Liv

by Mikaela Bley

  She took a few deep breaths. ‘Johan said that your car was driving around here the night of the murder, he saw it on the cameras. Was that why you were so afraid I had seen the video?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You know what, I don’t want to know.’ Instead, she told him about the teachers’ meeting she’d been to the evening that Liv was murdered. She tried to explain how they’d had wine, that she’d become a little too drunk, and how in pure desperation and misery, she’d had a one-night stand with Johan. He had always been fond of her, and in the heat and despair of the moment, she’d gotten the idea to cry on his shoulder, which led to her being unfaithful as well.

  ‘What the hell are you saying to me?’ The anger in his voice cut through the warm air.

  ‘I know, I’m not any better.’

  Hanna described how she had staggered home that night and how angry the neighbour had been because she was late. In the gravel by the gate, she found a phone, which she picked up in the belief that it might be one of the children’s — she hadn’t checked it that carefully. The baby things that Liv was supposed to pick up were still outside the front door, but she’d been too drunk to even consider that something might have happened.

  Then she passed out. When she woke up the following morning and looked at the phone, she realised it was Liv’s. She talked to the children about it and asked if they knew where it came from and why it had been by their gate. But they didn’t know anything, and a short time later, the doorbell rang, and two policemen came in and informed her of what had happened.

  ‘I had time to turn off the phone and managed to hide it. After that, the lies just kept coming.’

  Hanna told him about Karl and the power games. About Bea, who controlled the group and made them do hideous things. Among other things, how they had broken into her house to search for the phone, presumably to get Hanna arrested, and how Alice had managed to protect her mother by hiding with the phone.

  ‘You told this to the police?’

  She nodded.

  Stoffe got up and started walking back and forth on the patio. It looked like he was preparing himself for a disaster.

  Hanna went on to the apology note that Alice had written and placed on the memorial heap. ‘Before I went to the police, I asked Alice to explain what it was she’d been apologising for. Alice cried. Do you know why she was sorry? Because when she saw how sad I got after you brought Liv into our family, she wished that Liv would disappear and, poof, she died. Do you see? She was asking for forgiveness because she thought her wish had been fulfilled.’ Hanna laughed. ‘You know, whatever has happened between us, I’m glad that we managed to have a daughter who believes she has those kinds of superpowers.’ She wiped away a tear from her cheek and glanced at Patrik. It wasn’t possible to interpret his expression in the dark, but his neck was bent. ‘The police asked about the ring, too.’

  The ring each one of them had received. Plus one. Where Liv’s ring had gone, she had no idea, but that was no longer her problem. She pulled off her own, even though it was stuck on tightly because her fingers were so swollen from the heat, and placed it on the table. ‘I don’t want to be plus one any longer.’

  She leant back and closed her eyes. Felt several kilos lighter.

  Tomorrow she would take the children and leave town. They would start afresh. They’d move home to her parents’ and take one day at a time. No one would be able to stop them from leaving this time. She would resign and apply for a new job in Gävle. The children would start at a new school. They would break the vicious circle they had ended up in. Everything would be fine.

  TUESDAY, 26 AUGUST

  ELLEN

  9.00 A.M.

  The mood in the editorial office was completely different now. Just over a week after the murder, Liv Lind was front-page news. The murder in the summer idyll had reached into people’s living rooms. Finally, people could shudder together at the sensational case involving the man and his wives. It was all it took to tickle people’s imaginations. They wanted to know more. Conspiracy theories were as numerous as sexual fantasies.

  The day’s question in Aftonbladet was whether you could imagine sharing your partner with other people. The majority answered no. Aftonbladet TV had done an interview with Carola, and Ellen could easily tell how uncomfortable she felt in front of the camera. She was impressed by Aftonbladet’s work with live broadcasts and interviews. They had improved their game and become a major competitor in TV news as well. Expressen was also doing solid work and had arranged a long interview with Börje Swahn and another officer who was working on the investigation, whose name she hadn’t heard mentioned before. None of the interviews revealed anything new, even if the tabloids were feasting on the juicier relationship angle.

  Leif G.W. Persson had written a column about the murder and insisted that everything pointed towards the fact that someone close to the victim was behind it. As usual, he was extremely sure of himself. And, even though it was sometimes painful to admit, he was actually often right.

  One news site reported that Hanna Andersson’s DNA had been found on Liv’s phone, and Ellen had been trying in vain to reach Carola to get that confirmed.

  Most of the editorial staff were now in the ‘Värmland’ conference room. The Crime Scene Sweden editorial team was there too.

  She wondered about Carola and why she wasn’t replying. There were two different possibilities. Either she’d been given strict orders to be more restrictive with information she passed on to Ellen and other media, or she was sick again. Ellen couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.

  She, herself, was very depressed. Remembering and processing the past was just as hard as she’d imagined, which was probably why she hadn’t done anything about it before. Now, more than ever, she needed to work. She couldn’t take breathing in the pig stink at Örelo and had driven up to Stockholm early in the morning. Margareta had protested, but couldn’t stop her.

