The Ice Child Read online

  ‘I just hope he doesn’t get in the way.’

  They had turned on to the side road leading to the house, and Patrik clenched his teeth even harder when he saw the Volvo estate car up ahead. Erica must have parked it a short distance away so as not to be observed by anyone at the house, and that made him feel a bit calmer.

  ‘We’ll drive all the way up to the front door,’ he said, and neither of his colleagues offered any objection.

  He came to a halt in front of the ramshackle house and jumped out without waiting for Gösta and Martin. But when he reached the front door, he heard them come up behind him.

  ‘Shhh,’ he said, putting his finger to his lips.

  Inside they found the door to the cellar closed, but something told Patrik that it had to be the logical place to start. He thought it was here that Louise would have gone. He opened the door, glad that it didn’t make a sound. But as he set his foot on the first step, the board creaked loudly and he instantly heard a shrill scream from below.

  ‘Help! HELP!’

  He rushed down the stairs with Martin and Gösta following close behind. A single light bulb lit the room, and he stopped abruptly at what he saw. Molly was sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth with her knees drawn up. She was screaming shrilly, her eyes wide as she stared up at them. And next to her lay Erica, stretched out on her stomach, with blood trickling from her head.

  Patrik dashed over and with a pounding heart put his hand on his wife’s neck. Her skin was warm to the touch, and she was breathing. He was filled with relief. And he saw that the blood was coming from a cut over her eyebrow.

  Then Erica opened her eyes and groaned. ‘Helga …’ she said.

  Patrik turned to look at Molly. Martin and Gösta had helped the girl stand up, and now they were trying to release her from the shackle around her ankle. Patrik realized that Erica was also chained.

  ‘Where’s your grandmother?’ he asked Molly.

  ‘She left. But not long ago.’

  Patrik frowned. They should have seen her on the road.

  ‘She hit Erica,’ Molly added, her lip quivering.

  Patrik looked at the wound on his wife’s face. The injury could have been much worse, and if she hadn’t left him a voicemail to say where she was headed, he would never have thought to look for her here. Then Erica and Molly would have starved to death in this cellar.

  He stood up and got out his mobile. The coverage wasn’t too good down here, but it was enough to get through. He issued instructions, then ended the call and turned to Gösta and Martin. They had found the key to the shackle on Molly’s ankle.

  ‘I’ve asked Mellberg to keep an eye out for Helga and stop her if he sees her.’

  ‘Why did she hit Erica?’ asked Gösta as he gently patted Molly on the back.

  ‘To protect Jonas,’ Erica said, sitting up with a groan and putting a hand to her head. ‘I’m bleeding,’ she said, looking at her sticky fingers.

  ‘It’s not a deep cut,’ Patrik said curtly. Now that his fears had subsided, he had an urge to yell at her for coming out here on her own.

  ‘Did you find Jonas and Marta?’ Erica got to her feet, still a bit wobbly, and then swore when she noticed her leg was shackled. ‘What’s this?’

  ‘I assume you were meant to die down here,’ said Patrik. He looked around for another key. For a moment he considered making her stay here a little longer. And there might be no choice, because he didn’t see a key. She’d have to wait until they could saw off the chain.

  ‘No, we haven’t found them yet.’ He didn’t want to tell her what they’d discovered at the farm. Not while Molly was listening. Right now she was sobbing her heart out, with her face pressed against Gösta’s chest.

  ‘I have a feeling we’re never going to see them again,’ said Erica, but then she glanced at Molly and didn’t say anything more.

  Patrik’s mobile rang. It was Mellberg. He listened for a moment, and while Mellberg was still talking, he whispered to the others:

  ‘He’s got Helga.’

  Patrik had a hard time cutting off Mellberg’s triumphant outpouring, but he eventually managed to end the conversation.

  ‘Apparently he found her walking along the road. He’s on his way back to the station with her.’

  ‘We need to find Jonas and Marta. They’re … they’re not well,’ said Erica in a low voice so Molly wouldn’t hear.

