Chapter 103
“I had nothing to do with Filippa’s death,” Pontus says hoarsely. “I swear I didn’t touch her, not then.”
His words strike Hanna as odd. Not then?
“So did you try it on with Filippa on another occasion?” She adjusts the tape recorder so that it is right in front of Pontus.
His cheeks flush red.
“It was on the train to ?re.”
“And what happened?”
“I’d had way too much to drink, and during the night, when Filippa had gone to bed in her bunk, I . . .”
“Go on,” Daniel prompts him sharply.
“I . . . I climbed up, and I . . . touched her. It was nothing serious; I was lying on top of the covers. I just wanted to . . . have a feel.”
“Was Filippa happy to go along with that?” Hanna wonders.
“Not exactly.” Pontus looks even more embarrassed. “I mean, she was asleep, I don’t think she woke up.”
“So you lay down next to a sleeping woman and started touching her body without her consent?” Daniel says.
He doesn’t try to hide his contempt, and Hanna is equally disgusted. But she doesn’t want to destroy the role-play, to risk the delicate balance they are attempting to build up.
What the hell is wrong with some young men, she thinks, striving to hide her anger. Their view of women’s bodies, the liberties they believe they can take.
It is completely bizarre.
“It was only for a minute or two,” Pontus says in his defense. “Filippa had her clothes on the whole time.”
“And what happened next?” Hanna keeps her tone neutral.
“Someone woke up, I think it was Emil, and I didn’t dare stay there. So I climbed down to my own bunk and went to sleep. The following day it was as if it had never happened. That’s how it felt, anyway.”
Daniel has had enough. “Did Filippa bring it up? Didn’t she ask you what the hell you thought you were doing?”
“No. She never mentioned it. I don’t know if she was aware of what was happening—like I said, she was asleep.”
Hanna can’t let this go. “Did you at least apologize?”
“No.” Pontus looks down at the table. “I was too ashamed once I sobered up. I realized it wasn’t okay. And then I started to panic and I was horrible to her. It was all so difficult.”
“Okay,” Hanna says. They need to move on, find out what happened on the night when Filippa died. “We’ll leave that for now. Tell me about Saturday night. And Filippa.”