The Joona Linna Thrillers 3-Book Bundle

  “Sorry to bother you,” she says, her voice tinged with despair.

  “You can call me whenever you want,” Joona says. His tone is friendly.

  “I’m in my car with Daniel Grim and he doesn’t believe that Vicky did those horrible things,” Elin explains quickly.

  “Even though all the technical evidence points to her.”

  “It can’t be true. Daniel says that she’s not violent,” Elin says.

  “She can become violent,” Joona says.

  “You don’t know her!” Elin erupts.

  Joona says nothing for a few seconds. Then he says calmly, “Ask Daniel about Eutrexa. It’s a drug.”

  “Eutrexa?”

  Daniel looks at Elin.

  “Ask him about side effects,” Joona says before hanging up.

  Elin drives quickly back along the coast, heading toward the forest.

  “What side effects does Eutrexa have?” she asks.

  “A person can become extremely aggressive if he or she takes an overdose,” Daniel says matter-of-factly.

  “Was Vicky prescribed this drug?”

  Daniel nods and Elin says nothing.

  “It is a good drug,” Daniel tries to explain, but then he falls silent.

  Almost all the light from the headlights is swallowed by the trees at the edge of the forest. The shadows overlap until there is nothing but darkness.

  “Did you notice that you said Vicky was your daughter?”

  “Yes, I know,” Elin says. “It just came out.”

  “She was your daughter for a little while.”

  “Yes, she was,” Elin says, keeping her eyes on the road.

  They drive past the vast Armsjön Lake. It gleams like cast iron in the darkness.

  Daniel takes a deep breath. “I was trying to think of something Vicky said when she first arrived but now I can’t remember it. Oh yes, she said she had some friends from Chile who had a house …”

  He falls silent and looks out the passenger-side window. There are tears on his cheeks.

  “Elisabet and I were hoping to go to Chile and then there was the huge earthquake …”

  He takes a deep breath, but sits quietly with his hands in his lap.

  “You were talking about Vicky,” Elin says.

  “That’s right. Where was I?”

  “You said she had friends from Chile.”

  “Yes.”

  “They had a house somewhere.”

  “Did I say that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn it,” he mumbles. “What is wrong with me? That is … Maybe I should have stayed at the hospital. This is kind of crazy.”

  Elin smiles weakly at him. “I’m glad that you didn’t.”

  89

  They leave the highway at Jättendal and head toward the coast on a single-lane road that takes them past old farmhouses and falling-down barns and then back into the dark forest. Where the road ends, there’s a cluster of houses in Falun red and before them the opalescent eternity of the sea. The midsummer pole is still standing in the village, its birch leaves and flowers now brown and hanging loose. A large wooden house with a beautiful glass-enclosed veranda faces the water. Once a country store, for several years now it has been owned by the company that manages Brigittagården.

  Elin steers the car slowly between the fence posts and parks. As she undoes her seat belt, Daniel warns, “You have to be prepared for these girls. They’ve had rough lives.” He pushes his glasses high on his nose. “They’re going to provoke you. They like to test the boundaries.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Elin says. “I was a teenager once, too.”

  “This is something completely different,” Daniel says. “It’s not always easy, not even for me. They can be really terrible at times.”

  “So what do you say when they try to provoke you?” asks Elin. She looks him in the eye.

  “The best thing is to be as honest and clear as possible.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Elin opens the car door.

  “Wait, there’s one more thing before we go in. They have a security guard there. I think that he should accompany you the entire time.”

  Elin smiles. “Isn’t that a bit excessive?”

  “Well, I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, you don’t have to be afraid, but I think—I know that you shouldn’t be alone with two of the girls. Not even for a short time.”

  “Which ones?”

  “Almira and a little girl named Tuula.”

  “Are they that dangerous?”

  He holds up a hand. “I’m just saying I would like the guard to be there if you want to talk to them.”

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t worry,” he says, trying to calm her. “They can also be quite nice, all of them.”

