The Silent Girl (Sebastian Bergman 4)

by Michael Hjorth

  ‘How can I help you?’

  ★ ★ ★

  Sebastian went over to the whiteboard and wrote down the key points in his profile of the perpetrator:

  MALE

  OVER THIRTY

  KNOWLEDGE OF THE AREA / LOCAL RESIDENT

  PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THE CARLSTENS

  INTELLIGENT / SOCIALLY FUNCTIONAL, POSSIBLY IN A RELATIONSHIP

  PLANNED / NOT HATRED OR RAGE

  MOTIVE / BELIEVES HIS HAND WAS FORCED / NEEDED TO DISPOSE OF AN OBSTACLE OR THREAT

  He thought he could hear Billy’s voice at that point: Does that mean he could have acted on someone else’s instructions?

  The answer was no, for several reasons.

  On the very rare occasions where a contract killer is brought in, the case always involves organised crime. There was nothing to indicate that the Carlsten family was mixed up in anything like that. A professional hit man wouldn’t use a borrowed shotgun, and he would have made more of an effort to hide any possible evidence. He might even have burned down the house. Nor would he have stayed in the area or killed Jan Ceder; the police were convinced Ceder knew the perpetrator. There was so much he could throw at Billy if he asked the question; Sebastian almost hoped he would.

  There was a knock on the door frame and a uniformed officer Sebastian had seen around came in. He hadn’t a clue what the man was called.

  ‘Could you speak to a member of the public, please?’

  ‘I’d rather not – isn’t Erik around?’

  ‘He’s with someone, and this is important. It’s about the girl. He says he’s seen her.’

  ‘He’s seen Nicole?’

  ‘Yes – shall I bring him in here?’

  ‘Good idea. I think as many people as possible should be confronted with photographs of a slaughtered family.’

  The young officer immediately realised his mistake. ‘I’ll put him in the staffroom.’

  Sebastian sighed. This place was a madhouse. Perhaps he would have been better out in the forest after all? Then again, it could have been worse. Malin Åkerblad could have been here. She had left for Karlstad this morning, and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow evening, unless there were major developments. He hadn’t woken her until five thirty, when he had shaken her and told her she had to go. She had wanted to know why, and for once he had chosen to tell the truth.

  ‘I really don’t want Torkel and the others to see you. He wouldn’t like it one little bit.’

  Tempered with one small lie:

  ‘And I was hoping we could do this again …’

  She had nodded, understood, and let him know that she too was looking forward to a repeat performance next time they met. Sebastian had somehow managed to produce a smile.

  He hoped she wouldn’t give him away when she came back, that she wouldn’t be clingy or affectionate. His temporary ceasefire with Torkel was fragile.

  He headed for the staffroom. A young man in beige and blue clothing was waiting for him. He was wearing a cap over his dark hair, and had a narrow, angular face. Brown eyes, quite close together. Skin badly scarred from acne.

  ‘Tell me,’ Sebastian said, sitting down opposite him without bothering to introduce himself.

  ‘I saw in the paper this morning that you were looking for her,’ the young man said, pointing to the picture of Nicole on the front page of the newspaper on the table.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I saw her. Yesterday.’

  ‘I already know that. All I’m interested in is where you saw her.’

  ‘At work. At the petrol station,’ he said, pointing to the logo on his shirt. ‘When she came in I thought she was with someone who was filling up, but then she hung around by the chilled counter. She didn’t seem to know anyone.’

  ‘OK, that’s very interesting, but where?’ Sebastian asked, becoming increasingly impatient.

  ‘I’m not sure, but I think she stole some food,’ the man went on as if he had rehearsed his story and had no intention of diverging from the script.

  ‘I expect she did,’ Sebastian agreed. ‘Where?’ he asked again, hoping it would be third time lucky.

  ★ ★ ★

  Back in the incident room it didn’t take Sebastian long to find the petrol station. He pushed in a pin and added the date and time. He heard footsteps in the corridor, and saw a man walk past the door, closely followed by Erik.

