Page 139 of Hidden in Memories
“Wait a minute.”
She hears Erik’s footsteps moving across the floor. Then comes another voice, weak and strained, but she recognizes it.
Filip. He sounds terrified.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Filip,” she says, as gently as she can. “It’s Hanna from the police in Åre. How are you doing?”
“Help me,” he whispers.
“He’ll be fine as long as no one tries to get in here,” Erik says.
“I promise we won’t come in without your agreement,” Hanna assures him, just as she has done several times already. It is a huge relief to hear Filip’s voice.
He’s alive.
“Tell her about the gasoline,” Erik says in the background.
“He’s splashed gasoline all over me,” Filip sobs, on the verge of hysteria. “It’s everywhere.” He is wheezing, and suddenly he yells, “He’s going to kill me! You have to break in!”
“Shut the fuck up!”
The sound of several blows makes Hanna recoil. Then there is a faint whimpering that seems to come from Filip.
It is horrible to hear him being mistreated and knowing she cannot intervene. She could scream with frustration.
Seconds pass. She hears muffled sobs in the background, then Erik is back on the line.
“I want a moose meat pizza and a Coca-Cola.”
His voice is ice cold. It is as if the meaningful conversations of the past few hours never happened.
The sight of Filip seems to have fanned the flames of his rage.
“If you make the slightest attempt to get in when you leave the food, I will set fire to the gasoline. The whole place will be razed to the ground.”
Hanna swallows hard. Daniel, who has positioned himself beside her, is ashen-faced.
This is much worse than they could have imagined. One wrong step and Filip will die.
“I hear what you’re saying. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
She has to get through to Mogren, she can’t lose him now.
Her mouth is dry as she pleads with him.
“Please, Erik. Don’t do anything stupid that you’re going to regret.”
Then
1985
The floor is cold beneath Erik’s feet as he stands in the doorway of the small kitchen.
He is wearing his pajamas; it is the middle of the night, and he has just woken from a horrible nightmare. That was when he discovered that Mom wasn’t in bed next to him. His cheeks were wet with tears after the bad dream, but Mom didn’t come when he called. After a while he plucked up the courage to get out of bed and went looking for her in the little cottage.
Now he sees that she is lying on her stomach in the middle of the kitchen floor. One cheek is resting on the plastic mat, her eyes are closed, but her mouth is half open.
