The boy is showing clear signs of hypnotic rest. An expression of great relaxation has settled over his cheeks and mouth. Erik has always thought that a patients face becomes broader, somehow flatter. Less attractive but more fragile, and without any trace of pretence.
Now you are deeply relaxed, says Erik calmly. Everything is very, very pleasant.
The boys eyes gleam behind the half-closed lids.
Josef, I want you to try and remember what happened yesterday. It started just like an ordinary Monday, but in the evening someone comes to the house.
The boy is silent.
Now youre going to tell me whats happening, says Erik.
The boy responds with the faintest of nods.
Youre sitting in your room? Is that what youre doing? Are you listening to music?
There is no reply. His mouth moves, asking, seeking.
Your mum was at home when you got back from school, says Erik.
He nods.
Do you know why? Is it because Lisa has a temperature?
The boy nods and moistens his lips.
What do you do when you get home from school, Josef?
The boy whispers something.
I cant hear, Erik urges gently. I want you to speak so I can hear you.
The boys lips move again, and Erik leans forward.
Like fire, just like fire, Josef mumbles. Im trying to blink. I go into the kitchen, but it isnt right; theres a crackling noise between the chairs and a bright red fire is spreading across the floor.
Where is the fire coming from? asks Erik.
I dont remember. Something happened before He falls silent again.
Go back a little, before the fire in the kitchen, says Erik.
Theres someone there, says the boy. I can hear someone knocking at the door.
The outside door?
I dont know. The boys face suddenly grows tense, he whimpers anxiously, and his lower teeth are exposed in a strange grimace.
Theres no danger now, Erik says. Theres no danger, Josef, youre safe here, youre calm, you feel no anxiety. You are simply watching what is happening; you are not there. You can see it all from a safe distance, and it isnt dangerous at all.
The feet are pale blue, the boy whispers.
What did you say?
Someones knocking at the door, the boy says, slurring his words. I open it but theres no one there; I cant see anyone there. But the knocking keeps coming. Someones playing a trick on me. The patient is breathing more rapidly, his stomach moving jerkily.
What happens now? asks Erik.
I go into the kitchen to get a sandwich.
You eat a sandwich?
But now the knocking starts again, the noise is coming from Lisas room. The door is open a little. I can see that her lamp is on. I carefully push the door open with the knife and look in. Shes on her bed. She has her glasses on, but her eyes are shut and shes panting. Her face is white. Her arms and legs are totally stiff. Then she throws her head back so her throat is stretched right out, and she starts to kick the bottom of the bed with her feet. She just keeps kicking, faster and faster. I tell her to stop, but she keeps kicking, harder. I yell at her but the knife has already started to stab and Mum rushes in and pulls at me and I spin around and the knife moves forward; it just pours out of me; I need to get more knives, Im afraid to stop, I have to keep going, its impossible to stop. Mum is crawling across the kitchen floor, its all red, I have to try the knives on everything, on me, on the furniture, on the walls; I hit and stab and then suddenly Im really tired and I lie down. I dont know whats happening, my body hurts inside and Im thirsty, but I just cant move.
Erik stays with the boy, down there in the bright water, their legs moving gently. He follows the wall of rock with his eyes, farther and farther down, endlessly, the water gradually turning darker, blue fading to blue-grey and then, temptingly, to black.
You had seen, asks Erik, hearing his own voice tremble, you had seen your father earlier?
Yes, down at the soccer field, Josef replies.
He falls silent, looks unsure, stares straight ahead with his sleeping eyes.
Erik sees that the boys pulse rate is increasing and realizes that his blood pressure is dropping at the same time.
I want you to sink deeper now, Erik says softly. Youre sinking, youre feeling calmer, better, and-
Not Mum? asks the boy, in a feeble voice.
Erik risks a guess. Josef, tell me, did you see your older sister, Evelyn, as well?
He observes the boys face, aware that, if hes wrong, the conjecture can create a rift in the hypnosis. But he feels he must take the leap, because if the patients condition begins to deteriorate again he will have to stop completely.
What happened when you saw Evelyn? he asks.
I should never have gone out there.
Was that yesterday?
She was hiding in the cottage, the boy whispers, smiling.
What cottage?
Auntie Sonjas, he says.
Tell me what happens at the cottage.
I just stand there. Evelyn isnt pleased. I know what shes thinking, he mumbles. Im just a dog to her. Im not worth anything
The smile is gone. Tears stream from Josef s eyes, and his mouth is trembling.
Is that what Evelyn says to you?
I dont want to, I dont have to, I dont want to, whimpers Josef.
What is it you dont want to do?
His eyelids begin to twitch spasmodically. Whats happening, Josef?
