff. Suddenly she braked. There was a light in the distance, on the left. Soon she saw the familiar orange sign of the Co-op.