She closed her eyes again and tried to recollect how the conversation had progressed and how it had ended. But the only thing that seemed to have stuck in her brain was how eager he had been to silence her, how he had insinuated that he had every opportunity to seize the computer and get his hands on the writing that was upsetting him so much.

Slowly, the awareness that something else—something much worse—had happened during the night began to dawn on her. Had she been somehow unwell? Why else was she in bed in the middle of the day? Had he drugged her so he could take the laptop? Tried to kill her? Was that the real reason for his visit?

She couldn’t remember a disturbance. Instead, she remembered the bilberry soup she had been given, and how it had brought back childhood memories. She remembered Erik’s deep sleep, the calm he had radiated and his rhythmic breathing.

Erik! She suddenly remembered. Was he all right? Had Hallin harmed him again? She sat up in bed and looked around in horror. The room looked different. There were several other people asleep in the room, but Erik wasn’t there. Where was Erik? Instinctively, she reached for the red alarm button and pressed it. She noted that she had tubes and wires connected to her and that her condition was being monitored by machines. She let her head rest back on her pillow and tried to marshal her complicated thoughts into order.

She remembered Hallin’s shaken look when he had seen her. How he had grabbed her upper arms and shouted things. Maybe in his desperation he had attacked both her and Erik? Tears welled up in her eyes, but before anyone had time to respond to the alarm, she had drifted back into unconsciousness.

76. Jan

76

Jan

WHEN THE SUN came up, Jan still hadn’t slept a wink. The anger and confusion following the shocking discovery made his pulse thunder at his temples, and he felt like the stress wouldn’t ever dissipate. He paced back and forth, trying to sort through the thousand thoughts streaming through his brain.