“You should find someone else,” she’d grumbled to Anneli. “My daughter deserves a better man.”
Maj decided to lie down and rest for a while. A strange despair came over her and tears welled up in her eyes. She hardly ever cried. Not even when Hasse was in the hospital and they moved him to a hospice room, and she’d realized what that meant. Not even then!
Their black-and-white wedding photo hung on the wall in the bedroom. They looked so incomprehensibly young! Shy and expectant. Where had all the years gone?
She pulled her blanket over her and shut her eyes. Perhaps she slept. Yes, she must have fallen asleep in the mix of wool and warmth. When she opened them again, it was dark. At first, she didn’t know where she was. She tried to sit up, but her tailbone was aching and she felt a stab of pain that made her cry out. This happened sometimes. It must be age.
What time was it? As if it had read her thoughts, the grandfather clock began to strike. She counted the strokes — it was nine. Nine at night? Must be. It was dark outside. Had she really slept the day away?
She was thirsty. She walked into the kitchen and switched on the light. She was just about to turn on the faucet when she saw what was on the counter. Her wedding picture. She and Hasse on their wedding day. Fear shook her shoulders. She swallowed hard and stared at the bouquet of roses in the young girl’s hand — the hand that had been her own a very long time ago.
At that moment, she heard a loud bang on the stairs. Terror struck her with great force. She saw the cats had crept beneath the table and pressed against each other. Their eyes were wide and filled with fear.
“You heard it too, didn’t you, kitties?” she whispered.
Kitten got up and his tail hit the floor hard a few times. He crept toward her on his silent paws and wound around her legs.
Mama Cat had also gotten up and moved toward the kitchen door. She raised her back and all her fur stood on end. She hissed. Her brushy tail swished. Her ears flattened.
“What is it?” Maj asked. Her voice was shriller than she realized.
The cat bared its teeth. Maj saw its canines, its fierce predator stare. She could hear the pleading in her own voice. She tried to calm down and speak quietly.
“You’re not in danger, kitties. You don’t have to be frightened. I’m here to watch over you.”
She tried to turn on the light in the hallway and remembered the bulb was out. Where was her flashlight? It was no longer in her junk drawer. She found a paraffin candle and some matches. This is the way people lived in the olden days, she thought. People survived without electricity. They were fine.
Her hand gripped the candle as she started to walk downstairs. The flame flickered and she noticed her own shadow grow. She was in stocking feet. She felt dampness on her foot and lowered her candle to see. It looked like blood.
Something is seriously wrong, she thought. Someone was there. Someone was trying to scare her on purpose. Someone wished her ill. And this person, whoever it was, was here inside her house.
She hurried back upstairs and grabbed her purse. She glanced inside, saw her keys and money. She added a few cans of cat food. She put on her coat and her heavy outdoor shoes.
“Come, kitties, come with me,” she called them. To her relief, they followed her. “We’re going on a car ride.” They had to flee. She decided to leave through the upstairs front door.
Of course, the police, she thought. I have to go to the police. They can come and search the house and find the intruder. They’ll arrest him for sure!
With difficulty, she managed to raise the garage door from outside. Hasse’s Volvo was right there, waiting for her. She opened the back door and the cats jumped in. They settled intertwined on top of Hasse’s cap.
She got into the driver’s seat, pressed down the clutch, shifted into reverse, and hit the gas.
The door slammed. Anneli leapt up from her chair and stumbled into the hallway.
“Johnny?”
He was pale and traces of blood had spread beneath his nose.
She wanted to cry.
She watched him take off his sneakers and head right for the kitchen. He opened the cupboard door, took out the vodka bottle, and poured himself a drink.
“Want some?”
She nodded.
Johnny sank down by the kitchen table. He pushed aside the newspaper and took a swig. “Damn, it’s slippery outside.Sirens were going off constantly out there.”
“They announced the dangerous conditions on the radio.”
He pointed at his nose. “But I didn’t slip on the sidewalk. I fell on her goddamn outside stairs. This hurts like hell!”
“Poor thing,” she said. She took a sip of vodka. It both warmed and burned her throat. “What about...?”
He gave her a wry smile. “My nose kept bleeding all the way to her door. I had to rummage around inside the house to find something to stop it.”
“Did she notice you inside?”
“She kept getting up and looking around, just like last night. Up and down the stairs like a yo-yo. But she never saw me.”
Anneli covered her eyes with her hands. “I hate this. I hate all of this.”
His glass slammed down on the table. Drops of vodka flew out. “Don’t think for a moment I don’t hate it too!”
“I know...” she whined.
“We both agreed to this. So don’t start saying it was all my idea.”
She shook her head heavily.
“It’s for her own good!” he yelled.
A short sob escaped her throat. “Yes.”
“And we need the money. We need it now! Not two years from now. Not a decade from now. Right now! With that view, we can get four to five million.”
“I know.”
“If only she hadn’t been so stubborn We had to do it. She forced us into it.”
“Yes.”
He lowered his voice but still did not look at her. “She’ll be fine, Anneli.”
She pulled a paper towel off the roll and blew her nose. “Yes,” she said again.
The doorbell rang. A sharp, demanding sound. They stared at each other. She saw fear in his eyes.
Don’t open it, he mouthed.
But she’d already gotten up and was looking out the peephole. Two people were standing outside. One man and one woman. She opened the door.
The two people pulled out their police identification.
“Are you Anneli?” the policewoman asked.
She nodded.
“May we come in?”
She stepped aside to let them past. Something had happened. Something worse than she’d imagined. She turned around, glared at Johnny.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” the policewoman said. She had short, almost stubbly blond hair. “It’s your mother, Maj Lindberg.”
A white blaze lit her skull. With a wail, she began to pound Johnny with her fists like hammers.
“You bastard! What the hell did you do to her?”
He did not defend himself. He shrank; became soft and small.
She felt the policewoman grab her shoulder. She quieted down.
“Let’s sit down for a minute, shall we?” the policeman said. “Let’s all be calm.”
Anneli pulled out a cigarette. Her hands shook as she lit it. She inhaled deeply and kept staring at Johnny. He looked at the floor. Blood had begun to drip from his nose.
“What did you just say?” asked the policewoman. “What are you talking about?”
Anneli shook her head.
The policewoman remained silent for a moment and stared at her. “Well,” she finally said, “again, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. For some reason, your mother was driving—”