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He looked up. His lower jaw started to tremble.
 Rolf ? she said.
There was a trace of happy surprise in her voice, but it was
crushed immediately and brutally by the facts of the situation.
Rolf Ringmar collapsed slowly over the table.
44
 I ll be damned if this whole affair isn t a genuine Greek
tragedy, said Van Veeteren, closing the car door.  There s an
inevitability about it from the very beginning. As you know,
incest was regarded as one of the worst sins you can possibly
commit. Nothing less than a crime against the gods.
M�nster nodded. Backed out of the parking lot.
 Just imagine it, said Van Veeteren.  You re thirteen, four-
teen years old. The early stages of puberty. You re sensitive
and as vulnerable as an open wound. A boy on the way to
becoming a man. The first tentative steps. What s the first
thing you identify with?
 Your father, said M�nster. He s been through this him-
self, he thought.
 Right. And what does your father do? He drinks like a fish
and demeans himself. He hits you. He really beats you up, not
just once, but night after night, perhaps. He tortures you, he
insults you. Your mother is too weak to intervene. She s as
scared of him as you are. You pretend it isn t happening. You
keep quiet and let it carry on, keeping it inside the family. You
are defenseless. You have no rights: he s your parent and he s
fully within his rights. You ve nowhere to turn to, nowhere to
find consolation apart from one person. There s only one
person who can comfort you. . . .
2 7 1
 Your sister.
 Who also gets beaten sometimes, but not nearly so often.
She is there, she s a bit stronger than you are, a little less
wounded. She s there in the room you share when you finally
get away from him. Let s say you re fourteen years old, both of
you. You lie in bed together, and she consoles you. You snug-
gle up to her and she protects you. She places her healing
hands on your body . . . you re fourteen years old . . . you hold
tightly on to each other, you feel safe in each other s arms, and
you can hear him ranting and raving. He sets on your mother
instead, demands his conjugal rights. . . . Hell and damnation,
M�nster!
M�nster coughed tentatively.
 It s night now and you are naked. You re fourteen, you re
brother and sister. There s nothing wrong in what you do,
M�nster who the hell is going to blame them for it? Who
apart from the gods has the right to condemn these two chil-
dren for the way things turn out? For becoming lovers? Who,
M�nster? Who?
 I don t know, said M�nster.
 Can you understand what she gave him? said Van
Veeteren, taking a deep breath.  To be able to come to a
woman when you are beaten and degraded and worthless . . .
To a woman who is your lover, your mother, and your sister.
All at the same time. Is there any love that could be stronger
than that, M�nster? Just imagine being in love for the first
time, and everything is perfect from the very start. . . . That
love, that relationship is so strong that it must be more durable
than anything else you will ever experience in the rest of your
life. . . . Hell and damnation, M�nster, what chance did he
have?
 How long did that go on for? M�nster asked.
 Two or three years, I d have thought. He seems to be a bit
m i n d  s e y e
vague about exactly when it began. Most likely it was just as
strong on both sides for quite a long time. I think Eva eventu-
ally managed to escape from it not because she really
wanted to, but because she knew it was wrong. Forbidden.
Impossible to keep going.
 But for him it was just as impossible to stop, said M�n-
ster.
Van Veeteren lit a cigarette.
 Yes, but she rejected him. What went on in that house-
hold, both while the father was still alive and afterward . . .
well, I d rather not think about it, M�nster.
 And then there was Paul Bejsen, said M�nster.
 Yes. Perhaps it was no more than an attempt from her
side; I don t think she was really in love with him. She proba-
bly took him to demonstrate that what had been was now
over and done with, beyond recall. And Rolf, well, he . . .
 Bided his time, said M�nster.
 You could say that, yes, said Van Veeteren.  He waited
for an opportunity to show how serious he was. And when
that party took place, he saw his chance.
 He waited out there on the moor, said M�nster.
 Exactly. Wandered around in the darkness hoping for an
opportunity. Like a werewolf, almost.
 Did he tell you all this as well?
Van Veeteren nodded.
 Yes. Telegram style, mind you. That was almost twenty
years ago. The statutory limitation is twenty-one years so
we d be able to prosecute him for that murder as well, if any-
body thought there was any point in doing so.
 And Eva forced him to go away?
 Yes. She gave him an ultimatum. Either he disappeared or
she would turn him in. Put yourself in his situation, M�nster.
He committed murder, not only because he was jealous, but
2 7 3
also to demonstrate how strong his love was. And she rejected
him. I think he came close to committing suicide during those
months; he hinted as much. And during the early part of his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]