  ‘I know,’ Patrik whispered, and then he couldn’t help himself, he had to reach out and put his arms around Erica, holding her close. Good Lord, what would he have done if he’d lost her? If the children had lost her? Then he pushed her away and said sombrely, ‘We’ve put out an APW. The police are watching all the airports and borders for them. Tomorrow the papers will have photos. They’re not going to get away.’

  ‘Good,’ said Erica. She reached up to wrap her arms around Patrik’s neck. ‘But could you please get me out of here now?’

  FJÄLLBACKA 1983

  When she saw the posters announcing that Cirkus Gigantus was coming to Fjällbacka, she instantly made up her mind. Her pulse quickened. It was a sign. The circus had become a part of her. She knew how it smelled and sounded, and she felt as if she knew the people and the animals. They had played the game so many times. She was the circus princess who made the horses obey as the audience applauded and whistled.

  She had wanted them to do it together, and they would have if things hadn’t gone so horribly wrong. Now she came to the circus alone.

  Vladek’s family welcomed her with open arms, greeting her as his daughter. They said they were planning to visit him, but she explained that he’d died of a heart attack. Nobody thought it was odd. He wasn’t the first person in his family to have a weak heart. She realized that she’d been lucky, but there was a risk that someone in Fjällbacka would start talking about Vladek and reveal what had really happened. For three long days she held her breath until the circus packed everything up and left Fjällbacka. Then she was safe.

  She was only fifteen, so they also asked questions about her mother, wanting to know whether she was allowed to leave her mother behind. She bowed her head and even managed to shed a few tears. She said that Laila had died of cancer many years ago. Vladek’s sister-in-law placed a bony hand on her cheek and wiped away the crocodile tears. After that they asked no more questions. They merely showed her where she could sleep and gave her food and clothes. She had never dreamed it would be so easy, but she quickly became one of the family. For them blood was thicker than water.

  She waited two weeks before going to Vladek’s brother to say that she wanted to learn to perform. She wanted to be part of the circus and follow in the footsteps of her ancestors. Everyone was overjoyed, just as she had anticipated. She suggested she might help out with the horses. She wanted to be like Paulina, the beautiful young woman who wore a glittery costume for every performance and did tricks on the back of a horse.

  She was allowed to start as Paulina’s assistant. She spent every waking hour with the horses as she watched the practice sessions. Paulina loathed her from the first moment they met. But she was not a member of the family, so after a talk with Vladek’s brother, Paulina reluctantly began to train her. And she was a diligent pupil. She understood horses, and they understood her. It took her only a year to learn the basics, and after two years she was just as accomplished as Paulina. Then when the accident occurred, she took over.

  No one saw it happen, but one morning Paulina was found dead among the horses. It was assumed that she’d fallen off and hit her head, or maybe one of the horses had kicked her. It was a disaster for the circus. But as luck would have it, she was able to put on one of Paulina’s lovely costumes and carry on with the show as if nothing had happened. After that she was the one who performed Paulina’s tricks every evening.

  She spent three years travelling with the circus. Living in a world in which the strange and fantastical converged, no one noticed that she was different. It had been the perfe
ct place for her. But now the circle was complete, and she would soon be back where she’d started. Tomorrow Cirkus Gigantus would arrive in Fjällbacka again, and it was time to tackle something that she’d put off for far too long. She had allowed herself to be someone else, to be a circus princess riding white horses with swaying plumes and glittery bridles. She had been living in a fantasy world, but now she had to return to reality.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘I’m going out to get the post,’ said Patrik, stuffing his feet into his boots. During the past few days he and Erica had hardly seen each other. He and his colleagues had been busy from morning to night with all the interview sessions and follow-up work. But now Friday had finally arrived, and he had decided to take the morning off.

  ‘Damn, it’s cold out!’ he said when he came back inside. ‘We must have got a metre of snow overnight.’

  ‘I know. It seems like it’s never going to stop.’ Erica gave him a weary smile as she sat down at the kitchen table.

