Chapter 79
The firefighters are still hard at work when Hanna arrives on Nedre Svedjev?gen. A red fire truck is parked in front of the house, and long hoses writhe across the yard like snakes.
When she gets out of the car, she sees to her relief that it’s not quite as bad as she feared. The main house appears to be undamaged, the fire seems to be confined to the cabin.
She plods through the deep snow and shows her police ID to the officer in charge, even though she already knows him. His name is Micke.
“So what’s the situation?”
He raises a thickly gloved hand in greeting. “We got the fire under control pretty quickly, so now we’re focusing on damping down.”
He points to the cabin, which is badly charred and has suffered extensive smoke damage. The wooden walls are blackened, and one of the windows has shattered with the heat. The ambient temperature is so low that the water that has run down the undamaged parts has already frozen solid.
The air all around is dense with smoke.
“A little while longer and we wouldn’t have been able to save the building,” Micke goes on.
“And with this wind it could have gotten a lot worse. If the fire had spread, I mean. You can see how close together the houses are, and everything around here is built of dry timber. You can just imagine what could have happened.”
Hanna has no problem imagining the terrifying possibility, and she shudders at the thought.
“Was there anyone inside when the fire started?” she asks, stamping her feet to try to keep warm. Her thick socks are fighting a losing battle.
“A girl and a boy. They were asleep—it was the middle of the night. Fortunately the girl woke up. She was very resourceful—she woke up the boy so he could get out; then she got hold of an extinguisher. Her actions gave us a few extra minutes, which were critical.”
It can only have been Olivia. Hanna is impressed; not everyone would have been able to keep a cool head in a situation like that. Waking up in the darkness in a house that’s on fire would leave most people paralyzed with fear.
And Olivia is still suffering from the shock of losing Filippa.
“Like I said,” Micke continues, “if we’d arrived a little later, or if the girl hadn’t used the extinguisher, the fire would probably have spread to the main house. Then anything could have happened.”
A gust of wind comes tearing along. The trees on the slope bend and sway, the top layer of snow whirls up into the air. Hanna has to turn her face away to protect her nose and mouth.
It wouldn’t have taken many sparks to cause a real disaster.
“Was anyone hurt?”
“Not seriously, as far as I’m aware. The girl and the boy are in the main house.”
All the lights are on. Most of the neighboring properties have their lights on too; with all this disruption, no doubt everyone is awake.
It must be a terrifying sight.
“So they’re okay?”
“They got out in time. A paramedic is checking them over to see if they’ve suffered from smoke inhalation.”
“So they were lucky, in other words.”
“Absolutely. It could have ended very badly.”
Hanna moves closer to the cabin. The fire may be out, but the damage is extensive, and she can feel the heat. Her lungs hurt with every breath.
It is about five in the morning, so based on Daniel’s call, the fire must have started just over an hour ago.
To her untrained eye the facade seems to have suffered the most, which means the fire probably started outside. In other words, it was unlikely to be the result of a forgotten candle on the dining table or a similar careless act.
So how did it happen?
“Any thoughts on the cause?” she asks Micke.
He frowns. “It’s too early to say for sure, but looking at the progress of the blaze and the absence of natural causes . . . how quickly it seems to have spread . . .”
“You think it could have been started deliberately?”
“I wouldn’t rule it out.”
A man in a dark woolen hat comes around the corner of the house and interrupts their conversation. Hanna recognizes Staffan Berg, the property manager.
His jacket is buttoned up incorrectly; he looks as if he got dressed in a hurry.
“What’s going on?” he shouts as soon as he sees Hanna and Micke. “Is anyone hurt?”
Hanna shakes her head.
“They got out in time,” Micke says.
“Thank God.”
Staffan stares at the blackened cabin; he seems to be struggling to process the situation. Gray smoke is still rising into the dark sky.
The snow all around is black and sooty.
“What a mess . . .” He sighs.
Hanna checks her watch again. It’s not that long since the emergency services were contacted. She doesn’t understand how Staffan heard about the fire and arrived so quickly.
“How did you know there was a fire?” she asks.
Staffan looks puzzled, then points to his phone.
“The app,” he explains. “I get a text message if anything is wrong. I came straight over.”
“I understand.”
Hanna takes a step back, away from the heat, keeping a close eye on him. He sounds genuine, and why would he lie?
Although she does find it a little strange that he comes and goes all the time. That he has an app giving him so much control.
And access to all areas.