The Fire Witness: A Novel Read online

  “Why do people always talk like idiots?” Tuula asks, looking Joona directly in the eye. “Is it because you grown-ups are idiots, or because you think we’re idiots?”

  “We grown-ups probably think you’re a bit idiotic,” Joona says.

  Tuula smiles, surprised. She is about to say something when Lisa Jern breaks in and tries to reassure her that Joona wasn’t telling the truth. The officer was just making a joke.

  Tuula hugs her arms closer to her chest, stares at the table, and puffs out her cheeks.

  “You’re not an idiot at all,” Lisa Jern keeps repeating.

  “Yes, I am,” Tuula whispers.

  She spits, and a long string of saliva hits the table. She says nothing but begins to draw with the saliva on the table. She draws a star.

  “Do you want to talk?” Lisa says quietly.

  “Only with the Finn,” Tuula replies, her voice so low as to be almost inaudible.

  “What did you say?” asks Lisa Jern with a smile.

  “I only want to talk to the Finn!” Tuula lifts her chin, pointing at Joona Linna.

  “How nice,” the psychologist says stiffly.

  Joona turns on the recorder and quietly states the formalities: time, place, people present, and the reason for the conversation.

  “Why are you at Birgittagården?” he asks.

  “I was at Lövsta, and some things happened that weren’t so good,” Tuula says. “So they put me with the girls who are locked in, even though I’m too young. I kept my nose clean, just watched TV, and one year and four months later they moved me to Birgittagården.”

  “What’s the difference between Lövsta and Birgittagården?”

  “Well, Birgittagården is more like a real home, at least as far as I’m concerned. They have rugs on the floors, and they haven’t bolted down the furniture, except in the isolation room, and they don’t have alarms connected to everything, and you can sleep in peace and quiet, and they give you homemade food.”

  Joona nods and notices that the support person is still flipping through pages on his cell phone. The psychologist Lisa Jern is breathing heavily as she listens to them.

  “What food did they make for you yesterday?” Joona asks.

  “Tacos.”

  “Was everyone at dinner?”

  Tuula shrugs. “I guess so.”

  “Miranda, too? Did she eat tacos with you?”

  “Cut open her stomach and you’ll find out. Haven’t you done that yet?”

  “No, we haven’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “We haven’t had time yet.”

  Tuula semi-smiles and starts pulling at a loose thread on her shorts. Her nails have been bitten to the quick and the cuticles are raw.

  “I looked into the isolation room,” Tuula says, and she starts to rock. “It was pretty cool.”

  “Did you see how Miranda was lying there?” asks Joona.

  “Yeah, like this,” Tuula says and puts her hands over her face.

  “Why do you think she was doing that?”

  Tuula starts kicking at the carpet. “Maybe she was scared.”

  “Did you ever see anyone else do that?”

  “No,” Tuula says, scratching her neck.

  “So you’re not locked into your rooms,” Joona says.

  “No, it’s almost like open wards,” Tuula says and smiles.

  “Do you often sneak out at night?”

  “Not me.” Tuula’s mouth becomes tight and hard as she pretends to shoot the psychologist with her index finger.

  “Why not?” asks Joona.

  She looks back at Joona and says in a small voice, “I’m afraid of the dark.”

  “What about the others?”

  Lisa Jern stands up and frowns as she continues to listen.

  “Yes,” Tuula whispers.

  “What do they do when they sneak out?” asks Joona.

  The girl looks down and smiles to herself.

  “Of course, those girls are older than you are,” Joona says.

  “Right,” Tuula says. She is blushing.

  “Do they meet boys?”

  She nods.

  “Does Vicky meet boys, too?”

  “Yes, she sneaks out at night,” Tuula says. She leans on the table in Joona’s direction.

  “Do you know who she goes to see?”

  “Dennis.”

  “Who is Dennis?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispers. She wets her lips with her tongue.

  “But his name is Dennis? Do you know his last name?”

  “No.”

  “How long is she gone?”

  Tuula shrugs and pulls at a bit of tape stuck to the underside of the chair cushion.

