The Fire Witness

by Lars Kepler

  84

  Joona feels deep down that Vicky Bennet and the little boy are still alive. He can’t give up on them now.

  A girl who once slashed two people in the face with a broken bottle has taken a tiny boy from his mother and is hiding somewhere with him. The police have concluded that they are dead. No one is looking for them.

  Joona thinks about where he is in the investigation now he’s seen Vicky and the boy on the security camera video. He knows that Vicky has taken Eutrexa, and he’s checked on the side effects of this medicine with The Needle’s wife, who works as a psychiatrist.

  There’s too much that’s still not known, Joona thinks. It is possible that Vicky was suffering from an overdose of Eutrexa. Caroline had told him that the medicine starts to work when a person still has the pill in his or her mouth, inducing restlessness and anger.

  Joona closes his eyes and tries to imagine Vicky demanding the keys from Elisabet. She threatens Elisabet with a hammer. Elisabet flees across the yard to the old brewery. Vicky follows and flies into a rage and hits Elisabet again and again. Then she takes the keys from the dead woman, crosses the yard still carrying the hammer, picks up a rock, and opens the door to the isolation room. Miranda is sitting on a chair with a blanket around her. Vicky smashes her head repeatedly with the rock. She carries Miranda’s body to her bed and puts her hands over her face. Then her rage dies down.

  Vicky must have become confused, Joona thinks. She took the bloody blanket with her and hid it beneath her bed as the drug’s calming effect began to work. She probably felt unbelievably tired. All she did after that was kick off the boots into the closet, put the hammer under her pillow, and fall sleep. She woke up a few hours later, realized what she’d done, and became frightened. She fled through the window and headed straight into the forest.

  The side effects of the medicine could explain her rage as well as the bloody sheets.

  But what did she do with the rock? Had there really been a rock?

  Joona feels the tug of doubt—for the second time in his life, he wonders if The Needle could be wrong.

  85

  At five minutes to six, Elin walks through the door to Ward 52A. She greets a nursing assistant and says that she’s here to see Daniel Grim.

  “Visiting hours are over,” the woman says, and walks away.

  “I’ve driven the whole way from Stockholm,” Elin pleads.

  The nurse turns and looks at her. “If we make an exception for everyone, we’ll be running around twenty-four hours a day,” she says.

  “Please, just let me—”

  “You won’t even have time to drink a cup of coffee.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Elin insists.

  The nurse looks at Elin doubtfully, but then nods to Elin to follow her. She goes down the hall and knocks on the door of a patient’s room to the right.

  “Thanks,” Elin says, and waits until the nurse leaves before she walks in.

  Standing by the window is a man with an ashen face. He hasn’t shaved this morning and perhaps not the day before, either. He’s wearing jeans and a wrinkled shirt. He looks at her with a slight frown and runs his hand through his thin hair.

  “My name is Elin Frank,” Elin says softly. “I know I’m disturbing you and I apologize in advance.”

  “No, it’s … it’s …”

  He appears to have been crying, crying for many days. In a different context, Elin might have thought he was handsome. He has a friendly face and intelligent eyes.

  “I need to talk to you, but I understand if you’re not up to it,” she says.

  “It’s all right,” he says in a voice that sounds as if it will break at any moment. “The reporters kept coming by the first days, but I couldn’t speak … I couldn’t handle talking to them. There was nothing I could say. I mean, I wanted to help the police, but I couldn’t make it work. I couldn’t get my thoughts together …”

  Elin tries to think of a way to bring up the subject of Vicky. She understands that Vicky is a monster as far as he is concerned. She’s ruined his life. It won’t be easy to make him want to help out.

  “Do you mind if I ask you a few things?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.” Daniel rubs his face.

  “Daniel, I’m very sorry about what happened to you.”

  He whispers a thank-you. Then he looks up and says, “I just said thank you for your sympathy, but I really don’t understand what happened. I was worried about Elisabet’s heart … and …”

  The light leaves his face, which turns inward and ashen again.

  “I truly can’t comprehend what happened to you,” Elin says quietly.

  “I have my own psychologist now,” he says. He tries to smile but can’t. “I never thought I’d need my own psychologist. He listens to me. He listens and waits while I cry like a baby. I feel … You know, he won’t let the police talk to me. I would have made the same decision if I were in his place. At the same time, I know myself … It wouldn’t hurt me to talk. I should tell him I can talk to them … not that I know if I’d be of any real help.”

  “It’s probably good to listen to your psychologist,” she says.

  “Do I sound that confused?” he asks.

  “No, but …”

  “Sometimes I remember something that I think I should tell the police, but I immediately forget what it is. It’s strange. I can’t keep my thoughts straight. It’s as if I am absolutely exhausted.”

  “I’m sure things will get better again.”

  He rubs his finger under his nose. Then he looks at her.

  “Did you tell me which newspaper you’re working for?”

  She shakes her head and says, “I’m here because Vicky Bennet lived with me when she was six years old.”

