Echoes From the Dead by Johan Theorin

Author:Johan Theorin [Theorin, Johan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense
ISBN: 9780440338154
Google: yDyDdfgoIE8C
Amazon: 0385342217
Publisher: Delta
Published: 2008-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

“No,” agreed Gerlof, “the only odd thing really is that he was away for so long. John’s heard rumors that Blomberg was kicked off his ship, then drifted around some port in South America as a downandout alcoholic until some Swedish captain finally brought him home.”

“But Blomberg can’t be the only person who’s moved to

Oland?”

“Oh no,” said Gerlof. “Hundreds of people have moved here

from the mainland.”

“And does John suspect them all of being Nils Kant?”

“No. And I didn’t think Blomberg was anything like him either,”

said Gerlof. “But you see what you want to see, don’t you?

My motheryour grandmother Sarasaw a goblin once when she

was young… Do you remember? She used to refer to him as ‘a gray man’…”

“Yes, I’ve heard that story,” said Julia, “you don’t need to”

But there was no stopping Gerlof.

“Whatever it was, she saw him one spring day toward the end

of the nineteenth century as she was standing down by Kalmar Sound doing her washing, outside Gronhogen. She suddenly heard rapid footsteps behind her, and he came rushing out of the forest… A little man, about three feet tall, in gray clothes. He didn’t say a word, just ran toward the sound, straight past Sara without even looking at her. And when he reached the water, he didn’t stop… Mother called out to him, but he kept on going, straight out into the water, until the waves washed over him and he sank beneath the surface. Then he was gone.”

Julia gave a brief nod. It was a bizarre talemaybe the strangest of all the stories told by her family on Oland.

“A goblin who commits suicide,” she said, a little sarcastically.

“Now, there’s a thing you don’t see every day.”

“Obviously the story isn’t true,” Gerlof went on. “But I believe it. I believe my mother saw a goblin, or at least some kind of natural force or unknown phenomenon that she interpreted as a goblin.

And at the same time, I know goblins and trolls don’t exist.”

“They don’t appear so often nowadays, at any rate,” said Julia.

“No,” said Gerlof slowly, “and it’s probably the same with

Nils Kant. Nobody talks about him, nobody sees him. The police have got him down as being dead, and he’s buried in Marnas churchyard with a gravestone anybody can go and look at. And yet there are still certain people in northern Oland who believe Nils Kant is still alive. At least among those who are old enough to remember him.”

“What do you think?” asked Julia again.

“I think it would be a good thing if all the strange things surrounding Nils Kant could be sorted out,” said Gerlof.

“I’d rather find my son.” Julia said it quietly. “That’s why I came here.”

“I know,” said Gerlof. “But there might be a connection between the two stories.”

“Nils Kant and Jens?”

Gerlof nodded. “I already know they are connected to some

extent, in fact. Through Martin Malm.”

“But how?”

“Malm had Jens’s sandal,” said Gerlof. “And it was one of

Malm Freight’s ships that brought Nils Kant’s coffin home to Sweden.”

“Was it? How do you know that?”

“It’s no secret.

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