  He sat down across from her and began looking through the post. Erica rested her head on her hands and seemed lost in thought. He put down the post and studied her face.

  ‘So how’s it going? Be honest.’

  ‘I don’t know. Mostly I’m feeling a little uncertain about how to proceed with my book. Or whether to keep working on it at all. It’s a whole different story now.’

  ‘But don’t you think Laila would want you to write it?’

  ‘Yes. I think she sees the publication of the book as a sort of safety measure. She thinks that Marta won’t dare do anything else if people read about who she really is and what she has done.’

  ‘And there’s no risk that the opposite might happen?’ Patrik cautiously ventured. He didn’t want to tell Erica what to do, but it made him uneasy to see her writing a book about people who were as evil as Jonas and Marta. What if they decided to take revenge on her?

  ‘No, I think Laila is right. And in my heart I know that I need to finish this book. You don’t have to worry,’ said Erica, looking him in the eye. ‘Trust me.’

  ‘It’s those two I don’t trust. We have no idea where they are.’ He couldn’t hide the concern he was feeling.

  ‘But they probably won’t dare come back here. There’s nothing left for them here.’

  ‘Except their daughter,’ said Patrik.

  ‘They don’t care about Molly. Marta never has, and Jonas’s interest in her seems to have vanished as soon as he found out that she’s not his daughter.’

  ‘The question is: where have they gone? It seems unbelievable that they could have left the country, considering that the police are on high alert.’

  ‘I have no clue,’ said Erica, looking through the post and slitting open one of the envelopes. ‘But Laila is worried they’ll go to Spain and try to find Peter.’

  Patrik nodded. ‘I realize that. But I’m convinced they’re still in Sweden, and sooner or later we’ll get them. And when we do, they’re going to have a lot to answer for. We’ve already identified some of the girls in the videos. Some that Einar kidnapped and some that were victims of Jonas and Marta.’

  ‘I can’t understand how you were able to watch those videos.’

  ‘It was horrifying.’

  Some of the images appeared again in Patrik’s mind. They would no doubt stay in his consciousness for ever, as a reminder of what evil people were capable of.

  ‘Why do you think they decided to kidnap Victoria?’ he said then. ‘That must have been incredibly risky.’

  Erica paused before replying. There was no obvious answer. Jonas and Marta were gone, and the videos showed what they’d done but provided no motive.

  ‘I think Marta fell in love with Victoria, but when Jonas discovered the relationship, there was no question where her loyalties lay. Maybe she sacrificed Victoria to appease Jonas. Maybe it was her way of asking for his forgiveness.’

  ‘We should have realized much sooner that Marta was involved,’ said Patrik. ‘She had to be the one who took Victoria captive.’

  ‘But how could you have known that? It’s impossible to comprehend the actions and motivations of these people. I tried to talk to Laila about the whole thing yesterday, but even she couldn’t explain Marta’s behaviour.’

  ‘No, I realize that, but I still can’t help blaming myself. And no matter what, I’m going to try to work out the reasons behind what they did. For example, why did Marta and Jonas choose to follow in Einar’s footsteps? Why did they torture their victims in such a macabre way?’ Patrik swallowed hard, overcome with nausea at the thought of those videos.

  ‘I think that Jonas’s madness took root during his childhood, when Einar forced him to film his assaults,’ said Erica. ‘And Marta – or Louise – was equally damaged by what she’d experienced as a child. If what Gerhard Struwer said is true, then it all had to do with control. Apparently Einar kept the girls imprisoned, except for Ingela Eriksson and maybe others we don’t know about. By transforming them into passive dolls, he satisfied his own perverse needs. And then he passed on those needs to Jonas, who in turn initiated Marta. Maybe the passion in their relationship depended on the power they exerted over the girls.’

  ‘My God, what a horrible thought.’ Patrik felt another wave of nausea come over him.

  ‘So what does Helga say?’ asked Erica. ‘Did she know about everything?’