She says I have to bite and bite to get my reward.
Who? Who do you have to bite?
Theres a picture in the cottage, a picture in a frame that looks like a toadstool. Its Dad, Mum, and Lisa, but-
His body suddenly tenses, his legs move quickly and limply, he is rising out of the depths of hypnosis. Carefully, Erik slows his ascent, calming him before raising him a few levels. Meticulously, he closes the door on all memory of the day and all memory of the hypnosis. Nothing must be left open, once he begins the careful process of waking him up.
Who? Who do you have to bite?
Theres a picture in the cottage, a picture in a frame that looks like a toadstool. Its Dad, Mum, and Lisa, but-
His body suddenly tenses, his legs move quickly and limply, he is rising out of the depths of hypnosis. Carefully, Erik slows his ascent, calming him before raising him a few levels. Meticulously, he closes the door on all memory of the day and all memory of the hypnosis. Nothing must be left open, once he begins the careful process of waking him up.
Josef is lying there smiling when Erik finally moves away from his bedside and leaves the room. He goes over to the coffee machine. A feeling of desolation overwhelms him, a sense that something is irrevocably wrong. He glances up when the door to the boys room opens. The detective strolls over to join him.
Im impressed, says Joona quietly, getting out his cell phone.
Before you make any calls, I just want to stress one thing, says Erik. The patient always speaks the truth under hypnosis. But its only a matter of what he himself perceives as the truth. His memory is as subjective as ever, and-
I understand that.
Ive hypnotized people suffering from schizophrenia, Erik goes on, and they were just as deeply detached from reality under hypnosis as they were in a conscious state.
What is it youre trying to say?
Josef talked about his sister.
Yes, she wanted him to bite like a dog and so on, says Joona. He dials a number and puts the phone to his ear.
Theres no proof his sister told him to do that, Erik explains.
But she might have, says Joona, raising a hand to silence Erik. Anja, my little treasure.
A soft voice can be heard at the other end of the phone.
Can you check on something for me? Yes, exactly. Josef Ek has an aunt called Sonja, and she has a house or a cottage somewhere Yes, thats- youre a star. Joona looks up at Erik. Sorry. You wanted to say something else?
Just that its by no means certain it was Josef who murdered the family.
But is it possible that his wounds are self-inflicted? Could he have cut himself like this in your opinion?
Not likely.
But is it possible? Joona persists.
Theoretically, yes, Erik replies.
Then I think our killers lying in there, says Joona.
I think so too.
Is he in any condition to run away from the hospital?
No. Erik smiles weakly in surprise.
Joona heads for the door.
Are you going to the aunts cottage? asks Erik.
Yes.
I could come with you, says Erik. The sister could be injured, or she could be in a state of shock.
Chapter 18
Simone is already awake before the telephone on Eriks bedside table starts to ring.
Erik mumbles something about balloons and streamers, picks up the phone, and hurries out of the room, closing the door behind him.
The voice she hears through the door sounds sympathetic, almost tender. After a while, Erik creeps back into the bedroom and she asks who called.
Police a detective I didnt catch his name, he says, and explains that he has to go to Karolinska University Hospital.
She looks at the alarm clock and closes her eyes.
Sleep now, Sixan, he whispers, and leaves the room.
Her nightgown has twisted itself awkwardly around her. Unwinding and yanking it into place, she turns onto her side and lies still, listening to Eriks movements.
He dresses quickly, then goes rummaging for something in the wardrobe. Next, she hears a metallic ping when he tosses the shoehorn back into the drawer. After a little while she hears the faint sound of the street door closing.
She tries for a long time to get back to sleep, but without success. She doesnt think it sounded as if Erik was talking to a police officer. He sounded too relaxed. Maybe, she tells herself, he was just tired.
She gets up to pee, has a yoghurt drink, and goes back to bed. Then she starts to think about what happened ten years ago, and all chance of sleep is gone. She lies there for half an hour, and then, unable to resist her suspicions, switches on the bedside light, picks up the phone, and thumbs through the display to find the last incoming call. She stares at the number for a moment, knowing she ought to turn off the light and go back to sleep, but finally she calls the number anyway. It rings three times, there is a click, and she hears a woman laughing a short distance away from the phone.
Stop it, Erik, says the woman happily, and then the voice is very close. Daniella Richards. Hello?
Simone says nothing. The woman waits a bit, then says aloha in a wearily sarcastic voice before ending the call. Simone remains sitting there, telephone in hand. She tries to understand why Erik said it was a police officer, a male police officer, who rang. She wants to find a reasonable explanation, but she cant stop her thoughts from finding their way back to that time ten years ago when she suddenly realized that Erik was deceiving her.