  The air is cool and carries with it the scent of the sea. Elin pauses after she locks the car.

  “One of the girls must know about Vicky’s friends,” she says.

  “Even if one of them does, you can’t assume that she’ll want to tell you.”

  A path of black slate leads around the gable and to the front steps. Elin’s red heels keep getting caught between the stones. It’s late in the evening, but one girl is lying in the hammock next to the lilac tree, smoking. Her pale face and tattooed arms shine in the darkness.

  “Hey, Daniel,” the girl says, and smiles. She sits up and tosses the cigarette onto the grass.

  “Hello, Almira,” Daniel says.

  “Hello,” Elin says, smiling.

  Almira stares directly at Elin but does not smile back. Her dark eyebrows meet over her large nose and her cheeks are peppered with acne.

  “Vicky beat his wife to death,” Almira says. “And when Elisabet was dead, she killed Miranda, too. I don’t think she’s going to stop until we’re all dead.”

  Almira gets out of the hammock and walks up the stairs and into the house.

  90

  Elin and Daniel follow Almira into the small kitchen. Lu Chu and Indie are sitting at a pine table in the adjacent dining room, eating ice cream right from the carton while flipping through old comic books.

  “Good thing you’re here,” Indie says when she sees Daniel. “You’ve got to talk to Tuula. She’s sick in the head. I think she needs to go back on her meds.”

  “Where is Solveig?” asks Daniel.

  “She had to go somewhere,” Almira says, and takes a spoon from a drawer.

  “When did she leave?” asks Daniel with skepticism in his voice.

  “Right after dinner,” Lu Chu mumbles without looking up from her comic book.

  “So there’s just the security guard here?”

  “Anders. He was only here the first and second nights.”

  “What are you telling me?” Daniel says. “Are you girls all on your own?”

  Almira shrugs and starts to eat the ice cream.

  “Tell me,” Daniel says.

  “Solveig is supposed to come back,” Indie says.

  “But it’s eight in the evening!” Daniel says. He pulls out his cell phone and calls the health company. He is given a complaint number, but no one replies. He leaves an irritated message saying there must always be competent staff on the grounds. They can’t cut costs—they have responsibilities.

  While Daniel is talking on the phone, Elin watches the girls. Almira is sitting in the lap of a cute girl with East Asian looks, who also has acne all over her face. While she’s flipping through an old Mad magazine, she keeps kissing Almira on the neck.

  “Almira,” Elin says. “Do you have any idea where Vicky might be hiding?”

  “No idea,” Almira says, and sucks on her spoon.

  “Vicky is fucking dead,” Indie says. “Didn’t you hear? She killed herself and that little boy.”

  “Shit!” Lu Chu exclaims. She points right at Elin. “I recognize you! Aren’t you, like, the richest woman in Sweden?”

  “Cut it out,” Daniel says.

  “Fuck! I swear!” Lu Chu says, and drum
s on the table. Then she yells right at Elin. “Give me some money!”

  “Please lower your voice,” Daniel says.

  “I only said I recognized her. I can say that, right?”

  “Yes, you can say what you want,” Daniel says.

  “We just want to ask if you have any idea where Vicky might be hiding,” Elin says.

  “She kept to herself,” Daniel says. “But you girls had the chance to talk to her. You don’t have to be best friends to know something about another person. For example, I know the name of your former boyfriend, Indie.”

  “We got back together,” Indie says with a grin.

  “When did that happen?” asks Daniel.

  “I called him yesterday. We talked for a long time,” she said.

  “Wonderful. I’m happy for you,” Daniel says with a smile.

  “Those last few days, Vicky tended to hang with Miranda,” Indie says.

  “And with Caroline,” adds Daniel.

  “Because they had All Day Lifestyle classes together,” Indie replies.

  “Who is Caroline?” asks Elin.

  “She’s one of the older girls,” Daniel says. “She also was in a class called Life Training with Vicky.”

