Her sense of time had gone. She had difficulty determining how many hours passed before hands carefully removed the covering from her head and the gag from her mouth. The white, glaring light in the room blinded her. She blinked and little by little recovered her full vision. Her kidnapper had the mask on. Otherwise he was wearing shorts and a shirt with rolled-up sleeves. The combination was bizarre. He was sweating profusely. Immediately in front of her, only a couple of metres away, a hole in the floor had been excavated as expected, a good metre-and-a-half parallel with the wall. The room she was in was clearly a cellar with bare, greyish-white concrete walls. Opposite her a three-foot-tall wooden cross painted black was set up, and a single, bright bulb shone from the ceiling. To the left was a red-painted metal door and not much else, apart from herself and the chair she was sitting on. She looked down and saw that it was attached to the concrete floor with sturdy plates. Only then did she discover that there was another person present in the room. To her right, with her chair jammed against Pauline’s, sat Jeanette Hvidt, also tied up.
Andreas Falkenborg stood watching them for a long time through his mask. Pauline Berg heard Jeanette struggle with tears in small, smothered sobs, and thought that regardless of their hopeless situation it was crucial not to show anxiety. Even so she could not think of anything reasonable to say. Suddenly Jeanette said, “Won’t he just kill the cop? I’ll do what he says. Always. I’ll always do what he asks me to.”
The words came out surprisingly clear, and Pauline realised that they made sense. She had not thought about it herself, but Jeanette was right, the grave was hardly meant for two, it was too small for that. She also registered the girl’s form of address and naturally noticed her lack of solidarity, which under the circumstances Pauline shouldn’t blame her for, but did anyway. She said neutrally, “May I have some water?”
Falkenborg was over her like a hawk.
“She says, Will he give her some water?”
“If I’m going to be the first to die, that’s the way it is, but I’m thirsty. Can’t you give me something to drink? I really need it. Why are you letting me suffer like this? It’s just not your style.”
She was careful not to provoke him. She was convinced that he intended a gruesome death for both of them, the question was when and in what order. On the other hand he was not a sadist. He would not cause her unnecessary pain for his own enjoyment.
He answered her angrily.
“She’s talking wrong, she won’t get any water.”
A quick deliberation made her give in.
“Will he give me a drop of water? I’m very thirsty.”
Falkenborg considered while he adjusted his mask. She thought that with the material along the sides and his limited air intake it must be hot and uncomfortable. Finally he said, “She will ask for it again.”
“Will he give me some water to drink?”
“She can have water, but she has to wait.”
He left the room. The heavy iron door echoed behind him, but Pauline was able to see a corridor outside the cellar room, whatever use that would be to her. When he was gone, Jeanette said in a whisper, “You mustn’t antagonise him or we’ll get the staff. It’s terrible.”
Pauline Berg remembered the so-called staff both from the video on her computer and Falkenborg’s empty threats in her study.
“What kind of staff are you talking about?”
“He gives a shock with it, it hurts like crazy.”
“An electrical prod? Like for cattle?”
“I don’t know, I think so. It’s horrible, you can’t imagine how bad it is.”
“I don’t see any prod.”
“He doesn’t have it here, it-”
The door opened again, and Jeanette Hvidt fell silent. Falkenborg returned with a pitcher of water. He set it in front of Berg.
“She will open her ugly mouth.”
She opened her mouth and tipped her head back. Carefully he poured the water, pausing at times so she could get air. She drank greedily without thinking of leaving any for Jeanette. Only when she couldn’t drink any more, and the pitcher was almost empty, did she ask, “Will he give Jeanette the rest?”
Falkenborg poured the rest of the water into Jeanette’s mouth, then he set the pitcher on the floor and said, “He will draw lots on who will go into the bag first. That is how he wants it to be.”
She asked quickly, “Will he tell us when it will happen?”
“Tomorrow one will go into the bag. Tomorrow, when he has cement for her grave.”
“And the other, what will he do with the other?”
“He will also get her into the bag. That’s what he will do. Both of them will go into the bag, first one, then the other. Then the other will be afraid.”
Again he adjusted his mask and then started reciting a nursery rhyme as he tentatively touched the two women’s knees.
“Ohn Dohn Dehn, Mamma Futta Fehn… ”
She interrupted him scornfully.
“Can you stop groping my thigh, you lecherous old pig? Tell me, have you no upbringing, Andreas?”
He leaped back. Pauline Berg was hoping for a miracle. The insult was an expression of desperation, she knew that, but she had to try something, and she could not think of anything else. Falkenborg was shaken for a moment.
“Sorry, I didn’t want… I, he… He says ugh to her repulsive thighs. She will not say such things, and he says ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh, he says.”
He shouted as he left, this time leaving the door open. Jeanette Hvidt sobbed in terror.
“Now he’s getting the staff. You have to beg for forgiveness, promise to behave. Oh, no, I’m afraid.”
Falkenborg was soon back, and sure enough he was holding a cattle prod in his hands. Jeanette Hvidt pleaded.
“Not me. She was the one who was bad. She was misbehaving, she should have the staff for her impudent mouth, but not me. I’ll do everything he says, everything he asks for.”
Berg noticed how Falkenborg’s formulations were encoded in Jeanette’s language, then her body exploded in a quivering, white pain that tensed her like a spring and sent unbearable spasms through her from head to toe. She screamed with the full force of her lungs, it was impossible not to. Jeanette Hvidt was right, the pain was indescribable.
Her tormentor took a step back while Jeanette shouted, “She deserves more, she was very bad, but not me. I’ll do what he says, she should have my shock.”
Falkenborg did not immediately follow Jeanette’s suggestion. Instead he said, directed at Berg, “She can scream as much as she likes. Scream, like she does on her way to the witches’ Sabbath, on her way to Blocksberg, and when she is burning for Saint John’s.”
Jeanette Hvidt pleaded.
“Yes, let her scream, she said bad things to him… ”
“She will keep quiet.”
Jeanette fell silent immediately. Then he aimed the prod again towards Pauline Berg, who tried in vain to avoid it, but the jolt never came. He only struck her lightly on the knee and again started his selection process, as he let the prod move from knee to knee with each new syllable.
“Ohn Dohn Dehn, Mamma Futta Fehn, Futta Fehn, Futta Fehn, Ohn Dohn Dehn.”
CHAPTER 48
In Høje Taastrup the Countess was at her first clairvoyant consultation ever. It took place on the fourth floor of an apartment complex not far from the station. She had expected a different setting, perhaps a gloomy villa with a tower room and ravens on the roof, but that was not the case. The nameplate on the door said Stephan Stemme & wife, and it was the husband who answered when she rang the bell. He was a skinny old man with a starved, bony face and deep-set eyes that drew things in but gave nothing back. They settled accounts in the entry, cash and no receipt. He carefully put the money in a worn, black pouch he removed from a bureau drawer. Then he locked the drawer, took the key and knocked on a door immediately to one side.