Oswald was standing in the doorway of the office with one foot in the corridor, on his way back out again.
She had been waiting for him, knowing he would come.
‘Mona has to jump from Devil’s Rock,’ he said. ‘You know why.’
Since Alvin’s arrival on the island, Oswald had been practically glued to his side. In fact, it seemed unimaginable that he should leave the celebrity just to see to the punishment of a staff member as insignificant and meaningless as he considered Mona to be. But Sofia knew why Mona had suddenly become so important. And why Oswald was there.
She gazed out the window at the cold, windy fall day. Leaves and twigs swirled around the yard. The sky was thick with clouds, and there was a gale at sea.
‘Sir, is there anything else we can do to punish her? It’s so windy, and it will already be dark by the time dinner is over.’
Oswald stepped in and approached her desk. For a brief moment she thought he was going to throw himself at her. She knew it was just her imagination, but his posture suggested a predator ready to attack.
‘The water’s cold. Okay. Is it frozen over, or something?’
‘No, no, it’s not frozen.’
‘So there is water for her to jump into?’
‘Yes, sure, of course.’
‘And we haven’t lost all our flashlights?’
‘No, I don’t believe so.’
‘Then that bitch will jump for what she did. Do you hear me?’
He was shouting by now. The strength of his voice made her recoil; she hit her back against the bookcase behind her desk. She clasped her hands in front of her and stared at the floor, trying to look submissive. Don’t defy him. Don’t provoke him. She pressed herself against the bookcase, and he took another step. He was dangerously close now. He banged his fist against the table and her pen holder fell over; pens flew every which way. Her water glass shook but made it through. She hardly dared to breathe; she kept staring at the floor.
‘I’m sick of all your objections. Do you hear me?’
‘I understand; I won’t —’
‘That’s right. You will not disagree with me again, dammit!’
This would never turn into a dialogue. All it would take would be a facial expression he found annoying, or a poorly chosen word, and he would be in her face again. She had to get out of the office, and fast, because she was running out of oxygen.
‘I’ll take care of it. I’ll go see Bosse right now.’
‘Get a move on.’
She felt like she was floundering; it was overwhelming — it was unlike her to be at such a loss. She hadn’t even tried to stand up for herself. But she slinked past him and out the door, her tail between her legs, hating herself for it.
She ran down the stairs to Bosse’s office and told him what had happened with Mona in the library. Why she had to jump. Bosse didn’t look concerned in the least; instead he was exhilarated. He seemed to get a kick out of disasters — the more serious, the better.
‘Heck, it’s only water. She can handle it. I’ll take care of it.’
It seemed to Sofia that Bosse had started to talk like Oswald, to use the same intonation and gestures. What was more, he’d let his hair grow out, and it was just long enough to put in a ponytail at the back of his neck. He even wore tight T-shirts under his uniform, exactly like Oswald. But Bosse was scrawny, so it just looked silly.
Sofia didn’t want to go back to the office in case Oswald had lingered there, so she went to the staff bathroom and locked herself in. She sat on the lid of the toilet with her head in her hands. Dammit, now that she had time to think about the fateful incident earlier that day, the tears came.
*
Oswald had wanted to show Alvin the library and Sofia was to be there when he did. She and Mona had been awaiting their arrival for an hour. They had already cleaned, dusted, and made sure that every book was standing up straight on the shelves. They must have tested the computer program at least a hundred times. Now they were just sitting around waiting and having coffee. Mona was anxious; she bit her nails, as always, and kept glancing at the door.
‘It’ll be fine,’ Sofia assured her just as Oswald and Alvin came in. This was the first time Sofia had seen Alvin up close. Her first impression was that he looked like a doll. His gelled hair stood on end in hundreds of black and purple spikes. His face was powdered white and he was wearing eyeliner. But even stranger were his jerky movements. He seemed incapable of standing still; he twisted his body and squirmed, pacing as he spoke, cracking his knuckles, gnawing at his lower lip. If she hadn’t known better she would have thought he was high, but she’d heard he just had an excess of energy, inexhaustible reserves of vigour and vitality.