  ‘Erik!’ Sebastian called out.

  ‘Back in a minute – I’m just showing this gentleman out,’ Erik replied.

  Sebastian sat down and contemplated the map, as if it could tell him where Nicole had gone after her visit to the petrol station. She had headed north-west from the Carlstens’ house. Had she carried on in the same direction? If so, how far had she gone? Did they have a search team in that area?

  ‘What do you want?’ Erik asked as he stuck his head round the door. Sebastian certainly wasn’t imagining the animosity in his voice.

  ‘She was here yesterday,’ Sebastian replied, getting up and pointing. ‘She stole some food from a petrol station.’

  Erik came into the room, looking interested. ‘The guy who just left came to report a break-in at his summer cottage about a kilometre from there,’ he said, indicating the exact spot on the map. ‘Broken window, nothing stolen apart from a small amount of food, and it looked as if someone had slept under one of the beds.’

  ‘Under the bed?’

  ‘Yes – the pillow and duvet were still there.’

  Sebastian thought fast.

  A frightened little girl.

  Frightened of everything, but she had to sleep, had to eat. It could be someone else, but the cottage was in the right direction, and anything of value that was of no interest to a girl on the run had been left untouched.

  ‘If this is Nicole, she’s heading north-west. What’s further on, if she keeps going?’

  ‘Norway eventually …’

  ‘I think we can assume she’s not planning to emigrate,’ Sebastian muttered. ‘What’s on the way to Norway, up here?’ He drew a circle with his finger on the map; Erik took a closer look, then shook his head.

  ‘Nothing, really. Well, there’s the Bear’s Cave, but I shouldn’t think she’d know about that, and if she did she wouldn’t go there.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Two boys disappeared there back in the eighties. They were never found. All the kids around here have it drummed into them that if you go inside the Bear’s Cave, you’ll never be found.’

  Everything fell into place.

  ‘That’s what she wants,’ Sebastian said instinctively. ‘That’s where she is.’ He saw Erik’s sceptical expression, and pre-empted him. ‘Yes, I am sure. Call the others and let’s get up there.’

  She suddenly woke up.

  A noise. She must have heard a noise.

  It was daylight outside, she noticed. A small amount had found its way into the hollow where she was lying, but not enough to wake her. So she hadn’t gone far enough into the cave; the light could still reach her. She would have to move. Go further in. Into the darkness. Into oblivion.

  It was cold. Her breath was white. But that hadn’t woken her either; she had been chilled to the bone more or less all night. No, she was sure it was something else. A noise.

  She held her breath and turned her head, listening hard. Her tummy rumbled; she was so hungry she felt slightly sick. However, she quickly pushed aside the feeling when she heard it again. A crunching sound. Footsteps on the loose gravel at the entrance to the cave.

  ★ ★ ★

  He stopped.

  The sound of the gravel shifting under his weight seemed unnaturally loud, bouncing off the bare walls of the cave. If she was here, she would probably hear him.

  So far he had made sure that no one had seen him. He had parked the car on a forest track almost a kilometre away, then walked through the trees. Before leaving home he had chosen a Serbu Super-Shorty; it was only forty-two centimetres long, and easy to hide
under his oilskin coat. Were the acoustics in the cave system going to be his downfall?

  He stood very still as he took the head torch out of his pocket and put it on. The powerful beam lit up the nearest wall and the way in. The plan had been to creep inside, hoping that she had left some kind of trail, or that she would be forced to move when he came closer, so that he would hear her. He was an experienced hunter. But she had probably heard him already; the element of surprise was lost. Might as well go for it.

  ‘Nicole!’ he shouted, moving forward as he unhooked the compact shotgun from inside his coat. ‘We know you’re here. I’m with the police.’

  ★ ★ ★

  ‘I’m here to help you.’

  Nicole shuffled backwards in the tiny space and pressed her body against the wall as hard as she could. She wrapped her arms around her shins, put her head on her knees and made herself as small as possible. She didn’t realise it, but her breathing was shallow, panting. The footsteps outside grew louder, they were coming closer.

