Tobias had been inside a safe room before; they had one at his school and it had formed part of a drill. The Territorial Army had sounded the alarm and everyone had to walk in single file and pretend that war had broken out. The safe room at his school contained nothing but old PE mats and hockey sticks, not like this one, which was fully equipped. He had been scared for the first few days, but the feeling was subsiding. After all, nothing bad had happened so far and they had been there for a long time. They will let you out again, Rakel had said, they let you out in the end; sometimes, it just takes time. He was more worried about his brother. Torben would be upset when he came home and found Tobias missing. He had written him a note – at least he had done that – and hidden it inside the mattress on his bed, the one with the zip which was their secret hiding place. ‘I’m going to spy on the Christian girls. I will be back soon’, he had written. He hoped it would reassure him a bit.
‘I don’t think God exists any more,’ Rakel said, fumbling for his hand.
Tobias had held a girl’s hand before, but this was different. Rakel liked holding his hand for a long time, and he liked holding hers. Her fingers were soft and warm and, when she sat close to him, he could also sense the heat from her body. It was almost cosy; he wouldn’t have minded the two of them sitting like this for a long time. That is, if they hadn’t been trapped underground.
‘I don’t believe in God either,’ Tobias said, and not for the first time.
They had discussed this at length. It seemed important to Rakel. Talking about God. Sometimes he felt that she spoke mostly to herself, but he tried to reply to the best of his ability.
‘If there really is a God, he would not let people do horrible, disgusting things, don’t you agree?’
Rakel moved a little closer and squeezed his hand. He squeezed it back. They would do this from time to time.
Everything will be fine. We’re together.
‘I agree,’ Tobias said, even though he was not that interested in whether or not God existed.
At school he had learned there were many different gods; across the world people believed in different things, but Religious Studies was not his favourite subject and he had never given it much thought before.
‘So who do you believe in if you stop believing in God?’ Rakel pondered.
‘Superman?’ Tobias said, mostly in jest; it was the kind of comment he might make when to cheer his brother up when he felt sad.
‘Who?’ Rakel said.
He kept forgetting that Rakel was very ignorant of the world.
‘A man who is very strong and can fly.’
‘People can’t fly, surely?’ Rakel said in disbelief.
‘No, he can’t fly, and he’s not a real person, he’s a character in a comic strip.’
‘We have comics about Jesus,’ Rakel said, and fell silent again.
Tobias realized that he felt a little sorry for her. Not that he had that many things himself; it was the others in his class who had everything. Computers and iPods and iPhones, always the latest gadget, but at least he had a television and comics and books. Rakel had none of these.
‘When do you think they’ll let us out? What’s the longest anyone has ever sat here?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Rakel said. ‘There was a girl called Sara, she was here for two weeks, I believe, but she wasn’t here when I arrived.’
‘What did she do?’
‘They said she tried to run away.’
‘Like you?’
‘Yes.’
The room was colder now. Perhaps it was evening outside, maybe that would account for it. Tobias took a corner of the blanket and draped it around his shoulder. Rakel moved even closer and put the blanket all around him. They sat quietly for a while, close to each other under the blanket, holding hands tightly. Rakel rested her head on his shoulder and, after a while, he could hear her breathing deepen. She was dozing now. Tobias sat very still so as not to wake her, and closed his eyes. Soon he, too, was asleep. Not soundly, like at home in his bed; just napping. He didn’t realize that he had been sound asleep until he heard a loud noise. He woke with a start and saw that the hatch above them was in the process of being opened.
At last, he thought, as the light from a torch shone down the ladder.
Tobias Iversen roused the girl with the fine freckles and got up from the floor.
Chapter 75
The rain had eased off when Mia pulled up outside Høvikveien Care Home. She could see the dark clouds drift towards the centre of Oslo as she got out of the car and went up the steps.
Karen was behind the reception desk when she arrived. The same place Malin Stoltz had been standing the time Mia had discovered Veronica Bache’s canasta certificate on the wall. What a dimwit she had been. She had not made the connection. She was no longer functioning fully, maybe that was why. Nor had she realized that Stoltz was coming after her. Munch, yes, but the wrong Munch. Edvard Munch, not Holger. That would explain why the bodies had been displayed at Isegran Fort. The planned statues of Munch’s Mothers. Mia Krüger had worked on the Hønefoss case. Was that the killer’s thinking: Mia was a woman. A police officer and a woman. She should have known better. She should have found the baby because she was a woman? Mia could no longer think straight. Her trip to the cemetery had drained her of her last strength. Her grandmother was dead. Her father was dead. Her mother was dead. Sigrid was dead. She was all alone. She looked forward to it all being over. There had been times at Hitra when she had started having doubts as to whether she had made the right choice. Killing herself. Leaving this world. What if she was wrong? But not any more. She was certain now. She had made the right choice. She should never have left the island. In her mind she saw the pills waiting for her on the table. She realized she was looking forward to it.
Come to me, Mia, come.
But first she must find Marion. Gather the last of her strength and find the smiling little girl, the apple of Holger Munch’s eye. Track down Malin Stoltz. She thought briefly about Munch, who had received a telephone call and then disappeared. She hoped that he was OK. Perhaps he might even have caught Malin by now. Found his granddaughter. Mia mustered a small smile. She didn’t want the world to see how bad she really felt.
‘Hi, Karen.’
‘Hi, Mia.’
‘Thanks for calling, it was good of you. I’m sorry if I sounded a bit off, it’s just we’re quite busy at work.’
‘Has something happened?’ Karen asked with an anxious expression on her face.
She cares about Holger, Mia thought. It was obvious now.
‘Oh no, just the usual pressure,’ Mia lied. ‘Did you find that key?’
‘Yes, I have it here,’ Karen said. ‘Let me just put on my jacket.’
‘Has the car been there for a long time?’
‘I don’t know,’ Karen said, ushering her out of the door and down the stairs to the underground car park. ‘I took the rubbish down this morning – it’s not really my job, you understand, but well, we all have to pitch in when we’re busy – and that’s when I spotted it; I don’t know how long it’s been here.’
‘Why didn’t she use it to drive herself home?’ Mia wondered out loud.
‘I’ve no idea,’ Karen said, leading the way into the car park.