Chapter 32
When Leif and Ella made a pit stop at Ringpynten so she wouldn’t have to wear Leif’s clothes to the clubhouse, they discovered that Mia had already been there.
She’d washed off the nasty message from the refrigerator and delivered cleaning supplies.
They sang her praises as Leif steered into the channel.
Ella grew anxious as they got closer to their destination. To calm herself, she photographed the gannets that dive-bombed into the deep blue in search of food. She had always believed that everyone deserved a second chance, but she felt that this situation might be an exception.
Fifteen minutes later, she and Leif were approaching the club. Ella admired the driftwood sign that spelled out Propeller in shells. Leif went in first and Ella followed him.
“Wow, this place has a great vibe!” She took in the stone hearth, the reindeer pelts spread on the floor, the mahogany pool table with a mother-of-pearl inlay and claw-and-ball feet. She admired the whale mosaic and Leif proudly confessed to being its creator.
They saw Axel playing darts with a man with hooded eyes. Axel hit the bull’s-eye and pumped his fist in the air. He waved them over, saying, “Hey, Arnesen. Hey, Hippie Chick.”
Ella didn’t mind because his eyes twinkled affectionately when he said it.
Several people relaxed on chairs stationed around a long table, and some of them waved in greeting.
She recognized them from Inger’s bonfire, when she’d drunk too much and made a fool of herself.
Maybe someone from that evening had trashed her place, even if she didn’t think getting drunk and behaving badly seemed like a good enough reason to want to run someone out of town.
She kept her chin up and put on a friendly face.
Inger and Charlotte emerged together from a dim, narrow hallway and walked toward them. Ella hadn’t seen Charlotte since the bonfire and hadn’t ruled her out as a suspect either. But Inger caught her eye and shook her head before stopping to chat with two blond men at the pool table.
Charlotte came over and stood next to Leif. She fidgeted with the collar on her cream blazer as her gaze shifted between him and Ella. She looked at Ella, then Leif.
“I behaved badly. And I won’t blame the vodka, although I did drink almost half the bottle. I owe both of you an apology.”
“I appreciate that,” Leif said. Ella said nothing.
“I heard about what happened to your cottage,” Charlotte said directly to Ella. “It’s horrible and I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy.”
“OK,” Ella said and crossed her arms.
“You can think what you want, but I love my job, and I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it—my reputation is really important to me. And since we’re clearing the air”—Charlotte paused and checked her earring—“I admit that I was jealous when I saw the two of you together at the bonfire.”
Ella felt Leif looking at her. Charlotte took a sip of her cola and continued.
“Honestly, that surprised me. I blame it on my competitive nature. I didn’t want to lose my relationship with Leif, but I’m fine now.
” She laughed like she was amused. “Besides, I just met the most gorgeous guy.” She flicked her manicured hand at the man playing darts with Axel.
Her gaze returned to Ella and Leif, and she offered a smile. “Are we good?”
Ella nodded and added Charlotte to her second-chance list. Leif looked like he might speak, until a short, stout man bounded into the room.
“Who’s that?” Ella asked. He reminded her of an English bulldog, with his droopy jowls and big, sad eyes.
“That’ll be Oskar, the fishmonger.” Leif raised his hand in greeting, but Oskar was occupied with shaking his head at Inger, who was beckoning him over to the pool table. Mia spoke with him, then eventually led him over to Ella and Leif.
“Afternoon, Arnesen,” Oskar said, and shook Leif’s hand.
“Did you hear that someone nicked two of my nets?” He frowned and motioned toward Ella with his pipe.
“There’s a good chance the crime is connected to the incident at your cottage.
” He tipped his chin at Mia. “This one told me what happened, and you don’t deserve that terrible treatment. ”
“Thank you,” Ella said with a small smile. “That’s awful about your nets. Around two dozen fish were dumped in my cottage. Would that many fit in your nets?”
“They certainly would,” Oskar said.
Axel joined them and clapped Oskar on the back.
“Why the long face?” After being brought up to speed, Axel frowned and scratched at the label on his beer bottle, and then said to no one in particular, “That’s odd about the fish, because I—well, never mind.
It’s probably nothing.” He peered inside the bottle.
“What?” Ella asked. Axel looked uncomfortable, but she needed answers. “Please, say it.”
“I don’t know,” Axel muttered.
Oskar nudged him. “The truth will come out anyway. You might as well speak up and help your friends.”
“I really don’t know anything.” Axel frowned, then unwrapped some pink bubble gum and began chewing as if it were an effort.
Leif clasped Ella’s hand and brought it to his chest. Axel popped the collar on his Izod shirt, buying himself a bit more time.
