Liv

by Mikaela Bley

  ‘Do you remember the name of the doctor?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Was it a man or a woman?’

  ‘A man, because we talked about how hot he was. He was so nice, and we both had a little crush on him and argued about which one of us he would choose. It started as a joke, but then Liv got sore at me. All I said was that I thought he’d choose me.’ Sara blinked a few times. ‘It was only a joke, and doctors aren’t that hot anyway once they take their coats off. They’re just good-looking when they’re in their element.’ She shrugged. ‘I think so, anyway.’

  Ellen agreed. It was like that with most professions.

  ‘Besides, I’m married, so she was welcome to him.’ Sara looked away and wiped her eyes.

  ‘Was it possibly the City Clinic you went to?’

  ‘Uh, yes.’ Sara looked at her with surprise.

  ‘Who knows, maybe she did get him? When was this, did you say?’ Ellen took her phone out of her bag and went onto the City Clinic website, feeling her pulse rising. She went to the tab Our Staff. ‘Was it any of them?’ She handed the phone to Sara. There was a group photo from when City Clinic had celebrated its ten-year anniversary. Two dozen employees stood in lines, like in an old class photo.

  Sara looked carefully at the picture for a few seconds before she answered.

  ‘It’s the fifth man from the right. At the top.’

  Ellen looked at the picture again. It was definitely Patrik Bosängen.

  ELLEN

  3.30 P.M.

  When Andreas and Ellen got back to the editorial office, Andreas went straight into one of the vacant editing rooms. Ellen sat down at her workstation to try to summarise the situation before she joined Andreas to review the material.

  Was Patrik the father of Liv’s child? Had he been together with three women? That gave both Hanna and Alexandra a motive. Ellen tried to imagine the jealousy among these women. And was that why Bea had tried to silence her? To protect her father? Or her mother? Or did she have something to do with the murder of Liv Lind? Now Ellen could picture several possible scenarios. There were suddenly a lot of people who might have a motive to get rid of Liv.

  ‘What are you doing here? Didn’t you get my message?’ Leif asked as she turned on the computer.

  ‘No.’ She looked puzzled at her colleague.

  ‘Okay.’ Leif rolled his chair towards her. ‘Then we have a few things to talk about.’

  An odour of sour coffee emanated from his mouth, and she felt bothered by having to sit so close to him.

  ‘Did you see the story that was just broadcast?’

  ‘No, what’s happened?’

  ‘Liv Lind. I’ve taken over the murder. Jimmy made the decision. You can go home now and have a rest, or drink afternoon tea, or whatever it is you do when you’re off.’

  Ellen looked over at Jimmy’s glass cage. He was staring out across Editorial and met her eyes for a second.

  ‘But this is my case!’ She had to control herself not to yell and spit in Leif’s face. ‘You thought it was completely uninteresting. Focus on your soccer guy instead.’

  ‘He wasn’t good-looking enough.’

  ‘You’re talking shit. You know that I’m the one who has the sources. What are you going to do with it?’ She was really trying to keep herself calm. Counted to eight, which was the new ten, according to Dr Hiralgo. Could they do this to her? And why? What was Jimmy up to? Now, when she’d finally gotten somewhere.

  ‘He’s just kidding around with you,’ said Agatha, laughing out loud. She had to wipe her glasses, which were wet from the laughter.

  It took a while before the penny dropped. ‘What, you’re pulling my leg? Was that supposed to be funny?’

  ‘Yes, very funny. You should have seen your face, you went completely white.’

  ‘What’s going on here?’ Internet had stopped by their desk.

  ‘Nothing,’ Ellen answered.

  Leif and Agatha were laughing so hard they couldn’t even reply.

  ‘Okay, but it looks fun. Listen, Ellen, I just wanted to warn you. We’ve received a number of threats against you after the feature on News Morning.’

  ‘Was there anything specific or just general hate? The refugees?’ That was usually what it was about.