  ‘Nicole! Everything’s OK, you can come out now. It’s the police.’

  Nicole looked up without letting go of her legs. Beyond the crevice she could see a beam of light playing across the walls. If he shone it in here, there was absolutely no chance that he wouldn’t spot her.

  ‘Nicole!’

  Maybe if she sat right next to the narrow entrance? On the right there was a projecting wall, about fifteen centimetres wide. If she could press herself against it, it was just possible that he might miss her, even if he shone his torch inside.

  Cautiously she straightened her legs, then shifted her weight so that she could crawl over there. She discovered that she was more or less hyperventilating, and forced herself to breathe more slowly. She groped in front of her with her hands, then followed with one knee. It wasn’t far. Another three shuffles and she would be there. She kept on going. Just a little bit further, turn around, press her back up against the wall. She could do it. One last push …

  She felt it before she heard it. One of the tins fell out of her pocket, landed with a thud and rolled away.

  ★ ★ ★

  He was about to call out again when he heard a metallic thud, followed by the sound of something rolling over the rocky floor. He stopped, listened. Of course the cave could change the perception of sound, but it had seemed to come from close by. Very close by. He took one step forward, tightening his grip on the gun.

  She was here.

  He had been right.

  All he had to do now was find her.

  But she was a frightened little girl, and he had all the time in the world. This could only end one way. For a moment he felt something like sorrow over what he was going to have to do, but he had no choice. There was no way back. You do what you have to do, even if you don’t always like it.

  He swept the beam of the head torch from right to left. Further in, the track would divide, becoming a labyrinth of caves and shafts, but here there was only one route; she couldn’t have gone any other way.

  He stopped again. What was that? A shadow? But of what? There were no projections outside to block the light. No, it wasn’t a shadow, it was a crevice. Not very big, but wide enough for a ten-year-old to squeeze through. He directed the beam at the gap and advanced purposefully.

  ★ ★ ★

  She had made it. There was enough room for her. She didn’t think he would be able to see her if he looked through the crevice. She could hear him outside. Getting closer. The torch beam flickered across the wall to her right. She held her breath. Perhaps he would miss the entrance altogether. Then the light stopped moving. It was fixed on the crevice. On her hiding place.

  But he might still miss her. She pressed herself even harder against the wall. Sharp stones cut into her back through her jacket. Then she saw it. The tin. If he looked inside he couldn’t help seeing it. If he’d heard it, he’d know she was there. She had to move it. But how? The steps came closer and closer and the beam never left the entrance.

  She was just about to hurl herself forward and try to grab the tin when she heard them.

  ★ ★ ★

  He heard them too. Noises. Easily identifiable. Tyres on gravel, car doors opening and closing, footsteps, voices … Impossible to say how many, but more than one. The police or one of the search parties, presumably. And why not – if he could work out where she was, so could they. Was she inside that crevice? Did he have time to kill her? They would hear the shot, but he could disappear inside the cave system, stay hidden. But for how long? And how would he get out? He had no idea what it looked like deep inside. They would use dogs. He was screwed. He had missed his chance. He switched off his head torch and moving rapidly, almost silently, he headed away from the entrance.

  ★ ★ ★

  Erik switched on the powerful torch as they walked into the cave.

  ‘How far does it go?’ Sebastian asked as they took their first steps into the icy stillness.

  ‘No one knows. No one has explored the whole system.’

  That wasn’t good news. If Nicole had come here to disappear, there was a possibility that she had gone as far as she could. Which meant she might be the third child who was never found. However, as far as they knew she had no source of light with her, so the dense darkness might make her think she was further in than she actually was. She might feel safe even though she wasn’t far inside the mountain.

  Behind them they heard another car arrive, and seconds later Billy joined them with four people Sebastian didn’t recognise.

  ‘Why do we think she’s here?’ Billy asked, shining his torch ahead of Erik and Sebastian.