  86

  The room in the psychiatric ward is quiet. Elin can hear steps in the hallway. Daniel is blinking behind his glasses as if he is trying to take in what Elin has just said.

  “I heard about her on the news … the car and the boy,” he whispers.

  “I know,” she says, keeping her voice low. “But if she is still alive, where would she be hiding?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I want to know the people that she trusted.”

  He studies her for a second and then says, “You don’t believe she’s dead, do you?”

  “No, I don’t,” she says quietly.

  “You don’t believe it because you don’t want to believe it,” he says. “Do you have any proof that she didn’t drown in the river?”

  “Please don’t be afraid,” Elin says. “But we are fairly sure that she and the boy escaped from the car.”

  “We?”

  “A detective inspector and me.”

  “I don’t understand. Why do they say she drowned, if she—”

  “Most of the police involved in the case do think that they drowned, and they’ve stopped looking for her and for the boy.”

  “But not you?”

  “Maybe I’m the only person in the world who cares about Vicky right now just because she’s Vicky,” Elin says. She can’t manage to smile at him and she can’t keep her voice gentle any longer.

  “And now you want my help to find her?”

  “Maybe she will hurt the boy,” Elin says. “Maybe she will hurt other people.”

  “Well, I don’t believe that,” Daniel says. For the first time, he looks at Elin with an open face. “In the beginning, I said I doubted that she’d killed Miranda. I still can’t believe that she would …” Daniel mumbles something.

  “What did you just say?” Elin asks.

  “What?”

  “You just whispered something to yourself.”

  “I don’t believe Vicky killed Elisabet.”

  “You don’t?”

  “I’ve worked with troubled girls for many years and I, well, it doesn’t fit.”

  “But—”

  “During my time as a therapist, I’ve met many girl
s who have dark souls, girls who could kill, who—”

  “But not Vicky.”

  “No, not Vicky.”

  Elin smiles widely and feels her eyes filling with tears. She struggles to bring her emotions back under control.

  “You’ve got to explain this to the police,” she says.

  “I already did. They know that, in my opinion, Vicky is not violent. Of course, I could be wrong,” Daniel says, rubbing his eyes.

  “Can you help me?”

  “Did you say Vicky lived with you for six years?”

  “No, I said she was six years old when she lived with me,” she replies.

  “What would you like me to do?”

  “I have to find her, Daniel. You spoke to her for hours. You must know about her friends, boyfriends, anyone.”

  “Maybe … We talked about group dynamics for the most part and … I’m sorry, I’m having difficulty keeping my train of thought.”

  “Please try.”

  “I met her at least once a day … I don’t know for sure, perhaps twenty-five conversations. Vicky, she is … The danger with Vicky is that she drifts away in her thoughts. What I would be worrying about is that she might just leave the boy somewhere. In the middle of the road, perhaps.”

  “Where would she be hiding? Did she have any family? I mean, anyone she particularly liked?”

  87

  The door to Daniel’s room swings open and the assistant nurse enters with his medication for the evening. She stops abruptly when she sees Elin.

  “What is this?” she says. “You were only supposed to be here for five minutes.”

  “I know,” Elin says. “But there was something important we had to—”

  “It is six thirty,” she interrupts.

  “I’m sorry,” Elin says, and she turns to Daniel. “Where should I start my search?”

  “Get out,” the nurse orders.

  “Please,” Elin says, and folds her hands as if in prayer. “I do need to talk to Daniel.”

  “Are you deaf?” the nurse says. “I told you to get out!”

  The nurse swears and leaves the room. Elin touches Daniel’s arm.

  “Vicky must have talked about places or friends.”

  “Yes, that’s true. I can’t think of anything, however. I’m really having trouble—”

  “Please try.”

  “I know I’m completely useless, but …” He rubs his forehead hard.

  “The other girls, they must know something about Vicky.”

  “Yes, they should. Caroline maybe.”

  A man in a white shirt and pants strides into the room. The nurse is right behind him.

  “Please follow me,” the man says.

  “One more minute,” Elin pleads.

  “Right now,” he barks.

  “Please,” Elin says, her eyes pleading. “It’s about my daughter.”

  “Come with me now,” he says, but his tone is milder.

  Elin’s mouth is trembling as she sinks to her knees in front of them.

  “Just a few more minutes,” she begs.

  “If we have to, we’ll drag you out.”

  “Now that’s enough of this,” Daniel says, and he helps Elin up from the floor.

  The nurse protests. “She is not supposed to be here after six o’clock!”

  “Shut up!” Daniel roars. He takes Elin by the arm and leads her from the room. “We’ll talk in the foyer or the parking lot.”

  They walk down the hallway and keep going even as they hear steps behind them.

  “I plan to go to Birgittagården to talk to the girls,” Elin says.

  “They’re not there. They’ve been evacuated.”

  “Where to?”

  He holds the glass door for her and follows her to the landing by the elevator.

  “To an old fishing village north of Hudiksvall.”

  Elin presses the elevator call button. “Will they let me in?”

  “If I go there with you, they will,” he says.

