by Mikaela Bley
It was the same as the one Liv had had. Ellen chose not to ask any questions about the ring, Hanna was too much on her guard. She would bring it up with the police later.
‘Is everything okay, Mum?’
Ellen looked up at the stairs and started when she caught sight of the young boy. He looked so innocent with his large mouth and the blond bowl-cut hair, but when he stared at Ellen with that ice-cold expression, it felt as if they were back on the gravel road at Örelo.
‘It’s fine, honey, go back to your room,’ Hanna said, and it sounded like she was making an effort to make her voice sound calm. She waited until he had disappeared upstairs before she continued. ‘He doesn’t know that I’m apologising on his behalf. I don’t think he understood what he was doing — he was influenced by Bea.’
Ellen nodded. ‘Are you afraid of Bea?’
When she got no reply, she changed the subject again. ‘I just have to ask, because it’s so unusual, why have you chosen to live this way?’
‘Can you choose when it comes to love? Haven’t you ever been in love?’
Ellen took a deep breath. She understood exactly, and all too well, what the other woman meant.
‘Monogamy has long been the only norm for relationships in society. We’ve been indoctrinated to be in love with only one person at a time. But we’re fortunate. As I said, this lifestyle suits me. I’m the perfect housewife every other week, and when Stoffe is with Alexandra, I think it’s really nice to be alone with the kids and have time to miss him.’
‘You call him Stoffe?’
‘Yes, that was his alias on match.com, and I’ve continued to call him that. To me, he’s Stoffe. That was how we met. I didn’t know, then, that he was already married and had children.’
‘Sorry, I don’t understand. Was Alexandra aware that he was using a dating site?’
‘No. We saw each other for a while on the side. But Stoffe grew up this way, so I don’t think it came as a shock. We don’t talk about it that much. He’s in love with both of us and doesn’t want to be without either of us. Basically, it’s about friendship and trust. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. There are several journalists who’ve tried to get hold of me today, but I refused to answer. You have to promise me not to file a police report on my son and leave our family alone after this.’
‘How you’ve chosen to live is your own business, as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with the murder of Liv Lind, and that you just tell me the truth so there can’t be any misunderstanding. I work at TV4 and I’m not interested in smearing your family.’
Hanna thought for a few seconds before she continued. ‘A lot of people live the way we do. The difference is that we call ourselves polyamorous, while others keep their various partners secret from each other. Do you think that’s somehow better? There are so many prejudices against people like us. That’s why we don’t live openly with it, for the children’s sake.’ Hanna crossed one leg over the other. ‘I know what you want to ask, so I’ll help you get started. People think that it’s only about sex. That we screw like rabbits. But what it’s about is finding a relationship to feel at home in. We aren’t nymphomaniacs.’
Ellen felt a little taken aback. She thought it was sad that they couldn’t live openly, that they were forced to hide their relationship to fit in. ‘Not even the people at your work know how you live?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t sit in the break room and talk about my husband’s other women. Especially not in such a little community. That’s why we live a little way from each other, so that it’s harder to connect us.’
‘To think that we haven’t come further than that by now.’ Ellen shook her head. ‘Sorry, but I just have to ask, aren’t you ever jealous of each other?’
‘No. People who ask that question usually have problems with jealousy themselves. It’s not in my nature. I know where I stand with him.’
‘But did you know that he had a relationship with Liv?’
‘Yes.’
Her tone of voice changed, and Ellen could tell she was lying, but let it go.
Hanna started flapping the envelope again. ‘I have to get on with a few things now.’ She got up out of the chair. ‘Thanks for coming and for accepting my apology for Karl’s behaviour.’
‘Kids are kids,’ Ellen said again, stealing a glance up towards the stairs and wondering if Hanna actually knew how serious the attack on her had been.
She asked her to call if there was anything else she wanted to talk about or if she was interested in appearing for an interview.
Hanna shook her head.
Ellen left the house, and as the door closed behind her, she turned around and looked at the outside of the house. If you didn’t know better, it looked like any other family lived here, and maybe that’s how it was. If it wasn’t for the fact that a murder had been committed in the vicinity, of someone who probably was a third wife, and the fact that the little girl who lived here had chosen to run away the day before.
In one of the windows on the top floor, she saw something move.
It was Alice who was looking down at her. And holding her index finger in front of her mouth.
ALEXANDRA
3.00 P.M.
Alexandra wasn’t surprised when she saw the police car pull up in the driveway.
When Patrik had come home from Hanna’s earlier, he’d been upset. She’d wanted to ask what had happened, but because Patrik didn’t say anything, she’d let it rest. She couldn’t ask about Alice either, or why she’d had Liv’s phone. She hadn’t seen a trace of Bea since Patrik had come home with her the night before. She had taken off early in the morning, and Alexandra had no idea where she was.
Patrik pressed himself against her, and she heard his breathing become more intense.
‘I’m so happy I have you. What did I do to deserve you?’
