The Disappeared by Kristina Ohlsson Page B

so. Thea wasn’t so old that she had forgotten her own youth. The years preceding those that she had decided to kill with silence had largely been good. She recalled her teens, so full of happiness that it hurt to think about it. She could remember falling in love for the first time, the first book she wrote, and the way her heart leapt when the press praised her children’s books to the skies, predicting the most astonishing success. Everything had been smashed to pieces and taken away from her. She had nothing left.
    The new nurse bustled around behind her back, stopping to look at the vase of flowers. An auxiliary came in and started changing the sheets on Thea’s bed. Unpleasant, Thea thought. It could easily have waited until she’d finished breakfast.
    ‘What lovely flowers,’ said the nurse.
    Not to Thea, but to the auxiliary.
    ‘She gets a fresh bouquet every week.’
    ‘Who from?’
    ‘We don’t know. They’re delivered by someone from the florist’s; we usually hand them over and she arranges them herself.’
    Thea contemplated the nurse’s back view, knowing that she was reading the card that accompanied the flowers.
    ‘It says “Thanks”,’ Thea heard her say. ‘Thanks for what?’
    ‘No idea,’ the auxiliary replied. ‘There are so many odd things about all this that . . .’
    She broke off when she realised that Thea was watching them. They never seemed to grasp the fact that her hearing was excellent. They assumed she was an idiot, just because she had chosen not to speak.
    The auxiliary moved closer to the nurse and lowered her voice.
    ‘We don’t know how much she grasps of what’s going on around her,’ she said. ‘But sometimes I think she’s listening. I mean, she’s fully mobile. There’s nothing to indicate that she doesn’t understand what we say.’
    Thea almost burst out laughing. The yoghurt tasted disgusting, and the bread was dry. She ate it anyway. There was no more conversation between the nurse and the auxiliary, and after a little while she was left alone. When the door closed behind them, Thea felt nothing but relief.
    She got up from the table and switched on the television. She gripped the remote firmly and went back to her seat. The stroke she had suffered a few years earlier had caused enough long-term damage to prevent her from living alone, but on the whole she coped relatively well with everyday life. She would go mad if the staff interfered with her life any more than they already did.
    The morning news had just started.
    ‘The police confirmed yesterday that the body found in Midsommarkransen was that of Rebecca Trolle, a young student who went missing one evening almost two years ago. They have not released any further details, and have stated that they do not have a particular suspect in mind at this stage.’
    Thea stared blankly at the television. She had followed every single news broadcast since she heard that it was Rebecca Trolle’s body that had been found. Her heart was beating slightly faster. Now it would begin, she was certain of that. She had been waiting for the conclusion for almost thirty years, and now it was coming.

8
    Alex Recht walked up to the crater and stared down into the damp earth. The men standing at the edge of the excavated area were surrounded by trees. Peder moved closer, leaning forward to get a better view.
    ‘How did you find him?’ Alex asked.
    ‘We dug around the area where Rebecca Trolle was buried, and we found a man’s shoe that looked as if it had been lying in the ground for a long time. We expanded the search area and dug deeper, and there he was.’
    The man who had answered Alex’s question pointed out exactly where the second body had been found.
    ‘How long had he been there?’
    ‘The pathologist said he couldn’t be sure until the body was brought in, but probably several decades.’
    Alex breathed in the fresh air; in spite of everything, it was good to see the rays of the sun caressing the trees