‘What does Anders have to say?’ Erica got up, wanting to get something out of the freezer.
‘Sit down. I’ll get the buns.’ Patrik took a bag of cinnamon buns out of the freezer and put several of them in the microwave. ‘Anders has admitted to taking part in the embezzlement scheme, but he refuses to tell us where his sister and the money are now.’
‘Why didn’t he leave with Vivianne?’ Erica had sat back down at the table.
‘Who knows? Maybe he got cold feet at the last second and didn’t want to spend the rest of his life away from Sweden, in exile.’
‘Hmm, I suppose that’s possible.’ Erica paused for a moment and then asked, ‘So how is Erling taking it? And what’s going to happen to Badis?’
‘Erling seems mostly … resigned.’ Patrik poured two cups of coffee and then took the warm buns out of the microwave and set everything on the kitchen table. ‘As far as Badis is concerned, nobody really knows what its future will be. Almost none of the suppliers or builders have been paid. The question is, which option would be more costly: to close the doors, or to continue operating the place. After the party on Saturday, reservations have been pouring in, so the town might try to run the spa and hope to make it profitable. At least that would be a way to recoup some of the money. I think it’s possible that they’ll decide to keep the place open.’
‘It would be a shame to close Badis after doing such a great job on the remodelling.’
‘I agree,’ said Patrik, taking a big bite of a cinnamon bun.
‘How did Matte know that something wasn’t right? You said that Annika’s husband Lennart didn’t find any irregularities. It does seem strange that no one from the town was the least bit suspicious.’
‘According to Anders, Mats wasn’t positive, but he’d started wondering if something was wrong. On the Friday before he went to see Nathalie, he dropped by Badis and had a talk with Anders. He asked a lot of questions. For instance, he wanted to know why so many of the suppliers’ invoices hadn’t been paid. He also wanted to know when the funds that Anders and Vivianne had promised to invest would be arriving. And where that money was coming from. He wanted the names of contacts so he could verify the funds. Anders was really worried. If Mats hadn’t been killed, he probably would have uncovered the true state of the Project Badis finances and exposed Anders and Vivianne for the swindlers they are.’
Erica nodded. She suddenly looked sad. ‘How is Nathalie?’
‘She’s going to be evaluated by a forensic psychiatrist, and I think there’s very little chance that she’ll end up in prison. She’ll probably be institutionalized. Or at least she ought to be.’
‘Why were we all so stupid? Why didn’t we realize what was going on?’ Erica put down the cinnamon bun. She had suddenly lost her appetite.
‘How were we supposed to know? Nobody knew that Sam was dead.’
‘But how did he die?’ She swallowed. Her stomach turned over at the thought of Nathalie living in that house for more than two weeks while her son’s body slowly decomposed. She was filled with both horror and compassion.
‘We don’t really know. And we may never find out. But I talked to Konrad last night, and apparently they discovered that another woman was booked on the flight to Italy with Nathalie’s husband and Sam. They talked to the woman and found out that the plan was for her to accompany Wester, while Nathalie would disappear out of the picture.’
‘Did she know how Nathalie’s husband was planning to accomplish that?’
‘He was going to use her cocaine habit to blackmail her. He threatened to make sure she would lose all custody rights if she didn’t voluntarily step aside.’
‘What a bastard.’
‘That’s putting it mildly. He probably confronted Nathalie with the plan the night before they were supposed to leave for Italy. The police found two blood types when they did an analysis of the blood in the double bed. It’s likely that Sam crept into the room and got into bed with his father. So when Nathalie sprayed the bed and her husband with bullets from his gun, well … she didn’t know that her son was there too.’
‘Imagine finding out that you’d shot your own son.’
‘I can’t think of anything worse. It was probably so traumatic for her that she completely lost her grip on reality and refused to accept that Sam was dead.’
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
Erica suddenly looked puzzled. ‘But why didn’t the mistress call the police when Wester didn’t show up?’
‘Fredrik Wester wasn’t exactly known for being reliable. So when he didn’t turn up, the woman assumed that she’d been dumped. According to Konrad, there are some furious messages from her on Fredrik’s voicemail.’
Erica had already moved on to another topic. ‘Matte must have found Sam.’
‘Yes. And the cocaine. Nathalie’s fingerprints are on the bag, and on the door to Mats’s flat. Since we haven’t been able to interview Nathalie, we don’t know for sure, but it seems likely that Mats discovered that Sam was dead and also found the cocaine in the early hours on Saturday. Then he forced Nathalie to come to Fjällbacka to contact the police.’
‘And she had to shoot him in order to protect her deluded belief that Sam was alive.’
‘Yes. And it cost Mats his life.’ Patrik looked out of the window. He too felt enormous compassion for Nathalie, despite the fact she had killed three people, including her own son.
‘Does she know now?’
‘She told the doctors that Sam is with the dead on Gråskär. She said she should have listened to them earlier and allowed him to go with them. So, yes, I think she does know now.’
‘Has the boy been found?’ asked Erica hesitantly. She didn’t want to think about what an awful state the child’s body must have been in. It was bad enough that she’d smelled the horrible stench inside the house.
‘No. He disappeared into the sea.’
‘I wonder how she could stand the smell.’ Erica could almost feel it in her nostrils, and she’d been inside for only a brief time. Nathalie had lived there for more than two weeks.
‘The human psyche is strange. This isn’t the first time that someone has lived with a corpse for weeks, months, or even years. Denial is a very powerful force.’ Patrik took a sip of coffee.
‘That poor little boy.’ Erica sighed. After a pause, she said, ‘Do you think there’s anything to the rumours?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know. What people always say about Gråskär, or Ghost Isle – that the dead never leave the island.’
Patrik smiled. ‘No. And now you’ve got me worried that the blow to your head has addled your brain. It’s an old wives’ tale. Nothing but a ghost story. That’s all.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ said Erica, but she didn’t look entirely convinced. She was thinking about the newspaper articles that she’d shown Nathalie, about the lighthouse keeper and his family who had disappeared from the island without a trace. Maybe they were still out there.
Nathalie felt so strangely empty inside. She knew what she had done, but she felt nothing. No grief, no pain. Just emptiness.
Sam was dead. The doctors had cautiously tried to tell her that, but she had already known. The moment the water had closed over Sam’s head, she understood. The voices had finally reached her and made her release her hold, persuading her that it would be best if he was allowed to join them. They would take good care of him. And she was glad that she had listened.
As the boat carried her away from Gråskär, she had turned around to take one last look at the island and the lighthouse. The dead were standing on the rocks, gazing at her. Sam was with them, standing next to the woman. On the other side of her stood her son. Two little boys, one with dark hair, the other blond. Sam looked happy, and his expression assured Nathalie that he was fine. She had raised her hand to wave, but then lowered it. She couldn’t bear to say goodbye to him. It hurt too much that he was no longer with her. He belonged to them now. To Gråskär.