  31

  The prosecutor Susanne Öst is waiting outside the Hotel Ibis. She’s leaning against a Ford Fairlane. There’s not a trace of makeup on her round face, and her blond hair is gathered up in a messy ponytail. Her shirt collar sticks straight up out of her gray suit jacket.

  “Do you mind if I play police officer with you?” she asks, blushing.

  “Not at all,” Joona says, shaking hands with her.

  “We’re supposed to go knocking on all the doors, looking into each and every garage, shed, and parking lot, et cetera, et cetera,” she says. “We’ll close the net. There aren’t many places where you can hide a car.”

  “Right,” says Joona.

  “It’ll go faster now that we have a name,” she says, smiling, as she opens the door to the Ford Fairlane. “There are only four people with the first name of Dennis in the area.”

  “I’ll follow you,” Joona says, and walks over to his Volvo.

  The American car sways as it turns onto the road and starts toward Indal. Joona follows it and thinks about what he knows so far about Vicky Bennet.

  Her mother, Susie Bennet, was a drug addict and homeless at the time of her death last winter. Vicky had lived with various foster parents and institutions from the age of six and had probably learned to create and let go of relationships quickly.

  If Vicky goes out at night to meet a boy, she must meet him close-by. Perhaps he waits for her in the forest or on the gravel road. Perhaps she walks along Highway 86 until she reaches his house in Baggböle or Västloning.

  The asphalt is starting to dry. The rainwater is pooling in the ditches. The skies are brightening although raindrops still drip from the trees.

  The prosecutor calls Joona and he can see her glancing at him in her rearview mirror as she talks.

  “We’ve only found one Dennis in Indal,” she says. “He’s seven years old. The second Dennis lives in Stige, but he’s working in Leeds in England right now.”

  “So that leaves only two,” Joona says.

  “Right. Dennis and Lovisa Karmstedt live in a house on the outskirts of Tomming. We haven’t got to them yet. And then there’s Dennis Rolando. He lives with his parents just south of Indal. We’ve just visited the house and there’s no one there at the moment. This Dennis owns a large industrial building in Sundsvall, on Kvarnvägen, which we haven’t entered yet. There’s probably nothing there. At the moment, this Dennis is in his car on the road to Sollefteå.”

  “Break down the door,” says Joona.

  “Okay,” she says and ends the call.

  The landscape opens up and fields line both sides of the highway. Red farm buildings press against the edge of the forest and, behind them, the forest stretches endlessly. Everything is shimmering after the rain.

  As Joona passes through the sleepy village of Östanskär, two uniformed police officers in Sundsvall are sawing through the massive iron rail across the steel door of the industrial building with an angle grinder. A cascade of sparks flashes around the walls. Then the bar separates and the officers lever the door with a hefty crowbar. The door bends open and they walk inside. In the beams of their flashlights they can see dark heaps on the floor. They find about fifty ancient video games—Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Street Fighter—ben
eath dusty plastic sheets.

  Meanwhile, Joona observes Susanne Öst speak on the cell phone and then cast him a glance via her rearview mirror. A second later, his cell phone rings. Susanne tells him they now only have one address left to check. It’s not far from where they are, and it should take ten minutes to get there.

  Finally she slows down and Joona follows her as she turns onto a road between two waterlogged fields and drives up to a yellow wooden house. Its blinds are drawn. Apple trees are growing in a well-tended yard and a blue-and-white-striped hammock hangs between two of them. They park their cars and walk toward two police offers standing by a squad car.

  Joona greets the officers and then studies the house. He says, “We don’t know if Vicky took the car in order to steal the child, or if she just wanted a car and the child happened to be in the backseat. At the moment, we must think of the child as a hostage.”

  “A hostage,” the prosecutor repeats in a low voice.

  She walks up to the door and rings the bell. No response. She shouts a warning that the police will break down the door if they are not let inside. There’s someone inside. A piece of heavy furniture is being moved. She can hear the floor groan as the piece is turned over.

  “I’ll go in,” Joona says.

