Shadow of Fog Island Page 2

  She cast a glance at Oswald as he sat whispering with his defence attorney, Anna-Maria Callini. That woman wasn’t classically beautiful; she had sharp features and her nose was too big. But she had put on makeup and dressed in a manner that emphasized her slim figure and large, dark eyes. Sexy and sassy as hell. When she wasn’t speaking, her eyes roved the courtroom, fixating on various individuals at random; she reminded Sofia of a bird of prey. The voice that came out of that tiny being was deep and scratchy, and once she had the floor there was no stopping her. There was nothing you could do to shut out her penetrating tones.

  They were sitting close together, Anna-Maria and Oswald. His hand rested casually on the back of her chair. He leaned toward her and whispered into her ear, and she flashed a pasted-on, fake smile.

  When it was Sofia’s turn to speak, she focused on prosecutor Gunhild Strömberg’s face. She forced herself to ignore her surroundings. It worked – her voice didn’t fail her, even during Anna-Maria Callini’s pointed cross-examination.

  But the moments when Elvira was speaking were the worst. She was the focus of the trial: the fourteen-year-old Oswald had kept locked in the attic and forced into asphyxiation sex. Everything Sofia had talked about, like the way Oswald had treated the staff, was immediately overshadowed when Elvira began to speak in her trembling voice. She looked like a little kid in her floral sundress and she could hardly produce words. And when Callini attacked her, claiming that Elvira had tempted Oswald into their games in the attic, she began to sob in such despair that all you wanted to do was sweep her into your arms and comfort her. The judge had sent the onlookers out while Elvira was questioned, but Sofia noticed a single tear making its way down the cheek of one of the lay judges. The plaintiffs’ counsel, a gentle woman in her sixties, placed a steady arm around Elvira’s shoulders during the better part of her tale. She stroked the girl’s back now and again. Still, Elvira’s tears flowed like a waterfall.

  When it was Gunhild Strömberg’s turn to cross-examine Oswald, she went straight for the jugular.

  ‘I want to shed light upon the defendant’s background; in my opinion it is relevant to this case,’ she said, turning to Oswald. ‘Tell us about the confession you recorded about your life prior to ViaTerra.’

  Everyone knew what she was referring to. The recording Oswald had made in which he confessed to the most repulsive crimes. How he had strangled a young girl as a teenager. How he later ran away from Fog Island to track down and murder his whole family in France, with the goal of inheriting their money. And how he later returned to the manor house on Fog Island to start the ViaTerra cult. A recording he’d been careful to call ‘a rough draft of a novel’. There was no way to prove any of it.

  Callini objected.

  ‘Irrelevant. This has nothing to do with the case.’

  But Oswald nailed her with a glance that would not brook any contradiction, so the judge allowed him to respond.

  ‘It’s a draft of a novel, not a confession. My life philosophy, and the entire basis for ViaTerra, is grounded in drawing strength from the past. It’s a process that can take a long time and demand a certain amount of exaggeration before you are able to drain the detrimental energy. No one has come so far in this research as I—’

  Sofia caught Elvira’s gaze and rolled her eyes, which caused Elvira to break into a smile behind her tears. Impatient, Gunhild Strömberg cut Oswald off.

  ‘But is it true that you killed your family in France?’

  Callini exploded, but once again Oswald gave her a sharp glance. He had an audience now. He was in his element.

  ‘What is wrong with people in this country? Can’t a person write a novel if he wants to? My family has a tragic history. It’s been hard for me to get over their loss. Surely you don’t seriously think I could hurt someone? My work is to give people life, not kill them. I would never harm a fly.’

  Sofia glanced at one of the lay judges, who was nodding along rapidly and unconsciously. You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone’s eyes were on Oswald. His voice was so clear and calm that it spread a hypnotic tranquillity throughout the room.

  Gunhild Strömberg cleared her throat and fixed her gaze on Oswald once more.

  ‘So, forcing strangulation sex on a minor, does that count as “giving people life”? The rest of us call that rape.’

