The Preacher: A Novel, page 29
Finally Patrik took the floor. “Martin is right. There’s good reason to believe it would be worthwhile to have a talk with him, and it couldn’t hurt to take a look at Västergården as well. So this is what we’re going to do: Gösta and I will bring in Jacob. Martin, you contact Uddevalla and ask them for reinforcements to do a search of the whole farm. Ask Mellberg for help getting the warrants, but make sure that they apply not only to the residence but to all the other buildings on the grounds too. We’ll all report in to Annika as needed. Okay? Any questions?”
“Yes, what should we do about the blood samples?” asked Martin.
“Damn, I forgot about that. We need to clone ourselves.” Patrik thought for a moment. “Martin, can you take care of that too, if you get help from Uddevalla?” Martin nodded. “Good, then contact the clinic in Fjällbacka and take along someone who knows how to take blood samples. And be damn sure that the samples are labeled correctly. Then drive them down to Pedersen’s lab as fast as you can. All right, let’s move. And don’t forget why we’re in a hurry!”
“So what should I do?” Ernst saw his chance to regain favor.
“You stay here,” said Patrik, and wasted no words on further discussion.
Ernst muttered but knew it was time to lie low. But he decided he should really have a talk with Mellberg when this was all over. He hadn’t screwed up that badly. He was only human, after all.
Marita’s heart swelled in her breast. The outdoor worship service was wonderful as usual, and in the center of it stood her Jacob. Straight-backed and strong and sure of voice, he proclaimed God’s word. Many people had gathered. Besides most of those on the farm—some of them had not yet seen the light and refused to participate—another hundred faithful followers had come. They sat on the grass with their eyes fixed on Jacob, who stood in his usual place on the rock with his back to the lake. Around them stood a towering grove of birches, providing shade when the heat was most oppressive and rustling in accompaniment to Jacob’s melodious voice. Sometimes she could hardly believe her good fortune. That the man whom all regarded with such admiration in their eyes had chosen her.
When she first met Jacob she was only seventeen. Jacob was twenty-three and already had won a reputation as a powerful man in the congregation. This was partly thanks to his grandfather, whose fame had rubbed off on him, but most of it was thanks to his own charisma. The unusual combination of kindness and strength gave him a radiance that no one could avoid noticing. Marita and her parents had been members of the congregation for a long time and never missed a worship service. Even before they attended the first service that Jacob Hult was going to lead, Marita felt a tingle inside her like a premonition that something great was about to happen. And it did. She hadn’t been able to tear her eyes away from him. She had stared at his mouth, from which God’s word had spilled as easily as flowing water. When Jacob’s eyes began to meet hers she had started sending prayers to God. Feverish, imploring, entreating prayers. She, who had been taught that one must never pray for anything for oneself, was praying for something as worldly as a man. But she couldn’t stop. Despite the fact that she felt the fires of purgatory beginning to scorch her in their hunt for the sinner, she kept up her fervent prayers and didn’t stop until she saw that Jacob was looking at her with desire in his eyes.
Actually, she didn’t really understand why Jacob had chosen her as his wife. She knew that she’d always had a rather plain appearance, and her personality was quiet and introverted. But he had wanted her, and the day they got married she promised herself she would never worry about or question God’s will. The Lord had obviously seen both of them in the crowd and decided that their marriage would be good, and with that she had to let herself be content. Maybe a strong person like Jacob needed a weak partner so as not to be worn down by resistance. What did she know?
The children were fidgeting restlessly as they sat on the ground beside her. Marita hushed them sternly. She knew that their legs were itching to run about and play, but there would be time for that later. Right now they had to listen to their father as he preached God’s word.
“Faith is tested when we are confronted by difficulties. But that’s also when our faith grows stronger. Without resistance faith grows weak and makes us become sated and lazy. We begin to forget why we should turn to God for guidance. And soon we end up going astray. I myself have had to endure tests lately, as you know. And my family has been tested too. Evil forces are working to test our faith. But they are doomed to failure. Our faith has grown so strong that the powers of evil have no opportunity to reach me. Praise the Lord, who grants me such strength!”
He raised his hands to heaven and the congregation burst out in a “hallelujah,” their faces shining with joy and conviction. Marita raised her hands to heaven and thanked God. Jacob’s words made her forget the difficulties of the past week. She relied on him and she trusted in the Lord, and if both of them were together, nothing could budge them.
When Jacob finished the service a while later, crowds of people gathered around him. Everyone wanted to shake his hand, thank him and offer support. Everyone seemed to have a need to touch him and in that way take some of his calm and conviction home with them. They all wanted a piece of him. Marita stayed in the background, triumphantly aware that Jacob was hers. Sometimes she wondered guiltily whether it was a sin to feel such a desire to own her husband, to want to have every fiber of him to herself, but she always rejected those thoughts. It was obviously God’s will for them to be together, so it could never be considered wrong.
When the crowd began to disperse around Jacob, she took the children by the hand and went up to him. She knew him so well. She saw that what had filled him during the service had now begun to fade away, and instead the weariness filled his eyes.