  One of the policemen stays to watch the front of the house and the garage. The other follows Joona around the rear. The back of the house has a small set of concrete steps up to a back door with a window of frosted glass. Joona kicks the door, the window breaks and shards of glass fall onto a blue doormat.

  “Stay here,” he tells the policeman, and he slips inside.

  32

  The slivers of glass crunch under Joona’s shoes as he enters a neat laundry room complete with a hand-crank mangle fastened to a sink.

  Miranda was sitting in a chair when she was killed, Joona thinks. Elisabet, wearing only socks on her feet, was hunted across the yard and into the brewery. She tried to crawl away but was beaten to death.

  Joona can feel the weight of his new pistol in its holster underneath his arm. It’s a semiautomatic Smith & Wesson .45 caliber ACP. It weighs slightly more than his previous one and carries fewer bullets, but its first shot is quicker.

  Joona slowly opens a creaky door and finds himself looking into a traditional Swedish country kitchen. A large ceramic bowl with apples is on the round wooden table and there’s the scent of a fire burning in the beautiful old wood-fired stove. He sees frozen cinnamon buns thawing on a tray and a drawer with sharp knives has been left open. He catches a glimpse of the yard between the drawn curtains.

  He shuts the door and walks down the hall. He stops when he hears the sound of tinkling from the ceiling lamp. Its glass prisms are swaying and colliding. Someone is upstairs.

  Hugging the wall, he climbs the stairs. Between the open treads he can see clothes hanging in neat rows beneath the staircase. When he reaches the landing, he creeps silently to the closest bedroom. There’s a double bed covered by a crazy quilt and a wardrobe, its sliding door partially open. The curtains are closed and the ceiling light is off. Joona steps into the room, his line of fire clear, and moves to the side. The front sight of a rifle is lying on the bed.

  He hears someone breathing close-by. Joona aims his gun at the corner of the room as he steps farther inside. Beside the wardrobe, there’s a man with stooped shoulders and light brown hair. He’s staring at Joona. He’s barefoot and wearing dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt with the words “Stora Enso.” He’s hiding something behind his back and is slowly moving toward the center of the room and closer to the bed.

  “I’m from the National Police,” Joona says. He lowers his gun slightly.

  “This is my house,” the man says.

  “You should have opened the door.”

  Joona sees that sweat is running down the man’s face.

  “Did you bust my back door?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Can it be fixed?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  Something glints in the smoke-tinted mirror on the wardrobe door. Joona sees in the reflection that the man is holding a large kitchen knife behind his back.

  He says calmly, “I need to see what’s in your garage.”

  “The only thing there is my car.”

  “Put the knife on the bed and take me to your garage.”

  The man moves the knife and looks at it. It has a stained wooden shaft, and the blade has been worn down by sharpening.

  “I don’t have time to wait,” Joona says.

  “You shouldn’t have broken my—”

  Joona hears bare feet moving in his direction. He moves slightly to the side while keeping his eyes on the knife. A shadow is heading for his back. Joona turns his body and puts his energy into lifting his elbow to meet the rushing shadow.

  Joona’s gun is still aimed at the man with the knife as his elbow hits a boy in the middle of his chest, knocking the wind out of him. The boy tries to stay upright, but he falls to the floor, gasping for breath. He pulls himself into a fetal position on his side, the rag rug rucked up beneath him.

  “They’re from Afghanistan,” the man says. “They needed help.”

  “I am going to shoot you in the leg if you don’t throw the knife on the bed right now,” Joona says.

  The man glances down at the knife in his hand, then throws it on the bed.

  Two small children appear at the door. Transfixed, they stare at Joona.

  “You’re hiding refugees?” Joona asks. “How much do they pay you?”

  “You think I can change them?” the man says indignantly.

  “Do you?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  Joona looks at the dark-eyed boy. He asks in English, “Do you pay him?”

  The boy shakes his head.

  “No human being is illegal,” the man says in Swedish.

  “You don’t have to be afraid,” Joona says to the boy, still in English. “I promise I will help you. Are you being abused?”

