The Preacher

by Camilla Lackberg

  Patrik took notes using brief keywords. Gösta hadn’t said a thing since they arrived, other than his name when he was introduced to Gabriel and Laine. Patrik gave him an enquiring look to see whether he wanted to have anything clarified regarding the incident, but he sat in silence, carefully studying his cuticles. I could just as well have brought along a doorstop, Patrik thought.

  ‘Do you have any idea of a possible motive?’

  The reply came quickly from Gabriel, almost as if he wanted to ward off something that Laine might say.

  ‘No, nothing other than good old envy. It has always been a thorn in the side that my family lives here at the manor, and we’ve experienced a number of drunken attacks over the years. Just innocent pranks. And that’s how this would have ended too, if my wife hadn’t insisted on calling in the police.’

  He cast an ill-humoured glance at Laine, who for the first time during the conversation showed a little energy and angrily glared back. The defiance of her action seemed to ignite a smouldering spark in her. To Patrik she said calmly, without even a glance at her husband, ‘I think you should have a talk with Robert and Stefan Hult, my husband’s nephews, and ask them where they were yesterday.’

  ‘Laine, that is quite unnecessary!’

  ‘You weren’t here, so you don’t know how horrid it is to have rocks come flying through your window just a few feet away. They could have hit me. And you know as well as I do that it was those two idiots who did it.’

  Gabriel spoke through clenched teeth, his jaw muscles visibly tensed. ‘Laine, we agreed – ’

  ‘You agreed!’ She ignored him and turned to Patrik, fortified by her own unusual show of defiance.

  ‘As I said, I didn’t see them, but I could swear that it was Stefan and Robert. Their mother, Solveig, was here earlier in the day, and she behaved very unpleasantly. Those two are real bad eggs, as you already know. You’ve undoubtedly dealt with them before.’

  She gestured towards Patrik and Gösta, who could do nothing but nod in agreement. Of course they’d had dealings with the notorious Hult brothers, and at an alarming rate, ever since they were no more than pimply teenagers.

  Laine gave Gabriel another withering look as if to see whether he dared contradict her, but he merely shrugged his shoulders in resignation. It was a gesture that indicated he was washing his hands of the matter.

  ‘What caused the row with their mother?’ asked Patrik.

  ‘Not that someone like her needs much of an excuse. She has always hated us, but what really made her lose it yesterday was the news about the bodies you found in the King’s Cleft. With her limited intelligence Solveig made it sound like it proved that her husband Johannes had been innocently accused, and she blamed Gabriel for it.’

  Her voice rose with agitation and she pointed at her husband, who now looked as if he’d mentally retreated from the whole conversation.

  ‘I’ve gone through the old papers from when the girls went missing,’ said Patrik. ‘I saw that you reported your brother to the police as a suspect. Could you tell us a little about that?’

  Gabriel flinched almost imperceptibly, a little tell-tale sign that the question bothered him, but his voice sounded calm when he replied.

  ‘It was many, many years ago. But if you’re asking whether I still maintain that I saw my brother with Siv Lantin, then the answer is yes. I’d been at the hospital in Uddevalla, visiting my son who was then sick with leukaemia, and I was driving home. On the way up to Bräcke I saw my brother’s car. I thought it was a bit odd for him to be out driving in the middle of the night, so I looked more closely. That’s when I saw the girl sitting in the passenger seat with her head leaning on my brother’s shoulder. It looked like she was asleep.’

  ‘How did you know it was Siv?’

  ‘I didn’t. But I recognized her again the moment I saw her picture in the paper. I’d like to point out that I never said my brother murdered those girls, the way people here in town would have you believe. All I did was report that I saw him with the girl named Siv, because I considered it my civic duty. It had nothing to do with any conflict between the two of us, or revenge, as some have claimed. I told the police what I saw. As for what it meant, I left that up to the authorities to find out. And obviously they never found any evidence against Johannes, so I think this whole discussion is beside the point.’

  ‘But what did you think?’ said Patrik with a curious glance at Gabriel. He was having a hard time understanding how anyone could be so conscientious that he would finger his own brother.

  ‘I don’t speculate; I stick to the facts.’

  ‘But you knew your brother well. Do you think he would have been capable of murder?’