  “I don’t get how anyone could care about Vicky,” Almira says. “She slaughtered Miranda like a pig.”

  “That’s not completely clear,” Elin tries to say.

  “Not completely clear?” Almira raises her voice. “You should have seen her! She was really fucking dead! There was blood all over the place!”

  “Please don’t shout,” Daniel asks.

  “Well, what the fuck are we supposed to say? Are we supposed to pretend that nothing ever happened?” Indie yells. “Are we going to pretend that Miranda is still alive? That Elisabet is still alive? Or what?”

  “I only meant—”

  “You weren’t fucking there!” Almira screams. “Vicky turned Elisabet’s head to applesauce with a fucking hammer! You act like she’s still alive!”

  “Please try to speak one at a time,” Daniel says, doing his best to keep his composure.

  Indie holds up a hand as if she’s in school. “Elisabet was a fucking drug addict! I hate drug addicts and I—”

  Almira grins. “Because your mother overdosed.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about Elisabet! She can burn in hell for all I care!” Indie says.

  “How can you say something like that?” asks Elin.

  “We heard her screaming that night,” Lu Chu lies. “She called for help for a long, long time. We just stayed in bed and listened to her scream.”

  “She screamed and screamed,” Almira says, smiling.

  Daniel has turned away from them. The girls stop talking. Daniel says nothing and eventually he dries his face with his sleeve.

  “You realize that it’s a rotten thing to do, to talk like that,” he says finally.

  “But it’s fun,” Almira says.

  “Do you really think so?”

  “I sure do!”

  “You, too, Lu Chu?”

  Lu Chu shrugs.

  “You don’t know?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “We’ve talked about situations like this,” he says.

  “Okay. I’m sorry. It was a rotten thing to say.”

  Daniel tries to smile reassuringly at Lu Chu, but it only makes him look unbearably sad.

  “Where is Caroline?” asks Elin.

  “In her room,” Lu Chu answers.

  Elin asks, “Can you show us the way?”

  91

  Lu Chu leads them down the ice-cold hall between the living room and the dining room with its glassed-in veranda facing the water. Beyond the living room, a second hall leads to the bedrooms. Lu Chu points out her room and Tuula’s room then stops in front of a door that has a colorful small porcelain bell hanging from the handle.

  “Here’s where Caroline sleeps,” she says.

  “Thank you,” Elin says.

  “It’s getting late,” Daniel says. “Why don’t you brush your teeth and get ready for bed?”

  Lu Chu waits for a moment and then heads off to the bathroom. When Daniel knocks on the door, the little porcelain bell rings. A young woman Elin assumes is Caroline opens the door and looks at Daniel in surprise. Then she gives him a careful hug.

  “May we come in?” Daniel asks.

  “Of course.” She holds out her hand to Elin. “I’m Caroline.”

  Elin greets the girl, and holds her thin hand for a moment. Caroline has a pale, freckled face. She’s plucked her sand-colored eyebrows and has carefully applied makeup. Her straight hair is drawn into a thick topknot.

  The wallpaper in her room is mottled and the wooden dresser by the window has been stripped. On the wall, there’s a picture of an old fisherman wearing a sou’wester, his teeth clamped on a pipe.

  “We’re here to talk about Vicky,” Daniel says.

  “I was Vicky’s foster mother a few years ago,” Elin explains.

  “When she was small?” asks Caroline.

  Elin nods. Caroline bites her lip and looks out the window.

  “You know Vicky a little bit,” Elin says.

  “I don’t think she trusted people,” Caroline says, and smiles. “I liked her, though. She was calm and had a sick sense of humor when she got tired.”

  Elin asks straight-out, “Did she ever talk about people she knew? Friends or boyfriends?”

  “We never talk about old shit. It brings us down.”

  “Good things, then? What did she dream of doing when she got out?”

  “We’d talk about working abroad for the Red Cross or Save the Children, but who would ever hire us?” Caroline replies.

  “Did you two want to do that together?”

  “We were just talking,” Caroline says patiently.

