The Game Trilogy (23 page)

She was left wondering exactly what it was he had told her.

The whole story about a mysterious mobile phone that allocated assignments and a secret reality game with rewards and punishments sounded crazy, and her initial reaction was that Manga had fallen for yet another of Henke’s bullshit stories. But then he had shown her the video clips on the computer and everything had emerged in an entirely different light.

The business with the door, the car wheels and the royal cortège had been bad enough, but when she saw her own car slowly rolling off the Drottningholm road, it had all got too much for her.

Evidently Manga hadn’t known that she was sitting in the Volvo, because he’d hovered outside the toilet door worrying anxiously if she was okay. She only just managed to hold it together, splashing a bit of water on her face and blaming it all on the heat, which he had accepted without comment.

Once she had composed herself again she had asked to see Henke’s mobile phone, and when he reluctantly pulled it out of a locked cupboard she had quickly inspected it and then put it in her bag. For a moment it had looked like Manga was going to protest, but he thought better of it and let her take it without a word.

Before she left, he had also given her the address of Aunt Berit’s allotment cottage, and she was looking forward to a fresh, more detailed conversation with her brother in just a few minutes.

This time she was going to twist the little sod’s arm until he told her the truth about what was really going on!

She cruised through the traffic, crossed Ringvägen and was soon in amongst the trees of the park. She was feeling brighter, enjoying the cool shade. Manga had said it was about fifteen minutes’ walk from the shop, so five minutes or so by bike seemed about right.

When she turned into the road she had to swerve to avoid a white van pulling away at speed and roaring past her way too fast.

‘Bloody idiot!’ she thought as she struggled to keep her balance. For a moment she considered making a note of the number-plate, the speed limit here was actually only thirty. But she didn’t bother, it was far too hot to make the effort to feel properly upset, and besides, she hadn’t seen the whole number. Some sort of company van with a blue logo on the side.

At that moment she caught sight of Aunt Berit’s cottage.

She knocked on the door three times but there was no answer. Maybe he was asleep? It may have been well into the afternoon, but it would hardly surprise her if Henke was taking a little siesta.

She felt the handle and discovered that the door was unlocked, but for some reason she stopped in the doorway. She didn’t really know why, but something was making her feel uneasy. She examined the door more carefully and soon found what she was looking for. A small, almost invisible mark in the wood just above the lock. Admittedly, it could have been old, but a quick check of the step revealed some flakes of the right colour paint.

Someone had broken into the cottage, and recently. The question was, were they still in there?

Rebecca held her breath and listened for any sound from inside.

Quiet as the grave.

She stepped silently through the door and into a tiny hallway. The stench of cigarette smoke almost made her eyes water. She put her hand on the frame of the door to the kitchen and leaned round it quickly to get a look inside.

The movement was too fast for any attacker to have time to react, but still enough for her to register the contents of the room. She repeated the procedure with the little bedroom to the right of the hall.

The results were unambiguous, the cottage was empty.

Whoever had broken in was gone now, and it didn’t look like anything had been stolen. A laptop, screensaver on, stood untouched on the little kitchen table. There were a few dirty mugs and glasses here and there, most of them containing cigarette butts, and the little sink was overflowing with dirty dishes and empty food tins.

There was a shabby green sleeping-bag in a heap at one end of the rib-backed sofa, and a filthy t-shirt and a pair of tattered Cheap Monday jeans were hanging untidily over one of the two kitchen chairs.

Smoky, filthy and untidy: rather different to how Aunt Berit usually kept it, she imagined.

It looked like Manga had been telling the truth, all the signs were that Henke had taken up residence …

So, where was he now, and how long would he be gone? The best thing she could do was sit down on the little sofa and wait.

What the fu …?

A quick trip up to Ringvägen to stock up on cigarettes and Gorby pies, that was the plan.

He ended up getting falafel and an ice-cream as well, because there wasn’t really any hurry. He’d almost made it back to the cottage when he saw the flashing blue lights.

