Lifetime by Liza Marklund

Author:Liza Marklund [Marklund, Liza]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Published: 2013-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

18

The flat was dark. Annika closed the front door behind her and went into the hall without switching the light on. She pulled off her boots and hung up her thick coat.

She stopped in the doorway to the main room, taking in the silence.

In their flat on Kungsholmen, all the sounds of Stockholm had seeped through the badly fitting windows and loose air vents, the vibrations passing through the stone walls and ventilation pipes, the buses’ squealing brakes and the sirens of the emergency vehicles. But here it was quiet. The sounds of the modern city didn’t reach far into the medieval heart.

She sighed and heard the sound bounce between the walls.

Still without turning on the lights she went on into Ellen’s room. The day she had got the keys to the flat she had taken the children out to Ikea and let them choose their own furniture, cushions and duvet covers. Everything in Ellen’s room was pink. Even the grey-black winter light was making the duvet cover and velvet cushions glow pale pink.

She ran her hand over the bed’s headboard.

Emptiness, emptiness …

She went into her son’s room. In the daylight everything was blue, but at night it looked pitch-black. She sank on to Kalle’s bed. He had forgotten to take Chicken with him this morning, and she picked up the stuffed toy and hugged it, his new favourite, the same as the one that had been destroyed in the fire. This Chicken just smelt a bit different. She breathed in the clean, antiseptic scent of newness.

I ought to do the washing-up …

She looked through the doorway into the main room, feeling the heat from the radiators, listening to the whispers in the corners.

Alone …

With silence ringing in her ears, she lay down, clutching the stuffed chicken. There was still a hint of happiness somewhere, freedom waiting for her in these dark rooms.

Sleep drifted in, and she let herself go.

The sound of her mobile came from far away, shredding the peace and quiet. She sat bolt upright. Chicken slid on to the floor. Where had she left her phone?

She staggered through the main room and out into the hall.

Number withheld, damn it. It must be the paper.

She answered, and was met by a solid mass of noise, shouting, music and voices.

‘Annika? Is that you?’

Speechless, she slid to the floor.

‘It’s me, Thomas.’

He was in the pub, somewhere really noisy.

‘Hello,’ she said into the darkness.

‘I’ve reserved two snowsuits. For Ellen. At Åhléns. One dark blue, the other pink. Which one do you think we should get?’ He was slurring, quite badly.

‘Where are the children?’ she asked.

‘They’re asleep. I’m having a beer with Arnold …’

‘Who’s with the children?’

‘Sophia’s at home, so you—’

‘If you want to go out, I can look after the children,’ she said.

Disco-music pounded in the background. A woman was laughing loudly.

‘I don’t want to fight with you,’ he said.

You’re calling me from the pub when you’re drunk. Are you tired of her already?

‘Me neither,’ she said.

‘What shall we do about

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