  ‘I’m not a rapist; I perform healing rituals. Elvira told me she was sixteen. And she had a huge crush on me, she was head over heels, so it can hardly be considered rape. But now to your question, Gunhild. That’s your name, right?’

  The way he said her name made it sound silly and old-fashioned.

  ‘As I understand it, it’s perfectly legal to experiment with sex games in Sweden, as long as both parties give their consent. Sex with a limited element of asphyxiation can result in a fantastic, freeing sensation. Perhaps you’d like to try it, Gunhild?’

  Laughter broke out in the gallery and a faint blush spread across Gunhild Strömberg’s cheeks. Chaos reigned until the judge demanded order in the court.

  Then it was time for the witnesses. Only Benjamin, Sofia’s boyfriend, and Simon, who had been the head gardener at ViaTerra, dared to testify against Oswald. Some other members of the staff decided not to give evidence, perhaps because there were bloggers who threatened all kinds of hell if anyone attacked Oswald. It didn’t matter how much bad press Oswald received; he still had a devoted group of followers, and it only kept growing. In addition, there were still celebrities who worshipped him.

  Other members of the staff testified on Oswald’s behalf. Sofia had once called some of them friends. Madeleine, who had been Oswald’s secretary, and Bosse, who had been his right-hand man. Benny and Sten, the dumb but obstinate security guards. And the worst betrayal of all: Mona and Anders, Elvira’s parents. Sofia stared at them, her eyes full of spite, but their blank gazes just went straight through her.

  One by one, they came in to testify. To swear that Oswald was the kindest leader in the world. That he took care of them. Guided them in their work. Toiled day and night to keep the wheels turning, always with a smile on his face. Yes, they had noticed that Elvira had been in the midst of some teenage crisis and had become fixated on Oswald.

  Sofia dug her nails into her palms. She wanted to scream out loud that those bastards were lying. She noticed Simon and Benjamin, who had taken seats in the gallery. She trained her gaze on Simon’s expressionless profile. He felt her looking and turned, shaking his head slowly. Then he smiled, perfectly at ease, as if the hypocrisy in this courtroom didn’t exist. That was so Simon. But it did make her a smidgen more relaxed.

  Everything had seemed so obvious on the day Oswald was apprehended by the police. It was as if she were playing a role in an action film and had fired the final, deadly shot. Oswald had gone to jail. She had gone home. Adrenaline still pumping through her veins. Dazed with an intoxicating sense of freedom that lasted for weeks.

  But then the memories that had lain dormant, bubbling under the surface, began to burst through and overwhelm her. The nights were the worst. Those memories were at their most powerful in the dark, at their clearest in the hour before the pale light of dawn. And when she wasn’t brooding on them, her sleep was restless and full of nightmares. Different versions of the same dream. Oswald, accosting her in the office. She might wake up screeching like a hyena, her heart pounding, wondering if that had even been her screaming. She couldn’t stand to think of Oswald; it made her heart stop. Sometimes she convinced herself he was standing in the shadows behind the door in her bedroom; she could see his face slipping in and out of the dark. Two black holes where his eyes should be. Just as he had been standing in wait on that night when he assaulted her in the office.

  The dream was so sharp and clear that she had to get out of bed and pace back and forth until her pulse went back to normal. She made herself conjure up comforting thoughts: he hadn’t gone all the way, there are people who are much worse off, stop being such a wuss. Yet a grim sen
se of foreboding lingered with her. That was where she was heading, to that wall in the office.

  She had even tried sleep aids, but they had no effect on the ever-recurring dream that ripped her nights to shreds.

  At the same time, the entire judicial system started up its moaning and groaning, and suddenly it was as if Oswald was breathing down her neck again.

  Sofia thought this trial was spitting in the face of justice. The way Oswald was allowed to carry on and spread his lies. The way Callini was permitted to harass Elvira until she nearly broke down. But during the closing arguments, the prosecutor threw up her hands in frustration and cried, ‘She was only fourteen, for God’s sake, and that bastard locked her in the attic and raped her!’

