In the Name of Love (27 page)

‘But you wouldn’t really let these gangsters know about them?’

‘I’m pretty sure the threat will be enough to make them leave.’

‘And go where?’

‘That’s their business. Back to France or something.’

He thought hard. Lena, still naked, sat on the edge beside him. Her eyes were on his face, looking for signs.

‘Maybe your Aunt Solveig knew all about them, maybe they told her.’

‘That a fourteen-year-old girl was gang raped? She wouldn’t have let them over her threshold. Anyway all that’s beside the point. I’m going to meet Gabriel in less than half an hour and after that he’ll withdraw his claim from the probate court. He has no choice. These gang leaders live off protection money. They have to show they’re ruthless or no one will pay. The Selavas would have to skip the country.’

‘Where are you going to meet Gabriel?’

‘In their barn. I got a friend to ring Gabriel and tell him I need to see him at twelve thirty tonight, when the others are asleep. I’m going to demand a signed handwritten statement from Gabriel renouncing his claim. I’ve checked and a document like that is called a holograph and it’s as valid as a witnessed statement. If the pygmy tries to get him to withdraw it later, I’ll let her know I’ll release the court documents.’

‘Lena, are you sure this is wise?’

‘Don’t worry, DeeJay. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time now. I know how to handle Gabriel. Or Habib, rather. He can slip out once she’s asleep, he’s done it before. And I’ll be back long before you wake up. I’ll creep in and join you in bed again. And I’ll bring you breakfast on a tray. How’s that for a dim little housewife?’

‘No. It’s not a risk you can take. They’ve been through an appalling experience in Iraq and they may do things they wouldn’t normally do to prevent anything like it happening again.’

‘That’s why I have to deal with Gabriel alone. If the pygmy gets involved there won’t be any agreement. All I’ll have left then is to hand it over to the gangsters in Södertälje.’

‘That’s out of the question, Lena! Gabriel would be killed. You said so yourself.’

‘It’s up to the pygmy.’

She started dressing. Dan said, ‘Wait until morning and go and reason with her then.’

‘She doesn’t work by reason, she works by cunning and hate. Anyway I’ll make sure Gabriel and I reach an agreement first. In writing. Then she can do what she likes.’

‘And if she insists on going with Gabriel to meet you?’

‘She won’t know. That’s the point. He’ll be told on the tele­phone to make sure she doesn’t. And if she follows him we’ll take their boat across to Svartholm. That’s the one place we’ll be safe. Without the boat she has no way of getting there. I’m not going to be vindictive, DeeJay. I just want what’s mine.’

‘Lena—’

‘There are an awful lot of shitty people in the world, DeeJay. They’d cheat me just as they’ve been cheating me all along. Listen – right from the beginning that’s what amazed me about you – you could be here on your own and stay sane. You asked nothing of anyone. I knew that I could accept your hospitality without thinking of what you’d want in return. You’ve no idea how much that meant to me.’

‘Lena, don’t go!’

‘I know how to take care of myself.’

‘Not in a situation like this.’

‘One thing this awful bloody life of mine has taught me – how to handle violent men. Believe me, I’ve had practice. I don’t care if I blind them. I’m not taking any more batterings, not from anyone.’

‘Lena, I forbid you to go!’

‘I’m an adult, DeeJay. I make my own decisions. Let’s think of what it’s going to be like when I’ve got the farm. We’ll be neighbours. And I’m going to invite you over hundreds of times to make up for all you’ve done for me. I’ll cook you meals you can’t dream of. I swear! There’s more to me than this scatty front I’ve had to put on.’

‘You’re not going to meet Gabriel in the middle of the night, Lena. You’re not going!’

‘What are you? My father? DeeJay, we’re beyond this kind of thing, both of us. I’ll be back.’

‘No! Lena—’

She was already gone. He heard her run down the stairs and, before he could follow, the sound of the kitchen door being closed. He lay back thinking of her. She was no longer the flippant kid he’d met on a snowy road. She was a woman in charge of her life now – and he didn’t doubt her when she said it was going to be a different life.

What would the Selavas do? Go back to France? It didn’t seem likely. Once in France they’d come in contact with other Iraqis – sooner or later word would leak out about them. They were safe here. No one doubted their story. Even Sune Isaksson hadn’t suspected anything was wrong. Thinking of which, he hadn’t seen Sune in a while. The last time they spoke Sune had said he was flying to Copenhagen for a week while he still could. It would be his last trip. On his way back he was going to stay in Stockholm long enough to clear out the flat he rented there and give the landlord notice.

