The Cruel Stars of the Night - Kjell Eriksson [108]
Now she could tell him! She knew that her cousin, and perhaps above all his father Mårten, had never liked Ulrik.
“It’s going to get better now. I am . . . I have met a man.
“He’s married,” she added and made it sound like a bonus.
Lars-Erik did not appear to be interested in a continuation.
“I have to ask one thing,” he said and drew a deep breath before going on. “It’s about Alice. This is a hard question to ask but I have to know. She died in the basement. No one really knows what happened. Father said something a long time ago that maybe you pushed her down the stairs. He said that. That Laura was not an innocent child.”
“It’s a lie! Ulrik made that up.”
“Ulrik came here once after Alice died. They argued, almost so it turned into a fight. It was probably something Ulrik said. Father wasn’t himself for a long time. He was so fond of Alice.”
Laura looked at him but Lars-Erik avoided her gaze. He kept talking as if to himself.
“It’s not always how you think. I know that Alice and my father were close.”
“Mårten never said a mean word to me.”
“No, it was probably just something Ulrik tossed out.”
Laura gazed at her cousin.
“Did you think, do you think that I pushed Alice?”
“No, why would you do something like that?”
Lars-Erik started to clear away the coffee cups and the plate of sandwiches.
“Are you moving?” he asked suddenly, his back turned to her.
Laura didn’t answer but he took this for a yes.
“Far?”
“Yes.”
“You can move to Skyttorp. There are houses for sale.”
Suddenly her plans appeared so paltry. All calculation and planning was in vain.
“Even though we’re cousins,” Lars-Erik continued, “I don’t know you very well, but there are bonds that make us receptive to the same wavelengths. I saw that as soon as you got out of the car. At first I was shocked because you looked so much like Agnes. It’s almost spooky. As if she had come back, for a couple of moments.”
Laura stretched out and nudged his hand with hers.
“You looked so lost,” he said, and Laura saw how he steeled himself to maintain his calm. “You gave me a look that said ‘Save me!’”
“I have to do that myself.”
Lars-Erik smiled.
“Where did Ulrik go?”
“He disappeared.”
“And that made you happy?”
Laura nodded. He looked at her and she expected more questions but her cousin left the kitchen. She heard him walk up the stairs to the upper floor and suddenly felt abandoned, as if he had left her for good.
He returned with a small cardboard box in his hand, placed it on the table, and gave her a look that said, this is important. Don’t say anything to ruin this moment.
Laura kept quiet while he untied the string that kept the lid in place. The box smelled like closet.
When he removed the lid she saw that the box contained letters and photos.
“Your mother wrote letters to my father,” he said and took out a thick bunch of letters tied up with paper string. When he undid the knot she immediately recognized her mother’s handwriting on the uppermost page.
“There’s about thirty-something in all. The first one came about a week after my mother died and last one was written the week before Alice died.”
Laura stared at him.
“Why did she write to Mårten?”
“She needed someone to talk to,” Lars-Erik said. “I know it may feel unpleasant but we’re adults now. I read some of them for the first time two years ago, after my father had died. I learned a lot about him. Everything may not have been so fun but that’s life. Why I should I judge others?”
“Why did he keep them?”
Lars-Erik didn’t answer.
“Are they love letters?”
“No, not really, but there is a lot of love in them. I’ve arranged them in chronological order. Do you want them? They are yours as much as mine. More yours, really.”
Laura held out her hand and pulled out an envelope from the bunch, but hesitated in taking out the letter.
“Your mother was unhappy,” he said.
“I hate him,” she said.
“I thought as much,” Lars-Erik said. “Do you think he’s coming back?”
Laura shook her head. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the envelope with the neatly