Chapter 111
Siri was standing in the rain when Vidar came out. She had stayed in his car with Felicia until they saw blue lights flashing among the trees. After seeing to it that Felicia received care from two police officers, she didn’t know quite what to do and simply stayed out in the rain.
At last she crossed the road to the field, all a violet-tinged expanse in the dark. The night played tricks on her eyes and she couldn’t see where the field ended; it seemed to stretch on and on, unending.
And there she stood, even now. She thought of the years gone by, how much she had forgotten, how much she remembered.
All the time she had spent silently carrying what she suspected—no, knew—about Killian Persson.
She should have called her husband, her children; they had tried to reach her multiple times. But she didn’t know what to say.
Vidar came to stand beside her with an umbrella.
“Thank you,” she said stiffly.
Vidar held a thick binder in his other hand. She took note of it but avoided looking at him. Perhaps, at last, the truth had shown itself plainly: it wasn’t always worth the price one might pay. Or it simply hurt too much. She didn’t know anymore.
“I had to tell someone,” she said. “But who could I turn to?”
Silence. The rain struck the earth so hard the drops splashed up.
“I brought you here because I thought you needed to come. And you lied to me.”
“I know. What can I say? I’m sorry.”
“I understand it must have been hard on you,” Vidar said, his voice restrained. “But if you had told me the truth, that Isidor…”
“Don’t you think I know that?” She struggled to speak. There was an ache in her throat and behind her eyes. “That’s all I can think about.”
In that moment, the downpour stopped as suddenly as if a hatch had closed. Vidar and Siri looked at the sky in surprise.
“Weird,” Vidar said, turning back toward the house.
They saw Isidor Enoksson being led to the road by Adrian.
“He came to my house,” Siri said.
“Yes, I ran into him.”
“You did?”
“The customer who didn’t want to buy anything, is that right?”
“He asked if I knew what had happened. If Filip had come to me. No, I said, why on earth would he do that? Then I realized he’d told Filip that Killian Persson might be alive. That he…I’m sure that’s what he really wanted—Isidor, that is. To confess he had violated our confidentiality.”
Adrian followed the unsteady priest for a bit, then stopped. Isidor didn’t seem to notice, just kept walking off into the dark.
“He’s going home on foot?” Siri said.
“For he has sinned, he said.”
“Maybe I should do the same.”
Vidar didn’t say anything for a long time, as if he were considering a tough decision. Then he said:
“What time did Sander and Killian leave the party?”
“Why?”
“It was one o’clock, right?”
“I think so. Yes, one o’clock. We even had a picture of them, from one of the disposable cameras.”
Vidar nodded slowly and looked at the sky again, unsure if the rain would return. Then he opened the binder in his hand.