  ‘My brother and I didn’t have much in common. Sometimes I was amazed that we shared the same genes, we were so unlike each other. You ask whether I think he was capable of taking someone’s life?’ Gabriel threw out his hands. ‘I don’t really know. I didn’t know my brother well enough to be able to answer that question. And it seems to be superfluous now anyway, considering the latest developments, don’t you think?’

  With that he considered the discussion over and he got up from the armchair. Patrik and Gösta took the hint, thanked him for his time and left.

  ‘What do you say, shall we go have a chat with the boys about their activities last night?’

  The question was rhetorical, and Patrik had already started driving towards Stefan and Robert’s house without waiting for Gösta to reply. The older man’s lack of participation during the interview annoyed him. What would it take to shake some life into the old fogey? It’s true he didn’t have much time left until he retired, but until then, damn it, he was on duty and was expected to do his job.

  ‘Well, what’s your take on all this?’ The irritation in Patrik’s voice was clear.

  ‘Well, I don’t know which alternative is worse. That we have a murderer who’s killed at least three girls in the past twenty years, and we have no idea who he is. Or that it really was Johannes Hult who tortured and murdered Siv and Mona and that we now have a copycat. To follow up on the first alternative, we should probably check with the prison register. Is there anyone who was incarcerated after Siv and Mona disappeared and then released before the murder of the German girl? That would explain the break between the killings.’ Gösta’s tone was thoughtful, and Patrik looked at him in amazement. The old guy wasn’t as lost in the fog as he’d thought.

  ‘That should be pretty easy to check out. We don’t have many prisoners in Sweden that have served a twenty-year sentence. Will you check on it when we get back to the station?’

  Gösta nodded and then sat in silence, looking out the side window.

  The track leading to the old forester’s cabin grew worse and worse. As the crow flies, it was only a short distance between Gabriel and Laine’s residence and the little cabin where Solveig and her sons lived. But it was a considerably longer distance in social standing. The place looked like a junkyard: three ramshackle cars in varying states of disrepair looked as if they’d been flung there and there was a lot of refuse of indeter minate character. The family were obviously packrats. Patrik suspected that if he rummaged about he might also find a good deal of stolen goods that had been reported missing from summer-cabin break-ins in the area. But that’s not why they were here today. It was a matter of choosing one’s battles.

  Robert came towards them from a shed where he’d been tinkering with one of the old wrecked cars. He was dressed in dirty work coveralls of a washed-out denim. Oil covered his hands, and he had apparently rubbed his face, leaving behind streaks and flecks of oil. He wiped his hands on a rag as he came to meet them.

  ‘What the hell do you want now? If you’re looking for something here I’m going to have to see the proper documents before you can touch anything.’ His tone was familiar. And justifiably so, since they had met on many occasions over the years.

  Patrik held up his hands. ‘Take it easy. We’re not looking for
anything. We just want to have a little talk.’

  Robert gave them a suspicious look but then nodded.

  ‘And we want to talk to your brother too. Is he here?’

  Reluctantly Robert nodded again and yelled towards the house, ‘Stefan, the cops are here. They want to talk to us!’

  ‘How about if we go inside and sit down?’

  Without waiting for a reply, Patrik headed towards the door with Gösta following close behind. Robert had no other choice but to follow. He didn’t bother taking off his work overalls or washing his hands. After staging previous raids, Patrik knew that there was no reason to do so. Filth clung to everything in the house. Many years before, the cabin had no doubt been very cosy, if small. But years of neglect had taken their toll, and now the place was a disaster zone. The wallpaper was a dismal brown, with loose patches and plenty of spots. Besides the dirt, everything seemed to be covered with a thin film of grease.

