Buried Angels (54 page)

Out of the corner of her eye, Inez saw a movement near the door, and Claes seemed to notice it too. He instantly pointed the gun at the boys.

‘No one leaves the room. No one’s going anywhere.’

‘What are you going to do with us?’ asked Leon.

‘I don’t know. I haven’t decided.’

‘My father has lots of money,’ said Percy. ‘He’ll pay you if you’ll let us go.’

Claes uttered a hollow laugh. ‘It’s not money that I want. You should know that.’

‘We promise not to say anything,’ said John, but his plea fell on deaf ears.

Inez knew that it was pointless. She’d been right about Claes. She’d sensed that there was something missing inside of him. No matter what he’d done to the boys, he was going to cover up his crimes at all costs. He’d already killed two people, and he wasn’t about to let anyone out of there alive. They were all going to die.

Suddenly Leon looked at her, and Inez realized that he was thinking the same thing. They’d never have any more time together other than those few stolen hours. They’d made plans and shared so many thoughts about how they were going to live. All they had to do was wait and have patience, and they’d have a future to share. Now that wasn’t going to happen.

‘I knew that whore was up to something,’ said Claes suddenly. ‘There’s no mistaking those kinds of looks. How long have you been fucking my stepmother, Leon?’

Inez didn’t say a word. Annelie turned from her to Leon.

‘Is that true?’ For a moment Annelie seemed to forget her fear. ‘You bloody slut! Isn’t there anyone your own age that you—’

Her words were cut off. Claes had calmly raised the gun and fired a shot through her temple.

‘I told you to shut up,’ he said tonelessly.

Inez felt tears welling up in her eyes. How long did they have left to live? They were powerless. There was nothing to do but wait to be slaughtered, one by one.

Ebba began crying again, and Claes flinched. Her cries got louder, and Inez could feel her whole body tense. She ought to stand up, but she couldn’t make herself move.

‘Make the kid stop.’ Claes glared at her. ‘I said, make the brat stop crying!’

She opened her mouth but no words came out, and Claes shrugged.

‘Okay. In that case, I’ll have to do it myself,’ he said and again pointed the gun at Ebba.

As he pulled the trigger, Inez threw herself forward to protect her daughter with her own body.

But nothing happened. Claes pulled the trigger again. The gun didn’t go off, and he stared at it in surprise. At that instant, Leon rushed forward to attack him.

Inez picked up Ebba and held her close, her heart pounding wildly. Claes was pinned to the floor under Leon, but he was twisting and turning to get free.

‘Help me!’ shouted Leon, and then he screamed when Claes punched him in the stomach.

It looked as though he was about to lose his hold on Claes, who was struggling ferociously. But a well-aimed kick from John struck Claes in the head and they heard a horrible cracking sound. His body went limp and he stopped fighting.

Leon quickly rolled away, landing on all fours on the floor. Percy kicked Claes in the stomach as John kept on kicking his head. At first Josef just stood and watched. Then he resolutely walked over to the table, stepped over Rune’s body, and reached for the knife that had been used to carve the roast. He fell on his knees next to Claes and glanced up at John and Percy, who stopped kicking as they gasped for breath. A gurgling sound came from Claes’s mouth, and his eyes rolled. Slowly, almost as if savouring the moment, Josef raised the big knife and laid the sharp edge against Claes’s throat. Then he made a swift incision, and the blood began pumping out.

Ebba was still crying, and Inez held her even closer. The instinct to protect her child was stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. Her whole body was shaking as Ebba curled up like a little animal in her arms. She clung so hard to her neck that Inez could hardly breathe. On the floor in front of them sat Percy, Josef and John next to Claes’s ravaged body. Like a pride of lions surrounding its prey.

Leon came over to Inez and Ebba. He took several deep breaths.

‘We need to clean this up,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.’ He kissed her gently on the cheek.

As if from a great distance, Inez heard him start to issue orders to the other boys. Scattered words reached her, about what Claes had done, about the evidence that had to be concealed, about the shame, but it sounded as if someone were speaking from far away. With her eyes closed, she rocked Ebba. Soon this would all be over. Leon would take care of everything.

They felt strangely empty. It was Monday evening, and the events of the past days had slowly begun to sink in. Erica had gone over and over what had happened to Anna – and what might have happened. Yesterday Patrik had spent the whole day coddling her as if she were a child. At first she’d found it endearing, but by now she’d grown tired of his attention.

‘Do you want a blanket?’ asked Patrik, kissing her on the forehead.

‘It’s over eighty-five degrees in here at the moment. So, no thanks. No blanket. And I swear, if you kiss me on the forehead one more time, I’m not going to have sex with you for a month.’

‘Sorry if I’m a little anxious about my wife.’ Patrik went out to the kitchen.

‘Did you see the newspaper today?’ she called after him, but received only a mumbled reply. She got up from the sofa and went to join him. It was gone eight o’clock but the heat hadn’t abated. She felt an urge for some ice cream.

‘Unfortunately, I did,’ said Patrik. ‘I especially liked the front page: Mellberg posing with John Holm next to the police car under the headline: HERO IN FJÄLLBACKA.’

Erica snorted. She opened the freezer and took out a container of chocolate ice cream. ‘Want some?’

‘Sure, thanks.’ Patrik sat down at the kitchen table. The children had gone to bed and a sense of calm had settled over the house. They needed to enjoy it while they could.

‘I take it that Mellberg’s quite pleased with himself?’

‘That doesn’t begin to describe it. And the Göteborg police are upset that he hogged all the credit. But the main thing is that Holm’s plans were exposed and the attack was prevented. It’s going to take a long time for the Friends of Sweden to recover.’

