The Atlantis Keystone (9 page)

Erik remained quiet. He wasn’t sure how to react. His grandmother had never been anything other than grief and unhappiness all his life but he still felt a sting of sadness, mainly because she had died without saying goodbye. Partly due to the fact she could not walk, she was constantly shouting orders and trying to ruin everyone else’s lives, just because she was discontented with hers. Despite this he felt sorry for her. He assumed that she had died of natural causes. The next statement of the police officer therefore surprised him: “She may have been murdered, or else she was accidentally scared to death by the intruder”.

Erik looked at him with disbelief. This could not be. Who would want to kill an old woman? Had there been an intruder at their house? It was with cold realisation that he remembered that his mother had spent part of her evening the night before complaining and telling everyone how much she hated her own mother. No, she was probably not the most loving of characters but she wouldn’t do something like that. Yes, she hated her enough and she had been in a right state but why now – why after all these years? It would not make any sense – and sense was something that his mother had in abundance. Even so, her behaviour the night before could be testified by a number of neighbours and would sound incriminating.

“She was found dead on the second floor of the old house”, the policeman continued.

This surprised Erik even further. Who would have bothered to carry her there and why? “What do you know? Who brought her there? Have you started to question the people who were at the party last night?” Erik asked in quick succession.

“We think she took the burglar by surprise; the person who broke into the wall and stole the chest that is. The doctor has estimated the time of death to around three am.”

Erik could not believe it. He stared at the police officer as if he was stupid to propose such a thing. This could not be true. Not only had his grandmother died, someone had broken into the old house and stolen the chest. He was dumbfounded, wondering who would do such a thing. He thought of his mother adding the extra locks to the front door of the castle; apparently an insufficient precaution.

“She may have had a heart attack and we are quiet certain that it happened there, in the house”.

“But how did she get to the old house. She couldn’t walk!”

“That’s news to me”, the police officer said. I have examined the crime scene myself and she clearly had done lots of walking recently, likely barefoot at that. She wasn’t wearing any shoes. The soles of her feet were dirty. This woman could walk, there’s no question about it”.

Erik’s mother looked up from over at the kitchen table, eyes red and nose runny. “I wanted to tell you, Erik but she wouldn’t let us. She told us to keep it a secret that she could walk. She just preferred it that way – don’t ask me why. Britt-Marie knew as well”, she added as if that would make it less of an unfair concealment. All his life, or at least as far back as Erik could remember, his grandmother had not been able to walk. He had always thought this was why she was so grumpy and disgruntled. In spite of her inexcusable behaviour Erik had always tolerated her because she was a cripple. He felt he knew his grandmother even less now than he ever had. She certainly had been a sad character. He had hated her as a child. He blamed her for having separated his family. All this time, she had been able to walk but had probably been too indolent to do anything herself. Or could there have been another reason? Erik certainly could not think of any.

“Your grandmother may have had some psychological problems which the doctors had never picked up on. The fact that she had wandered over to the old house on many occasions speaks for itself, don’t you think?” his mother said with abhorrence in her voice. “I was never aware of this behaviour in her”, she added as if the police officer would blame her in any way.

“It is our guess”, the police officer continued, “that she had wandered up to the house, unlocked one of the doors and unintentionally paved the way for the robber or robbers. We also guess that she was in the house on the second floor when the robbers arrived and that they were surprised by her presence there.”

“Is there anything you actually know, rather than guess?” Erik’s mother asked impatiently.

“Well, my officers are currently in the old house examining evidence. It is still very early days but I can assure you that we will have a list of suspects drawn up shortly and to answer your earlier question Erik, the guests at last night’s party will certainly all be on that list, including the three of you”, he said and looked at them seriously. He continued: “One or possibly two very serious crimes were committed here last night and we intend to do everything in our power to find out who did it”.

“And to find the chest with all its contents!” Erik added. “As I’m sure you know that chest may contain something of great historical importance.” While Erik was saying this, Emma entered the room, looking worse for wear. Not even her layers of make-up could hide her pale complexion this morning. He had never seen her in such a state, clearly seriously hung over. She paused at the door, taking in the scene.

“What did I miss?” she asked. As Erik explained, he could see the alarm and then disappointment in her face as the news sank in.

“I’m so sorry about the loss of your grandmother, Erik. It’s all a bit strange, don’t you think?” She had an odd look on her face, as if she knew something but felt reluctant to share it. The police officer had noticed this too and asked her if there was something she wanted to tell them. Emma hesitated but clearly decided against it.

“No, I just found it a bit odd since the woman couldn’t walk?”

“Apparently she could after all”, Erik added quickly.

“I will start to question you all in turn. I would like to start with you, Mrs Stenbock, if that’s acceptable. My colleague will join me shortly.”

As they left the room, Emma leaned over towards Erik and said quietly: “I’ll tell you one thing; I’m not going to be the one to tell Paul about the theft. He had high hopes for that chest…and so did I for that matter. He is going to be devastated. This is the worst thing that ever could have happened.” Her eyes were full of accusation.

“Well, don’t blame me, for heaven’s sake!” Erik’s voice was louder than he had anticipated. He turned around briefly to see the police officer still engaged in conversation with his parents behind them. “The theft could not have been prevented by anything I could have done. God knows how my grandmother got hold of the additional keys to open the house … what do I know? Anyway, the burglars would very likely have been able to open the front door, even if the old woman had not opened it. If they were able to open the wall, a door wouldn’t have been a problem.”

Emma stopped and turned towards him. “I’m not blaming you, and you know it. It’s just that this theft has so completely ruined everything. I suppose I had got my hopes up after we found the chest. Shall we go and have a look at the devastation?”