  Jimmy clapped his hands to get silence in the room. ‘Okay, this is a murder that has several interesting elements, but we also have to be able to stand behind the way we report on this case. We need to prioritise correctly, here. It can’t get smutty.’

  Ellen rested her eyes on him and wished it was just the two of them in the room, so they could talk undisturbed. Why hadn’t he answered her calls? She’d called him several times a day, but he’d neither answered nor called her back. The only person who seemed to want to talk to her was Didrik, but she refused to answer his calls. She never wanted to see him again, and she couldn’t stop wondering why Margareta was buying grain at an exorbitant price from Didrik and why she hadn’t known about it before.

  Philip had taken off for a make-up conference in London, and she felt lonely.

  ‘What new information do you have? Ellen, have you got anything from your police contact?’

  ‘I haven’t been able to reach her this morning. I’ll have to get back to you.’

  ‘If anyone else has a good contact at the police, please consult with them while Ellen keeps hunting. Keep track of the tabloids for now, even if it’s repugnant. So what do we know, Ellen?’

  Ellen hadn’t been prepared for this attention and didn’t really know where to start. ‘May I?’ she asked, pointing at Jimmy’s computer.

  He nodded, and his eye contact was so intense and present that she had a hard time tearing away. At the same time, she could sense that something wasn’t right. She connected his computer and showed them a classic overview of the current situation.

  ‘What advantage do we have compared with the other news channels? As we have a 360-degree unit, we need to exploit that.’

  ‘Can we get the family on Malou? It’s just so interesting. I want to know how he manages to juggle three wives,’ said Agatha.

  ‘Yes, but it might be a little sensitive now because he just lost one. And besides, isn’t he under surve
illance? And who knows how the wives have been involved?’ said Ellen.

  Everyone took turns putting forward different angles and theories, but they got nowhere. At last, they decided to run a segment in Crime Scene Sweden on tomorrow’s program.

  When Ellen told them about the Bosängen family, Leif interrupted her.

  ‘Imagine if we still had TV4 Värmland now. But of course, sitting here in this conference room is nearly as good as if we were in Värmland.’ He laughed scornfully. ‘Great compensation for the fact that we closed down all the local stations.’

  ‘Quit it, Leif.’

  They ended the meeting, and everyone left the room.

  Ellen stayed seated while Jimmy packed up his computer.

  ‘What happened to your face?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said, touching her red nose. She’d tried to cover it up with make-up, but it appeared she had failed.

  ‘Nothing.’ He nodded and grinned at her.

  Ellen was confused and didn’t understand why he was being so rude and irritable. ‘Has something happened?’

  ‘You are careful, aren’t you?’ He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I don’t even know why I care.’

  She nodded and bit her lip, but really, she wanted to ask him to hold her. She waited a little while. ‘What are you talking about? Why don’t you answer when I call?’

  ‘Seriously, do you really think I need to answer that?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Ellen, I need to talk to you.’ Internet walked into ‘Värmland’. ‘Oh, sorry,’ he said when he saw that Jimmy was there too.

  ‘No, it’s no problem, come on in — I was just leaving,’ said Jimmy and disappeared.

  Ellen shook her head, she didn’t get it. Since they’d last seen each other at Örelo, what could have happened?

  ‘Listen, I’ve been doing a little checking up on that Bea, like you asked me.’

  She didn’t feel like talking about it at all, but figured that probably made no difference.

  ‘Let’s sit down,’ said Internet.

  Ellen did as he said and wondered why he was looking so serious. What was going on with everyone?

  They sat down at the oval conference table.

  ‘Look at this,’ he said, following a link on the phone.

  She leant forward.

  At first, when she pressed play, she didn’t understand what she was looking at, but after a while, she managed to make out what the kids were doing. They were rubbing at their hands with erasers until they started to bleed. ‘What the hell is this?’

  ‘I looked into some of the accounts that had commented in Liv Lind’s feed, and then I found Bea and several of her different aliases, which led me to this.’

  Internet played a clip of Bea about to be run over by Ellen.

  ‘What the fuck?’ She put her hands in front of her mouth. ‘Someone filmed that?’

  ‘It’s called power play, and apparently it’s really big among kids and teens. They compete over who can do the worst things, and if you don’t go along with it, you get bullied, beaten up, and a lot of other crap. In this one, the competition is about who can throw themselves in front of a car.’

  ‘But why?’ She’d never heard of this before.

  ‘It starts with innocent games that get out of control. What I showed you before, with the eraser, is apparently called “Eraser Homo”. Anyone who stops, or starts crying, is homosexual. There’s also one called “Nadish”, or “the Slave Game”. A ruler has power over the slaves. If they don’t do what he or she says, they are forced to do other things, which seems to be anything from getting milk at the cafeteria to shoplifting, or otherwise they get beaten. Usually, the task is to hurt or offend anyone the ruler doesn’t like. It’s almost always guys and girls with high status who become rulers. Bea seems to be the ruler in this gang. Or at least, from what I’ve been able to find. They post the videos on social media.’

  Ellen remembered what Hanna had told her about Bea and Karl. ‘But why did she throw herself in front of my car?’

