The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,143

looking at Minoo with big, frightened eyes.

‘You think Rebecka killed herself, don’t you?’ she says.

The question seems to confuse him. ‘Yes,’ he says. ‘She jumped from the roof of the school. It was my fault. If I had been a better boyfriend, it would never have happened.’

Minoo glances at the photo and wonders if Rebecka can see them. She hopes not because she feels so ashamed of what she’s doing.

‘Were you up on the roof with her?’ she asks.

‘I was waiting for her downstairs. She was having her meeting with the principal.’

He lays a hand on Minoo’s arm. His fingers are cold. ‘I hoped the principal would talk to her about her eating disorder. Maybe get her to open up about it, so I wouldn’t have to. I was such a coward.’

‘Have you done anything special this autumn? Have you contacted anyone?’

‘What do you mean?’

Minoo feels another impatient shove, a reminder that time is running out. ‘Have you been in contact with any demons?’

He looks confused. Like a child who’s been asked a far too grown-up question.

‘Have you engaged in any supernatural activities?’ Minoo continues.

‘No.’

It’s clear he has no idea what she’s talking about.

‘You may not even know about it. Think for a second. Has anything strange happened?’

He shakes his head.

‘Do you ever hear a voice inside your head telling you to do things?’

He shakes his head again.

‘What’s the first thing that comes into your mind when I say “blood-red moon”?’

‘Blood orange.’

‘Do you have a doppelganger?’

‘No,’ he says weakly. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘I can’t handle this,’ Vanessa says.

Minoo understands how she feels. To see Gustaf so afraid and vulnerable is almost more than she can bear. It’s like something out of the Spanish inquisition. But she has another question, and she can only hope Gustaf won’t say anything about the kiss because, unlike him, Vanessa won’t forget everything afterwards.

‘Did you follow me into town one day and then meet me by the viaduct?’

‘No.’

‘I met you there, and we … spoke. Do you remember that?’

‘No.’

‘And yet you were at the cemetery. That was when you visited Rebecka’s grave for the first time. You were in two places at once. How was that possible?’

Gustaf shakes his head. ‘I don’t understand,’ he says. ‘Your questions are so strange.’

Minoo can’t take it any more. She tries to coax his fingers from her arm, but he’s holding it in an iron grip. She strokes them gently, hoping that will calm him.

It works. His grip loosens and she gets up.

‘I’m sorry,’ she says.

‘What are you saying sorry about?’

‘All of this.’

‘I like you, Minoo,’ he says.

‘I like you, too,’ she says, and discovers she means it. ‘I wish I could tell you how Rebecka died, but it wasn’t your fault.’

‘Minoo, what are you doing?’ Vanessa whispers.

But Minoo ignores her. It’s very easy to ignore someone who’s invisible. ‘I want to ask you to try to remember one thing.’ Minoo says. ‘Try to remember it somewhere deep inside you. Can you promise you’ll try?’

‘I promise I’ll try,’ Gustaf says.

‘It wasn’t your fault. Rebecka loved you.’

Fresh tears well in Gustaf’s eyes and Minoo nods, trying to ingrain it into his subconscious. ‘She would never have left you of her own accord,’ she says.

Gustaf smiles cautiously. ‘I’m tired,’ he says.

‘You should sleep for a while.’

Gustaf shuts his eyes and Minoo and Vanessa stay in the room until he’s dropped off. Then they sneak out, careful not to wake him.

51

VANESSA HAS HAD a long shower, and she still doesn’t feel clean. When she and Minoo had separated, they had agreed that they would never reveal what Gustaf had said to anyone. They texted the others that they were sure Gustaf wasn’t the killer, and that he didn’t know about his doppelganger. Nothing more. The rest is nobody else’s business. Not even theirs. That’s why she feels so dirty. She never wants to rummage around in someone’s innermost thoughts again.

Now she’ almost inhaling the sausage stew Sirpa has made for dinner. Vanessa is on her second helping, but her hunger shows no signs of abating. As always when she’s been invisible, her body craves nourishment. And lots of it.

‘Slow down, Nessa,’ Wille says, and has a hard time not laughing.

‘Mind your own business,’ she says, her mouth full of rice drenched in tomato sauce.

‘You’ll end up weighing a tonne if you go on like that.’

‘And I’ll still be better-looking than you.’ She pours more milk and downs it in three gulps.

Sirpa watches them nervously.

‘Sorry I’m gobbling it,’ Vanessa says. ‘It’s just so