“We can go and see if it is possible, I suppose.” They went outside, only to find that the entrance to the house had been blocked up and a police officer outside the door said that they would not be able to go in there all day when work was ongoing to thoroughly investigate the site. They stood on the bridge for a moment, hesitating. It was a warm sunny day. There was no breeze at all and even the birds had stopped twittering due to the heat.

“Let’s take a walk”, Erik suggested.

A dry laugh escaped her. “Sure, as long as we take my favourite route; you know the one next to that other lake.” Erik knew she was referring to the larger lake not far from the house. He agreed and they set off in silence. They had been walking for no more than a couple of minutes when they reached the lake. They stopped to take in the scenery. The surface of the water looked as if it was covered with millions of diamonds glistening in the sunshine. They continued for some time, each deep in their own thoughts, until Erik pointed at a large stone only a couple of metres from the water.

“Fancy a break?” he asked with hesitation in his voice, unsure whether it would be a good idea to stop at all since sitting down would inevitably require some conversation.

She looked flustered and hot. “Alright, that would be nice.”

Whilst resting next to each other on the stone in the sunshine looking out over the lake, Emma started to snivel, apologising profusely:

“I’m so sorry. You’re the one who just lost your grandmother. I feel awful crying over a material thing like this.” She looked at him with sheepish eyes.

“No, this is a huge disappointment for you and I can understand why you’re upset.” He tried to comfort her by holding his arm around her. In a way he thought it was nice to see that she could be vulnerable, letting down her defences. Normally she was hard as steel, never showing her feelings. In fact, she had always seemed a bit too uptight for his liking. He was secretly glad that she could relax enough in his company to show her true self. He felt they both needed cheering up.

“How about a swim?” he suggested looking out at the lake before them. Emma looked almost shocked but at the same time amused.

“A swim? But, we’d have to go and get our swim suits”, she said as she was drying her eyes.

“If you prefer. Or we could do it ‘au naturale’. I don’t have to look when you enter the water. There is absolutely no one around here. No one will see. Swimming costumes would be superfluous.” Emma paused for only a minute and then reluctantly agreed, although she drew the line at taking off her underwear.

“Only if you promise not to look. Promise!”

“Yes, I promise.” He dutifully held his hand over his eyes, looking away while she was getting undressed and tiptoed into the lake.

“It’s surprisingly warm actually”, Emma shouted from out in the water. “I’m all in now, you can look”. Erik didn’t feel at all ashamed to show himself naked. He took his clothes off, including his underwear, and noticed that Emma was looking at him. He almost detected a smile. This had a surprisingly erotic effect on him so he ran into the water.

“What’s Swedish for ‘naked’?” Emma asked laughing.

“Naken”, Erik responded whilst Emma imitated him with a perfect Swedish pronunciation.

The sun was hot. Swimming in the lukewarm water felt liberating. Erik was very aware of Emma’s presence and although he had never been attracted to her before he came to the conclusion that he no longer saw her as the boring spotty mouse she had been when they first met. The combination of the situation, her smiley face and months of summer sun had transformed her. Her complexion was clear, her hair lighter and he was sure she had lost weight. Her eyes had never been more luminous. He wanted to grab her in his arms, pull her close to him and kiss her like he would have done if she had been Anna. He decided against it as he knew she would not appreciate any such behaviour. Instead, he suggested that they swim across to the other side of the lake, like he had used to do as a child. She laughed happily but stopped when she realised he wasn’t joking but then reluctantly agreed to do it. It felt longer than it looked to get to the other side and it was enough to keep them entertained for a while. It also worked to keep her state of undress out of his mind. It got increasingly colder the further out they went. Emma looked relieved when they reached the shore. At that point Emma seemed to have lost some of her initial shyness and suggested that they sit on the stone for a bit to dry off. Her flowery underwear didn’t leave much to his imagination. He decided to start a conversation.

“When is it you are going to Crete then?” he asked. Emma had told him about the trip the previous day.

“Oh, in January. We will have three weeks there. The weather could vary at this time of year but early spring is supposed to be lovely on Crete. Although I will probably spend most of my time indoors translating old texts…” She tried to fake a sad face but it was evident from her poorly concealed smile that she was looking forward to it. “It will be great for my dissertation,” she added almost as if she had been able to read his thoughts.

He continued his questioning, simultaneously noting that they were now almost dry. “Who else is going?”

“I’m not entirely sure yet but I think there will be at least two more students. I’m sure it will be Ball, a Japanese PhD student. He’s in the UK at Oxford studying the effects of floods. Apparently there was a large Tsunamilike event hundreds of years ago on the west coast of England. In Japan he has also studied the Krakataoa Volcanic eruption and now he wants to see for himself the effects of the Thera eruption on Santorini several millennia ago. He is supposed to be very good at what he does, firmly on his way to becoming a doctor in his field. I have only met him once but he seemed nice, typically Japanese in a way. I guess he will spend most of his time on Santorini though.”

They sat quietly for a little while. Emma broke the silence with a short laugh.

“What was that for?” Erik asked with a smirk, looking at her briefly, careful to keep his eyes at her eye level.

“No, nothing.”

“Come on, tell me.”

“Well, I was just thinking that you should feel honoured. You are the first man to have seen me in this state of undress”, Emma said blushing and turning to look at him.

“Oh, I do feel honoured”, Erik whispered, having temporarily lost his voice. They looked at each other smiling. Their eyes met for a few seconds. Emma looked as if she was about to say something but could not remember what it was. Erik had stopped breathing. He wanted to stare into her eyes forever, as a way of getting Anna back or at least to hold her once more. He suddenly recalled what it had been like to feel Anna’s skin under his fingertips, to stroke her hair, to kiss her lips… As he subconsciously moved his face closer to Emma’s he came to his senses and decided it was time to get dressed. He turned around to help her down.