The Cruel Stars of the Night - Kjell Eriksson [150]
Lars-Erik put down the package of oatmeal and stared at the radio. The agitated voice on the radio gave an account of the house that had burned down.
“The owner of the house, an older man who had been reported missing a month ago was found dead in the basement. It is unclear if the man’s death was caused by the fire. In the basement there was also a female detective inspector, who has been leading the investigation into the three murders that have shaken Uppsala. She is injured and her state is reported as serious but not life-threatening. According to the information that Radio Uppland has been able to gather she was badly injured from the smoke. A thirty-five-year-old woman who is believed to be connected to the fire is now wanted by the police. She is driving a red Ford Fusion. There are facts indicating that she is connected to the murders.”
Lars-Erik walked over to the window and looked out.
The radio announcer continued with the report but Lars-Erik did not need to hear more. He sat down at the table where the glass and the bottle still stood.
He didn’t want to believe it was Laura they were talking about but everything fit. He looked around the kitchen, discovering glass slivers on the floor and got up, unsure of what to do.
Radio voices went on about the events that had taken place yesterday but he only sporadically registered what they had to say.
The suitcase was still in the hall. He walked over and checked the address label where it stood. “Associate professor Ulrik Hindersten— Uppsala University.”
He looked up the stairs, turned his head, and saw the telephone on the wall in the kitchen. He walked over and lifted the receiver but immediately hung up again.
The stairs creaked as usual even though he was trying to walk as soundlessly as possible.
If she had only come earlier, he thought and stared at the closed door to the room where she was sleeping.
In order not to wake her, he pushed the door open gently and peeked in. The bed was empty. It had not even been touched. The blanket at the foot was wrinkled so Laura had perhaps sat there for a while during the night.
She had turned up so unexpectedly that in a way he was not surprised to find that she had left.
He walked out of the room and went down, checked the parlor and the TV room before he walked out into the yard. The car was still there. He felt the handle. It was unlocked. A few clothes and a purse were in the backseat.
The wind was sharp and the clear weather during the night had made the temperature fall below freezing. The lawns were white.
He called out her name and checked the storage shed, woodshed, and garage but could only establish that Laura was not on the farm.
He wondered if he should walk over to the early riser Egg-Elsa and ask her if she had seen Laura. But he sensed where she had gone, so he went back in and lifted the receiver again.
As he was describing the way to the police officer in Uppsala he thought about Rose-Marie, that he had done the same thing before her first visit to Skyttorp.
After the call he fetched his fleece jacket and walked out into the yard again. Now Egg-Elsa had made a fire. Smoke was coming out of the kitchen.
From the thin fir forest to the east there came a call from a wood-dove that had apparently decided to stay for the winter.
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