‘I’m giving the furniture and stuff to the Salvation Army. I don’t suppose you want my motorboat?’

‘I don’t have anywhere to go in it, Sune.’

‘There are hundreds of tiny islands out there nobody ever sets foot on. Before the divorce the boys and I used to set off in the boat looking for hidden treasure. We had fun in those days.’

‘I’m sure you’ll find a buyer for it when the summer people come out next year.’

‘Dan, you know as well as I do that I won’t be here then. I’ll take the boat round to the restaurant when I get back. They’ll pull it up for me when they’re hauling up their own boat before the ice comes. Maybe the boys will use it again one day. I’m leaving the house to them, it’s all there is left. The trouble is I don’t have the strength to take the boat out on my own any more but if you have an hour to spare one day maybe we can do it together. It’s an easy boat to run. And the restaurant jetty is just around the headland.’

‘I know how to run an outboard engine. I’ll be glad to help you do it. Just say when.’

Since then Sune had not been in touch. He might be dead in Stockholm for all I know, Dan thought. How could I have forgotten him until this evening? But it was obvious how. And with that thought on his mind he nevertheless tumbled back into uneasy sleep.

When he woke it was still dark outside and the bed beside him was still empty. There was no sound from downstairs. It occurred to him that when Lena had finished talking to Gabriel she might have gone back to sleep at Johan Ek’s house. It was closer by far to the farm than Dan’s house was and she might well be exhausted.

Nevertheless, the sharpness of his unease took him by surprise. He should never have let her go to meet Gabriel in the middle of the night. Nothing good could come of it. But how could he have stopped her? By force? She’d make other arrangements. And never trust him again.

He lay consumed with longing for her. It was as though she had brought back a lost life to him, a life of resilience and beauty. A mirage no doubt, but it was enough to reinvigorate his hope of a future. He was still lying thinking of this when the bedside phone rang. He almost threw himself on the handset and said, ‘At last! Are you all right?’

‘Dan?’ a voice which was not Lena’s said. ‘Dan? You are there?’

It was Nahrin. She had never telephoned him before. He knew at once that something was wrong.

‘Dan? Is Gabriel with you?’

‘No, I haven’t seen him since Thursday. Why?’

‘I am sorry I ring now. Dan I am worried. Gabriel has gone. He has gone somewhere. I must find him.’

‘Has he been missing for long?’ Dan asked although he knew the answer.

‘Late. Is in the night. Dan, we worry.’

‘You have no idea where he might have gone?’

‘He was in barn. A telephone call come last night. Someone say he rings from France. He speak Swedish. He say must speak to Gabriel. I say who is? He say must speak to Gabriel. After he finish Gabriel say it is nothing, a friend from France. Just to say hello. But I do not believe this. How he know the number this friend from France?’

‘What did Gabriel say?’

‘That he is someone he give the number to. I say why but Gabriel say no reason, just a friend. Then when we are asleep I hear the dog in the kitchen. How does dog get into kitchen in the night? I go down and open for her and she run to barn and bark. When I go there, no one. Josef and I we are worry, worry. Such terrible things happen in Iraq. Who is this man who rings from France? We give the number to no one, only close family.’

‘Is there anywhere near by Gabriel could have gone?’

‘No. The only house near is the man Ek. Gabriel not go there.’

‘As soon as it’s light I’ll go over and look. I’ll ask Ek too. Don’t worry, Nahrin. He must be somewhere near by. He’ll be all right.’

‘I am sorry to ring now but we are worry. Worry, worry.’

‘Nahrin, as soon as it’s light I’ll come over. We’ll find him.’

It was impossible to think of sleep now. What had Lena got herself into? Where had she and Gabriel gone? Not to Svartholm in the first instance, surely. Of course she and Gabriel knew the island well. They could be anywhere where there were no people. Talking, arguing. He hoped it went no further than that.

But what if it did? He quenched the thought in his mind.

Suddenly he got up and dressed and went out. It was still dark. He walked carefully through the forest, listening for sounds. Very soon he realized it was hopeless and he turned towards the coast and the little strand with its semicircle of tall granite stones where Lena had taken him on the
five-times-you day
. It would be an ideal spot for them to talk undisturbed.