“Come, let’s go home, Jacob.”
“Not yet, Marita. I have something I have to do first.”
“There’s nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow. I’m taking you home now so you can rest. I can see you’re tired.”
He smiled and took her hand. “As usual you’re right, my wise wife. I just have to fetch my things from the office, then we can go.”
They had started heading up to the house when two men came walking toward them. At first, with the sun in their eyes, they couldn’t see who they were, but when they came closer Jacob let out an irritated groan.
“What do you want now?”
Marita looked in bewilderment from Jacob to the men until she realized that, judging from Jacob’s tone of voice, they must be police. She gave them a fierce look. They were the ones who had been causing Jacob and the family so much trouble recently.
“We need to have a little chat with you, Jacob.”
“What more could there be to say that I didn’t tell you yesterday?” he said with a sigh. “All right, we might as well get it over with. Let’s go to my office.”
The police officers didn’t move. They cast an embarrassed glance at the children, and Marita began to smell a rat. Instinctively she drew the children closer.
“Not here. We’d like to talk to you down at the station.”
It was the younger officer who spoke. The older one stood a bit to the side and watched Jacob with a solemn expression. Fear sank its claws into Marita’s heart. It was, in truth, the forces of evil that were approaching, just as Jacob had said in his sermon.
9
SUMMER 1979
She knew that the other girl was gone. From her corner in the dark she heard her utter her last breath, and with clasped hands she prayed frantically to God to accept her comrade in suffering. In a way she was envious of the girl. Envious that now her suffering was over.
The girl had been there before her when she landed in hell. The fear had paralyzed her at first, but the girl’s arms around her and her warm body had offered an odd security. At the same time she hadn’t always been nice. The struggle to survive had forced them together but also apart. She herself had retained hope. The other girl had not. She knew that sometimes she was hated for having hope. But how could she abandon hope? Her whole life she had been taught that every impossible situation had its solution, and why should this one be any different? She could see her father and mother’s faces in her mind’s eye and she was convinced that they would find her soon.
That poor other girl, who’d had nothing. She realized who she was as soon as she felt her warm body in the dark, even though they had never spoken to each other in their lives up there. And by a tacit agreement they did not call each other by name, which would have seemed too normal. Neither of them would have been able to bear that burden. But the other girl had talked about her daughter. It was the only time there was any life in her voice.
To fold her hands and pray for the one who now was gone had demanded an almost superhuman effort. Her limbs would not obey her, but by marshalling all the strength she had left she had willed her unruly hands into a pose that resembled an attitude of prayer.
She waited patiently in the dark with her pain. Now it was only a matter of time before they found her. Mamma and Pappa. Soon …
Irritated, Jacob said, “Yes, I’ll come to the station. But that’ll be an end to it, do you hear me!”
Out of the corner of her eye Marita saw Kennedy approaching. She had never liked him. There was something nasty in his eyes that was mixed with adoration whenever he looked at Jacob. But Jacob had admonished her when she told him how she felt. Kennedy was an unhappy child who had finally begun to find some sense of inner peace. What he needed now was love and consideration, not suspicion. But the anxiety never really left her. A dismissive signal from Jacob made Kennedy reluctantly turn and go back to the house. He was like a watchdog who wanted to defend his master, Marita thought.
Jacob turned to her and took her face in his hands. “Go home with the children. There’s no danger. The police just want to throw a little extra wood on the fire that will eventually consume them.”
He smiled to take the sting out of his words, but she held on to the children even tighter. They looked back and forth between her and Jacob with worried expressions. In their own way they could feel that something was upsetting the balance of their world.
The younger policeman spoke again. This time he looked a bit embarrassed when he said, “I would recommend that you not take the children home before this evening. We …” He hesitated. “We’re doing a search of your house this afternoon.”
“What do you think you’re playing at?” Jacob was so upset that the words stuck in his throat. Marita could feel the children fidgeting anxiously. They weren’t used to hearing their father raise his voice.
“We’ll explain everything to you at the station. Shall we go?”
Unwilling to upset the children even more, Jacob nodded in resignation. He patted the children on their heads, kissed Marita on the cheek and walked off between the two policemen toward their car.
When the police drove off with Jacob, she stood as if frozen to the spot and watched them go. Over by the house Kennedy also stood and watched. His eyes were as dark as night.
Emotions were running high at the manor house as well.
“I’m calling my lawyer! This is utterly absurd! Taking blood samples and treating us like common criminals!”
Gabriel was so enraged that his hand trembled on the door handle. Martin stood on the front steps and calmly met Gabriel’s gaze. Behind him stood Fjällbacka’s district doctor, Dr. Jacobsson, sweating copiously. His huge body was not suited to the prevailing heat, but the main reason the sweat was running down his forehead was that he found the situation extremely unpleasant.
“You are free to do so, but be sure to tell him the type of document we have, so he can confirm that we are within our rights as stipulated by law. If he cannot be here within fifteen minutes, we have the right to implement the warrant in his absence, in view of the urgent nature of the situation.”
