Chapter 16

She didn’t feel nervous until they had entered the apartment. That voice of reason droned on and on in the back of her mind: What the hell are you doing? What is wrong with you? What is going on? But she had learned to turn it off. A deep breath through her nose – she made her mind focus on that. As she blew the air out through her mouth, she found herself back in the moment. That voice was really just a little coward that had been holding her back all these years.

‘Well, that was pretty damn easy,’ said Damian Dwight, her partner in crime. Damian hadn’t been Anna-Maria’s first choice – she didn’t know whether he could keep his mouth shut. But he was the only person she knew who could do this sort of job without breaking the bank. He was an Englishman but had lived in Sweden his entire adult life. They had met at university and had had a brief relationship that went nowhere fast, after she got tired of his lies and unhealthy habits. He was one of those suit-clad guys with a polished façade who seemed very impressive until you scratched the surface. He had quit school, and these days he kept busy doing sketchy odd jobs. He could essentially be hired for anything, if the price was right. Even though they didn’t have much in common anymore, she kept in touch. He was good to have around when you needed something stronger than alcohol at a party.

And now he had broken into the apartment in under a minute – it was so astonishing, so phenomenal that she got gooseflesh.

Damian looked around.

‘They’ve secured the front door, but they completely ignored the balcony door. Idiots.’

Anna-Maria’s gaze swept the studio. Neat, not a thing out of place. The air was nearly vibrating with sterile emptiness. As if someone were using this place for a hideout, but didn’t live there permanently. Just as she liked it herself. She felt a burning irritation at Sofia Bauman’s meticulousness. Then again, the apartment was so full of cheap IKEA crap that it smelled like plastic. This chick had no style.

‘How illegal is this, really?’ she asked Damian.

‘You’re the lawyer.’

‘I have, like, no experience with this sort of thing.’

‘Illegal enough to ruin your career forever. And unorthodox, pretty fucking unorthodox.’

‘It’s not like this is anything new,’ Anna-Maria grinned. ‘Franz had cameras all over ViaTerra. This is only the beginning. It seems like Franz has a number of things up his sleeve. But what the hell. None of them are as bold as this.’

Damian raised an eyebrow. ‘Does he know about this?’

‘Of course not. Not yet, anyway.’

‘What did this poor girl do to deserve all this?’

‘You don’t want to know. You’ll keep this quiet, right?’

‘I already promised I would. How long do we have?’

‘She’s at work – she’ll be home late afternoon.’

‘This won’t take more than an hour.’

Anna-Maria sat down on the sofa and watched Damian in silence as he installed a camera near the ceiling. A tiny eye that fit behind a vent high up on the wall.

‘It will let you see the whole apartment,’ he said. ‘You’ll have a bird’s eye view of her. You can keep her under constant watch.’

‘Except in the bathroom,’ Anna-Maria grinned. ‘Should we put one in the shower too?’

‘What the hell? I didn’t know you were into that.’

‘I’m not, but I know someone who likes girls in the shower.’ She let out a hoarse little laugh that caught in her throat as an unpleasant thought came to her. ‘What happens if she finds the camera? Can it be traced? I don’t want anyone to be able to trace it to my apartment, as I’m sure you understand.’

‘Of course it can be traced.’

She flew off the sofa as if someone had stabbed her in the ass with a fork.

‘Chill out,’ he said. ‘There’s an alarm – you’ll know if someone touches the camera. If that happens, you just have to break the connection and no one can trace it.’

When they were done, Anna-Maria cleaned up fastidiously, until the real-life image of the apartment was an exact match to the one in her head, of the way it had looked when they first walked through the door.

‘Now we’ll go to your place,’ Damian said. ‘I’ll install the equipment and hook it up and show you how to use it.’

‘Are you sure it’ll work? From so far away?’

‘Totally sure. Come on, let’s get out of here before this chick gets home.’

She let Damian drive. Meanwhile she sank down in the passenger seat and smiled inwardly. It had been so ridiculously easy. Rain was starting to fall, whipping violently at the windshield and making it hard to see, so they travelled along the highway at a snail’s pace. But that only made everything feel cosy; she was purring like a cat and letting her gaze melt into the fat raindrops on the wet glass.

Franz had been so grumpy ever since the kids were born. It hadn’t helped that Anna-Maria had brought Elvira and the babies to the manor, and that they were living so well. Now he’d got it into his head that the kids wouldn’t be raised properly, and he wanted out of prison. For ‘good behaviour’. As if she could wave a magic wand and set him free. When she tried to explain that it didn’t work that way, he threatened her, saying that maybe he didn’t have any use for her after all. So cruel. But everything would be different soon, because now she had something Franz wouldn’t be able to resist: a glimpse into Sofia Bauman’s daily life.

Anna-Maria wondered how she would smuggle in the recordings. Franz would enjoy watching the videos in his cell. She was amazed to find she didn’t feel jealous, but wasn’t that the point? If Franz could see how that IKEA slut lived her life, he would be disgusted and get tired of her. Nothing that went on in that claustrophobic little place could possibly be stimulating for a man like Franz Oswald. And then he would definitely realize how much Anna-Maria had to offer. It was clearly a win-win situation for her.

She turned to Damian.

‘Hey, could you show me how to edit the recordings together and make a DVD of them?’

‘Sure, that shouldn’t be hard. I can do that. For a small sum, that is.’

Anna-Maria’s phone vibrated in her pocket. A call from Skogome – so timely. It was Helga McLean.

‘When do you plan to visit next?’

‘Tomorrow, during visiting hours. Why?’

‘Just wanted to check. We’ll talk then.’

‘Is something wrong?’

‘No, not exactly. Except your client has convinced all the inmates in his unit to get saved. They’re studying the ViaTerra theses at night. We’d really like to put an end to this mess, if you get my drift. Maybe you can help us out. Change his mind.’

Anna-Maria muffled a guffaw. She pictured Franz, surrounded by the inmates he’d turned into his underlings. The thought was so hilarious that she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud. There was a lengthy silence before she heard McLean’s voice once more.

‘Are you still there?’

‘Yes, I was just thinking. Listen, you know what might distract him at night, and maybe put a stop to his preaching? I’m sure you know he likes watching old movies?’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘Well, he does. But they have to be particular movies, made by directors he likes. May I bring some DVDs when I visit? He has a TV with a DVD player, doesn’t he?’

‘He doesn’t, but we can discuss it while you’re here. Maybe we can make an exception,’ said McLean. ‘And another thing, before I forget. It’s almost time for his first supervised furlough. Just so you know. And it will definitely be supervised, no matter his opinion on the matter. I have to go now. See you tomorrow.’

Anna-Maria’s sense of satisfaction had turned into a feeling that approached ecstasy. Everything was going to be just fine. Really, really fine. She flipped down the mirror to fix her makeup and got caught up in her own gaze for a moment. She saw something there, something new. Am I an evil person? she wondered. But who can really define evil? Well, now it’s my turn to have some fun.