The Cruel Stars of the Night - Kjell Eriksson [102]
“It became impossible for me to work,” Charles continued. “I thought about that girl all the time. Ronja was her name, like that robber’s daughter in Astrid Lindgren’s book. And about her mother’s scream.”
“So you left Umeå?”
“I had to, so I wouldn’t go crazy.”
“And your girlfriend?”
“She stayed. I think she was a little tired. I dreamed a lot at night. Went a bit cuckoo. She was working at home on her dissertation and I was on sick leave. It didn’t work. In the daytime I walked around like a restless spirit and at night . . . well, you know.”
Ann stood up and moved to the couch.
“Let’s go to bed,” she said and saw him tense up.
“We can hug but nothing more, okay?”
He looked at her quickly and nodded.
“Okay,” he said, his voice cracking.
Thirty-two
The wind grabbed hold of the large evergreens and shook them. After a few gusts, everything was calm again. Jessica Franklin leaned forward and peered out. The dark, pillar-shaped trees stood like sentries outside the kitchen window but Jessica thought they looked more threatening than protective. She had wanted to remove them and plant roses instead.
Once they had been little. The man at the nursery had said they wouldn’t get bigger than two meters. Now they were twice that. Stig thought it a pity to cut them down.
She looked at the clock. For which time she didn’t know. She had driven home right after Stig’s call, made a simple dinner, and then anxiously walked to and fro in the house, unable to do any of the things she had to.
She didn’t know what to think. His story about Laura was plausible for all its outlandishness. Laura was unstable and Stig was thoughtful and gullible. Was Laura trying to use him to change the course of the Hausmann deal? She had been forced to give in on several points and had been upset and mortified. Now perhaps she was using the nice and understanding Stig to alter the plans.
The longer the evening went on the more upset she became. Several times she decided to call Stig but changed her mind each time. Her pride forbade her. If he wanted to sit there and coddle Laura then that was his decision.
When it was close to twelve o’clock she first started having thoughts that Stig was having an affair with Laura. Jealousy bored in and spread like a cancerous growth. Again she wanted to call but did not want to give either Stig or Laura the satisfaction of appearing like a spurned wife who was anxiously calling for her unfaithful husband.
Jessica sat down at the computer, opened one of the Hausmann documents, and tried to work but the letters and numbers on the screen had lost their meaning. She left the study and walked around the house, furious and beside herself.
When she heard the car on the street she ran to the desk, sat down, and logged in again on the computer.
She heard the garage door open and shut. The door to the kitchen opened. Stig poured himself a glass of water and brought it down forcefully onto the counter. He must have had wine. That always made him thirsty afterward.
He called out but not how he usually did. She sat absolutely still and read a sentence in German, reading the words quietly to herself. An early memory of a German lesson at school came back to her. The lesson was about the Müller family visiting some relatives in the countryside. The thought was that the schoolchildren should learn words that had to do with farming. When Jessica had recited all the words she could remember in this context she heard Stig walking up.
“Hi,” she heard him say.
She didn’t turn around, but sensed he was standing in the doorway.
“You’re working,” he observed.
He sounded normal, but wasn’t there a mocking tone in his voice? She turned around and got a shock. Stig’s red-flushed face bore witness to what she had feared. He could look like that sometimes after they had made love.
“Are you proud of yourself?” she asked and made an effort to keep her voice from breaking.
He shook his head.
“We have some things to sort out,” he said in a mechanical voice.
He told her calmly what had happened and that it was best if they