LITMIR.BIZ

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copper façade, the concrete extension, and finally the tall, original building in yellow plaster.

      “Simone,” he says, “have you told me the truth?”

      “What do you mean?”

      “About what happened. About the door being open the first time, about seeing someone dragging Benjamin through—”

      “What do you think?” she yells, ending the call.

      Erik hasn’t the energy to look for an empty parking space. A parking ticket has no meaning; it will be due in a completely different life. Without a second thought, he pulls up right in front of the police station. The tyres rumble and he stops at the foot of the enormous flight of steps facing the town hall.

      He hurries around the building and up the slope, heading towards the park and the entrance to the National Police Headquarters. A father walks along with three little girls, all wearing Lucia costumes over their snowsuits. The white dresses strain over the thick winter clothing. Perched on top of their hats, the children are wearing crowns with candles in them, and one of them holds a candle in a gloved hand. Erik suddenly remembers how Benjamin loved to be carried when he was little; he would cling tightly with his arms and legs and say, Carry me, you’re big and strong, Daddy.

      Erik is out of breath by the time he reaches the entrance, a tall, glowing glass cube. He crosses the white marble floor of the lobby to the reception area on the left, where a man sits behind the open wooden desk, speaking on the phone.

      Erik explains why he is there; the receptionist nods briefly, taps away on his computer, and picks up the phone. “Reception here,” he says, in a subdued tone. “Erik Maria Bark to see you …”

      Erik sits on a long bench of black creaking leather and gazes around him: at a work of art made of green glass, at the motionless revolving doors. Beyond the huge glass wall is another hallway made of glass leading through an open inner courtyard to the next building. Erik sees Joona Linna pass the waiting area to the right; he presses a button on the wall and walks through the revolving doors. He throws a banana peel into an aluminum waste bin, waves to the man on reception, and comes straight over to Erik.

      As they walk to Evelyn’s safe house, Joona summarises what has emerged during his interviews with her: the confirmation that she had intended to take her own life in the forest, the years of sexual abuse she suffered at Josef’s hands, his violence toward their younger sister if Evelyn refused him, his eventual demands for full sexual intercourse, Evelyn’s withdrawal to the summer cottage, Josef’s intimidation of her boyfriend, Sorab, to obtain her whereabouts.

      “When Josef showed up at Sonja’s cottage on his birthday, she refused once again to have intercourse with him, and he told her she knew what would happen and it would be her fault,” Joona explains. “It looks as if Josef planned to murder his father, at least. We don’t know why he chose that particular day. It may have been a matter of opportunity, the fact that his father was going to be alone somewhere away from home. In any event, last Monday, Josef Ek packed a change of clothing, two pairs of overshoes, a towel, his father’s hunting knife, a bottle of gasoline, and a box of matches in his gym bag and cycled over to the Rödstuhage playing field. After he’d killed his father and mutilated the body, he took the keys from his father’s pocket, went to the women’s locker room, showered and changed, locked up after himself, set fire to the bag containing the bloodstained clothes in a children’s playground, then bicycled home.”

      “And what happened next, at home, was more or less the way he described it under hypnosis?” asks Erik.

      “Not more or less—exactly, or so it seems,” says Joona, clearing his throat. “But the motive—what suddenly made him attack his little sister and his mother—that’s something we don’t know.” He looks at Erik, his expression troubled. “Perhaps he just had a feeling that he wasn’t finished, that Evelyn hadn’t been punished enough.”

      Joona stops outside an unremarkable house and calls to say that they’ve arrived. He taps in the code, opens the door, and lets Erik into the simple entrance hall.

       51

       sunday, december 13 (feast of st lucia): morning

      Two police officers are waiting outside the lift when they reach the third floor. Joona shakes hands with them and then unlocks an unmarked security door. Before he pushes the door open completely, he knocks.

      “Is it all right if we come in?” he asks, through the gap.

      “You haven’t found him, have you?”

      The light is behind Evelyn, so it is impossible to make out her features clearly, only a dark oval surrounded by sunlit hair.

      “No,” replies Joona.

      She comes to the door to usher them in and locks it quickly behind them, checking the lock; when she turns around, Erik sees she is breathing heavily.

      “This is a safe apartment; you’ve got a police guard,” says Joona reassuringly. “No one is allowed to give out information about you or search for information about you; the prosecutor has made that decision. You’re safe now, Evelyn.”

      “As long as I stay in here, maybe,” she says. “But I’m going to have to come out sometime. And Josef is good at waiting.”

      She goes over to the window, looks out, and sits down on the sofa.

      “Where could Josef be hiding?” asks Joona.

      “You think I know something.”

      “Do you?” asks Erik.

      “Are you going to hypnotise me?”

      “No.” He smiles in surprise.

      She is not wearing make-up, and her eyes look vulnerable and unprotected as she scrutinises him.

      “You can if you want to,” she says, looking down quickly.

      The apartment consists of nothing more than a bedroom with a wide bed, two armchairs, and a television set, a bathroom with a shower cubicle, and a kitchen with an eating area. The windows are made of bulletproof glass, and the walls are painted throughout in a calm yellow colour.

      Erik looks around and follows her into the kitchen. “Nice little place,” he says.

      Evelyn shrugs her shoulders. She is wearing a red sweater and a pair of faded jeans. Her hair is carelessly caught up in a ponytail. “They’re bringing a few of my things today,” she says.

      “That’s good,” says Erik. “People usually feel better when—”

      “Better? What do you know about what would make me feel better?”

      “I’ve worked with—”

      “I’m sorry, but I don’t give a shit about that, I don’t want to talk to psychologists and counsellors.”

      “I’m not here in that capacity.”

      “So why are you here?”

      “To try to find Josef.”

      She turns to him and says curtly, “He isn’t here.”

      Without knowing why, Erik decides not to say anything about Benjamin. “Listen to me, Evelyn,” he says quietly. “I need your help to map out Josef’s circle of acquaintances.”

      Her eyes are shiny, almost feverish. “All right,” she replies, with something resembling a small smile.

      “Does he have a girlfriend?”

      Her eyes darken and her mouth tenses. “Apart from me, you mean?”

      “Yes.”

      She shakes her head.

      “Who does he hang out with?”

      “He

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