There is silence again. Trine listens out for the sound of his breathing, but all she can hear is white noise. Then he moves away from the window.
‘Remi?’
No reply.
‘Remi, are you there?’
Chapter 82
Emilie looks at Remi, she listens to the short grunts he makes, but she can’t hear what is being said at the other end. She only sees him nodding from time to time, almost imperceptibly, and running his hands over his head. The words seem to have some effect on him, but it is only a few minutes ago since he threatened to kill them all. Though Remi seems to have calmed down a little, she has no idea if the rage will flare up in him again. And that could mean the end for all of them.
Emilie’s hands are bleeding. She has been rubbing them against the thick rope the whole time, but the knots haven’t loosened even a millimetre.
‘I’m listening,’ he says.
Again she wonders what they could be talking about. And who he is talking to.
The knocking in the bedroom has stopped. Sebastian must have fallen asleep. Thank God, she thinks, and hopes that it is so. Again she tries to wriggle her hands out of the rope, but it cuts into her flesh, sending shockwaves of pain through her. It’s no use. She is completely stuck.
‘How are you?’ whispers Mattis a short distance away from her.
Emilie thinks about everything that has happened in the last few days, Mattis’s new job, her negative thoughts about him that have started to surface even though she doesn’t quite know why. Looking at him now and seeing how outmanoeuvred he is, how bloodied and how battered, she realises there is very little left of the man who came up to her at the check-in counter at Gardermoen Airport and invited her to go reindeer hunting with him. And she understands that if anyone is going to stop Remi in case the police don’t, then it has to be her.
She tugs at the rope, feels the pain in her wrists again and grits her teeth. Primal strength, she tells herself. Only women know what that is. Pain is nothing. Not once you’ve given birth. But still it makes no difference. The knots refuse to budge.
From the kitchen she can hear Remi’s angry voice. He says something about apologies. Then he falls silent again.
A noise makes her glance sideways. The door handle to Sebastian’s bedroom is being pushed down.
No, she mouths silently. Don’t do it, Sebastian. Stay where you are!
But he doesn’t. The next moment the door opens and his little face peeks out. Emilie closes her eyes, desperately wishing she could shoo him away with her hands, but they are still trapped. She whispers to him to go back, but Sebastian doesn’t react, he doesn’t do as he is told, why can’t he ever do as he is told? Instead, he comes running towards her as he always does.
‘Mummy,’ he shouts. ‘I’m hungry.’
Of course he’s hungry, he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink all day.
‘I know, darling. But I don’t have anything for you right now. You’ll have to wait a little. Why don’t you go back to your room and play? I’ll come and see you very soon and I’ll bring you some food.’
Sebastian doesn’t budge. He just stares at them.
‘Hungry,’ he repeats before turning.
And then he starts walking towards the kitchen.
‘Sebastian,’ Emilie says, louder this time. ‘Don’t go in there.’
But he does.
‘Sebastian, don’t go—’
‘Sebastian,’ shouts Mattis in a voice that cuts through everything. ‘You’re not allowed to go in there. Do you hear me?’
And Sebastian stops and turns around again. He is not used to being spoken to like that. The slightest change in pitch makes him burst into tears, especially if he thinks he has done something wrong.
‘You mustn’t go in there,’ Emilie says, as gently as she can manage.
‘Why not?’ he demands to know.
‘Because—’
The next moment a figure appears right behind him.
Remi.
He looks at them. At Sebastian. Then he grabs the boy’s arm and drags him into the kitchen.
Chapter 83
Remi ignores the screaming that erupts behind him. He closes the door and sits down on one of the kitchen chairs.
The pressure on his temples has increased. He grimaces and closes his eyes, trying to ignore the pain.
When he opens his eyes again, Sebastian is standing in front of him. In his hand he holds a small, red toy car.
‘Hungry,’ he says indignantly.
Remi’s mouth opens.
‘Eh?’
‘I’m hungry,’ the boy repeats.
‘A-are you?’
Remi continues to stare at him.
‘I want some food.’
‘Okay,’ Remi says at last. ‘What do you want, then?’
‘Cornflakes.’
Cornflakes. His favourite cereal when he was little. Who is he kidding? It still is.
Sebastian, he thinks. You and me both.
‘Then I’m going to need your help,’ he says to the boy.
Sebastian goes over to the cupboard where they keep empty bottles on one shelf and finds the cereal box, then he fetches a small, blue spoon from the cutlery drawer and half runs back to Remi with both. Then he turns and races over to the fridge, opens it, tries to make himself as tall as he can, but he can’t reach the milk. Remi gets it down for him, picks him up and puts him in his high chair and pours cereal and milk. He watches Sebastian eat his cornflakes; he slurps and makes a mess.
Somewhere far away he hears a voice. It’s a woman. She says his name: ‘Remi. Are you there?’
‘Yes, I’m here. We’re here. From now on it’s just you and me, Sebastian.’
He gets up and takes the gun. He thinks about where he is going to do it. The bedroom, perhaps. It’ll be messy, no matter where he does it. Best to wait until Sebastian has finished eating. You shouldn’t travel on an empty stomach.
He goes over to the door and pushes it open. He thinks about how quiet it will be. How he will finally be able to do it, this time with Sebastian. How the two of them will stare right into the brightest of lights.
Emilie’s body is convulsing. She is crying so hard that she can’t breathe properly. When she finally calms herself down enough to take a deep breath, she resurrects the thought of primal strength and primal pain, and tells herself that pain doesn’t really exist. She contorts her hands again, more desperate now, and only one thought keeps her going, the thought of Sebastian and what Remi might be doing to him in the kitchen. Every second counts. She wiggles and twists; she feels her back getting wetter so she tears, yanks, pushes and jerks. The blood acts as a lubricant and she feels the rope begin to give; she pulls as hard as she can and hopes that if she just keeps trying, just a little bit longer, then she will be able to free herself.
Emilie grits her teeth as her back grows bloodier, but she carries on tugging at the ropes and suddenly there is no more resistance.