Two patrol cars and an unmarked van with a trailer, all lined up in front of Auntie’s little cottage. The trailer looked weird, a bit like an outsized milk-churn with its lid open. One of the cops seems to be in a hell of a hurry to set up a police cordon at the end of the road, but as luck would have it, HP saw him first.

He stopped abruptly and turned into one of the little side-paths to find a good observation post.

A couple of minutes later he was sitting on top of a rocky outcrop surrounded by lilac bushes.

So what the hell was going on down there?

For some reason she hadn’t just sat down.

Afterwards she couldn’t really explain why, but the feeling that something was wrong wouldn’t let go of her.

It took a few seconds before she realized what was troubling her. The sofa was slightly out of position. She could clearly see the marks on the cork matting where the leg of the sofa usually sat, but now it was a few centimetres out. Okay, so the sofa was pretty old, but it was solid pine and to judge by the deep indentation in the floor it would take a fair bit of effort to shift it. So why had someone done so?

Instead of sitting down, she got down on her knees and looked underneath.

He could see some of the cops talking with serious expressions, then another bloke showed up wearing a protective suit and a helmet that made him look like a green astronaut.

The starman wobbled inside the cottage and the cops quickly moved to the far side of the cars, it looked almost like they were taking cover. After a couple of minutes the spaceman came out with some sort of object in his hands. He lurched towards the trailer and put whatever it was he was holding inside it.

Even though he was sitting some distance away, HP had no trouble noticing how relieved the cops looked when the lid of the trailer was closed.

She didn’t really know what she had been expecting to find. But it was clear that the object under there wouldn’t have been on her top-ten list of things she was likely to find, if anyone had asked her to come up with such a list.

A set of keys, some loose change, maybe a mobile phone someone had dropped?

But not this …

It took her a few seconds to realize what she was staring at, and why it was there, then she very slowly got to her feet, picked up the laptop and left the cottage.

She left the front door open.

It wasn’t until he’d been sitting there for a few minutes that he recognized one of the cops. To start with he thought it was just another plain-clothed officer. Khaki shorts with lots of pockets, an untucked short-sleeved shirt, baseball cap, sensible trainers and all the other things that were supposed to help them fit in.

But their cops’ posture and that way they had of moving their heads almost always gave them away.

He had been concentrating on the blokes round the trailer, and it wasn’t until the lid closed that he looked more closely at the rest of the gang and realized that the
plain-clothed cop was actually Becca. She was standing there talking to the bloke in the astronaut outfit.

What the fuck was she doing here?

‘Definitely viable,’ the bomb-disposal expert said. According to the tag on his suit, his name was Selander, and evidently he liked talking in clipped sentences.

‘Two sticks of dynamex. Pressure trigger mounted under the sofa cushion. Sitting down would be enough. More than enough to blow the cottage sky-high. Bloody lucky you had your wits about you, Normén …’

He paused to put in a dose of chewing tobacco.

‘Won’t know for sure if it would definitely have gone off until we get it into the lab and take it apart,’ he went on, this time slightly more expressively. ‘I’ll get back to you. I presume the Södermalm Crime Unit will be in charge? You said this was your brother’s cottage?’

‘Something like that,’ she muttered.

Her head was spinning. Flash-grenades, chucking stones at police cars, and now a bloody bomb!

What in the name of holy hell had Henke got himself caught up in?

‘I daresay our colleagues in crime will be pretty keen to have a word with him,’ Selander concluded as he wiped his fingers on the bomb-suit, smearing it with bits of tobacco.

Rebecca just nodded in response.

Welcome to the club! she thought.

Rebecca was exhausted when she got home. She had spent most of the afternoon with the Södermalm Crime Unit telling them what had happened out in Tantolunden. Or rather the parts that she deemed suitable to reveal.