  “Dennis is a good man,” the boy whispers.

  “I’m happy to hear that,” Joona says. He looks the man in the eye then leaves the room.

  He walks down the stairs and out the back door. He heads to the garage. He stands there looking through the window at a dusty old Saab inside. He’s thinking that Vicky and the boy, Dante, are still missing and there are not many more places to look.

  33

  Flora Hansen is mopping the floor in the hall of Ewa and Hans-Gunnar’s second-floor apartment. Her left cheek is still burning from the blow and her ear is ringing. The shine was rubbed off the vinyl long ago, but the water makes it glisten again for a short time.

  Flora has beaten all the rugs and mopped the living room, the narrow kitchen, and Hans-Gunnar’s room, but she’s waiting to do Ewa’s until Solsidan starts. Both Ewa and Hans-Gunnar are fans of the show and never miss an episode.

  Flora shoves the mop into every crevice and corner. Walking backward, she bumps against a picture she made at nursery school more than thirty years ago. All the children glued pasta to a wooden board and then sprayed their pictures with gold paint. She hears the theme music of the TV show start. Now is her chance.

  Her back twinges as she lifts the bucket and carries it into Ewa’s room. She closes the door behind her and blocks it with the bucket so that no one can fling the door open. Her heart starts to pound as she dips the mop into the bucket, presses out the excess water, and glances at the wedding photo on the nightstand. Ewa has hooked the key to her desk on the back of the photograph.

  Flora does all the housework in exchange for a place to stay. She’d had no choice but to return to Ewa and Hans-Gunnar after she lost her job as an assistant nurse at Saint Göran’s Hospital and her unemployment ran out. She lives in the maid’s room.

  As a child, Flora used to dream that her birth parents would find her and take her away, but apparently they were drug addicts, and Hans-Gunnar and Ewa say they know nothing about them. Flor
a came to their house when she was five and doesn’t remember anything about her earlier life. Hans-Gunnar always treated Flora like a burden, and ever since she was a young teenager, Flora has longed to escape. When she was nineteen, she’d gotten the job as an assistant nurse and moved to her own apartment in Kallhäll that same month.

  The mop drips as she carries it over to the window. Beneath the radiator, the vinyl is black from old leaks. The venetian blind hangs crookedly in the window. There’s a Dala horse from Rättvik between the geraniums on the windowsill.

  Flora moves slowly toward the nightstand. She stops and listens. She can hear the television.

  Hans-Gunnar and Ewa are young in their wedding photo. She’s wearing a white dress and he’s in a tuxedo with a silver tie. The sky behind them is white. On a hill beside the church, there’s a black bell tower with an onion dome. The tower sticks up behind Hans-Gunnar’s head like a strange hat. Flora doesn’t know why, but she finds the picture unpleasant.

  She tries to breathe evenly.

  Silently, she leans the shaft of the mop against the wall. She waits until she hears her foster mother’s laughter before she picks up the photo and unhooks the ornate bronze key hanging behind it. Her hands shake so much she drops the key, which hits the floor and bounces beneath the bed. Flora has to support herself on the nightstand as she bends down to retrieve it. The blood beats in her temples and the floor outside creaks, but then goes silent again.

  The key has landed by the dust-covered electrical cords that run along the wall. Flora can just reach it. She stands back up and waits a moment before she goes to the secretary desk and unlocks it. She lowers the heavy lid and slides open one of the tiny drawers inside. Beneath two postcards from Majorca and Paris, there’s an envelope where Ewa keeps cash for immediate expenses. Flora opens the envelope for next month’s bills and takes half. She stuffs the bills into one of her pockets and puts the envelope back. She tries to shut the tiny drawer, but it sticks.

  “Flora!” Ewa calls.

  Flora opens the drawer and doesn’t see anything strange about it, so she tries to shut it again, but she’s shaking so hard that she can’t. She can hear footsteps head down the hall. She shoves the drawer, and it jerks in, although it is crooked now. She lifts the desk lid back into place, but doesn’t have time to lock it.