Out of nowhere, his head was yanked out of the water and up into the cold spring air. Lukas coughed and spluttered, spewed out the remains of his breakfast. His lungs felt as if they were about to explode. The pastor dragged him ashore by his neck. Lukas lay by the water’s edge, panting. He could not feel his body.
The pastor knelt by his side and stroked his wet hair. Lukas looked up at him with huge, shocked eyes.
‘Did you see the devil?’ the pastor smiled.
Lukas nodded. He nodded so hard that it felt as if his neck might snap.
‘Good.’ The pastor smiled, stroking his cheek softly. ‘Then you’re ready.’
Chapter 60
Mia Krüger was standing in Malin Stoltz’s flat, and she knew exactly why Kim had reacted the way he did.
‘I have never seen so many mirrors in all my life,’ Kim said, still reeling. ‘Now do you see why I jumped when I came in here?’
Mia nodded. Malin Stoltz’s flat looked like a hall of mirrors at a funfair. There were mirrors everywhere. Every square centimetre of her flat was covered with them. From floor to ceiling, in every single room.
They had waited outside for an hour, but no one had appeared. The decision to go in had been made by Munch. Mia had disagreed, but she hadn’t said anything. He was the boss. She would have preferred to stay in the car, wait a little longer. That would have been better. Now, they had made their presence known. Munch had asked for a full team to search the flat. Their police presence was broadcast across the whole neighbourhood: Malin Stoltz would never come back now. Mia knew it, and Munch knew it. Even so, he had made the call. Perhaps Anette had been right, after all? Perhaps Munch was too close to the case? With Miriam and Marion hidden away in a safe house in Frogner. With his mother linked to the church.
‘Have you ever seen anything like it?’ Kim asked.
Mia shook her head. She hadn’t. She had never even come close. No matter where she went or turned, she saw her own reflection. She felt a strong sense of unease, but there was nowhere she could rest eyes, there was no escape. She looked exhausted. She didn’t look like herself. The alcohol and the pills had left their traces, both in her skin and in her usually bright blue eyes. Mia wasn’t vain, but she definitely didn’t like what she saw. And they had lost Malin Stoltz.
Munch entered the kitchen, where the others were, and he didn’t look particularly pleased either. He heaved a sigh as he stood in front of the mirrored fridge; it was clear that he was not used to spending much time in front of a mirror. Mia could see him looking at himself. She wondered what he was thinking.
‘We have issued a description,’ Munch said, after a pause. ‘We have stationed people at Gardermoen Airport, Oslo Central Station, Torp Airport, and cars in strategic locations, but I have a feeling that she has tricked us again.’
Munch scratched his beard and glanced at his face in the mirror again.
‘What the hell is this about, Mia?’
Mia shrugged her shoulders. She knew that everyone looked to her to answer this question but, right now, nothing came into her head. A flat filled with mirrors? Who liked to look at themselves the whole time? Someone who was frightened of disappearing? Who had to keep looking at herself to reassure herself that she existed? Something started to come into focus, but it refused to materialize fully. She was overtired. She strangled a yawn. She really had to get some sleep soon. She could see from multiples angles just how much she needed a rest.
The head of the search team, a short man in his fifties whose name Mia had forgotten, appeared in the doorway.
‘Anything?’ Munch said, sounding hopeful.
‘Nothing,’ the short man said.
‘What did we find?’
‘No, I mean nothing. There’s nothing here. No photographs. No personal belongings. No handwritten notes. No newspapers. No plants. Just some clothes in the wardrobe and quite a lot of make-up in the bathroom. It’s almost as if she didn’t live here.’
Mia had a sudden flashback to her house on Hitra. She had done exactly the same. No personal belongings. Just clothes, alcohol, pills, a coffee machine. It seemed so far away now. A distant memory, even though it was barely three weeks since she had raised her last toast to heaven, ready to disappear.
Come to me, Mia, come.
‘She doesn’t live here,’ Mia said.
‘What?’ Munch said.
Mia still felt incredibly tired, but she pulled herself together.
‘She doesn’t live here. Malin Stoltz lives here, but that’s not her. She lives elsewhere.’
‘What do you mean?’ Kim said. ‘Is she not Malin Stoltz?’
‘There is no Malin Stoltz registered anywhere. It’s a false name,’ Munch said irritably.
‘So where does she live?’ Kim said.
‘Somewhere else. Keep up!’ Munch snapped.
It was clear that he, too, was exhausted.
‘There’s nowhere here you could keep the girls,’ Mia said.
She sat down at the table. She was so exhausted she could no longer stand up. Her eyes were stinging. She could feel that she had to get out of this flat soon, before all those mirror images got the better of her.
‘Malin Stoltz lives here. Malin Stoltz isn’t real. She keeps her personal stuff elsewhere. A place she can be herself. And that’s where she keeps the girls. A cabin or an isolated house. Call off your people at Gardermoen and Torp. She’s not going to leave the country.’
‘How do you know?’ Munch said.
‘She likes being at home.’ Mia sighed. ‘Don’t ask me why.’
‘We’ll keep them there for the rest of the day,’ Munch said. ‘And we need to go back to the care home. Someone there must know something about Malin.’
He turned to Kim.
‘Would you organize that? Interviews with all staff members?’
Kim nodded.
‘I’m going to need some sleep soon,’ Mia mumbled.
‘Go home, I’ll keep you informed.’
‘You need some sleep yourself.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Munch said cantankerously.
‘So do you want us to pack up?’ the short man said.
‘No,’ Mia said.
‘Why not?’
‘Something is missing. She has a place where she hides things.’
‘We’ve already searched the whole place,’ the short man said, a little vexed, and in a tone which suggested that they knew how to do their job.
Mia didn’t have the energy to be polite, she was too tired now.
‘The lenses,’ she said.
‘Eh?’
‘Her lenses. She wore contact lenses. If she left behind make-up and clothes, she would also have kept lenses here.’
‘How do you know that she wears contact lenses?’ the short police officer said.
Mia could feel herself starting lose patience with him.
‘When I saw her, she had blue eyes. Others have seen her with different-coloured eyes. There must be contact lenses here somewhere. If she’s hidden them, we might find something else as well.’
‘But we’ve searched-’ the short man began.
‘Search harder!’ Munch barked.
‘But where?’
‘Contact lenses must be kept in a cool place,’ Mia said. ‘Check the mirrors.’
‘But…’
‘Start in the bathroom,’ Mia said. ‘That’s the place where people keep their contact lenses, isn’t it? Try pushing the mirrors, push the damned mirrors.’
Mia got up and, for a second, she blacked out. Her legs buckled underneath her, but Kim managed to grab her before she hit the floor.
‘Mia?’
‘Mia, are you OK?’
Mia came round and straightened up. She hated looking weak. Not in front of her colleagues. Damn.
‘I’m fine. I just need some sleep and some food. Call me, OK?’
She stumbled towards the door, and felt much better the moment she reached the stairwell. A flat full of mirrors. Every wall from floor to ceiling, nothing but mirrors; who the hell did that?