Chapter 39
“Let’s start from the beginning,” says Officer Henriksson as he turns on a small recording device he has put in the middle of the kitchen table.
He’s wearing a grim expression. Officer Berggren sits next to him.
They look very out of place in our kitchen.
They take up too much space, practically filling the whole room.
There won’t be any space left for me and Rasmus.
I didn’t tell Mom that they were coming, but now I wish she were here. Too late now.
“Tell us why you think Maria Granberg would have abducted Axel Sundin,” says Officer Berggren.
“We know she did,” says Rasmus. His face is pallid, but his voice is full of conviction.
“We saw her,” I say, bending the truth, just as we agreed. “Out in the woods, the day Axel disappeared.”
Officer Henriksson is taking notes.
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” he asks in a cold tone.
Why is he so angry? It’s like he’s already decided not to believe us.
“I only just remembered,” I say.
That doesn’t sound very good. I look down at my hands in my lap. They refuse to keep still.
“Did you see her too?”
The question is directed at Rasmus. I worry that his voice will give us away, but he speaks with confidence.
“Yes. Down by the water. Just before Axel disappeared.”
“Did you actually see her do anything specific?” asks Officer Berggren. “Grab hold of him, hit him?”
We haven’t talked about this. We were just going to agree with each other and say that we both saw her at the water’s edge.
“No,” says Rasmus, but his answer comes just a split second too late. “All I remember is that she was there, on the shore. Then everything went black.”
This sounds way too melodramatic. Like a scripted line he has learned by heart.
“And what about you?” Officer Henriksson asks me. “When did you see her?”
I swallow.
“It was just before I found Rasmus. She was a bit farther away in the mist. She saw me and ran off.”
“And you’re absolutely certain that it was her?” asks Officer Henriksson. He leans forward until his face is a few inches from mine.
“Yes.”
Officer Berggren scrutinizes me.
“I wasn’t sure at first,” I blurt. “But then I saw her at school and recognized her eyes. That’s when I knew it must have been her.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Officer Berggren’s voice is pointed as he repeats Officer Henriksson’s question. “We’ve spoken to you several times now, and you’ve never mentioned any of this.”
This isn’t going anything like how we imagined. I can’t bring myself to look at Rasmus.
“I wasn’t a hundred percent sure at first,” I say tentatively. “But then some things started coming back to Rasmus, and then I remembered too. That Ms. Granberg was there, I mean.”
I’m crossing my fingers underneath the table like a little kid.
Officer Berggren closes his notepad on the table in front of him. “You do realize that this is a very serious accusation?”
I wait for Officer Henriksson to say something, but he doesn’t move a muscle.
There’s something going on here that I don’t understand.
“We saw her,” I whisper.
The lie tastes foul on my tongue.
Except it’s not a lie—not really. I’m sure that Ms. Granberg is responsible, that she’s the one who abducted Axel. She caused his death in one way or another, and now she’s trying to kill me.
I’m just not sure how.
“I see,” says Officer Berggren.
Rasmus’s shoulders deflate slightly, as if he’s letting out a breath he has been holding for a long time.
“Are you going to put her in prison?” he asks.
Officer Berggren smiles. It’s not a kind smile.
“Police don’t put people in prison,” says Officer Henriksson. “We take them into custody.”
He looks like he’s about to say something else but stops himself.
“No one is being taken into custody,” says Officer Berggren. “Not on the grounds of a couple of kids making wild accusations. Especially when it took them a whole week to remember what they claim they saw.”
Officer Henriksson rubs his forehead, and it looks like something snaps.
“I don’t know what you think you’re playing at,” he says, “but it’s really not a good idea to lie to the police.”
My jaw drops. Then I start to protest. “We’re not lying!”
“Aren’t you going to do anything?” Rasmus bursts out. “Don’t you believe us?”
It’s silent for what feels like an eternity. Then Officer Berggren reaches forward and switches off the recorder. He stands up from the kitchen table, and Officer Henriksson does the same.
“I think we’ve got everything we need,” says Officer Henriksson.
“But you’re going to talk to her, right?” I ask as they wordlessly make their way into the hall. “You’re at least going to question her?”
Officer Berggren puts his boots on without even looking in our direction.
Officer Henriksson is radiating intense irritation. “Sure,” he says. “Sure, we will.”
He doesn’t sound like he means it.