On the way there he saw that Sune’s house was silent and the shutters were closed. He went over to look. The windows hadn’t yet been sealed for the winter, so presumably Sune would be back before the cold started. Sune’s boat lay tied to the little jetty below the rock. Another good sign. Dan walked down to look. With the boat it would take no more than minutes to check the little beach Lena had called her chapel.

Light was edging the sea in front of him. When he lifted the tarpaulin from the gunnel and put his hand in he felt rainwater. The hull was plastic, with a curved windshield but no cabin. There were two seats in front and one at the back where he could just make out the small outboard fixed to the wood transom, and the portable fuel tank. When he lifted the tank he heard the fuel splash about inside. About a third full. He found a bailer under the rear seat and started to empty the hull.

The Selavas’s pick-up was waiting in front of his house when he got back. Nahrin climbed down and called to him, asking if he had seen anything of Gabriel. He shook his head.

‘Something happen to him, I know!’

He had not seen her as tense as this before and he tried to think of how much he could tell her without giving Lena away.

‘Where he go? Where he go?’ Nahrin repeated.

‘Let’s look,’ Dan said.

When they arrived at the farm Josef was in the kitchen with Jamala. They both raised their eyes questioningly. Jamala ran to her grandmother and clutched hard at her dress. They stood there, unsure what to do next. Then Nahrin took charge. She asked Josef to go out with Jamala and the dog, to go down along the coast, calling Gabriel’s name.

‘Cake will know, she bark if he near.’

When they had gone Dan wondered again if Lena had gone back to Johan Ek’s house. Ek’s was by far the easiest place to get to from here, no more than ten minutes’ walk. Could she have gone there with Gabriel? It had struck him before that Gabriel might have been the one who shot Johan Ek’s dog to keep it from worrying Jamala and Nahrin when they were picking herbs.

‘Were there any other calls?’

‘No. Seldom we have telephone calls. Before calls were for Solveig. Not many. Why from France? Why Gabriel not say?’

Dan decided to tell her. He explained that Lena had come out to the island yesterday evening with Johan Ek.

‘She came to my house for a while. Then she left to meet Gabriel. But that was before midnight. In a little while I’ll go and ask Johan Ek if she went back to him.’

‘What she
do
that girl? She make trouble. Always. She try to have Solveig to tell us go. She is
evil
.’

‘Nahrin—’

‘No. I tell you. I tell you truth. I not tell anyone, not even Sune, but I tell you now.’

‘Let’s get in the truck and start searching while you’re telling me.’

Nahrin drove. They tried to search methodically, anywhere there might be a shelter where Lena and Gabriel could have gone to be out of sight. He didn’t think they’d cross the water to Svartholm in the first instance, not if they could find a safe spot closer at hand.

He asked Nahrin to drive to the church, but it was locked. They drove to the shelter by the summer people’s beach. They drove to the club huts by the football pitch. And all the time Nahrin talked.

‘I tell you. I tell you truth. Gabriel not with us when we first come to this island. He come later. Too long to tell now but Gabriel is in France and Lena is here in summer. Then Gabriel comes from France. What does he know, a boy seventeen? Lena teach him and he changes, like he has a devil in him. He follow her everywhere, he see her meet summer boys on beach, Stockholm boys who take her with them in their fathers’ cars. She knows he suffers and she does not care. He cries tears! Then Lena pretend he try to rape her, she come back almost naked, she tell this horrible story and Solveig get angry and for first time I tell Solveig truth about Lena but Solveig will not believe. Lena is like a grandchild to Solveig, Solveig will not believe she be so evil. But she
is
evil! I do not say such a thing easy. She is evil. To protect Gabriel we decide to go to France again.’

Dan sat listening in silence. He thought over what Nahrin had said but made no remark on it. After a few minutes she went on in a calmer voice.

‘Before we go there is an accident here on the island, a boy dies driving drugged, and the police come. It becomes known that Lena has sex with many of these summer boys. They do what she say, they steal money from their parents to take her in the cars. There is drugs and alcohol. The police come to Lena for questioning, they question Solveig and Solveig is crying. When police have finished she ask Lena to leave. Then Solveig in hospital, we go every day to see her.’