Camilla Lackberg Crime Thrillers 4-6: The Stranger, The Hidden Child, The Drowning

But the temptation to know what was out there was too strong.

‘Welcome!’ Erling waved them into the hall and stood up a bit straighter when he saw the cameramen following behind.

‘Viveca and I think it’s so nice that you agreed to come over for a little farewell dinner. Here in our humble abode,’ he added towards the camera with a chuckle. The viewers would probably appreciate this brief glimpse into the lives of ‘the rich and famous’, as he had said to Fredrik Rehn when he presented the idea to him. Fredrik of course had thought it was a stroke of genius to invite the cast members to a farewell dinner at the home of the top dog in town. It was undoubtedly incredibly fitting.

‘So, come in, come in,’ said Erling, sweeping them into the living room. ‘Viveca will be right in to offer you a drink and welcome you here. Or perhaps you don’t imbibe?’ he said with a wink, laughing heartily at his own joke.

‘Look, here comes Viveca with the drinks,’ he said, pointing to his wife, who didn’t utter a word. They’d had a talk about this before the dinner guests and camera crew arrived. She had agreed to stay in the background and let him have his moment in the spotlight. After all, he was the one who had made the whole show possible.

‘I thought that you should taste some adult beverages for a change,’ said Erling, beaming. ‘A genuine “Dry Martini”, as we call them in Stockholm.’ He laughed again, a little too loudly, but he wanted to be sure that he could be heard on screen. The young people sniffed cautiously at their drinks, each of which held an olive speared on a toothpick.

‘Do we have to eat the olive?’ said Uffe, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

Erling smiled. ‘No, you can skip it if you like. It’s mostly for decoration.’

Uffe nodded and tossed back the drink while carefully avoiding the olive.

Some of the others followed his example. Erling, looking a bit bewildered and holding his glass up in the air, said, ‘Well, I had intended to bid you welcome, but some people are obviously thirsty. So skål!’ He raised his glass a bit higher, received a vague murmur in reply, and then sipped his Dry Martini.

‘Could I get another?’ said Uffe, holding out his glass to Viveca. She glanced at Erling, who nodded. What the heck, the kids had to have a bit of fun.

By the time dessert was served, Erling W. Larson was beginning to feel some regret. He vaguely recalled that Fredrik Rehn had warned him at their meeting not to serve too much alcohol during dinner, but he had stupidly waved aside Rehn’s words of advice. If Erling remembered rightly, he’d thought that nothing could be worse than the time in ’98 when the whole management team had gone on a business trip to Moscow. What had actually happened there was still a bit fuzzy in his mind, but he did recall a smattering of images, which included Russian caviar, a hell of a lot of vodka, and a brothel. What Erling hadn’t considered was that it was one thing to get pissed on a business trip and something altogether different to have five drunken youths in his own home. Even the food had been something of a disaster. They had hardly touched the whitefish roe on toast, and the risotto with coquilles Saint-Jacques had been greeted by gagging sound effects, especially from that barbarian Uffe. The climax of the evening seemed to be taking place even now, as he could hear the sounds of vomiting coming from the loo. Thinking that at least they had eaten the dessert, he saw with horror how the chocolate mousse was being regurgitated all over the beautiful, newly installed floor tiles.

‘I found some more wine, Earl the pearl,’ Uffe slurred, triumphantly coming in from the kitchen with an open wine bottle in his hand. With a sinking feeling in his stomach Erling realized that it was one of his best and most expensive vintage wines that Uffe had decided to uncork. Erling could feel rage bubbling up inside, but restrained himself when he realized that the camera was zooming in on him in the hope of just such a reaction.

‘Imagine that, what luck,’ he said through clenched teeth. Then he sent a look Fredrik Rehn’s way with an appeal for help. But the producer seemed to think the councilman had asked for it, and instead held out his empty wine glass to Uffe. ‘Pour me some, Uffe,’ he said, deliberately ignoring Erling.

‘Me too,’ said Viveca, who had spent the entire evening in silence, but now defiantly looked at her husband. Erling was seething inside. This was mutiny. Then he smiled at the camera.

Less than a week left before the wedding. Erica was starting to get nervous, but all the practical matters had been taken care of. She and Anna had worked like fiends to arrange everything: flowers, place cards, where the guests would stay, the music, all of it. Erica gave Patrik a worried look, as he sat across from her at the breakfast table chewing listlessly. She had fixed him hot chocolate and crispbread with cheese and caviar, his favourite breakfast. It usually made her feel sick just looking at it. Now she was prepared to do almost anything to get some nourishment into him. At least he wasn’t going to have any trouble getting into his tuxedo, she thought.

