The Cruel Stars of the Night - Kjell Eriksson [135]
“Let her go,” Jessica said. She had picked up the pipe wrench from the floor.
“Never,” Stig said.
He felt Laura’s body working under his own, heard her heavy breaths, and saw how she tried to bite his arm. Suddenly and for a few moments he relived their last tryst. Revolted by his own reaction he loosened his grip a little.
“Let her go,” Jessica repeated and Stig got to his knees.
Laura remained lying on the floor. The only thing they heard were her panting breaths. Jessica looked at Stig but he avoided her gaze. I’ve fucked this woman, he thought and had a bitter taste in his mouth. I’ve cheated on my wife with her, planned to run away with her. Shame made him get up quickly and direct a kick against the body at his feet but he stopped himself at the last moment.
“It’s over now,” was the only thing Jessica said, and he knew that she had sensed what he must be thinking.
Laura let out a sob and then started to crawl to the door. Stig thought she looked like a wounded animal who was trying to drag herself away from a fight.
When she reached the door she turned her head and looked one last time at Stig before she picked herself up and on unsteady legs disappeared from their view.
Jessica walked over to the door, looked out, and then closed it very carefully.
“She’s crazy,” Stig said.
Jessica simply nodded and she didn’t cease to amaze him. He wanted to hug her but knew it would be a while before that happened.
“Lock the door,” he said. “I have to have another cognac.”
“Pour me one too,” Jessica said and only now did she put down the wrench.
Forty-four
The flashlight gasped one last time and then went out for good. However Ann tried it remained dark. She tossed it away and curled up in the wine cellar.
The rustling of the rats became louder. It was as if Ann’s rearranging of the wood drove them to gnaw even more eagerly on Ulrik Hindersten’s body. Ann also thought the smell of rotting flesh had grown stronger.
Her hand fumbled over the bottles of wine. They tempted her. She longed intensely for a sip of red wine. She sneezed as a result of the dust she had disturbed. The rustling died down for a few seconds. The rats were aware of her presence, they heard her and perhaps with cold calculation counted on the fact that a new feast awaited them.
She had been cold for the past half hour and regretted the fact that she had not gathered up some of the old clothes she had seen. Now that the light was definitely not functioning she was hesitant to move around in the dark basement. She told herself that it wasn’t because of the rats, but the fact was that her terror was building minute by minute in the pitch black and stinking cellar.
Wine was her only friend, the only thing she could perceive as positive. But she was not allowed to drink it. When Laura returned, Ann had to be in good shape. She did not count on being able to free herself with physical force; she assumed the only possibility was to talk herself out of the basement and then she could not be slurring her speech. And above all, her thinking had to be clear.
It struck her that perhaps Laura would not be coming back at all. That she had left the house for good. Ann had seen the suitcase in the hall. The sudden insight that she was going to be abandoned made her jump to her feet. Instinctively she groped around with her hand in front of her without knowing what she was going to do—it just seemed wrong to sit there completely passive. She thought she had tested all the possibilities open to her. Now she could only hope that Laura would return.
Only seeing a hint of light if Laura was going to open the door, and even if Ann had to stand at the foot of the stairs, a glimpse of light was so enticing that she cautiously made her way out of the wine cellar and haltingly made her way closer to the staircase even if this meant she drew closer to the rats.
She had heard that your eyes grew accustomed to darkness and that you would start to see partly after a while but it wasn’t true. The darkness was as compact as before and she regretted having wasted the