  The two detectives nodded to Solveig, who was sitting at the rickety kitchen table, busy with her photo albums. Her dark hair hung in limp strands along her face, and when she nervously brushed the fringe out of her eyes, her fingers shone with grease. Unconsciously, Patrik wiped his hands on his shorts and then sat down cautiously on the very edge of a straight-backed chair. Stefan came out from one of the adjoining little rooms and sullenly sat down next to his brother and mother on the kitchen bench. When they sat in a row Patrik could see the family resemblance. Solveig’s former beauty was preserved like an echo in the faces of her sons. According to what Patrik had heard, Johannes had been a handsome fellow, and if his sons would straighten their backs they would look fairly decent. But there was a volatility about them that hinted at a slightly slippery temperament. ‘Dishonesty’ was probably the word that Patrik was searching for. If someone’s appearance could be dishonest, then that description would certainly apply to Robert. Patrik still held out a little hope for Stefan. On the occasions when they had run into each other officially, the younger boy had always presented a less hardened veneer than his brother. Sometimes Patrik could sense an ambivalence in him about the path in life he had chosen, following in Robert’s wake. It was a shame that Robert exerted such an influence on him, otherwise Stefan might have had a completely different life. But it was probably too late for that.

  ‘What the hell do you want now?’ Stefan asked the same surly question as his brother.

  ‘We’d just like to hear what you were doing last night. Were the two of you out visiting your aunt and uncle and amusing yourselves with a little rock-throwing?’

  A conspiratorial glance passed between the brothers before they put on a mask of utter ignorance.

  ‘No, why would we do that? We were at home all evening yesterday, weren’t we, Mamma?’

  They both turned to Solveig, who nodded. She had closed the album temporarily and now sat listening attentively to the conversation between her sons and the police.

  ‘Yes, both of them were here last night. We were watching TV together. We had a nice family evening.’ She didn’t even bother concealing her sarcasm.

  ‘And Stefan and Robert didn’t go out for a little while? Say, around ten o’clock?’

  ‘No, they weren’t gone even a minute. Didn’t even go to the loo, as far as I remember.’ Still the same sarcastic tone of voice, and her sons couldn’t help sniggering. ‘So somebody broke a couple of windows at their house last night. That must have scared the shit out of them.’

  The sniggering now turned into a chorus that made Patrik think of Beavis and Butthead.

  ‘No, just your aunt, actually. Gabriel was out of town yesterday, so she was alone in the house.’

  Disappointment was written across their faces. They had probably hoped to scare both of them, and they hadn’t reckoned with Gabriel not being at home.

  ‘I heard that you also paid them a little visit at the manor house yesterday, Solveig. And some threats were made. Do you have anything to say about that?’ It was Gösta who asked the question. Patrik as well as the Hult brothers stared at him in astonishment.

  Solveig gave a vulgar laugh. ‘So, they said I threatened them, did they? Well, I didn’t say anything that they didn’t deserve. It was Gabriel who fingered my husband as a murderer. He was the one who took my husband’s life, just as if he had tied the noose himself.’

  A muscle twitched in Robert’s face at the mention of the way his father had died. Patrik recalled at once what he’d read: that it was Robert who had found his father after he hanged himself.

  Solveig continued her harangue. ‘Gabriel always hated Johannes. He’d been jealous of him ever since they were little. Johannes was everything that his brother was not, and Gabriel knew it. Ephraim always favoured Johannes, and in a way I understand. Naturally you should never favour one child over another,’ she said, nodding at the boys seated next to her on the bench. ‘But Gabriel was a cold fish, while Johannes was full of life. I should know; I was engaged first to one and then the other. It was impossible to get Gabriel excited about anything. He was always so damned proper. He said we had to wait until we were married. It got on my nerves. Then his brother came along and began hovering about, and that was something completely different. Those hands of his could be all over you at once. He made me burn with lust just by looking at me.’ She chuckled and stared into space, as if she were reliving her hot nights of youth.

  ‘Damn it, will you shut up, Mamma?’

  Disgust was visible on her sons’ faces. They obviously wanted to be spared the details of their mother’s amorous past. Patrik pictured a naked Solveig, her greasy body writhing in passion, and he had to blink to get rid of the image.

  ‘As soon as I heard about the girl who was murdered, and they’d found Siv and Mona too, I went over there to give them a real piece of my mind. Out of sheer envy and nastiness, Gabriel destroyed Johannes. He destroyed our lives too, me and the boys, but now the truth is finally staring people in the face. Now they’ll be ashamed and realize that they listened to the wrong brother. And I hope Gabriel burns in hell for his sins!’

  She had begun to work herself up to the same rage she had displayed the day before. Stefan placed a soothing and admonitory hand on her arm.