  ‘Yeah, you’re getting criticised for not addressing that angle or taking it seriously. They’re threatening you because you’re defending the refugees. It’s on Twitter, in the comments section, and in emails. Jimmy asked me to wipe it, but I wanted to check with you first.’

  ‘Twitter is an arsehole of a place,’ Agatha interjected. ‘Specially built for narcissists, who have to constantly express their most primitive aspects in order to get attention. Words are devalued, no one takes anything that’s said seriously. Anyone who spends too much time on Twitter ends up going crazy.’

  Ellen and Internet stared at her.

  ‘Nicely said. So, you know what Twitter is?’ Internet asked, laughing.

  ‘Yes, I know. Even though it’s not something I use. I was just quoting a columnist. I thought it was kind of funny, so I printed it out and taped it to my monitor.’

  ‘Marvellous,’ said Ellen. ‘I can only agree.’ She turned back to Internet. ‘Feel free to delete that shit, if you have time.’

  ‘Absolutely. You shouldn’t have to read it. I’m going to continue to keep an eye on your mentions.’

  ‘Thanks, but if you get anything that appears to be relevant, and not based on my opinions or my job, please save it.’

  Internet nodded and went over to his www-dot-buddies.

  Before Ellen went to join Andreas in the editing room, she called Carola and asked for a comment concerning Patrik Bosängen. Carola sounded surprised and didn’t want to comment. Instead, she reported that they hadn’t found a ring among Liv’s belongings, and that nothing new had emerged when they went through the local traffic cameras or other surveillance cameras in the village. On the other hand, it turned out that Liv Lind had been at Åhléns City on the Friday before she was murdered, but she’d been there alone and had strolled around in the children’s department.

  Ellen took a deep breath, and they hung up.

  ‘How’s it going?’ she asked Andreas as she walked into the dark, soundproofed room. She closed the door and sat down on one of the chairs, enjoying the silence.

  Andreas had linked up the camera with the computers and had started uploading the material. Thousands of still images came up on the screen. Ellen sat thinking as the images from the interview flashed in front of her.

  After a while, she started to think out loud. ‘So Hanna’s partner and Patrik are the same person. Patrik may also have had a relationship with Liv Lind. Do you think the women knew about each other?’

  ‘Because he himself grew up under polygamous circumstances it seems probable, but would these modern women have gone along with it?’

  ‘Or that could be just it — that they’re modern.’ Ellen pushed herself to look past the norms and didn’t want to get into this discussion with Andreas again. ‘So that’s it. Three wives. Or three girlfriends — he can’t, of course, be married to all of them. It’s not possible in Sweden.’ She leant back and stared at the screen. ‘Can you link up my phone to the camera?’ she asked. While Andreas was digging around for the right cord, she googled Hanna’s number and then hit call. ‘Are you recording?’ she whispered.

  Andreas nodded.

  The ringtone sounded, but no one picked up. Ellen looked at the clock. Hanna was probably at work. Ellen had heard that they were keeping the school open on the weekend because of what had happened. ‘We’ll call Alexandra, too.’ She entered both the home number and the mobile number, but the mobile was turned off, and no one answered the landline.

  ‘Damn, they must have already gone to ground. We’ll try one more number.’ She goo
gled the school in Stentuna and entered the number for the principal.

  ‘Johan Lund.’

  Finally, someone who answered the phone. ‘Hi, this is Ellen Tamm from TV4. I have a few questions for you concerning this unruly gang that’s hanging around the Stentuna area.’

  ‘What did you say your name was? And where are you calling from?’

  Ellen introduced herself again, irritated that he was buying time.

  ‘I have a duty of confidentiality to my pupils and can’t answer any questions.’

  ‘But you must be able to say something to calm the inhabitants of Stentuna?’

  He sighed. ‘We held an extra teachers’ meeting last week, and we’ve called a meeting at the school this evening with the police, some people from the parents’ association, and a representative from the municipality. We’re going to talk about what measures should be taken to deal with these gangs. There’s going to be some kind of cooperation with Nyköping, because a lot of the youths come from there. We can’t do more than that. I have to go now. Goodbye.’