  ‘We just know,’ Sebastian replied, and to his surprise Billy seemed satisfied.

  ‘So what do we do now?’

  ‘The passageway is fairly wide here,’ Erik said, taking over. ‘After thirty metres it splits into several narrow tracks, which in their turn divide again further along. We have to find a way of covering as much ground as possible.’

  ‘OK, I’ll call for more volunteers and ask them to bring ropes and lamps and all that kind of stuff,’ Billy said with a nod, turning away.

  ‘The rest of you wait here,’ Erik ordered Billy’s four companions. ‘See if the others need any help when they arrive. Sebastian and I will carry on as far as the fork in the passageway.’

  The two of them set off. The roof of the cave was quite high; four or five metres, Sebastian guessed. No stalactites or any of those other pretty things associated with caves. Just hard, bare, grey-brown walls.

  ‘Nicole! My name is Erik and I’m a police officer. We’re here to help you.’

  ‘She won’t answer,’ Sebastian commented drily. ‘She doesn’t want to be found by anyone.’

  ‘Nicole!’ Erik shouted again as if he hadn’t heard – or as if he was determined to ignore Sebastian.

  They carried on going, and suddenly Sebastian pointed to the left and said: ‘There!’ Erik followed his finger with the beam of his torch, and saw something that looked like a slender shadow on the rock. ‘What is it?’

  ‘A crevice.’

  They moved closer and Sebastian leaned forward. It wasn’t very wide, no more than thirty centimetres at the narrowest point. Wide enough for a ten-year-old, perhaps. Erik directed the torch inside and they saw a small space, just a few square metres. The light picked up something on the floor over by the rough wall: a tin of chopped tomatoes.

  But no girl.

  ‘Quiet.’ Sebastian turned his head so that his ear was against the opening. Erik lowered his head and they both stood there motionless and silent, for a long time. Sebastian was about to straighten up when he heard it. A faint exhalation. Almost a gasp.

  He took the torch from Erik without a word, then moved as far to the right as he could, put his hand inside the gap and shone the beam to the left.

  A shoe, a foot and part of a leg.

  ‘She’s here,’ he said, stepping back. ‘I’d like you to go outside. Take the othe
rs with you, and go right outside.’

  Erik met Sebastian’s gaze and realised there was no point in protesting or asking questions.

  ‘I’ll call an ambulance,’ he said with a nod.

  Sebastian waited until he could no longer hear footsteps, then he sank down on the cold floor. Might as well get as comfortable as possible. This could take a while.

  ‘Nicole, my name is Sebastian and I work with the police,’ he began. No reply. Not that he had expected one. This would probably be a monologue.

  ‘We’ve been looking for you. We know what happened to your cousins and their parents.’

  Not a sound. Not a movement.

  ‘I realise you don’t want to come out. I understand why you’re here, but hiding away isn’t going to make things better.’

  He shuffled on the hard, uneven surface. He was already suffering; how was he going to feel if this went on as long as he feared it might? He pushed the thought away.

  ‘Your mum, Maria, is on her way, but she won’t be here for a while. We can wait here if you like, but it would be warmer and more comfortable if we went somewhere else. You must be hungry too – we can go and get something to eat. Anything you like.’

  No sign that she had heard him.

  ‘I know that what you saw was terrible, but you don’t need to be afraid. Everyone is here to protect you.’

  Silence.

  This was definitely going to take a while.

  ★ ★ ★

  Billy was standing by the entrance to the cave. He rubbed the two scratches on the back of his hand and looked over at the area beyond the cordon by the fence that was half-trampled down. There were a lot of people here now. Two ambulances; the paramedics were standing by a trolley having a smoke. Several reporters, of course. Two TV news teams – Torkel was talking to one of them – and a few photographers had climbed up the little hill to the left to get an overview of the proceedings. Billy recognised most faces from the briefings before the search parties set off, but some were new. He guessed there were around seventy people hoping to get a glimpse of the little girl when she emerged.