She didn’t mention her visit to see Manga, or the video clips she had seen in the shop. It was fairly likely that the clips had something to do with events out at the cottage, but before she’d had a chance to talk to Henke she didn’t really want to show them to her colleagues. She hadn’t missed the pointed silence that had fallen when Henke’s criminal record was mentioned.

Then the obligatory questions: did her brother have any enemies? Did she know how he made a living? Did she know anything about the arson attack on his flat a week before?

She answered no to each of the questions, which was actually true. Well, almost, anyway.

She locked her bicycle away in the basement and took the stairs up as usual.

Maybe it was because she was tired, or because she was deep in thought, but she didn’t notice that someone was waiting for her.

‘Becca!’

She spun round and automatically raised her hands in front of her.

‘Calm down, it’s only me, Henke!’

Of course it was only him.

She should have realized. Where else was he going to go?

She muttered something, turned round and unlocked the door of her flat before shepherding him in ahead of her. She stopped inside the door for a couple of seconds, then locked all four locks.

But only once, and even though part of her was protesting wildly that would have to do. She had no intention of giving him a demonstration of her compulsive behaviour.

In the hall the answer phone was flashing to indicate another missed call. Number withheld, same as usual.

Henke had already made himself at home on the sofa in the living room.

‘Got any coffee?’

She resisted, with some effort, a sudden urge to grab the nearest heavy object and smash his skull in. Fucking bloody idiot, creeping up on her like that! She didn’t even know he knew where she lived. When she’d been out searching half the city for him, and here he was all of a sudden, sitting on her sofa.

And what on earth did he look like?

Even more strung out than last time, with great bags under his eyes and nicotine yellow skin. Fingernails chewed almost to the quick, his hair all over the place, and utterly filthy too.

A smell of ingrained smoke and unwashed male wafted up from her sofa, making her wrinkle her nose.

He was looking at her quizzically and she realized she hadn’t answered his question.

‘Sure,’ she snapped and went out into the kitchen.

‘You can clean yourself up in the meantime, the bathroom’s off the hall,’ she called from the kitchen as she sorted out the machine.

But when she came back a few minutes later with a tray of coffee, he was asleep.

She sighed, poured herself a cup and decided, after a bit of thought, to let him sleep. He looked like he could do with it.

A surprising feeling of tenderness came over her and she couldn’t help giving his cheek a quick stroke. He was still her little brother, after all, her little Henke. Okay, so he was an immature idiot and a first-rate trouble-magnet, but that hadn’t always been the case. Once it had been the two of them against the world. And through all the shit, they had always had each other.

But that was a long time ago. Things changed, whether you liked it or not.

She drank the last of the cup, leaned her head back against the sofa and closed her eyes.

She had realized from the noise he was making in the hall when he got in. The way he slammed the front door, the way he jangled his keys as he kicked off his shoes. She tried to warn Henke but he had his back to her, sitting on one of the folding chairs out on the balcony, smoking. Henke and Dag sometimes used to share a cig out there, even though Dag claimed he’d given up. Smoking didn’t fit in with his exercise regime and all that crap. Yet he still hung about out there all the time, leaning over the railing, and not just when Henke was visiting. From the balcony he could keep an eye on the backyard, as well as the carpark where the BMW was.

On good days they got on pretty well, Dag and Henke.
They could stand out there chatting, almost like they were friends. She liked days like that, they made her feel as if she had a proper family.

But this definitely wasn’t going to be one of those days, she’d realized that the moment the front door slammed shut.

‘Hello!’

His voice was ice-cold, almost emotionless, but she had no difficulty picking up the anger bubbling beneath it.

‘Is everything okay?’ she said as quietly and calmly as she could.

He just snorted in reply.

‘Is there any food?’

‘Fish gratin, it’s in the oven. Henke and I have already eaten.’

Another snort. This didn’t bode well, she knew from experience. At a guess, something had gone wrong at work, a troublesome customer, an order that had got lost, or his boss stirring things up. It didn’t usually take very much.