She showed him the whole library. He didn’t seem particularly interested in the books, but when she showed him the computer and its screensaver with Oswald’s picture and motto, he whistled.
‘Shit, this is awesome, Franz! You’ve really put your stamp on this place.’
He liked the fact that you could order books and download them to your phone or laptop. She asked if he wanted to try it out, so he eagerly took a seat and ordered a book for himself. When he stood up again, he placed his hand over Sofia’s and winked at her. She didn’t know what to think — other than that he was a little pleasantly nuts.
When the tour was over, Oswald gave Sofia a pleased nod. Mona had remained standing behind the librarian’s desk throughout. She looked lost but relieved now that it was all over.
Then she reached across the desk to shake hands with Alvin in a farewell gesture. And that’s when it happened. She knocked over her coffee cup with a thud, and the coffee splashed onto Alvin’s trousers, leaving big brown stains on his white jeans. Everyone was shocked into silence, and then a flood of apologies poured from Mona’s mouth.
‘Oh, it’s no big deal,’ Alvin said. But it was clear from his expression that those jeans hadn’t exactly come from a secondhand store.
Mona said she would wash the trousers for him, but he shook his head.
‘Sofia will take care of it later,’ Oswald assured him.
As they left, Oswald turned around and shot Sofia a malevolent look, and she knew it was going to be a terrible day.
*
She rose from the toilet lid and wiped her tears. Once she’d washed away the mascara that had clumped around her eyes, she ran her fingers through her hair and made a face at her reflection. He will not break me, she thought. Never. But then she thought back to what had happened. Mona’s imbecilic clumsiness. That oafish idiot. Perhaps she had even spilled that coffee on purpose. Seriously, how much could Oswald be expected to put up with?
She thought about Mona, then Oswald. His field of energy. How he could charm anyone and fit in anywhere. Even Alvin looked up to him. Oswald might be unpredictable and temperamental, but he was never boring. Then her thoughts returned to Mona. Her sullen presence. She adjusted her skirt and jacket and opened the door.
Duty called.
*
The procession struggled on, into the wind. The roving beams of their flashlights sought out the narrow path. A light drizzle wet their faces. Sofia walked beside Bosse, who was holding Mona by the arm. Oswald was at the gym with Alvin, so he’d directed Sofia to take his place. She just wanted to get it over with and be back inside, out of the cold. But something was horribly wrong. She could hardly see Mona’s features in the dim light, yet she could feel the other woman’s fear. She wasn’t crying; she wasn’t making a sound. But terror seemed to radiate from her body. She was like an animal walking to slaughter.
Sofia felt vaguely ill and tried to convince herself that Mona was just a coward and this might even do her good. But there was something overwhelming about Mona’s fear.
By now they could see the terrain around the cliffs. Everything was dark grey: the sea, the sky, the rocks. Only the foam on the water glowed white.
Mona kept herself together until she was standing on the very edge of Devil’s Rock. But then a long, frantic howl rose from her throat and stunned the whole staff.
And then: ‘I can’t swim, I can’t swim, I can’t swim . . .’ She repeated the phrase like a mantra. It began softly but increased in volume until she was howling again.
‘Why didn’t you say so before?’ Bosse roared, shaking her arm.
‘I was afraid to. I’m so scared.’
Benny separated himself from the pack and approached them. ‘You’re lying! You’re just trying to get out of it.’
Sten stepped forward as well, always ready to have Benny’s back.
‘She’s definitely lying. Look how fake she looks. She has to jump; Franz said so. If she can’t handle it, we can always pull her out. Right?’
He turned to the group for their approval. It started as a buzz but soon rose into a steady, persistent chant:
‘Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!’
So she jumped. She yanked her arm from Bosse’s grasp and slipped over the edge of the cliff. There was a loud splash as she hit the water.
When she came up, it was all wrong. She was flapping her arms, spitting and hissing. Gasping for breath. She vanished beneath the surface. Bobbed up again, screamed, but swallowed water and went under. After that, she didn’t come up again. All they could see was the dark water and the foaming waves. The whole group stood there helplessly, staring down at the water. Sofia knew she should jump in and rescue Mona, but it was as if her feet were rooted to the ground.