  ‘He hung up,’ Ellen said, looking disconcertedly at the phone.

  ‘I don’t like him. He sounded like a real slippery eel. Check it out!’ Andreas brought up a picture of the principal on the screen. ‘Johan Lund. I wouldn’t want to do business with him.’

  ‘Me neither,’ Ellen said, looking at the man with slicked-back hair and once again cursing herself for her fixation on appearance.

  ‘Are we ready?’ asked Andreas, who was champing at the bit.

  Ellen nodded.

  They went over the material together. Ellen had realised that Sara had changed her story from the one she’d told Ellen when they’d last met. This time, she’d given a different picture of her sister, and there wasn’t much that tallied with what she’d said to Ellen when they were walking around Haga Park. It was probably natural that she should try to gloss over the image of herself and her sister, but now she maintained that she had tried to meet Liv on the Friday. That she’d invited her to lunch, but that Liv couldn’t come. It was as if she was trying to escape her guilty conscience. Ellen had let it go and hadn’t questioned anything. Maybe that was how Sara remembered it now. The memory had already changed and been adjusted, and Ellen made the connection to herself and the way she’d been influenced by everything happening around her when Elsa died. Sara probably believed that what she said was true. The human survival instinct, thought Ellen and wondered whether that was why her own father didn’t want her to dig around in her memory. Or his, for that matter.

  HANNA

  7.45 P.M.

  In the rear-view mirror, she saw Solbyn getting smaller and smaller and her worry increased by the same proportion. It didn’t feel right to leave the children with Bea. The neighbour lady who usually volunteered to do childcare had been reluctant to help out, and Hanna didn’t want to insist, considering how it had ended last time.

  They were going to a special parents’ meeting at the school. Even though it was Saturday evening. Hanna would be going there as a parent this time to discuss the recent incidents, and even though neither Stoffe nor Hanna wanted to go, they felt compelled.

  Alice had looked completely terrified as they stood in the hall. ‘Stay, Mummy, please,’ she whispered in her ear, hugging her convulsively.

  ‘I have to go, honey, but we’ll be back soon.’ Bea stood a little further off and stared at her with a look that frightened her. But Stoffe had insisted, and she didn’t have any choice.

  ‘Bea is their sister, she would never harm them. And it’s important that she learns to take responsibility. That’s how you grow up.’ Stoffe sounded definite as they drove out onto the highway and towards the school. ‘She actually wanted to babysit, and so we have to encourage that. Besides, Karl was looking forward to being with his big sister.’

  ‘Well, that’s what you say.’ Hanna agreed in principle: difficult children often had a need to be noticed. Every time Bea behaved badly, she got attention, but rarely when she did something good. She was seeking affirmation, that was very obvious, but the only thing Alexandra did was scold and nag at her. Hanna could see the powerlessness in Alexandra where Bea was concerned, but that didn’t excuse her child-rearing methods. Even if Hanna knew that Bea was having a hard time in school and that she’d been teased before, none of that excused her behaviour.

  ‘Karl has apparently started hanging out with Max.’

  ‘Who is that?’

  Hanna shook her head. How could he even think of having more children when he couldn’t keep track of the ones he already had. ‘Do you think children are like decorations? It’s a life-long commitment. Without a dad present, a big sister will become the role model. I think Karl looks up to Bea and wants to be like her.’

  ‘I’ll talk to him. And what do you mean without a dad?’

  History was going to repeat itself right in front of their noses, but Stoffe seemed to be blind to reality. Or otherwise, he just didn’t want to see what was so obvious to Hanna. In Karl’s eyes, Bea and Max were tough role models for whom he was prepared to do anything at all.

  ‘It’s only a matter of time before Alice and Märtha will end up in the same mess, too, if we don’t manage to put a stop to this. Alice already seems to be part of the games.’