Lately Patrik had been walking round the house like a ghost. He would come home and eat, fall into bed, and then drive off to the station early the next morning. His face looked grey and haggard, marked by fatigue and frustration, and she had even begun to sense a certain dejected mood. A week ago he had told her that there had to be another victim somewhere. They had issued another query to all the police districts in the country but without result. With hopelessness in his voice he had also told her how they had gone through all the material they had, over and over again, without finding anything that could advance the investigation. Gösta had talked with Rasmus’s mother on the phone, but even she didn’t recognize the names Elsa Forsell and Börje Knudsen. The investigation was at a standstill.

‘What’s on the agenda for today?’ said Erica, trying to keep her tone neutral.

Patrik was nibbling like a mouse at one corner of the crispbread; in the last fifteen minutes he hadn’t managed to eat more than half of it. He said glumly, ‘Waiting for a miracle.’

‘But can’t you get some help from outside? From the other districts involved? Or from … the National Criminal Police or something?’

‘I’ve been in touch with Lund, Nyköping and Borås. They’re working hard on it too. And the NCP … well, I’d hoped we could manage this ourselves, but we’re starting to lean towards calling in reinforcements.’ Pensively he took another mini-bite, and Erica couldn’t help leaning over to caress his cheek.

‘Do you still want to go through with it on Saturday?’

He looked at her in surprise, then his expression softened. He reached for her hand and planted a kiss in the middle of her palm.

‘Darling, of course I do! We’re going to have a fantastic day on Saturday, the best of our lives, except for the day Maja was born, of course. And I promise to be happy and upbeat and completely focused on you and our day. Don’t worry. I’m longing to marry you.’

Erica gave him a searching look, but she saw nothing but honesty in his eyes.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m sure.’ Patrik smiled. ‘And don’t think that I don’t know what an enormous effort you and Anna have put into planning everything.’

‘I know you’ve had plenty on your mind. Besides, it’s done Anna some good,’ Erica said, glancing into the living room where Anna had settled down on the sofa with Emma and Adrian to watch kiddie TV. Maja was still asleep, and despite Patrik’s gloomy mood it felt luxurious to have him to herself for a while.

‘I just wish …’ Erica broke off.

Patrik seemed to read her thoughts. ‘You just wish that your parents could have been here.’

‘Yes, or no … To be completely honest I wish that Pappa could have been here. Mamma probably would have been as uninterested as she always was in whatever Anna and I do.’

‘Have you and Anna talked anymore about Elsy? About why she was like that?’

‘No,’ said Erica pensively. ‘But I’ve thought a lot about it. It’s strange that we know so little about Mamma’s life before she met Pappa. The only thing she ever said was that her parents had been dead a long time – that’s all that Anna and I know. We’ve never even seen any photos of them. Isn’t that odd?’

Patrik nodded. ‘Yes, it does sound strange. Maybe you should do some research into your genealogy? You’re good at rooting around in such things, digging up facts. It’s just a matter of getting started as soon as the wedding is over with.’

‘Over with?’ said Erica in an ominous tone. ‘Do you regard our wedding as something we need to “get over with” …?’

‘No,’ Patrik said, and then couldn’t think of anything better to say. Instead he dunked his crispbread in the hot chocolate. He knew when it was best to lie low. And let the food silence anything else he might say.

‘Well, today the fun comes to an end.’

Lars had wanted to meet with them under less formal conditions than usual, so he invited them for coffee and cakes at Pappa’s Lunch Café, which to no one’s surprise was located on the high street in Tanumshede.

‘It’s gonna be fucking great to get out of here,’ said Uffe, stuffing a pastry into his mouth.

Jonna looked at him in disgust, chewing instead on an apple.

‘What sort of plans have you got?’ said Lars, slurping a bit as he drank his tea. The cast members had watched in fascination as he plunked six lumps of sugar into his cup.

‘The usual,’ said Calle. ‘Go home and see my mates. Go out and booze it up. The babes at Kharma have missed me.’ He laughed, but his eyes looked dull and full of hopelessness.

Tina’s eyes flashed. ‘Isn’t that where Princess Madeleine usually hangs out?’

‘Oh yes, Maddie,’ said Calle nonchalantly. ‘She was going out with one of my mates before.’

‘She was?’ said Tina, impressed. For the first time in a month she looked at Calle with some respect.

‘Yeah, but he dumped her. Her mamma and pappa kept butting in too much.’

‘Her mamma and … Ohhhh,’ said Tina, and her eyes got even rounder. ‘Cool.’

‘So, what are you going to do?’ Lars asked Tina. She cracked her neck.

‘I’m going out on tour.’

‘On tour?’ Uffe scoffed, reaching for another pastry. ‘You’re going out with Boozer and maybe you’ll sing a song or two and then stand around in the bar. I’d hardly call that a tour.’