Chapter 80
“I would like,” Vidar said calmly, “for you to explain to me in as much detail as possible what you did after the funeral.”
The interrogation room was small, the air cool. They were alone with only the computer for company. Vidar hadn’t even glanced at it so far. Instead, he was ready with a pen and notepad.
Jakob waited, his hands resting on his knees, anxiously eyeing Vidar from across the table.
“What did you say?”
“The funeral,” Vidar repeated patiently. “What did you do after the service? Be as specific as you can.”
Jakob launched into his account, though he was hesitant at first. Then he gathered momentum as if someone had shaken him and the words couldn’t rattle out fast enough.
“Thank you.” Vidar gestured discreetly with his hand, asking Jakob to pause as he finished jotting a note. “There was coffee at the village hall. Then what happened?”
“Then it was over.”
“And what did you do after?”
“We just went home. Me and Alice.”
“Right. But be as detailed as you can, Jakob. What time was it when you left?”
“Gosh.” Jakob made a face. “I don’t know, maybe two thirty or three? I dropped Alice off at home, and then I ran some errands.”
“How come you dropped Alice off first?”
“Our youngest was with a babysitter while we were at the funeral. Tora—that’s the babysitter—had to get home.”
“How old are your kids?”
“Eight and fourteen. And Lisa’s twenty-one, she lives in town. We”—Jakob realized more explanation would be required—“Alice and I went grocery shopping later that night, but by then the fourteen-year-old was back home and could keep an eye on her little sister.”
“So you were alone?”
“When?”
“When you ran errands after dropping Alice off. You did them alone?”
“Yes.”
“Did Alice know you had errands to run even before the funeral service?”
“Uh, yeah, I had mentioned it. She knew I was probably going to get a few things taken care of afterwards, if I had the energy. It depended on how taxing the funeral ended up being.”
“What kind of errands?”
“I…” Jakob began, but then he didn’t say anything for a long time.
He looked guilty, slumped in the chair like that, but guilty of what, Vidar didn’t know. He put down his pen and set his notepad aside, a tried-and-true maneuver.
“What is it, Jakob? Something is weighing on you, I can tell.”
“Well, it’s just…you know, I…I only had one errand to do and that was checking the oil in my car, at a garage in Oskarstrom.
And I could just as easily have done that on my own at home.
I guess I just wanted some time to myself after the funeral.
I needed it. You know, actual time alone.
Away from my wife and kids, shopping lists and laundry and… ”
“From life,” Vidar said.
Jakob laughed in shame, like he was admitting a shortcoming. “Basically.”
“I’m sorry,” Vidar said, picking up his pen again. “But did you mention this when you spoke to us yesterday?”
“No, Alice was with me. I couldn’t say it in front of her, and I didn’t think it was even that important. I was gone during the time I said I was gone.”
“And when was that?”
“Oh, between three thirty and seven, maybe? Something like that.”
“Did you see anyone during that time? Or did you speak with anyone, on the phone, for instance?”
“No—I wanted to be alone.”
Vidar gazed at him for a long time.
“So what were you doing between three thirty and seven?”
“Like I said, I went and got the oil checked in my car, that was the first thing—there’s a garage behind the Preem station in Oskarstrom.
Then I went to the cemetery. I do that sometimes when I need to think.
I sat in my car in the parking lot, is all, and…
you know, just thought about stuff. I thought about how another one of us would be lying there soon.
Sten, I mean,” Jakob added. “After that, I went back to Skavboke. I didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go.
That must have been around six, and I stopped at a place where we used to grill out in the summer. ”
“And by ‘we,’ you mean…”
“Me and my friends. Sander, Killian, Alice, Felicia, everyone from back then.”
“Right. And Mikael.”
“And Mikael. Yes, of course.”
“How long did you stay there?”
“Oh, until I went home again. An hour, maybe. We still had to get groceries.”
“And what did you do? While you were there, I mean.”
“Like I said. I just sat in the car, thinking. I smoked—I keep a pack of cigarettes in the glove box. It all came back, all of it. I think because it wasn’t just that it was Sten’s funeral, it was, like, that everyone was there. Everyone that’s left.”
“Did you get out of the car at all? Take a walk?”
“No, I just sat there. That’s what I usually do.”
“And you didn’t call anybody either?”
Jakob looked like he’d been caught red-handed. “I actually didn’t have my phone with me.”
“How come? I mean, it’s pretty common to take your phone when you go out.”
Jakob ran a hand through his hair. Vidar could tell that it was trembling. When Jakob replied, he sounded almost frightened.
“I just didn’t want anyone to bother me. Like I said, I wanted to be by myself.”
“Do you leave your phone at home often?”
“Sometimes. Not often, I guess, but sure.”
“Did Alice know you didn’t have it with you?”
Jakob didn’t say anything. He shook his head. “I left it in the garage.”
“So if she asked, when you got home,” Vidar said, “say, if she’d called you and you didn’t pick up, you could tell her you’d forgotten it.”
“Yes,” he admitted, perhaps relieved that Vidar had said it for him. “That’s about it.”
Vidar waited, looking almost bored, like he wanted to get this over with so he could go home. He studied Jakob’s hands. Hands almost always revealed more than a face. Did Jakob have it in him?
Yes, he probably did. But why?
“I’d like to ask you about that evening too. After Filip was found and you spoke to us. What did you do after that?”
Don’t say it, Vidar thought. Lie to me.
Lie to me, and I’ve got you.