She waited two weeks before going to Vladek’s brother to say that she wanted to learn to perform. She wanted to be part of the circus and follow in the footsteps of her ancestors. Everyone was overjoyed, just as she had anticipated. She suggested she might help out with the horses. She wanted to be like Paulina, the beautiful young woman who wore a glittery costume for every performance and did tricks on the back of a horse.
She was allowed to start as Paulina’s assistant. She spent every waking hour with the horses as she watched the practice sessions. Paulina loathed her from the first moment they met. But she was not a member of the family, so after a talk with Vladek’s brother, Paulina reluctantly began to train her. And she was a diligent pupil. She understood horses, and they understood her. It took her only a year to learn the basics, and after two years she was just as accomplished as Paulina. Then when the accident occurred, she took over.
No one saw it happen, but one morning Paulina was found dead among the horses. It was assumed that she’d fallen off and hit her head, or maybe one of the horses had kicked her. It was a disaster for the circus. But as luck would have it, she was able to put on one of Paulina’s lovely costumes and carry on with the show as if nothing had happened. After that she was the one who performed Paulina’s tricks every evening.
She spent three years travelling with the circus. Living in a world in which the strange and fantastical converged, no one noticed that she was different. It had been the perfect place for her. But now the circle was complete, and she would soon be back where she’d started. Tomorrow Cirkus Gigantus would arrive in Fjällbacka again, and it was time to tackle something that she’d put off for far too long. She had allowed herself to be someone else, to be a circus princess riding white horses with swaying plumes and glittery bridles. She had been living in a fantasy world, but now she had to return to reality.
Chapter Sixteen
‘I’m going out to get the post,’ said Patrik, stuffing his feet into his boots. During the past few days he and Erica had hardly seen each other. He and his colleagues had been busy from morning to night with all the interview sessions and follow-up work. But now Friday had finally arrived, and he had decided to take the morning off.
‘Damn, it’s cold out!’ he said when he came back inside. ‘We must have got a metre of snow overnight.’
‘I know. It seems like it’s never going to stop.’ Erica gave him a weary smile as she sat down at the kitchen table.
He sat down across from her and began looking through the post. Erica rested her head on her hands and seemed lost in thought. He put down the post and studied her face.
‘So how’s it going? Be honest.’
‘I don’t know. Mostly I’m feeling a little uncertain about how to proceed with my book. Or whether to keep working on it at all. It’s a whole different story now.’
‘But don’t you think Laila would want you to write it?’
‘Yes. I think she sees the publication of the book as a sort of safety measure. She thinks that Marta won’t dare do anything else if people read about who she really is and what she has done.’
‘And there’s no risk that the opposite might happen?’ Patrik cautiously ventured. He didn’t want to tell Erica what to do, but it made him uneasy to see her writing a book about people who were as evil as Jonas and Marta. What if they decided to take revenge on her?
‘No, I think Laila is right. And in my heart I know that I need to finish this book. You don’t have to worry,’ said Erica, looking him in the eye. ‘Trust me.’
‘It’s those two I don’t trust. We have no idea where they are.’ He couldn’t hide the concern he was feeling.
‘But they probably won’t dare come back here. There’s nothing left for them here.’
‘Except their daughter,’ said Patrik.
‘They don’t care about Molly. Marta never has, and Jonas’s interest in her seems to have vanished as soon as he found out that she’s not his daughter.’
‘The question is: where have they gone? It seems unbelievable that they could have left the country, considering that the police are on high alert.’
‘I have no clue,’ said Erica, looking through the post and slitting open one of the envelopes. ‘But Laila is worried they’ll go to Spain and try to find Peter.’
Patrik nodded. ‘I realize that. But I’m convinced they’re still in Sweden, and sooner or later we’ll get them. And when we do, they’re going to have a lot to answer for. We’ve already identified some of the girls in the videos. Some that Einar kidnapped and some that were victims of Jonas and Marta.’
‘I can’t understand how you were able to watch those videos.’
‘It was horrifying.’
Some of the images appeared again in Patrik’s mind. They would no doubt stay in his consciousness for ever, as a reminder of what evil people were capable of.
‘Why do you think they decided to kidnap Victoria?’ he said then. ‘That must have been incredibly risky.’
Erica paused before replying. There was no obvious answer. Jonas and Marta were gone, and the videos showed what they’d done but provided no motive.
‘I think Marta fell in love with Victoria, but when Jonas discovered the relationship, there was no question where her loyalties lay. Maybe she sacrificed Victoria to appease Jonas. Maybe it was her way of asking for his forgiveness.’
‘We should have realized much sooner that Marta was involved,’ said Patrik. ‘She had to be the one who took Victoria captive.’
‘But how could you have known that? It’s impossible to comprehend the actions and motivations of these people. I tried to talk to Laila about the whole thing yesterday, but even she couldn’t explain Marta’s behaviour.’
‘No, I realize that, but I still can’t help blaming myself. And no matter what, I’m going to try to work out the reasons behind what they did. For example, why did Marta and Jonas choose to follow in Einar’s footsteps? Why did they torture their victims in such a macabre way?’ Patrik swallowed hard, overcome with nausea at the thought of those videos.
‘I think that Jonas’s madness took root during his childhood, when Einar forced him to film his assaults,’ said Erica. ‘And Marta – or Louise – was equally damaged by what she’d experienced as a child. If what Gerhard Struwer said is true, then it all had to do with control. Apparently Einar kept the girls imprisoned, except for Ingela Eriksson and maybe others we don’t know about. By transforming them into passive dolls, he satisfied his own perverse needs. And then he passed on those needs to Jonas, who in turn initiated Marta. Maybe the passion in their relationship depended on the power they exerted over the girls.’
‘My God, what a horrible thought.’ Patrik felt another wave of nausea come over him.
‘So what does Helga say?’ asked Erica. ‘Did she know about everything?’
‘She refuses to talk. She says only that she’s willing to accept her punishment, and she claims we’ll never find Jonas. But I think she did know what was going on and simply chose to close her eyes. In some ways she was also a victim.’
‘She must have been living in hell all these years. And even if she was aware of Jonas’s true nature, he’s her son and she loves him.’