Martin was consciously speaking in as bureaucratic a manner as he could. He guessed that this was the sort of language that would best reach Gabriel. And it worked. Reluctantly Gabriel let them in. He took the document that Martin showed him and went straight to the phone to call his lawyer. Martin motioned inside the two policemen who had been sent as reinforcements from Uddevalla and prepared to wait. Gabriel was talking agitatedly on the phone and gesticulating. A few minutes later he returned to where they were standing in the hall.
“He’ll be here in ten minutes,” said Gabriel sullenly.
“Good. Where are your wife and daughter? We have to take samples from them as well.”
“In the stable.”
“Would you fetch them, please?” said Martin to one of the officers from Uddevalla.
“Certainly. Where is the stable?”
“There’s a little path past the left wing of the house,” said Gabriel. “Follow that. The stable is a couple of hundred yards from here.” With body language that clearly showed how distasteful he considered the situation, Gabriel still tried to keep a stiff upper lip. He said guardedly, “I take it that you’ll wait until I come back with them?”
They were sitting in silence on the edge of the sofa, all feeling uncomfortable, when Linda and Laine came in.
“What’s going on here, Gabriel? The officer says that Dr. Jacobsson is here to take blood samples from us. This has got to be a joke!”
Linda, who had a hard time taking her eyes off the young man in uniform who’d fetched them from the stable, had another view of the matter. “Cool,” she said.
“Unfortunately they seem to be quite serious, Laine. But I’ve called our lawyer Lövgren, and he’ll be here any second. There will be no blood samples taken before then.”
“But I don’t understand. Why do you want to do this?” Laine looked composed but puzzled.
“I’m afraid we can’t divulge that for technical reasons pertaining to the investigation. But everything will be explained in time.”
Gabriel sat studying the warrant in front of him. “It says here that you also have permission to take blood samples from Jacob and Solveig and the boys, is that right?”
Was it Martin’s imagination, or did he see a shadow pass across Laine’s face? A second later there was a light knock on the door and Gabriel’s lawyer entered.
When the formalities were completed and the lawyer had explained to Gabriel and his family that the police had all the proper documents, the blood samples were taken from them one by one. First Gabriel, then Laine, who to Martin’s surprise still seemed to be the most composed of them all. He noticed that Gabriel was also regarding his wife with surprised approval. Finally they took a sample from Linda, who had established such eye contact with the young policeman that Martin had to give him a stern look.
“So that’s that.” Dr. Jacobsson got up from his chair and gathered up the tubes of blood. They were carefully labeled with the name of each of the Hults and placed in a cooler.
“Are you going to Solveig’s place now?” Gabriel asked. He suddenly laughed. “Make sure you have your helmets on and your truncheons out, because she probably won’t let you take any blood without a fight.”
“We can handle the situation,” said Martin dryly. He didn’t like the malicious gleam in Gabriel’s eyes.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you …” He chuckled.
Laine snapped at him, “Gabriel, act like an adult.”
Astounded at being scolded like a child by his wife, Gabriel shut up and sat down. He looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time.
Martin led his colleagues and the doctor outside, and there they split up into two cars. On the way to Solveig’s, Patrik called on the cell.
“Hi, how’s it going out there?”
“As expected,” said Martin. “Gabriel flew off the handle and called his lawyer. But we got what we came for, so now we’re on the way over to Solveig’s place. I don’t reckon it will go as smoothly there.”
“No, probably not. Just make sure the situation doesn’t get out of hand.”
“Definitely not, I’ll be very diplomatic. Don’t worry. How’s it going with you?”
“Fine. We’ve got Jacob in the car and we’ll be in Tanumshede soon.”
“Good luck, then.”
“You too.”
Martin flipped his phone shut just as they turned in at Solveig’s wretched little cabin. This time Martin wasn’t as shocked by its state of disrepair. But he still wondered how people could bring themselves to live like this. Being poor was one thing, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t keep the place neat and clean.
With some trepidation, he knocked on the door, but not even in his wildest fantasies could he have imagined the reception he would get.
Smack! A hard slap on his right cheek, making it sting. The shock took his breath away. He felt rather than saw the officers behind him tense up to enter the fray, but he held up a hand to stop them.
“Calm down, calm down. There’s no need to use force here. Is there, Solveig?” he said in a soothing voice to the woman standing in front of him. She was breathing hard but seemed reassured by his tone of voice.
“How dare you show yourself here after you dug up Johannes!” She propped her hands on her hips and blocked the way into the house.
“I understand that this is difficult, Solveig, but we were just doing our job. And we have to do our job now as well. I’d appreciate it if you’d cooperate.”
“What do you want now?” she spat.
“Could I come in for a moment and talk? Then I’ll explain.”
He turned to the three men behind him and said, “Wait here a minute, I’m going to go in and have a little chat with Solveig.”
He followed up his words by simply walking inside and closing the door behind him. Startled, Solveig backed up and let him in. Martin mobilized all his diplomatic skills and carefully explained the situation to her. After a while her protests died down, and a few minutes later he opened the door and let in the others.