  And despite protests from both attorney and judge, it must have made an impression.

  They waited for four hours as the lead judge and lay judges deliberated in private. The sun sank behind the rain-heavy clouds beyond the courthouse windows as they waited, full of both expectation and nervousness.

  By the time they were summoned back to the courtroom, Elvira was about to gnaw off her very last fingernail. Sofia had sunk into Benjamin’s embrace, thinking terrible thoughts about what life would be like if Oswald was acquitted.

  But in the end, he was sentenced to prison. For two measly years. After everything he’d done to them out there on Fog Island. The list was long, but ‘rape of a child’, which had somehow been diminished to ‘sexual exploitation’, was the only one they had been able to prove.

  When the verdict was announced and it was all over, Sofia took one last look at Oswald. He had stood up and was nodding at Callini in satisfaction. Her head was spinning. Was this a good outcome for him? After all, he would be doing time. Then it struck her that he’d planned it this way. He would never get off scot-free, so he accepted his two years; he would likely be placed in a single cell, spend some time resting, write his stupid novel. And, with certainty, retain control over what was left of ViaTerra.

  But I don’t give a shit about that, she thought. Never again. Never in my life will I have to be close to you, to smell your nasty aftershave, type up your hogwash, or listen to your nagging voice. Never again will you be able to touch me. I hope you get what you deserve in prison. That you end up alone in a shower with three guys and a broomstick and… But then she decided that sort of thing only ever happens on TV or in American prisons.

  He turned around and caught her gaze as he passed. A shiver went through her body and she gasped. She recognized that spark in his eye. A faint smile, mirrored in his eyes even as his lips remained still.

  And that expression, which she remembered so well, made her wonder.

  How could it have gone so wrong? How did he become the person he was?

  And where did that evil really come from?

  3

  Simon glanced at Sofia, in profile. She was tense. Her jaw was clenched and he could hear a faint, strident sound coming from her. She was unconsciously grinding her teeth. He thought she looked pale and exhausted. Even more exhausted than when they’d been slave labour at ViaTerra and had only slept five or six hours each night.

  Simon was in two minds. On the one hand, he was relatively uninterested in everything that had happened in the courtroom. Oswald had too much on his conscience, and it had caught up with him. It could only have ended in prison time. On the other hand, Simon was full of an indefinable, unpleasant feeling that was very unlike him. It was something about Oswald’s attitude. If you hadn’t known he was the defendant, you would have thought he was in charge of the courtroom. He seemed unconcerned and indifferent, and occasionally amused. And now Simon didn’t know whether his misgivings were warranted, or had something to do with the paranoia he was experiencing more and more frequently.

  What he wanted more than anything was to return to the pension on Fog Island, where he worked these days. He hoped they were taking good care of his greenhouses while he was away. He liked his new job. Autumn was almost upon them, and there was a lot to do ensure they could continue to grow produce over the winter. But he had all the time in the world – never again would life be like it had been at ViaTerra. No one at the pension shouted at him to work faster, it was disaster-free, and he was never lent out to work on other projects like a damn pawn. No, the new job was good. It would be nice to get back to the island.

  But Simon didn’t like how serious Sofia looked. Pale, with dark shadows under her eyes. It was clear she wasn’t doing well, despite the fancy suit she had on. Still, there was something special about Sofia that drew glances. It wasn’t every man who saw the beauty shimmering beneath her surface. She seldom put on makeup, and she usually wore her long, wavy hair in a braid. But those who felt her magnetism were caught. Simon thought it was lucky he didn’t like her that way. He wanted her to be happy again, the way she had been when they worked together in the cult: feeding the pigs and talking about books, plodding through the snow and making faces behind their guard Benny’s back, laughing at everything and everyone. The slave labour hadn’t made them crack, no way. They had both been aware that Oswald had lost his mind, but they had kept fighting. Simon wanted that Sofia back again.

  But not even when they met outside the courtroom, after the verdict had been handed down, did she seem happy.

  So Simon took her by the arm.

