The Ice Child. Camilla Lackberg

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СКАЧАТЬ She threw herself at Tyra, who gathered her up and swung her around.

      ‘You’ve grown tall since the last time I saw you! Soon you’ll be taller than me,’ said Tyra with a smile. Emma’s face lit up with joy. Tyra was her favourite of the girls who were always hanging about the riding school. She was devoted to her.

      Anna went over to them. Lisen had run straight into the stable as soon as she got out of the car. She wouldn’t reappear until it was time to go home.

      ‘How are you feeling today?’ she asked, patting Tyra on the shoulder.

      ‘Awful,’ said Tyra. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she looked as though she hadn’t slept.

      From the other side of the yard someone approached in the fading afternoon light, and Anna saw that it was Marta Persson.

      ‘Hi,’ she said as Marta came closer. ‘How’s it going?’

      She had always found Marta to be incredibly attractive, with her sharp features, high cheekbones, and dark hair, but today she looked tired and worn out.

      ‘Things are a bit chaotic,’ replied Marta curtly. ‘Where’s Dan? You don’t usually come here voluntarily.’

      ‘He had to work overtime. They’re having teacher evaluations this week.’

      Dan was at heart a fisherman, but since fishing could not provide him with a living in Fjällbacka, he had taken a teaching job in Tanumshede years ago to supplement his income. The fishing had gradually become a sideline, but he struggled to earn enough so he could at least hold on to his boat.

      ‘Isn’t it time for the girls’ lesson?’ asked Anna, glancing at her watch. It was almost five.

      ‘It’s going to be a shorter lesson today. Jonas and I feel it’s important to tell the girls about Victoria. You’re welcome to stay if you like. It might be nice for Emma to have you here.’

      Marta headed indoors. They followed her into the conference room and sat down along with the other girls. Lisen was already there, and she gave Anna a sombre look.

      Marta and Jonas stood next to each other, waiting for the buzz of voices to die down.

      ‘I’m sure you’ve all heard about what happened,’ Marta began. Everyone nodded.

      ‘Victoria is dead,’ said Tyra quietly. Big tears ran down her cheeks, and she wiped them on her shirt sleeve.

      Marta didn’t seem to know what else to say, but then she took a deep breath and went on.

      ‘Yes, that’s right. Victoria died in hospital yesterday. We know that you’ve all been very worried about her, that you’ve missed Victoria. The fact that it should end like this … well, it’s terrible.’

      Anna saw Marta turn to her husband for support. Jonas nodded and then spoke.

      ‘It’s terribly difficult for any of us to understand how something like this could happen. I suggest that we hold a minute’s silence to honour Victoria and her family. It’s worse for them than for anyone else right now, and I want them to know that we’re thinking of them.’ He fell silent and bowed his head.

      Everyone followed his example. The clock in the conference room ticked quietly, and when the minute was up, Anna opened her eyes. All the girls were looking scared and anxious.

      Marta took the floor again. ‘We don’t know any more than you do about what happened to Victoria. But the police will probably come here to talk with us again. Then we’ll find out more. And I want everyone to be available to answer the officers’ questions.’

      ‘But we don’t know anything. We’ve already talked to them several times, and nobody knows a thing,’ said Tindra, a tall blonde that Anna had spoken to on one occasion.

      ‘I know it may seem like that, but maybe there’s something you don’t realize might help. Just answer the questions the police ask.’ Jonas fixed his eyes on the girls, one after the other.

      ‘Okay,’ they murmured.

      ‘Good. We all need to do whatever we can to help,’ said Marta. ‘So now it’s time for the riding lesson. We’re all still feeling the shock, but maybe it would be good to think about something else for a while. So let’s get going.’

      Anna took Emma and Lisen by the hand and headed for the stable. The two girls seemed surprisingly calm. With a lump in her throat, Anna watched as they got the horses ready. Then the girls led them into the riding hall and mounted them. She didn’t feel nearly as composed. Even though her son had lived only a week, she knew how desperately painful it was to lose a child.

      She went over to sit on a bench. Suddenly she heard someone weeping quietly behind her. When she turned around, she saw Tyra sitting further up, with Tindra beside her.

      ‘What do you think happened to her?’ asked Tyra between sobs.

      ‘I heard that her eyes were gouged out,’ whispered Tindra.

      ‘What?’ Tyra practically shrieked. ‘Who told you that? When I talked with the policeman, he didn’t say anything about that.’

      ‘My uncle was one of the medics in the ambulance that picked her up yesterday. He said both her eyes were gone.’

      ‘Oh, no,’ moaned Tyra, bending forward. It looked like she was going to vomit.

      ‘Do you think it’s someone we know?’ said Tindra with ill-concealed excitement.

      ‘Are you crazy?’ said Tyra, and Anna realized that she needed to put an end to this conversation.

      ‘That’s enough,’ she said as she went up to the girls and put her arm around Tyra. ‘It’s no good speculating. Can’t you see that Tyra is upset?’

      Tindra stood up. ‘Well, I think it has to be the same madman who murdered those other girls.’

      ‘We don’t know that they’re dead,’ replied Anna.

      ‘Of course they’re dead,’ said Tindra boldly. ‘And I bet their eyes were gouged out too.’

      Anna shuddered with revulsion as she hugged Tyra’s trembling body even closer.

      Patrik stepped inside the warmth of the front hall. He was bone tired. It had been a long work day, but the fatigue he felt had more to do with the responsibility that weighed him down on an investigation of this nature. Sometimes he wished he had an ordinary nine-to-five job in an office or a factory, and not a profession where someone’s fate depended on how well he did his job. He felt a great responsibility for so many people. Especially for the family members who placed their trust in the police to deliver the answers they needed if they were ever to come to terms with what had happened. Then there was the victim, who seemed to plead with him to find the person who had prematurely put an end to her life. But his greatest responsibility was to the missing girls who might still be alive, and for those who might be at risk from the kidnapper. As long as the perpetrator was on the loose and unidentified, more girls might disappear. Girls who lived, breathed, and laughed, unaware that their days were numbered because of some sadistic murderer.

      ‘Pappa!’ СКАЧАТЬ