  ‘Well, no matter what the reason, you can’t go around threatening people. And you shouldn’t throw rocks through people’s windows, either!’ Patrik pointed at Robert and Stefan. He didn’t for an instant believe their mother’s story that they’d been at home in front of the TV. They knew that he knew, and now he was warning them that he’d be keeping an eye on them. They just mumbled in reply.

  But Solveig seemed to ignore the warning. Her cheeks were still red with fury.

  ‘For that matter, Gabriel isn’t the only one who should be ashamed! When are we going to get an apology from the police? The way you ran around at Västergården turning everything upside down. And you took Johannes away in a police car for questioning. You did your part in sending him to his death. Isn’t it about time to beg my forgiveness?’

  For the second time Gösta spoke up. ‘Until we figure out exactly what happened to those three girls, there won’t be any begging forgiveness for anything. And until we get to the bottom of this, I want you to behave like decent folks, Solveig.’

  The firmness in Gösta’s voice seemed to come from some unexpected place.

  Back out in the car, Patrik asked in surprise, ‘Do you and Solveig know each other?’

  Gösta grunted. ‘Depends what you mean by “know”. She’s the same age as my youngest brother and was over at our house a good deal when we were boys. By the time she reached her teens, everybody knew about Solveig. She was the prettiest girl in the district, I must tell you, even though it’s hard to believe, the way she looks now. Yep, it’s a darned shame. To think that things could turn out so badly for her and the boys.’ He shook his head with regret. ‘And I can’t even say that she’s right about Johannes dying an innocent man. We really don’t know a damn thing!’

  In fr
ustration he pounded his thigh with his fist. Patrik thought it was like seeing a bear wake up from a long hibernation.

  ‘Are you going to check the prisons when we get back?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, I already told you! I’m not so old that I can’t understand an order the first time I hear it. Here I am, taking orders from a whippersnapper who’s barely dry behind the ears…’ Gösta stared dismally out the windscreen.

  They still had a long way to go, Patrik thought wearily.

  * * *

  By Saturday Erica realized she was looking forward to having Patrik at home again. He’d promised to take the weekend off, and now they were putting out in their 13-foot wooden boat towards the skerries. They’d been fortunate to find a boat that was almost exactly like the snipa that Erica’s father Tore had owned. It was the only type of boat she could imagine having. She’d never really been big on sailing, despite a couple of outings in sailing school, and a fibreglass motorboat went faster, of course, but who was in a hurry?

  The sound of the snipa’s motor was for her the sound of her childhood. As a little girl she had often slept on the warm wooden floor, with the lulling throb of the motor in her ears. These days she preferred to climb up and sit on the raised prow in front of the windscreen, but in her present, less-than- graceful condition she didn’t dare. Instead she sat on one of the thwarts behind the protective panes. Patrik stood at the tiller, with the wind in his brown hair and a smile on his face. They had set out early to get there before the tourists, and the air was fresh and clear. A fine spray showered the boat from time to time, and Erica could taste the salt in the air she was inhaling. It was hard to imagine that inside her she was carrying a tiny person who, within a couple of years, would be sitting beside Patrik in the stern, dressed in a baggy orange life-jacket with a big collar, just as she had done so many times with her father.

  Erica’s eyes began to smart at the thought that her father would never get to meet his grandchild. Nor would her mother, but since she had never really cared about Erica or Anna it seemed unlikely that another grandchild would have aroused much feeling in her. Especially since her mother had always acted unnaturally stiff when she met Anna’s children. She would give them an awkward hug if the situation and the company seemed to require it. Bitterness welled up inside Erica again, but she swallowed hard to repress it. In her darker moments she was afraid that motherhood would prove to be just as burdensome for her as it had been for Elsy – that with one fell stroke she would turn into her cold and inaccessible mother. The logical part of her brain said that it was ridiculous even to have such thoughts, but fear was not logical. On the other hand, Anna was a warm and loving mother to Emma and Adrian, so why shouldn’t Erica be one too? That was how she tried to reassure herself. At least she had chosen the right father for the child, she thought as she gazed at Patrik. His steadfast calm and confidence offset her own restlessness in a way that nobody had done before. He was going to be a splendid father.