  ‘Lunch is on me. Who’s coming?’

  Sofia, Benjamin, and Elvira took him up on his offer.

  ‘Don’t be upset,’ Benjamin told Sofia once they’d taken their seats at the restaurant. ‘He’s going to prison, and that’s what we were hoping for, isn’t it?’

  ‘Two measly years,’ Sofia said. ‘For everything he did to the staff. It’s not going to change him a bit. He’ll use it as a vacation. Rest up and come back, more evil than ever. And think of all the love letters he’ll get in prison. Nothing can touch a man like him.’

  ‘But ViaTerra’s done for, at least,’ said Elvira. Simon scratched his head. He hadn’t wanted to say anything, but he was bad at keeping things to himself. So he told them about everything that had happened on the island. From the day the police raided the cult’s property to the day the staff were sent home on the ferry.

  Simon had been putting up a trellis for the grapevines in the greenhouse when the police arrived. The air inside those glass walls was so warm and humid that it was hard to breathe. It was sunny, and the greenhouse felt like a sauna. The plants fought for oxygen, and he was sweating masses. Then he saw the gate open and the police storm in, an entire army with weapons drawn. They took over the manor, turning everything upside down. At first Simon just stood there gaping, staring at the windows of the building, trying to figure out what was going on inside. He caught sight of Elvira, who came out wrapped in a blanket, in the company of a female officer. And then he understood. His heart skipped a beat. This was serious; the walls had crumbled. He stood there staring until an officer came to fetch him.

  ‘You have to come with us,’ she said, her eyes on his dirty coverall. ‘Perhaps you’d like to wash up first. We’re going to question the entire staff.’

  The interrogations lasted for three days, and Simon told them everything. About the punishments, the forced lack of sleep, the way they’d been kept prisoner behind those walls. The words flowed from his mouth like a gurgling stream. Never had he talked so much.

  After the three days of questioning, they were sent home, even those who had no place to go but ViaTerra. When they arrived there, they found that the property was a crime scene and was cordoned off.

  And this is how they came to be sitting together on the five o’clock ferry back over the sound. Forty-eight individuals, without Oswald who had been their guiding star for so many years. Without jobs or plans for the future. Despondent and ashamed. Some of them confused and upset. Some secretly excited and relieved.

  Madeleine was the first to open her mouth, that woman with her colourless eyes that gave Simon the shivers.

  ‘This is just wron
g, I will never betray Franz,’ she said. ‘Sofia is bloody insane.’

  Anna, who had always had a crush on Oswald, agreed.

  ‘Did you see Elvira? She was bawling like a baby when they led her out. So fake.’

  ‘They’ll let Franz go soon,’ Madeleine said. ‘He’ll be back, you know that, right? We have to stick together until everything goes back to normal.’

  But Mira, who had spent most of her time in the cult on punishment detail, looked uncertain as she sat there on her bench.

  ‘I guess I’ll probably go home and think it over,’ she murmured.

  ‘What is there to think about?’ said Bosse, Oswald’s right-hand man. ‘ViaTerra is the only truth, so of course they’re trying to silence Franz. Of course we have to stick together.’

  And on and on, like this. You were either wholeheartedly with the group, or you were against it.

  But Simon was a little distracted. He couldn’t bring himself to take part in this remarkable conversation. He hadn’t left the island in three years. When they first boarded the ferry to leave, he was so certain: he would go home to his parents on their farm in Småland. Get his hands in the earth, because there was nothing left for him on Fog Island. And not a soul knew what he was thinking and feeling, or that he had helped Sofia escape, and he wanted it to stay that way. But when the mainland began to take form, a thin streak on the horizon, doubt stole in. His mother’s shrill voice echoed in his mind. Daniel’s sad eyes on that fateful night. He had promised himself never to return. Never to forgive his mother. To stuff that whole goddamn farm into a mental filing cabinet. And now here he was, on the way from one sort of evil right into the embrace of another. He didn’t know which way was up; he couldn’t bring himself to decide.