Burned

‘It’s a combined mobile telephone and stun gun. Yes, such things are actually made. I got this in the US for less than $200. And everyone has a mobile these days, don’t they? People are always fiddling with them. Ringing, texting, talking rubbish. This never leaves my hand, but no one ever asks why. And if anyone tries to attack me again, I’m ready. 800,000 volts, straight into the body, Zzzzzt. It’ll knock you out, I promise.’

He looks at Yngve, though he needs no convincing.

‘And Stefan knew that you had one? It was your stun gun he used, wasn’t it?’

She nods reluctantly.

‘Did he ask if he could borrow it?’

‘No. He took it one evening — I mean — that night. I had already gone to bed. I realised that he had used it the following day, because the mobile wasn’t where I had left it. I’m always meticulous about such things. I notice everything.’

‘Did you confront him about it?’

‘Not there and then. I woke up late and he had already left for college. But it came up yesterday afternoon, and — and — ’

She starts to cry again, but she carries on talking.

‘I asked him what he had done with my mobile, why he had borrowed it, but he wouldn’t say. Then Yngve took over and it got — ’

She shakes her head.

‘Everything Stefan had been keeping back came out. He wanted Yngve to own up to what he had done, be honest with himself and us. Stefan almost went berserk, he wanted to fight Yngve and, in the heat of the moment, Stefan told us what he had done, why he had taken my mobile and it became — ’

More shaking of the head.

‘It was so ugly. So — ’

She looks at her husband, whose head is still flopped to one side.

‘It was bad. So very bad — ’

She closes her eyes.

‘What happened after Stefan confessed to the murder? Because he was alone when he died.’

Ingvild sighs deeply.

‘I don’t really remember. I think I ran out of the flat. I’ve a vague memory of Yngve shaking me, at the top of St Hanshaugen. He said he had been looking for me for hours. I think I must have walked up there. Or run, I don’t know. I don’t remember. And when we came back, then — ’

She starts to cry again, silently. He sees her tremble, holding one hand over her mouth. Then her eyes cloud over. She looks straight ahead, into the wall of the tent. Then, abruptly, she regains lucidity.

‘How did you know that we were here?’

‘I spoke to someone at the college reception this morning.’

‘Gorm?’

‘Might have been.’

‘How did — ?’

He holds up his hands.

‘He said that Yngve had rung to let the Principal know that you were going camping. The Principal wasn’t there, so he took a message. I added two and two together and got 400. It was a fluke that I found you. I had a feeling that everything had something to do with this tent, this hole,’ he says, pointing to the ground. ‘And if everyone was looking for you, but hadn’t been able to find you, I guessed that you might be here. Since you were going “camping”, like Yngve had said.’

Ingvild looks at him for a long time, before she nods.

‘I barely remember what happened yesterday. I had run out of pills, too, I guess they were the ones Stefan took, so I couldn’t get to sleep, either. I doubt I would have slept anyway.’

Her eyes are red.

‘Why did you come here?’

‘So I could get my revenge. In my own way.’

‘How did you persuade Yngve to come with you?’

‘I told him I needed to be here, in the tent, to see if I could even begin to understand what my son had done. It wasn’t just an excuse. I really needed to. Does that sound strange to you?’

He shakes his head.

‘Now that I’m here, it feels a little weird. But I know how Stefan felt. I recognise the hatred. And, as his mother, that’s a relationship that I’m grateful for.’

He is about to say something, but her face fills with contempt and anger. Before he has time to react, before he has time to grab her, she has picked up one of the rocks and thrown it at Yngve. She hits his shoulder, he jerks and wakes up; slowly his eyes open, he lifts his head slightly, but he is too deep in the hole to be able to move much. Finally, he sees Ingvild, then Henning, and understands what is about to happen. He tries to raise his arms in self-defence, but they are trapped in the ground. Ingvild picks up another rock.

‘Wait. Ingvild, don’t — ’

Yngve screams, Henning takes a long step towards Ingvild to stop her, but she sees him, her eyes widen and she holds the mobile in front of her, waving it at him, pressing it; sparks fly, and he stops and retreats.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Yngve howls.

‘You killed that whore,’ Ingvild hisses. ‘Yes, you, Yngve. If only you had stayed away from her, none of this would have happened. You killed Stefan too, you drove him to take his own life — ’

‘Ingvild, it — ’

‘Oh, stop whining. It’s only fair that you get a taste of your own medicine, the same rocks, and that it happens here, in the same place, so you can die in the same way as your mistress, that whore — ’

‘It wasn’t — ’

‘Oh, shut up.’