Benjamin’s smile faded and he shook his head in wonder, as if he couldn’t quite believe she was really standing there before him. She, too, felt mildly shaken and stood there mutely for a moment before throwing her arms around his neck. He swayed and dropped the grocery bags; her towel slipped off and fell at their feet like a carpet.
After a while, he pushed her away to look at her face. She noticed that his eyes were brimming with tears and she found herself at a loss — she had never seen Benjamin cry. She took his arm and pulled him into the cottage, barely noticing that she was completely nude.
‘You have to listen to this,’ she said. ‘Before we even think about discussing anything else, you have to listen.’
‘Hold on,’ he said, laughing. ‘Can I put the food away first?’
He let his eyes rove over her naked body and smiled.
She took in his face again. Those lively eyes, even more freckles than before, and his bright red hair, which had grown long enough to reach his shoulders by now. She was so happy to see him that she began to cry, and then so did he, and they just stood there in the kitchen, holding each other and sobbing. Then they looked at each other and started laughing. She clung to him a little longer, because it was so nice not to be alone anymore.
After a while she became aware of her nakedness against his clothes. Goosebumps rose on her skin and she felt a little fire kindle and spread through her body. She dragged him into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. It made her crazy to watch him taking off his clothes, so she pulled him close and wound her body around his, arms and legs holding tight until he entered her and they made love as frantically as they had the very first time. Taking back what was theirs. The feeling that had become so worn and broken by exhaustion and stress out on the island.
He grew heavy and limp and almost fell asleep on her afterwards. Gently, she rolled him away and gazed at his face, at his eyelids which fluttered like butterflies as he tried to stay awake. She ran a finger from the freckled bridge of his nose down to his mouth and let it rest on his lips.
‘Listen, can’t we start over?’ he whispered.
‘We’ll see,’ she said. ‘Maybe if you’re a good boy and you help me out of this bind.’
‘Anything.’
They got dressed and she stood close to him as he put away all the food in the pantry and refrigerator.
‘Now you have to listen to this recording,’ she said impatiently. ‘You won’t believe your ears. Then we can make some food and talk.’
They got comfortable on the couch and she set the Dictaphone behind them, on the side table, so it was right next to their heads. And then they listened in silence as the sunlight found its way through the cottage window and danced across their linked hands.
When it was over, Benjamin didn’t say anything at first. He just shook his head.
‘Now do you see?’
‘Yes, but it also explains quite a bit.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There’re some things I need to tell you, Sofia. Please listen for a while, and you can weigh in later.’
‘Okay, I’ll try to keep my mouth shut.’
‘I knew Franz from before,’ he began. ‘When he was Fredrik. We had a summer cottage on Fog Island, as you know, and I played with him sometimes when I was little. He taught me a ton of stuff, like how to build a fire and jump from Devil’s Rock. And he was the one who showed me the cave. He even taught me how to hit on girls when I was, like, eleven. He was pretty cool at first, but then something happened.’
He paused as his eyes flicked around the room. Then he took a deep breath and went on.
‘There was this girl I liked. I was only eleven, of course, so it wasn’t anything serious, but Fredrik found out. He took her to the cave and made her take off her clothes. I don’t know what all he did to her, but she said he, like, strangled her and tried to shove it inside her, but she fought him and then he made her walk home totally naked. There was a huge uproar about it, but he just denied everything and in the end it all blew over. He did an awful lot of strange things, too. He fed bees to frogs to see if it made them mean, weird stuff like that. I started to avoid him and found other friends. And eventually he spent most of his time with Lily, who had moved in at the manor. He lost interest in us other boys. When I found out he had jumped from Devil’s Rock and died, I was actually super relieved. I guess I was afraid of him.’
He paused again, searching inside himself.
‘Then I ran into him, years later. When he came to Lund. At first I didn’t recognize him, and when I realized who he was I was shaken up, because he was dead. But he made me promise not to tell anyone. He was calling himself Franz Oswald by then and said he’d inherited a ton of money and had chosen a name to suit a count. Things were rough for me back then. I owned a small carrier company that was about to go bankrupt. He helped me out, gave me money to get my business back on its feet again. Later, when he offered me a position out on the island, there was no way I could refuse. And you know the rest.’
‘But why the hell didn’t you say anything? All the shit he did to the staff — how could you?’