Erica wished she could believe that. She gave Patrik a sombre look.

‘How did things go when you talked to Leon and Inez?’

He sighed. ‘I’m not too sure. They answered all my questions, but I still don’t understand.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Leon explained what happened, but I have a hard time following his reasoning. It started when he began to suspect that there was something not quite right at the school. And finally Josef broke down and told him what Claes had done to him. And to John and Percy.’

‘Was it Leon’s idea to tell Rune?’

Patrik nodded. ‘The boys didn’t want to, but he persuaded them. I had the impression that since then he’s spent a lot of time thinking about what would have happened and how their lives would have been different if he hadn’t coaxed the other boys to talk.’

‘It was the only right thing to do. He couldn’t have known how insane Claes was. It was impossible for him to foresee what would happen.’ Erica scraped the last of the ice cream from her bowl, keeping her eyes fixed on Patrik. She had wanted to accompany him when he went to see Leon and Inez, but he refused to allow it. So she’d had to make do with his report after the fact.

‘That’s exactly what I told him.’

‘What about afterwards though? Why didn’t they ring the police?’ asked Erica.

‘They were afraid that no one would believe them. And I think shock also played a part. They weren’t thinking clearly. Plus, we can’t underestimate the shame that they felt. The thought that people would find out what they’d endured probably made them go along with Leon’s plan.’

‘But Leon had nothing to lose by notifying the police. He wasn’t one of Claes’s victims, and he didn’t take part in killing him.’

‘No, but he did risk losing Inez,’ said Patrik. He set down his spoon without even tasting the ice cream. ‘If the details had been made public, the scandal would have been so huge that they probably couldn’t have stayed together.’

‘What about Ebba? How could they leave her like that?’

‘That seems to be the thing that has bothered Leon the most over the years. He didn’t come right out and say it, but I don’t think he has ever stopped reproaching himself for making Inez leave Ebba behind. And I didn’t want to ask. I think both of them have suffered enough from the decisions they made.’

‘I just can’t understand how he could have persuaded Inez to leave Ebba.’

‘They were so in love. They were having a passionate love affair, and they were terrified that Rune would find out about it. Forbidden love is a dangerous thing. And Leon’s father, Aron, also shares part of the blame. Leon phoned him to ask for help, and Aron made it clear that Inez would have to leave the country, but not with a small child.’

‘Okay, I can see why Leon would agree to that. But Inez? Even if she was head over heels in love, how could she give up her own child?’ Erica’s voice quavered at the mere thought of giving up any of her children with no hope of ever seeing them again.

‘She probably wasn’t thinking clearly either. And apparently Leon convinced her that it would be best for Ebba. I can imagine him scaring her by saying that, if they stayed, they’d end up in prison, and then she’d lose Ebba anyway.’

Erica shook her head. That didn’t make sense. She would never understand how any parent could voluntarily give up their child.

‘So they hid the bodies and then came up with that fishing story, right?’

‘According to Leon, his father suggested that they dump the bodies in the sea, but Leon was worried that they’d float up to the surface, so he came up with the idea of hiding them in the air-raid shelter. They carried the bodies down to the basement and put them in the chests along with the photographs. They decided to put the gun back where Claes must have found it. Then they locked the room, counting on the fact that it was so well concealed that the police wouldn’t find it.’

‘And they never did,’ said Erica.

‘No. That part of their plan worked fine, except that Sebastian took possession of the key. Apparently he’s held it like a broad-axe over their heads ever since.’

‘But why didn’t the police find any trace of what happened when they searched the house?’

‘The boys scrubbed the dining-room floor and removed any blood that was visible to the naked eye. And you have to remember that this was in 1974, and it was the provincial police who did the technical examination. Not exactly CSI-calibre back then. Then the boys changed their clothes and went out on the fishing boat after making an anonymous call to the police.’

‘And where did Inez go?’

‘She hid. Leon said that was also his father’s idea. They broke into an empty summerhouse on a nearby island. She stayed there until everything calmed down enough so that she and Leon could leave Sweden.’

‘So the whole time that the police were searching for the family, she was in a summerhouse nearby?’ said Erica in disbelief.

‘Yes. The owners of the summerhouse probably filed a police report about the break-in later in the summer, but it was never linked to the family’s disappearance on Valö.’

She nodded, satisfied that all the puzzle pieces had finally fallen into place. After spending so many hours trying to piece together what had happened to the Elvander family, she finally knew most of the story.

‘I wonder how things will go for Inez and Ebba now,’ she said, reaching for Patrik’s bowl so she could eat the ice cream before it melted. ‘I haven’t wanted to bother Ebba, but I assume that she’s gone back to stay with her adoptive parents in Göteborg.’

‘You mean you haven’t heard?’ said Patrik, his face lighting up for the first time since they’d started talking about the case.

‘No, what?’ asked Erica.

‘She’s staying in Gösta’s guest room for a few days to rest. Gösta said that Inez is supposed to come over and have dinner with them tonight. So I assume that they’ll make an effort to get to know each other.’

‘That sounds good. She needs it. The business with Tobias must have come as a horrible shock. Imagine living with somebody you love and trust, and then it turns out that he’s capable of something like that …’ Erica shook her head. ‘But I bet Gösta is happy to have her staying with him. If only …’

‘I know. And Gösta has probably had the same thought more times than we can imagine. But Ebba had a good childhood, and I have a feeling Gösta thinks that’s the important thing.’ He abruptly changed the subject, as if it was too painful to consider all the things that Gösta had missed out on. ‘How’s Anna?’

Erica frowned.

‘I haven’t heard from her yet. Dan drove straight home after he got the text message that I sent, and I know that she was planning to tell him everything.’