‘So how long is your useless brother going to exploit my hospitality this time?’ he muttered through gritted teeth a bit later, nodding towards Henke, who was still out on the balcony.

‘Just a couple of days,’ she said as neutrally as she could. ‘Things are a bit tricky at home with Mum and everything. He needed to get away for a couple of days.’

A third snort, this time more scornful.

‘A bit tricky …’ he muttered as he shovelled a spoonful of the gratin into his mouth. ‘Your mother’s just a pathetic alcoholic,’ he declared between chews. ‘Get her into a home so you can have a bit of peace and quiet, then we won’t have that little crook hanging about round here all the time.’

She was on her way to getting angry and he saw it. A happy grin spread over his face.

‘Oh, so you’re cross I said something nasty about poor, innocent little Henke?’ he added in that patronizing childish voice she hated. He’d gone straight for her weak point and she had to make an effort not to rise to the bait.

‘Henke’s just been a bit unlucky,’ she said with forced calm. ‘He hasn’t always had it so easy, and besides, he’s my little brother.’

‘Easy?’ Dag had suddenly gone red in the face, and he flew up from his chair.

This was the row he had been looking for ever since he opened the door, and now he was getting what he wanted.

‘You talk about easy, but what fucking problems has your worthless brother ever had, eh? My dad wasn’t exactly a saint either. He used to beat the crap out of me every other day until I learned to hit back. The bastard walked out when I was fifteen, but look at me!’ He gestured towards his chest with his thumb. ‘I didn’t end up a fucking criminal! I’ve worked since I was sixteen, hauled my way up the ladder, paid my taxes and looked after myself, and for what? So I can support someone like him?’

His mouth was spraying little bits of saliva and food, but he didn’t seem to notice.

‘What’s up?’

Henke was peering in from the balcony. She tried to signal to him to take it easy, not provoke Dag, just let him burn himself out, then everything would calm down. But he didn’t seem to get it. Anyway, Dag wasn’t about to let him get away lightly this time.

‘Well, your sister and I were just discussing if it wouldn’t make sense to put your alcoholic mother in a home so we didn’t have to put up with you coming round here every five minutes.’

His tone of voice was so arrogant and provocative that
she already had an idea of what was going on. She made another attempt to catch Henke’s eye and make him understand. Stop him from rising to the challenge that had been thrown in his face. But he didn’t seem to get it, or else he was simply ignoring her.

‘Really, Dagge?’ he said mockingly instead, emphasizing the nickname that he knew Dag hated. ‘Wouldn’t it make sense for us to bury her in the same patch of forest as your “missing” dad? That way we could keep all the violence in the family. I mean, you’re pretty good at that!’

Dag threw himself across the table and Henke didn’t have time to take more than a couple of steps back before Dag was on him. He tried to resist, but his opponent was considerably larger and much more aggressive. After just a few seconds Henke was on the floor, curled up with his hands over his face to protect himself. But Dag was on top of him, wrapping his arm round Henke’s neck and dragging him upwards. Rebecca could see Henke’s face turning white.

‘Stop it, Dag!’ she cried. ‘Stop, for fuck’s sake, you’re strangling him!’

She tried to loosen the arm round Henke’s neck.

The blow came out of nowhere, he must have let go of Henke with the other hand because she was suddenly flying backwards across the little kitchen table.

‘You little bitch!’ she heard him roar as her back hit the floor. Cutlery, plates and food everywhere. Her cheek was burning, her face felt numb and she was seeing stars.

Somewhere far away she heard Henke whimper and she tried to get to her feet.

For some reason the door had opened, unless Henke had never closed it, because all of a sudden the fight had moved out onto the balcony. Dag had got a fresh grip of Henke’s head and she could see that her little brother was
almost finished. His legs suddenly went limp and he stopped struggling, but Dag didn’t seem to have noticed.

‘You’re not so fucking cocky now, are you, you little fucker?!’ he roared, his face bright red, as he tightened his grip.