‘I don’t actually know. But listen, I had no idea about what he did to Lily in the barn, or to his family in France. If I’d known, obviously I would have gone to the police.’
‘Is there anything else I should know?’
‘Yes — about when you and I were going to run away.’
She let him tell the tale, even though she already knew it.
‘He had cameras in our room, videotaping us. He sent a message in the middle of the night telling me to come to his office early the next morning. And Bosse and his gang were already there, so it was like I had no choice.’
‘You could have come to Penance with me.’
‘He said he was going to split us up. It only would have been worse that way.’
‘So everything he says in his tale is true?’
‘As far as I know. But again, I didn’t know about Lily and all that. And that family in Antibes. Shit, it’s so disgusting!’
‘But why would he call it a novel?’
‘No idea. Although if it’s a novel, there’s no way it can be used as evidence, right?’
‘But why would he have recorded it in the first place?’
‘Don’t you get it?’ said Benjamin. ‘He’s doing thesis number two on himself. Taking power from his own evilness. I think he’s proud of it. Can’t you hear it in his voice?’
‘I wonder how he turned out the way he did. What they did to him down in that cellar. But it must be in that family history.’
‘Forget it. Just because you have a difficult childhood doesn’t give you the right to rape and kill other people.’
That was true. Benjamin knew what he was talking about.
‘Every second you spend thinking about him is a waste,’ he added.
‘Not if I can learn something from it.’
‘Listen, I’ll give you something better to think about. What the hell are we going to do now?’
‘I don’t know yet. Why did you stay for so long?’
‘I suppose I felt like I owed him something. He was so nice when we met up in Lund. He seemed to care. And later on, you were there.’
‘He’s such a creep. I just don’t get it. His mom is perfectly normal; she’s really nice. How can a person like that give birth to such a monster?’
‘What a weird question. Can’t you just accept that he is the way he is? That there might not be any reason for it?’
‘There’s always a reason.’
‘Hmm. Come on, let’s eat. I’m so hungry I think I’m about to pass out.’
She didn’t know he could cook. In fact, they didn’t know much at all about each other — there had hardly ever been time to talk. But he made salmon with new potatoes and wine, and made it look easy as pie.
The wine made her drowsy, and after the meal they relaxed on the sofa for a while.
‘What happened, that night when you jumped?’ she asked.
‘I just swam underwater for a long time. I would come up for air now and then. It was so windy I was worried I wouldn’t make it, but I made it to an outcropping on the other side of the bay and ran through the forest to the cottage. I spent the night there and dried my clothes. In the morning I walked over the rocks to the harbour and hid under the tarp on the ferry.’
‘Almost exactly like he did.’
‘Yeah. Weird, right?’
‘And exactly as we had planned.’
‘Right.’
‘So I could have found you if I’d only thought about it.’
‘Would you have wanted to?’
She considered this for a moment.
‘No, not really. But I guess I would have wanted to you to be free from that hell.’
‘Now it’s your turn,’ he said.
She told him everything that had happened, starting on the day he disappeared. He only interrupted her once, when she told him about Elvira.
‘Jesus, that’s crazy!’
When she was finished, it felt like they had finally sorted out a tangled ball of yarn. All the thoughts that had been so mixed up were suddenly in a straight line, and it became crystal clear what they had to do. She found her backpack and opened the pocket with all the business cards.
‘I’m going to make a call,’ she said. ‘To a contact.’
‘A contact?’
‘Yes, Magnus Strid. What time is it?’
He looked at his watch.
‘Eight-thirty.’
‘And what day is it?’
‘Friday. Didn’t you know?’
‘It’s a little late, but it can’t be helped.’
She took out her phone and dialled the number. All she got was his voicemail, so she left a message.
‘Hi, this is Sofia — I’m ready to talk.’
Her phone rang almost immediately.
‘Hey there, Sofia Bauman, where are you holed up?’
‘I need some help.’
‘You can say that again.’
When she finished her tale, there was a brief moment of silence and then Magnus chuckled.
‘Well, damn.’
‘Will you help me?’
‘Of course I will. I’ll take care of it. But you’ll have to give me some time, since it’s the weekend and all that. But I’ll be as fast as I possibly can.’
‘And you won’t drag the cops into it?’
‘No. At least not that cop.’
‘And until then?’
‘Stay inside and wait.’
Benjamin gave her a curious look when she ended the call.
‘What do we do now?’
‘Now we wait,’ she said.