  He shrugged. ‘Apparently, it’s called “I Dare You” — usually it involves a yellow car, but a pink one probably worked just as well, or else she was just out to get you?’

  She remembered the girls at the library. She found the picture she’d taken and showed it to Internet. ‘This was where they posted the video. So, it was just a game. And I thought it was my fault that I almost ran over her.’

  ‘Actually, we shouldn’t call it a game. It’s far from innocent. That isn’t the worst video. I’m extremely sorry, and I wish I didn’t have to show this to you.’

  ‘What do you mean? What is it?’

  He pressed play.

  ELLEN

  9.50 A.M.

  It took a few seconds before she understood what was happening on the screen. ‘Turn it off!’ she yelled when she saw herself. And Didrik. In the water, by the shore at Örelo. The little bastards had filmed it. She closed her eyes, but the sound from the video penetrated into her head, and suddenly she saw strange images in front of her. ‘Turn it off, please. Can you just close that clip?’

  Internet nervously fumbled with the phone as the act escalated and the sound filled the whole room.

  She tore the phone out of his hands and turned it off.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked after a while.

  Ellen rested her head in her hands and just wanted to sink through the floor and disappear forever.

  Internet placed a hand on her shoulder. She shook it away. It was humiliating enough that he’d seen her like that.

  ‘How long is the clip?’

  ‘Long enough …’

  ‘Have you watched the whole thing?’ she asked, but didn’t want to know. ‘Where did you find it?’

  ‘It was posted in several different places. I’ve been keeping track of both you and Bea Bosängen, because a lot of hateful things have come in directed at both of you, starting with the murder of Liv Lind. I think I’ve removed most of it, and the police have also been involved, of course. We contacted them.’

  ‘Who’s “we”?’ Her stomach knotted up. ‘Who else has seen this?’

  ‘If you mean besides anyone who’s watched it online, then … Not that many.’ He understood what she meant. ‘Jimmy has been in charge, but we’ve kept it close so no one here at Four would see it.’

  The muscles all over her body tensed, and it felt as if she were standing on a train track and the train was approaching. How would Jimmy have reacted when he saw the clip?

  ‘Not that it’s any of my business, but is that your boyfriend?’

  ‘No, quite right, it isn’t any of your business.’ Once again, she rested her head in her hands and just wanted to vanish from the surface of the earth.

  ‘I don’t know anything about it, and I don’t have the right to say anything, but …’

  ‘Don’t then.’

  He was silent a little while, but then he continued anyway. ‘Is he nice to you? It looks like you aren’t really into it.’

  Ellen closed her eyes.

  ‘Like I said, it’s none of my business, but … I think Jimmy is going to talk to you about it.’

  ‘Just be quiet, please. I was in on it. It’s like a game …’

  ‘It doesn’t look that fun.’

  ‘Look, I don’t know, we were drunk. Did I ask you for your opinion?’ She glared at him, but quickly softened when she saw the worry in his eyes. ‘Sorry. It’s not your fault. So Jimmy has seen the video?’

  ‘Yes, it was unavoidable. Jimmy and two girls in the security department. I thought he’d talked to you? He said he would and told me to review it with you.’

  Ellen kicked at a chair. ‘Can I be alone for a moment?’

  ‘Definitely.’ He stood up quickly, as if she’d frighte
ned him. Before he went out the door, she asked him to email her the link to the video.

  ‘Is that a good idea? Why would you want that?’

  ‘Didn’t you take it down everywhere?’

  ‘Yes, but we’ve saved it as evidence, and it may pop up again — those kids are creating new accounts all the time. It’s on a server. You need a log-in to access it.’

  ‘Why did they do this to me?’

  He shrugged. ‘Little shits. It’s probably part of those games. Games can be dangerous.’

  She stared ahead at the wall. ‘Can you turn off the light when you leave, please?’

  ELLEN

  10.30 A.M.

  She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there. The conference room felt smaller and smaller with every breath she took. Finally, the surge of adrenaline couldn’t be stopped. Without thinking, she rushed out of ‘Värmland’ and over to Jimmy’s office, but it was empty.

  ‘Where’s Jimmy?’

  ‘He just left,’ said Agatha.

  ‘Where to?’ She looked at her colleague, who shrugged.

  Ellen ran out of the office and down the stairs. The guy in reception told her that Jimmy had just left and asked to have all his calls transferred to Agatha.

  She rushed out to the parking lot outside the TV4 building, looked around, but couldn’t see him anywhere. Ellen continued towards the subway; it felt most likely that that was where he’d headed. She ran into some colleagues from Programming who had seen him walking down towards the park at Gärdet. Far out on the grass she caught sight of him.

  ‘Jimmy,’ she called, but he didn’t react. Either he didn’t hear her, or he was ignoring her. ‘Jimmy!’ she shouted even louder.

  After a while, he slowed down, and at last he stopped. But he didn’t turn around. When Ellen caught up with him, she was so out of breath she could barely talk. Her skin was flushed, and she clutched her chest.

  Jimmy stared at her with what she perceived as loathing. Or else it was her own image of herself that she saw in the dark look he gave her, and she didn’t know which was worse.