HANNA

7.45 P.M.

In the rear-view mirror, she saw Solbyn getting smaller and smaller and her worry increased by the same proportion. It didn’t feel right to leave the children with Bea. The neighbour lady who usually volunteered to do childcare had been reluctant to help out, and Hanna didn’t want to insist, considering how it had ended last time.

They were going to a special parents’ meeting at the school. Even though it was Saturday evening. Hanna would be going there as a parent this time to discuss the recent incidents, and even though neither Stoffe nor Hanna wanted to go, they felt compelled.

Alice had looked completely terrified as they stood in the hall. ‘Stay, Mummy, please,’ she whispered in her ear, hugging her convulsively.

‘I have to go, honey, but we’ll be back soon.’ Bea stood a little further off and stared at her with a look that frightened her. But Stoffe had insisted, and she didn’t have any choice.

‘Bea is their sister, she would never harm them. And it’s important that she learns to take responsibility. That’s how you grow up.’ Stoffe sounded definite as they drove out onto the highway and towards the school. ‘She actually wanted to babysit, and so we have to encourage that. Besides, Karl was looking forward to being with his big sister.’

‘Well, that’s what you say.’ Hanna agreed in principle: difficult children often had a need to be noticed. Every time Bea behaved badly, she got attention, but rarely when she did something good. She was seeking affirmation, that was very obvious, but the only thing Alexandra did was scold and nag at her. Hanna could see the powerlessness in Alexandra where Bea was concerned, but that didn’t excuse her child-rearing methods. Even if Hanna knew that Bea was having a hard time in school and that she’d been teased before, none of that excused her behaviour.

‘Karl has apparently started hanging out with Max.’

‘Who is that?’

Hanna shook her head. How could he even think of having more children when he couldn’t keep track of the ones he already had. ‘Do you think children are like decorations? It’s a life-long commitment. Without a dad present, a big sister will become the role model. I think Karl looks up to Bea and wants to be like her.’

‘I’ll talk to him. And what do you mean without a dad?’

History was going to repeat itself right in front of their noses, but Stoffe seemed to be blind to reality. Or otherwise, he just didn’t want to see what was so obvious to Hanna. In Karl’s eyes, Bea and Max were tough role models for whom he was prepared to do anything at all.

‘It’s only a matter of time before Alice and Märtha will end up in the same mess, too, if we don’t manage to put a stop to this. Alice already seems to be part of the games.’

‘What?’

Hanna felt totally exhausted and didn’t have the energy to tell him the whole story. She took a bag of sweets out of her handbag and stuffed two sour bears in her mouth. ‘I don’t feel safe.’

‘What did you say?’

‘Nothing.’ She stuffed in another bear.

‘Why are you stuffing yourself with all those sweets? We just ate.’

Before they left Solbyn, they’d eaten while watching the news. Liv’s sister had been interviewed, and a picture of Liv had been shown. The police had also asked the general public for help.

They were just edging closer and closer. Hanna needed sugar to cope and ignored his criticism. She wondered whether he would soon start talking about her figure. ‘Considering how you and Alexandra have brought up Bea, it’s not surprising that she’s turned out this way.’

He raised a threatening finger at her. ‘That’s enough, now.’

‘Did you run out of words? You couldn’t describe how you felt and so you were forced to raise your hand?’

‘Knock it off and get down off your high horse. Don’t you know that it saddens me when you say that? Bring it up with Alexandra next time you see her, that’d be a real icebreaker.’

Hanna turned her head away and stared out the window at the forest that sat there, dark and threatening.

‘It’s that damn Johan. I swear that he’s the one who broke into our house and left that note,’ said Stoffe. ‘I can’t believe that I’m going to have to sit and listen to him now. By the way, did you actually see the images from the surveillance cameras?’

‘No.’

‘Maybe it was just bullshit. Empty threats.’

Hanna couldn’t help thinking that Stoffe was afraid of what was on those surveillance images.

He had been summoned to the police to submit DNA samples. Apparently, they’d found out that Liv had been his patient at the City Clinic. ‘It must have been that journalist who fingered us. Soon, the whole world is going to know how we live.’ He told her that he’d been seriously taken to task by the police because he hadn’t made himself known earlier. ‘I tried to explain why, but they didn’t accept my excuse.’

Hanna continued putting away sour bears until her mouth was burning. Not until they turned off at the school did she lose it. ‘How the hell could you put us in this situation? Have you already gotten tired of me?’ Her eyes and her head both ached.

‘Stop that. You sound like Alexandra.’

He knew that was the worst thing he could say to her, but he did it anyway.

‘This is not about either Alexandra or Liv, it’s about the fact that you violated our trust. You went behind my back.’

‘I fell in love.’ He shrugged, as if it were that simple, and pulled into one of the parking spaces by the school.

She wanted to shake off what he had just said. Wished she would never have to hear it again.

‘Why weren’t you honest from the beginning, then? You knew that I could handle it, but you chose to lie. You lied to me.’

He didn’t answer.

‘I didn’t like her.’

‘What the hell are you saying?’ He stared at her with an ice-cold look, which she had seen in his son. ‘She’s dead. How can you speak ill of her? You never had a chance to get to know her.’

Both of them sat in silence, but she could hear Stoffe’s agitated breathing.

‘It doesn’t feel like I’m the only one who has secrets. Why didn’t the neighbour woman want to babysit?’

‘It just got a little awkward last time, nothing in particular.’ She hoped that he would be content with that answer. ‘Shall we go in?’

‘What? When did you have a babysitter? And what do you mean by awkward?’

‘I got home late last time. It was last Sunday.’

‘The same day that Liv was murdered?’

‘I was at a teachers’ meeting.’

‘But Liv was on her way to your house. Why haven’t you told me this?’

‘Well, I’d got everything prepared and set out the baby things. Then the meeting was called at the last minute, and I had to go.’

‘How long were you gone?’

‘Don’t know, what does that matter?’

‘I just think that it’s strange that you haven’t told me this. Did something in particular happen?’

She didn’t like his tone. Behind the calm, she could hear how angry he was. ‘No.’ She shrugged. ‘By the way, someone from TV4 called me today,’ she said, to change the topic.

‘You didn’t answer, did you? It’s that journalist again. I could strangle her if I got hold of her.’

Hanna shook her head and wished she hadn’t heard that. ‘What does Alexandra say about all this?’ She had wanted to ask for a long time, but hadn’t dared.

‘Alexandra?’

‘Yes … Do you trust her?’

Stoffe stared angrily at her. ‘Come on, we have to go in. The parents’ meeting is starting.’

Hanna took a deep breath and got out of the car. She had been on the verge of asking about the bruises on his body.