They observed the two plainclothes police officers getting out of the car and walking up to the front door.
‘If you ever left me, I don’t know where I’d go,’ he continued.
When the police rang the doorbell, Alexandra gripped the kitchen counter convulsively. Patrik let go of her.
‘It’s just a simple interview to rule out suspects. We have nothing to worry about,’ he said, trying to sound convincing. But both of them knew that wasn’t true. She’d already known when they took the DNA samples from Patrik that it was over.
Actually, it had probably ended long ago.
Once again, she tried to shift her focus and consider that the world didn’t revolve around her. She had read that that was the key to living in a relationship where you shared your partner. But the problem wasn’t just that.
She turned on the tap and rinsed her hands. Breathed in the aroma from the herbs.
It still hurt when she thought about the moment when Patrik had first told her about Hanna, even though it was almost thirteen years ago. She remembered it like it was yesterday. They were lying in bed discussing possible names for the baby in Alexandra’s belly. When Alexandra had suggested Karl, Patrik had been forced to tell, because he was already expecting a child with another woman, who by some strange coincidence also wanted to christen her child Karl …
He hadn’t been remorseful or sorry in any way. Instead, it had bubbled out of him, as if he had been longing to be able to tell her. Thoroughly, he described every detail of his feelings for Hanna.
‘I feel so happy just from looking at her, talking to her, breathing in her smell, caressing her soft skin. I’m so in love with her, Alexandra. You’re going to understand when you meet her. It’s growing every day. She makes me feel good.’
In contrast to me? Alexandra had thought. Could she explain it to herself in any other way? Every little word with which he’d described Hanna made Alexandra feel like the opposite. He must have been lacking something in their relati
onship. She could hardly have had it put to her more black and white.
Why did he become attracted to and fall in love with other women? She didn’t understand that. She had tried to take him to couples’ therapy. Did everything in her power to get him to change. But the only option he had given her was to share him with Hanna.
Patrik opened the door, and she heard the police officers introduce themselves.
It was Hanna’s and Patrik’s fault that she’d had the miscarriage. The grief they caused her. She would never forgive them for that.
The past few days, she had barely had contact with her husband. Even though she understood that it was because of Liv, it felt as though he was distancing himself from her, and she didn’t know what to do about it. It also felt like he had turned more to his mother after what had happened. She didn’t know how much he and Hanna were able to talk to each other about the situation. Just that she and Patrik definitely hadn’t. More like avoided it.
Patrik had had a night shift when Liv was murdered, but what did that say really? Did she really believe him? When he met Liv in secret, he’d also said that he’d been at work, although he was actually having romantic trysts with her.
Now she saw him on the driveway. His head was lowered. Beaten. Grasp all, lose all. She had always been fascinated by proverbs.
Patrik was put in the back seat of the police car. She watched them as they drove out onto the street and disappeared around the bend.
It was probably just a matter of time before they wanted to interview her, too. How could he have put her in this situation? It made her so angry. She tried so hard not to become bitter, but it was difficult. So hellishly difficult. And destructive. But now she was unable to redirect her thoughts. It wasn’t possible to ignore the way things were any longer. It had gone too far.
Even before her mother-in-law was standing beside her, Alexandra knew she was there. She couldn’t remember Eva having ever used a different perfume in all these years. The scent was heavy and mixed with the smell of dust or mothballs or whatever it was. The way it smelt at Bosängen. It was a suffocating aroma that settled in your respiratory passages.
‘He’s not going to be able to support you for all eternity.’
‘Is that really what you’re thinking about right now? I think we have bigger things to worry about than whether I earn money or not.’ Alexandra continued staring out the window. Refused to even glance in her mother-in-law’s direction.
‘There’s nothing to worry about, I’m going to cover for him.’ As if she’d read her thoughts.
Now Alexandra did look at her mother-in-law, trying to focus on that wrinkled face. ‘But you can’t do that, can you?’
‘Do you think I have any choice? You women have been making a mess of all this from the very beginning. I have to clean up after you all the time. It’s a vicious circle that goes on repeating itself in front of my eyes. I hope that you all move up to Bosängen after this, so we can have a little peace and quiet.’
‘I am not setting my foot in Bosängen again.’
Again and again, she’d tried to tell Patrik what his mother was up to. She wanted to name several examples of her loathsome behaviour, but as usual, it was hard to express. It was the subtle things that hurt the most. It was as if Eva’s strategy was to measure out tiny, tiny portions of poison so that no one around would notice, but which when combined were fatal. There was such force in those little comments. But Patrik didn’t understand. He rationalised it as culture clash, linguistic misunderstandings. That is, it was Alexandra who misunderstood. Sometimes, he said that his mother was just a little coarse. But she was anything but coarse. She was a crafty woman who weighed every word carefully before she said anything and set them out like chess pieces that moved one at a time, until soon she wasn’t far off winning the game.