  ‘She refuses to talk. She says only that she’s willing to accept her punishment, and she claims we’ll never find Jonas. But I think she did know what was going on and simply chose to close her eyes. In some ways she was also a victim.’

  ‘She must have been living in hell all these years. And even if she was aware of Jonas’s true nature, he’s her son and she loves him.’

  Patrik sighed. ‘So much guessing and speculating. It’s so frustrating that we still don’t have all the answers. We just have to keep wondering. But at least you’re sure that Marta is Louise Kowalski, right?’

  ‘Yes, I am. I can’t explain it logically, but it seemed obvious when I realized that Marta and Jonas had kidnapped the girls in connection with horseback-riding competitions. Plus they had to be the ones who sent the postcards and newspaper clippings to Laila. Who but Louise would have a reason to hate Laila and threaten her? Besides, Marta’s age coincides with Louise’s. And Laila has confirmed my theory. She has long suspected that Louise was still alive. She was afraid that Louise wanted to kill both her and Peter.’

  Patrik gave his wife a sombre look and said, ‘I wish I had more of your intuition, but please stop acting so impulsively. At least this time you had the presence of mind to leave me a phone message and tell me where you’d gone.’ He shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t rescued Erica from the ice-cold cellar in the House of Horrors.

  ‘But everything worked out fine in the end.’ Erica took another envelope from the stack of post and slit it open with her finger. She took out a bill. ‘I can’t believe Helga was willing to sacrifice both Marta and Molly so that her son could go free.’

  ‘Well, you know how strong a mother’s love can be,’ said Patrik.

  ‘Speaking of that,’ said Erica, her face lighting up. ‘I talked to Nettan again, and it sounds like she and Minna are finding their way back to each other.’

  Patrik smiled. ‘It was lucky you happened to think about that car.’

  ‘Uh-huh. I’m just sorry I didn’t make the connection earlier, when I saw the car in the photo album.’

  ‘The strange thing is that Nettan didn’t make the connection herself. Both Palle and I had asked her about the white car.’

  ‘I know. And when I asked her again, she got very cross. She said that of course she would have said something long ago if she knew of anyone who had a white car. But when I mentioned the photo of her former boyfriend Johan standing in front of a white car, she suddenly fell silent. Then she said Minna would never have voluntarily got into his car. She hated him more than anyone.’

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p; ‘Parents often know so little about their teenage daughters,’ said Patrik.

  ‘How true. But who would have thought that Minna would fall in love with her mother’s ex-boyfriend? Especially since they were always arguing. Or that she would get pregnant and then decide to run away with him because she was afraid Nettan would be angry with her.’

  ‘Well, it’s not the first thing anyone would think of.’

  ‘At any rate, Nettan has promised to help Minna with the baby. They’re both furious with that shithead Johan, who apparently got tired of Minna as soon as the pregnancy started to show. And I think Nettan was so relieved when they found Minna safe and sound in Johan’s cabin that she’s going to do everything in her power to make things right for her daughter.’

  ‘At least something good has come from all this misery,’ said Patrik.

  ‘Yes. And soon Laila will be reunited with her son. After more than twenty years … The last time I talked to her, she said that Peter is going to come and visit her at the prison. And I’ll get to meet him too.’

  Erica’s eyes shone with joy and anticipation. It made Patrik happy to see how pleased she was that she’d been able to help Laila. Personally, he longed to put this whole case behind him. He’d had enough of evil and darkness.

  ‘It’s going to be nice to have Dan and Anna over for dinner tonight,’ he said, changing the subject.

  ‘Yes. It’s wonderful that they’ve been able to work things out at last. And Anna said they have good news to tell us. I hate it when she does that and then doesn’t give me any details. But I couldn’t get another word out of her. She said I’d just have to wait until tonight.’

  Erica was looking through the post piled up on the table. Mostly bills, but at the bottom was a thick white envelope that looked very elegant.

  ‘What could this be? It looks like a wedding invitation.’ She got up to fetch a knife to open the envelope. Inside was a beautiful card with two gold rings on the front. ‘Do we know anyone who’s getting married?’