“OK. Earlier today I saw two nets. I thought it was strange, considering where I saw them.”
“Come on, just tell us. Ella has a right to know,” Leif insisted.
Axel chewed his gum.
“How would you feel if this happened to you? I can promise you, it’s no fun,” Ella said, cringing at the memory of fish guts on her clothing sketches.
“If you know who it is, please tell me. I’m not pressing charges or anything.
And I’m going back home soon anyway.” She didn’t care that she sounded desperate.
“I shouldn’t. He’s a good friend . . .” Axel wrung his hands, glanced around the room, and finally lowered his voice to a whisper. “OK. Fine. The nets are in Erik’s storage chest at the boatyard.”
Mia gasped.
“No. Not Erik,” Oskar protested, and shook his head.
“I don’t believe it! He’s not a thief or a vandal.” Leif put his hands on his hips, a hard expression on his face.
As for Ella, she knew Erik didn’t like her. He’d made that all too clear. But she also knew that not liking someone was harmless, whereas trashing someone’s home was hateful and cruel. She asked thoughtfully, “Don’t all nets look the same?”
“Describe the nets,” Leif demanded. Axel did, and Oskar verified the nets as the ones that had been stolen. Ella listened as they all talked over each other; she wasn’t sure what to think.
“Erik’s been acting weird, more so than normal,” Axel said. “He took off without giving me any direction. I’m worried about him.”
“Maybe we should be worried about him,” Ella said. “Maybe there’s something going on with Erik that we aren’t aware of.” She recalled that he’d been rude to her for no apparent reason and had withheld information about his past with Sara.
Leif spoke up. “Well, I need proof of Erik’s guilt. If he did any of this, he needs to admit it. And I want to see those nets.” He shot Ella a look. “Let’s go.”
· · ·
On the boat ride from the Propeller, Leif told one story after another about Erik.
Whether it was emptying and cleaning an elderly neighbor’s cistern after she’d discovered a dead mink floating in it, rebuilding an outhouse for a one-armed man, or repairing someone’s boat engine for free when they were down on their luck, it seemed Erik had done it all.
Leif told these stories with conviction, as if trying to convince her, or maybe himself, that Erik couldn’t be guilty.
Ella tried to remain positive, but still she struggled to think positively of Erik.
She wondered why Erik seemed to hate her. Maybe he had hated Sara too.
Ella walked with Leif across the boulder-lined quay, with its clumps of seaweed and bird droppings.
The briny air felt cool against her skin.
Two fiberglass skiffs, resting on their trailers, greeted them from each side of the entrance of Lyng?r Boatyard and Marina.
Ella waited while Leif swung open the workshop’s barn-style doors.
The smell of engine grease and sawdust greeted them, and a couple of wooden boats sat on hoists.
The evening light cut through the salt-smeared windows and cast shadows on the plank walls that were already streaked with varnish and paint.
Ella was nervous about the upcoming confrontation with Erik.
Finding the nets in Erik’s possession would crush Leif.
Ella followed Leif into Erik’s office and was intrigued by the variety of accumulated junk that littered the wall-mounted workbench.
There was a large wooden troll figurine, an oil-burning brass lantern, a glass jug full of Norwegian kroner, and a half-eaten pastry.
Leif stopped in front of the storage trunk.
He bent down to work the combination lock, raised the lid, and recoiled. The orange-and-teal twine nets with red buoys matched Oskar’s description of his own nets. Leif pressed his fingers to his forehead.
“This makes no sense. Erik doesn’t steal!”
“Well, it kind of seems Erik does,” she said firmly.
“But you don’t know him like I do!”
“No, but he treats me like I’m contagious. He’s never even spoken a word to me, Leif.”
Leif kept stubbornly protesting, so Ella slipped her arm around him. “If Erik didn’t do it, he hid the nets to cover for someone else. He was involved.”
She reached into the trunk and pulled at a net.
It stank like steamed cabbage and seafood forgotten in the heat.
It weighed a ton and snagged on the trunk’s rim.
The twine with tiny sharp knots sliced two of her fingers, and blood rose from the small cuts, her anger bubbling up with it.
Everything in her wanted to kick the trunk. What had she ever done to Erik?
The color drained from Leif’s face. He dug into the trunk and pulled out an empty round bottle. Twenty-five years old was engraved on the silver hammer emblem.
Ella’s gaze moved from the bottle, to him, and back again.
“That’s the scotch from my cottage. If that doesn’t make it clear that he did it, I don’t know what will.
” But her anger was softened by Leif’s pain, so she rested the side of her head on his arm and said, “I know this can’t be easy for you.
” Her voice cracked, as she was overwhelmed with concern for this man next to her, the man who was holding her heart.