  ‘What?’

  Hanna felt totally exhausted and didn’t have the energy to tell him the whole story. She took a bag of sweets out of her handbag and stuffed two sour bears in her mouth. ‘I don’t feel safe.’

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘Nothing.’ She stuffed in another bear.

  ‘Why are you stuffing yourself with all those sweets? We just ate.’

  Before they left Solbyn, they’d eaten while watching the news. Liv’s sister had been interviewed, and a picture of Liv had been shown. The police had also asked the general public for help.

  They were just edging closer and closer. Hanna needed sugar to cope and ignored his criticism. She wondered whether he would soon start talking about her figure. ‘Considering how you and Alexandra have brought up Bea, it’s not surprising that she’s turned out this way.’

  He raised a threatening finger at her. ‘That’s enough, now.’

  ‘Did you run out of words? You couldn’t describe how you felt and so you were forced to raise your hand?’

  ‘Knock it off and get down off your high horse. Don’t you know that it saddens me when you say that? Bring it up with Alexandra next time you see her, that’d be a real icebreaker.’

  Hanna turned her head away and stared out the window at the forest that sat there, dark and threatening.

  ‘It’s that damn Johan. I swear that he’s the one who broke into our house and left that note,’ said Stoffe. ‘I can’t believe that I’m going to have to sit and listen to him now. By the way, did you actually see the images from the surveillance cameras?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Maybe it was just bullshit. Empty threats.’

  Hanna couldn’t help thinking that Stoffe was afraid of what was on those surveillance images.

  He had been summoned to the police to submit DNA samples. Apparently, they’d found out that Liv had been his patient at the City Clinic. ‘It must have been that journalist who fingered us. Soon, the whole world is going to know how we live.’ He told her that he’d been seriously taken to task by the police because he hadn’t made himself known earlier. ‘I tried to explain why, but they didn’t accept my excuse.’

  Hanna continued putting away sour bears until her mouth was burning. Not until they turned off at the school did she lose it. ‘How the hell could you put us in this situation? Have you already gotten tired of me?’ Her eyes and her head both ached.

  ‘Stop that. You sound like Alexandra.’

  He knew that was the worst thing he could say to her, but he did it anyway.

  ‘This
is not about either Alexandra or Liv, it’s about the fact that you violated our trust. You went behind my back.’

  ‘I fell in love.’ He shrugged, as if it were that simple, and pulled into one of the parking spaces by the school.

  She wanted to shake off what he had just said. Wished she would never have to hear it again.

  ‘Why weren’t you honest from the beginning, then? You knew that I could handle it, but you chose to lie. You lied to me.’

  He didn’t answer.

  ‘I didn’t like her.’

  ‘What the hell are you saying?’ He stared at her with an ice-cold look, which she had seen in his son. ‘She’s dead. How can you speak ill of her? You never had a chance to get to know her.’

  Both of them sat in silence, but she could hear Stoffe’s agitated breathing.

  ‘It doesn’t feel like I’m the only one who has secrets. Why didn’t the neighbour woman want to babysit?’

  ‘It just got a little awkward last time, nothing in particular.’ She hoped that he would be content with that answer. ‘Shall we go in?’

  ‘What? When did you have a babysitter? And what do you mean by awkward?’

  ‘I got home late last time. It was last Sunday.’

  ‘The same day that Liv was murdered?’

  ‘I was at a teachers’ meeting.’

  ‘But Liv was on her way to your house. Why haven’t you told me this?’

  ‘Well, I’d got everything prepared and set out the baby things. Then the meeting was called at the last minute, and I had to go.’

  ‘How long were you gone?’

  ‘Don’t know, what does that matter?’

  ‘I just think that it’s strange that you haven’t told me this. Did something in particular happen?’

  She didn’t like his tone. Behind the calm, she could hear how angry he was. ‘No.’ She shrugged. ‘By the way, someone from TV4 called me today,’ she said, to change the topic.