  88

  Elin and Daniel drive away from the hospital, neither one of them saying a word. As she pulls onto the E4, she gets out her cell phone and calls Joona Linna.

  “Sorry to bother you,” she says, her voice tinged with despair.

  “You can call me whenever you want,” Joona says. His tone is friendly.

  “I’m in my car with Daniel Grim and he doesn’t believe that Vicky did those horrible things,” Elin explains quickly.

  “Even though all the technical evidence points to her.”

  “It can’t be true. Daniel says that she’s not violent,” Elin says.

  “She can become violent,” Joona says.

  “You don’t know her!” Elin erupts.

  Joona says nothing for a few seconds. Then he says calmly, “Ask Daniel about Eutrexa. It’s a drug.”

  “Eutrexa?”

  Daniel looks at Elin.

  “Ask him about side effects,” Joona says before hanging up.

  Elin drives quickly back along the coast, heading toward the forest.

  “What side effects does Eutrexa have?” she asks.

  “A person can become extremely aggressive if he or she takes an overdose,” Daniel says matter-of-factly.

  “Was Vicky prescribed this drug?”

  Daniel nods and Elin says nothing.

  “It is a good drug,” Daniel tries to explain, but then he falls silent.

  Almost all the light from the headlights is swallowed by the trees at the edge of the forest. The shadows overlap until there is nothing but darkness.

  “Did you notice that you said Vicky was your daughter?”

  “Yes, I know,” Elin says. “It just came out.”

  “She was your daughter for a little while.”

  “Yes, she was,” Elin says, keeping her eyes on the road.

  They drive past the vast Armsjön Lake. It gleams like cast iron in the darkness.

  Daniel takes a deep breath. “I was trying to think of something Vicky said when she first arrived but now I can’t remember it. Oh yes, she said she had some friends from Chile who had a house …”

  He falls silent and looks out the passenger-side window. There are tears on his cheeks.

  “Elisabet and I were hoping to go to Chile and then there was the huge earthquake …”

  He takes a deep breath, but sits quietly with his hands in his lap.

  “You were talking about Vicky,” Elin says.

  “That’s right. Where was I?”

  “You said she had friends from Chile.”

  “Yes.”

  “They had a house somewhere.”

  “Did I say that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn it,” he mumbles. “What is wrong with me? That is … Maybe I should have stayed at the hospital. This is kind of crazy.”

  Elin smiles weakly at him. “I’m glad that you didn’t.”

  89

  They leave the highway at Jättendal and head toward the coast on a single-lane road that takes them past old farmhouses and falling-down barns and then back into the dark forest. Where the road ends, there’s a cluster of houses in Falun red and before them the opalescent eternity of the sea. The midsummer pole is still standing in the village, its birch leaves and flowers now brown and hanging loose. A large wooden house with a beautiful glass-enclosed veranda faces the water. Once a country store, for several years now it has been owned by the company that manages Brigittagården.

  Elin steers the car slowly between the fence posts and parks. As she undoes her seat belt, Daniel warns, “You have to be prepared for these girls. They’ve had rough lives.” He pushes his glasses high on his nose. “They’re going to provoke you. They like to test the boundaries.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Elin says. “I was a teenager once, too.”

  “This is something completely different,” Daniel says. “It’s not always easy, not even for me. They can be really terrible at times.”

  “So what do you say
when they try to provoke you?” asks Elin. She looks him in the eye.

  “The best thing is to be as honest and clear as possible.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Elin opens the car door.

  “Wait, there’s one more thing before we go in. They have a security guard there. I think that he should accompany you the entire time.”

  Elin smiles. “Isn’t that a bit excessive?”

  “Well, I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, you don’t have to be afraid, but I think—I know that you shouldn’t be alone with two of the girls. Not even for a short time.”

  “Which ones?”

  “Almira and a little girl named Tuula.”

  “Are they that dangerous?”

  He holds up a hand. “I’m just saying I would like the guard to be there if you want to talk to them.”

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t worry,” he says, trying to calm her. “They can also be quite nice, all of them.”

  The air is cool and carries with it the scent of the sea. Elin pauses after she locks the car.

  “One of the girls must know about Vicky’s friends,” she says.

  “Even if one of them does, you can’t assume that she’ll want to tell you.”

  A path of black slate leads around the gable and to the front steps. Elin’s red heels keep getting caught between the stones. It’s late in the evening, but one girl is lying in the hammock next to the lilac tree, smoking. Her pale face and tattooed arms shine in the darkness.

  “Hey, Daniel,” the girl says, and smiles. She sits up and tosses the cigarette onto the grass.

  “Hello, Almira,” Daniel says.

  “Hello,” Elin says, smiling.

  Almira stares directly at Elin but does not smile back. Her dark eyebrows meet over her large nose and her cheeks are peppered with acne.

  “Vicky beat his wife to death,” Almira says. “And when Elisabet was dead, she killed Miranda, too. I don’t think she’s going to stop until we’re all dead.”

  Almira gets out of the hammock and walks up the stairs and into the house.