A grey arrow darted by at the edge of her vision. Someone had pulled away from the group to fly into the water. They might have been staring for a few seconds or a whole minute, until the bodies appeared on the surface. Benjamin, his arms around Mona’s chest. He dragged her to the rocks and helped her up. He held her as she coughed up water, gagging and crying all at once.
One by one, they woke from their trance. Bosse had the towel; Katarina brought her down jacket. Soon the staff had flocked around Mona.
That was when Sofia heard it.
Far out in the sea, it called and echoed. The intermittent tones came in on the wind.
The foghorn.
At first she thought it must be her imagination.
But she wasn’t the only one who heard it that night.
*
No one let on to Oswald what had happened, not even a hint. No one wanted to be the bearer of bad news. But Sofia knew he would fly into a rage if he found out Mona had nearly drowned. He wouldn’t be mad at them — just Mona. He would probably dismiss her and send her back to the mainland. And then the library would be empty. The images from that night haunted her thoughts, as did the thought of what might have happened if it weren’t for Benjamin.
*
Alvin completed the program and left the island satisfied and happy.
Oswald had accompanied him to the mainland and returned late that night. Sofia was still up, working on a computer system that would keep track of everything Oswald wanted done. He glanced over her shoulder as she typed at the computer, realized at once what she was doing, and mumbled in approval.
‘That’s looking good. Put a time limit on everything. If you don’t receive a report within a certain period you can use the Consequences. First, three warnings. Then — boom!’
He laughed and Sofia immediately understood what he was getting at. A sort of obedience tool. He sat down before her and stared at her. She’d learned not to look away even if she did feel nervous butterflies in her stomach.
‘Things with Alvin went well,’ he said. ‘He’s going to talk about us on TV soon.’
‘Fantastic!’
‘And now that he’s gone, I’m going to stay here for a while. Deal with the staff.’
He kept staring at her as if he was trying to read her mind.
She held her gaze steady, but her mouth went bone-dry. At last she had to say something to put an end to the silence.
‘Sir, may I ask you something?’
‘When Mona jumped from Devil’s Rock, some of us heard the foghorn. But it doesn’t work anymore, does it?’
The corners of Oswald’s mouth turned up.
‘Oh, didn’t that Björk character tell you? When the wind blows a certain direction, it causes the horn itself to make a howling noise. That’s all you heard.’
‘I see, okay.’
There was a glimmer in his eyes.
‘Although the villagers say there’s more to it, of course.’
‘What’s that?’
‘That it means someone’s going to die.’
‘This is Fredrik,’ he says to the little girl, whom I dislike immediately.
Her eyes bulge out too far, and she has pigtails, a pointy nose, a nearly invisible chin, and one of those superior ‘my daddy is rich’ smiles that reveals a terrifying mouthful of braces.
Just you wait, I think, but I smile back. My very best smile.
He convinced me to shower and put on new trousers, socks, and a sweater he’s pulled out of nowhere.
‘Fredrik is going to stay with us for a while, in the guest house,’ he says.
We’ll see, I think.
I look around the large room we’re sitting in.
Marble floors. Everything is beige, white, and blue. It’s sparsely furnished but all the fabrics are expensive.
Huge windows with heavy drapes. The painting on the wall looks like an actual Picasso.
Mediterranean deluxe, I think.
I’ve never seen anything like it.
It smells pleasantly clean, not of soap or floor cleaner but of furniture polish and aired-out rooms.
Then my eyes fall upon her. Emilie, the Countess.
The daughter must take after her, because she is not beautiful.
Her nose is a little too long and slightly crooked. Her chin is small and her eyes are almost colourless. But she has a thick, blonde mane of hair that tumbles over her thin shoulders, and her body is slim and narrow, like a girl’s.
She looks at me with surprise and curiosity.
Her eyes wander over my face and body and stop, just for an instant, at my crotch.
It only lasts a fraction of a second, but I notice it. And she knows I noticed.
Don’t get any idea, bitch, I think. You’re way too old. But then I think of how useful she could be.
She might even be the key to everything.
I look back at her, letting my eyes roam her body.
Like a lighthouse beam sweeping the sea on a raw, cold night.