  “I just thought of something,” Daniel says, rubbing his forehead. “I was off duty on Friday, but from what I understand, Miranda was in the isolation room. Do you know why?”

  “She hit Tuula,” Caroline says in a matter-of-fact way.

  “Why did she hit Tuula?” Elin asks.

  Caroline shrugs. “Because Tuula deserved it. Tuula steals stuff all the time. She took my earrings the other day. She said they wanted to stay with her.”

  “What did she take from Miranda?”

  “When we were swimming, she took Vicky’s purse and she took Miranda’s necklace.”

  “She took Vicky’s purse?” Elin asks.

  “Yeah, she gave it back, but she took something out of it. I don’t know what. Something Vicky’s mom gave her.”

  “Was Vicky angry at Tuula?” Elin asks.

  “No.”

  “Vicky and Caroline never get into fights,” Daniel says, and he pats Caroline’s thin arm.

  “Daniel, we need you,” Caroline says. She looks anxious. “You have to take care of us.”

  “I’ll be back soon,” he says. “I want to take care of you, but I’m not really in shape for—”

  “You will come back, won’t you?”

  “I will.”

  Elin glances back as they leave the room. Caroline’s face has fallen. She looks as if she’s been completely abandoned.

  92

  Daniel knocks on Tuula’s door. No one answers, so they head back to the kitchen.

  “Remember what I told you earlier,” Daniel says seriously.

  As they pass the dining room, its table uncleared from dinner, they see the little red-haired girl. Beyond the large windows of the glass veranda, the harbor is gleaming in the darkness. The faded silver fishing huts stand in a row and are reflected in the water. It’s a beautiful view. But the girl has turned her chair away from the windows to face the wall and she’s staring right at it.

  “Hello, Tuula,” Daniel says.

  The girl turns her head. Her eyes are pale. Her haunted expression changes into something else, something harder to define.

  “I have a fever,” she says, and turns bac
k to face the wall.

  “Nice view,” Daniel says.

  “Yeah,” she says, but keeps staring at the wall.

  “I need to talk to you,” Daniel says gently.

  “Go ahead.”

  “I want to see your face as we talk.”

  “You want me to cut it off?”

  “It would be easier if you turned your chair around.”

  She sighs and gets up, turns her chair, and sits back down. Her face doesn’t reveal a thing.

  “Last Friday, you took Vicky’s purse,” Elin says.

  “What?” Tuula exclaims. “What did you say? What the fuck did you say to me?”

  Daniel tries to minimize the effect of Elin’s words. “She was wondering—”

  “Shut up!” screams Tuula.

  They don’t say anything. Tuula presses her lips together while she rips a cuticle from her fingernail.

  “You took Vicky’s purse,” Elin says again.

  “You’re a fucking liar,” Tuula says. She looks at the floor. She’s trembling.

  Elin leans forward and strokes her cheek. “I don’t mean—”

  Tuula grabs Elin’s hair and yanks, then snatches a fork from the table and pulls back her arm to stab Elin’s face. But Daniel seizes her hand and holds on while she screams and kicks.

  “Fucking bitch! I’m going to …”

  Daniel holds Tuula until she quiets down. He takes her onto his lap and she finally starts to relax.

  Elin has backed away.

  “I know. You only borrowed Vicky’s purse,” Daniel says.

  “She only had crap in there. I should have burned it all.”

  “So there was nothing in her purse that said it wanted to stay with you?”

  “Just the flower button.”

  “It sounds lovely. May I see it?”

  “A tiger is keeping watch over it.”

  “Oh, my.”

  “You can nail me to a wall,” Tuula whispers.

  “Was there anything else that wanted to stay with you?” Daniel says.

  “I should have set fire to Vicky when we were in the forest.”

  Tuula keeps talking to Daniel and Elin leaves the room. The hall is dark and empty. She walks to Tuula’s bedroom and listens to make sure that Daniel is still talking to the girl. Then she opens the door.