And suddenly she realized that Henke was going to die. That Dag was going to murder her little brother, right there, out on their balcony.

‘Stop!’
she screamed as loudly as she possibly could. Her voice sounded terrible, as if it came from deep within her chest rather than her throat.

Maybe it was the unusual tone of voice that jolted Dag out of it and made him realize he was going too far? Because just as she launched herself at him with all the force she could muster, he let go of Henke. Let him fall to the ground like a rag doll, and took an unsteady step backwards. Towards the balcony railing.

She hit Dag full in the chest. Even if she did weigh almost seventy kilos the collision wouldn’t usually have moved him at all, at best it would have made him sway a bit.

But this time he must have been off balance, or else the force in her tackle was far greater than she had realized. Either way, he stumbled backwards across the balcony with his arms reaching for something to grab hold of, something to help him keep his heavy body upright and stop him from falling.

Then his back hit the metal railing …

She would never forget that sound. A shrieking, grinding sound of metal mixed with a sigh from the concrete as it reluctantly released its grip on the far too few steel bolts.

And suddenly the railing was gone.

She was lying on the floor of the balcony, Dag just a
metre away, balancing right on the edge. In his eyes that accusing look, as if he had already realized how it was going to end. That she wouldn’t lift a finger to save him. Wouldn’t even try. Because deep down she had already begun to celebrate, begun to rejoice that her love for him, just like he himself, would soon be dead.

That she would finally be free!

‘It’s your fault!’ the look in those eyes said in farewell before they, and he, disappeared over the edge.

And she knew that they were right.

It’s winter, dark, and in this dream Henke is waiting beside a brightly lit shop window. He doesn’t know who or what for. He just knows that he has to wait. For someone to come. Someone important.

The street is lined with bare, jagged trees as cars drive past almost soundlessly on the white roadway. Older models, he realizes, as if he’s gone back in time.

He stamps his feet on the snow-covered ground to keep warm.

Then he hears a church-clock chime further down the street and he realizes where he is. Sveavägen, diagonally across from the Adolf Fredrik Church.

At the junction of Tunnelgatan.

And suddenly he sees them coming towards him. A couple walking arm in arm. The man in a winter coat and fur hat, the woman in a coat and some sort of shawl. He recognizes them immediately. The Prime Minister and his wife. He runs his hand over his jacket and feels the object in his pocket, then turns towards the shop window and lets them pass.

Then he spins round and takes a couple of strides to catch up with them.

He knows what he has to do.

Ten minutes or so had passed since Dag fell from the balcony, but she remembered nothing of what had happened during that time. She is sitting in the kitchen with a female police officer in her forties. She looks kind, Rebecca finds herself thinking.

From down below there are blue lights flashing, lighting up the whole of the courtyard. She isn’t crying, she hasn’t done any of that, and she won’t either, she knows that already.

‘Can you bear to tell me what happened?’ the police officer says, and just as she opens her mouth to talk, she hears Henke’s voice from the living room.

‘It was me who did it!’ he says, loudly and clearly. ‘We were fighting and I pushed him, then the whole thing collapsed and he went through the railing. It was my fault.’

He’s got the gun in his hand, a large, silver-coloured revolver with a laser sight on top. The red dot is right in the middle of the man’s back.

Just squeeze, and …

But they seem to have noticed him, because they stop.

Then the man turns round. His body has changed, become much bigger, much more intimidating. When their eyes meet he sees that the man is smirking.

‘So, you criminal little bastard, you’re going to kill me face-to-face this time, are you?’, says the Prime Minister, with Dag’s voice.

Suddenly all the resolve that was so strong a moment ago starts to dissolve.

She wants to yell at him to shut up, yell at the police officers in there not to believe him, and tell the woman opposite her that her little brother is lying. That she was the one who shoved him, not Henke. That she’s the murderer who should be punished.

But none of that happens.