So normally Alexandra chose to take it, swallow it, and stay silent. But after a few days in Eva’s company, it was getting hard to keep her feelings in check. They overflowed and couldn’t be controlled. Every time that happened, she felt terribly bad and regretted it immediately. Ashamed that she couldn’t control herself better.
‘And who’s going to protect you now?’ Alexandra whispered when Eva left the room.
ELLEN
3.30 P.M.
Ellen pulled into the petrol station in Stentuna and parked by one of the pumps. Before she got out to fill up, she called Carola, who answered on the first ring. Ellen thanked her for the ice cream yesterday, asked how she was feeling, and continued with other pleasantries. Carola said that things were better today. Ellen was starting to think that perhaps they’d gotten a little too close to each other, and felt bothered by having to ask questions about this and that before they could get to the point. Maybe Andreas was right about her not being a sister person. Finally, Carola confirmed that the police had brought Patrik in for questioning.
‘And?’
‘Between the two of us, we’ve put surveillance on him.’
‘So, you don’t have enough to go on to arrest him?’
‘His car has turned up on surveillance cameras from the night of the murder.’
And that still wasn’t enough? ‘What can I release?’
‘That we’ve brought someone in for questioning. I’m sure you’ll figure out your story.’
‘Can I report that it’s Patrik Bosängen?’
‘No.’
‘Can you confirm that you’ve found the father of the child?’
‘Yes.’
‘How are you handling his other women?’
‘I can’t answer that, but we’re circling in the extended family.’
‘Hanna is wearing Liv’s ring. Or else she has one like it. Do you have any comment on that?’
‘Uh, no, not at the present time.’
That was new information to them, thought Ellen, and continued. ‘I’m trying to put everything together in chronological order. Is it possible to establish when the rape took place? And how do you know that it was a rape? Could it be the case that they’d had sex earlier in the day?’
‘She was raped.’
She also told Ellen that the phone that Alice had found in the sandbox and the potential murder weapon that had been recovered out on the field had been sent to the National Forensics Centre in Linköping for analysis.
‘If it were the case that the perpetrator hid the phone in the sandbox of all places, wouldn’t that be possible to see on the surveillance cameras from the school?’
Ellen thought she could hear a sigh from Carola. ‘Yes, you’re right, but nothing was seen on the tapes from the night of the murder itself, and after the police confiscated a copy, the principal didn’t turn on the cameras again. So, we’re never going to know the truth, unless there’s a witness who saw the whole thing.’
They talked a little longer and then hung up. Ellen sent off an email to the editorial office with a general summary. Then she called Jimmy, but he didn’t answer.
She didn’t get it. Even if he couldn’t start a relationship with her, he could still answer the phone, considering what had happened between them that morning. She shouldn’t have called. But after only a minute or so, she called again. Still no answer. The only thing she could think of was that presumably he was with his family. She could picture it and felt a stab of jealousy.
The heat hit her as she got out of the car and closed the door.
Her phone beeped. It was an email from Agatha, and Ellen skimmed it quickly. Agatha said that she’d got some help from Internet and that together they’d gone through Liv Lind’s social media and found some unpleasant comments. Internet had saved them and thought that it must be Bea posting comments under fake identities. Bea, too, had gotten some grief on her social media because of her family situation. Comments along the lines of Your dad is probably sleeping with you too.
Ellen replied to t
hem both: Has she written ‘BfH’? Want to know everything!
She guided the nozzle into the mouth of the tank, inhaled the petrol fumes deep down into her lungs, and thought that of course there were a number of reasons why Bea was the way she was. Surely it wouldn’t have been easy growing up in that kind of family, and the fact that her father wanted to live with several wives must have felt like a betrayal of her and her mother.
When the tank was full, she went into the store. Not enough that the whole place was overstuffed with Christmas decorations, today, Christmas music was also playing through the loudspeakers. She went up to the older man behind the counter.
‘Don’t suppose you have black-and-white gnomes?’
‘Black-and-white? No, is there such a thing?’
‘I don’t know, but I’m always looking. They’d fit in nicely at my place.’
‘On the other hand, I do have a number of other gnomes.’
‘Yes, you really do.’
‘Petrol on pump three. Anything else? A roll perhaps? They’re not fresh-baked, but they were just delivered.’ He chuckled.
Ellen saw that he himself was rather like a gnome. ‘When do you close in the evenings?’
‘About midnight. It varies a little, depending on business.’ He leant over the counter and spoke in a hushed voice, even though they were alone in the store. ‘She was in here and filled up right before closing last Sunday, though I think I’m maybe not supposed to tell you that. I didn’t realise it was her until the police reviewed the tapes.’ He pointed at a camera above the counter. ‘She filled up and bought a box of chocolates.’
Perhaps they were for Hanna? Ellen thought, wondering why she hadn’t been given this information, even if she knew Carola couldn’t tell her everything. She berated herself for not checking in at the petrol station earlier, even though really that information didn’t say all that much. That Liv had been in Stentuna was nothing new.
‘Was she alone in the car?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you see anything else?’