The Stonecutter Read Online Free PDF Page A

private?’ He gave Frida a meaningful glance. Her mother blanched, drawing her own conclusions about why whatever they had to say wasn’t suitable for her daughter’s ears.
    ‘Frida, go up and play in your room.’
    ‘But Mamma—’ the girl protested.
    ‘No arguments. Go up to your room and stay there until I call you.’
    The girl looked as if she had a mind to object again, but it was clear from her mother’s voice that this was not a battle she was going to win. Sullenly Frida dragged herself up the stairs, casting a few hopeful glances back at the adults to see if they might relent. No one moved until she reached the top of the stairs and the door to her room slammed behind her.
    ‘We can sit in the kitchen.’
    Veronika Karlgren led them into a big, cozy kitchen, where apparently she’d been making lunch.
    They shook hands politely and introduced themselves, then sat down at the kitchen table. Frida’s mother took some cups out of the cupboard, poured coffee, and put some biscuits on a plate. Patrik saw that her hands were shaking as she did so, and he realized that she was trying to postpone the inevitable, what they had come to tell her. But finally there was no putting it off any longer, and she sat down heavily on a chair across from them.
    ‘Something has happened to Sara, hasn’t it? Why else would Lilian call and then hang up like that?’
    Patrik and Martin sat in silence a few seconds too long, since both hoped the other would start. Their silence was confirmation enough, and tears welled up in Veronika’s eyes.
    Patrik cleared his throat. ‘Yes, unfortunately we have to inform you that Sara was found drowned this morning.’
    Veronika gasped but said nothing.
    Patrik went on, ‘It seems to have been an accident, but we’re making inquiries to see whether we can determine exactly how it happened.’ He looked at Martin, who sat ready with his pen and notebook.
    ‘According to Lilian Florin, Sara was supposed to be here playing with Frida today. Was that something the girls had planned? Since it’s Monday, why weren’t they in school?’
    Veronika was staring at the tabletop. ‘They were both ill this weekend, so Charlotte and I decided to keep them home from school, but we thought it would be okay if they played together. Sara was supposed to come over sometime before noon.’
    ‘But she never arrived?’
    ‘No, she never did.’ Veronika said no more, and Patrik had to keep asking questions to get more information.
    ‘Didn’t you wonder why she never showed up? Why didn’t you call and ask where she was?’
    Veronika hesitated. ‘Sara was a little … what should I say?… different. She more or less did whatever she liked. Quite often she wouldn’t come over as agreed because she suddenly decided she felt like doing something else. The girls sometimes quarreled because of that, I think, but I didn’t want to get involved. I understand that Sara suffered from one of those problems with all the initials, so it wouldn’t be good to make matters worse …’ She sat there shredding a napkin to bits. A little pile of white paper was growing on the table before her.
    Martin looked up from his notebook with a frown. ‘A problem with all the initials? What do you mean by that?’
    ‘You know, one of those things that every other child seems to have these days: ADHD, DAMP, MBD, and whatever else they’re called.’
    ‘Why do you think something was wrong with Sara?’
    She shrugged. ‘People talked. And it made sense. Sara could be impossible to deal with sometimes, so either she was suffering from some problem or else she hadn’t been brought up right.’ She cringed as she heard herself talking about a dead girl that way, and quickly looked down. She attacked the napkin with even greater frenzy, and soon there was nothing left of it.
    ‘So you never saw Sara at all this morning? And never heard from her by phone either?’
    Veronika shook her head.
    ‘And you’re sure the same