The Princess of Burundi - Kjell Eriksson [133]
He should have said those things to Berit. She was the one who could transmit something, tell Justus that John and Lennart were the roofer’s kids, that they had laughed together and that there had been moments of happiness. She would be able to talk about the hard things, tell Justus about their little sister, maybe show photographs.
He had killed an unknown man and now there would always be a price on his head, he would always be on the run. He had managed to botch even the simplest thing, his revenge. But he had killed the guy who had threatened Berit. The cold made him shake harder. Shouldn’t he go back down to Berit and talk about something important for once?
The wind threw itself over the ridge, squirming past the chimney, howling down seams and tiles.
“Little brother,” he said, took a wobbling step, and fell forward. He hit the tile roof violently, felt something break in his face, and then somersaulted off the edge.
Ola Haver, who was on the street, saw him fall. He heard the scream and instinctively held out his hands to stop the man’s free fall. But in the next moment the body hit the frozen ground.
The lights from the police cars whirled around, and on the other side of the street, peeking out from between their amaryllises and poinsettias, people were watching.
The ground was white and Lennart’s blood was red. For a few moments everything on the street grew still. Berglund took a step closer to the body, which had come to rest in an unnatural position, and removed his hat.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
THE PRINCESS OF BURUNDI. Copyright © 2006 by Kjell Eriksson. Translation © 2006 by Ebba Segerberg. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eriksson, Kjell, 1953–
[Prinsessan av Burundi. English]
The princess of Burundi / Kjell Eriksson; translated from the Swedish by Ebba Segerberg.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-0-312-32767-5
I. Segerberg, Ebba. II. Title.
PT 9876.21.J39P7513 2006
839.73'8—dc22
2005050965
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two