sea view, she thought. A large garden with apple trees, oak parquet flooring throughout, open-plan kitchen and dining area, Mediterranean-blue tiles in both bathrooms, four bedrooms.
She recalled the pictures from the ad on the Internet, the light and airy bedroom, the open spaces.
“Why can’t we go in?” Kalle said. “The people who used to live here have moved, haven’t they?”
“We haven’t bought the house yet, Kalle,” Annika said. “So we don’t have our own keys yet. We can only go inside the house when the real estate broker’s here as well, and he isn’t here right now.”
“Where’s Daddy?” Ellen said, suddenly noticing that Thomas wasn’t in the car.
“Daddy’s coming later, he’s going to stay at Grandma and Grandad’s for a bit longer.”
She switched off the engine, the car died, and darkness swallowed them up.
“Mommy, put the lights on!” Ellen, who was afraid of the dark, said, and Annika quickly switched on the lamp in the roof.
“I’m getting out to have a look,” she said. “Do you want to come?”
The children both ignored her, focusing on the computer games again.
Annika opened the car door and stepped carefully out onto the frozen tarmac. The wind was blowing from the sea; she could feel the dampness even if she couldn’t see the water. The “sea view” in the ad was actually restricted to a little glimpse from one bedroom on the top floor, but that didn’t really matter.
She shut the car door behind her and walked over to the fence.
It was only three weeks since she had uncovered an old Maoist network in Luleå, and along the way she had found a large bag of euro notes in an old junction box. Converted into Swedish kronor, they were worth 128 million. She would be getting a tenth of that sum at the end of April next year as her reward for handing it in. In other words, 12.8 million kronor.
She had found the house in Djursholm before the money landed in her lap, practically newly built, quiet and peaceful, only 6.9 million.
She had got it for six and a half. No one else had offered more than that.
The contracts would be exchanged on May 1, once the reward had been paid out. They’d be selling their flat on Hantverkargatan in the spring; she’d already been in touch with a real estate broker and got it valued. They stood to get up to three and a half million for it.
“Maybe you could buy a boat,” Annika had said, curling up in Thomas’s lap.
He had kissed her hair, then pinched her nipple.
“Shall we go and have a little lie-down?” he had whispered and she had pulled away.
Couldn’t, didn’t want to. Every time he wanted to have sex she saw him together with Sophia Grenborg, kissing in public outside the NK department store where she just happened to see them. She kept imagining their bodies wet with sweat, their ecstatic faces.
“Mommy,” Ellen said through a crack in the car door. “I need to pee.”
Annika turned and went back to the car.
“Come on, I’ll help you,” she said, getting the girl out of her car seat.
She looked around to find a suitable spot to hide behind, gazing out over the sky, the treetops, and the buildings. The sky was clear, stars lighting up one by one. The silence around them was dense and black.
The house, her house, sat on a corner plot beside a crossroads. It was surrounded by houses in various styles, from big patrician villas from the turn of the last century to large brick buildings from the fifties with huge windows and big basements. Lights had started to come on, making the windows shine like cats’ eyes in the darkness. She could make out the house next door through the bare trees; the plots were all large, divided by hedges and fences.
A thought struck her: her house was the only new one. It was also one of the smallest in the area, with its 190 square meters.
“Where am I going to pee, Mommy?”
Annika walked around the car.
“Sit down here, no one will see.”
As her daughter was
She recalled the pictures from the ad on the Internet, the light and airy bedroom, the open spaces.
“Why can’t we go in?” Kalle said. “The people who used to live here have moved, haven’t they?”
“We haven’t bought the house yet, Kalle,” Annika said. “So we don’t have our own keys yet. We can only go inside the house when the real estate broker’s here as well, and he isn’t here right now.”
“Where’s Daddy?” Ellen said, suddenly noticing that Thomas wasn’t in the car.
“Daddy’s coming later, he’s going to stay at Grandma and Grandad’s for a bit longer.”
She switched off the engine, the car died, and darkness swallowed them up.
“Mommy, put the lights on!” Ellen, who was afraid of the dark, said, and Annika quickly switched on the lamp in the roof.
“I’m getting out to have a look,” she said. “Do you want to come?”
The children both ignored her, focusing on the computer games again.
Annika opened the car door and stepped carefully out onto the frozen tarmac. The wind was blowing from the sea; she could feel the dampness even if she couldn’t see the water. The “sea view” in the ad was actually restricted to a little glimpse from one bedroom on the top floor, but that didn’t really matter.
She shut the car door behind her and walked over to the fence.
It was only three weeks since she had uncovered an old Maoist network in Luleå, and along the way she had found a large bag of euro notes in an old junction box. Converted into Swedish kronor, they were worth 128 million. She would be getting a tenth of that sum at the end of April next year as her reward for handing it in. In other words, 12.8 million kronor.
She had found the house in Djursholm before the money landed in her lap, practically newly built, quiet and peaceful, only 6.9 million.
She had got it for six and a half. No one else had offered more than that.
The contracts would be exchanged on May 1, once the reward had been paid out. They’d be selling their flat on Hantverkargatan in the spring; she’d already been in touch with a real estate broker and got it valued. They stood to get up to three and a half million for it.
“Maybe you could buy a boat,” Annika had said, curling up in Thomas’s lap.
He had kissed her hair, then pinched her nipple.
“Shall we go and have a little lie-down?” he had whispered and she had pulled away.
Couldn’t, didn’t want to. Every time he wanted to have sex she saw him together with Sophia Grenborg, kissing in public outside the NK department store where she just happened to see them. She kept imagining their bodies wet with sweat, their ecstatic faces.
“Mommy,” Ellen said through a crack in the car door. “I need to pee.”
Annika turned and went back to the car.
“Come on, I’ll help you,” she said, getting the girl out of her car seat.
She looked around to find a suitable spot to hide behind, gazing out over the sky, the treetops, and the buildings. The sky was clear, stars lighting up one by one. The silence around them was dense and black.
The house, her house, sat on a corner plot beside a crossroads. It was surrounded by houses in various styles, from big patrician villas from the turn of the last century to large brick buildings from the fifties with huge windows and big basements. Lights had started to come on, making the windows shine like cats’ eyes in the darkness. She could make out the house next door through the bare trees; the plots were all large, divided by hedges and fences.
A thought struck her: her house was the only new one. It was also one of the smallest in the area, with its 190 square meters.
“Where am I going to pee, Mommy?”
Annika walked around the car.
“Sit down here, no one will see.”
As her daughter was
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