The Girl in the Woods. Camilla Lackberg
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meant it was within their budget. Eva hoped they had been able to fill the place with enough love and positive energy.
Best of all was the way Nea was thriving here. They’d named her Linnea, but ever since she was tiny, she’d called herself Nea, so it was only natural for Eva and Peter to call her that too. She was now four years old and so stubborn and headstrong that Eva was already dreading her teenage years. But it seemed she and Peter were not going to have more children, so they’d at least be able to focus all their attention on Nea when the time came. At the moment, those days seemed very far away. Nea ran around the farm like a little ball of energy, with her fluff of blond hair, which she’d inherited from Eva, framing her bright face. Eva was always worried that the child would get sunburned, but she merely seemed to get more freckles.
Eva sat up and used her wrist to wipe the sweat from her forehead, not wanting to smudge her face with the dirty gardening gloves she wore. She loved weeding the vegetable garden. It was such a refreshing contrast to the work of her office job. She took a childish pleasure in seeing the seeds she’d sown become plants that grew and flourished until they could be harvested. Their garden was intended only for their own use, since the farm couldn’t provide them with an income, but they were able to meet much of their household needs with a vegetable garden, a herb garden, and a field of potatoes. Yet occasionally she felt guilty about how well they were doing. Her life had turned out better than she’d ever imagined. She needed nothing more than Peter, Nea, and their home on this farm.
Eva began pulling up carrots. Off in the distance she saw Peter approaching on the tractor. His regular job was working for the Tetra Pak company, but he spent as much of his free time as possible on the tractor. This morning he’d gone out early, long before Eva was awake, taking along a sack lunch and a Thermos of coffee. A small wooded area belonged to the farm, and he’d decided to clear out the underbrush, so she knew he’d bring back firewood for the winter. He’d no doubt be sweaty and filthy, with aching muscles and a big smile.
She put the carrots in her basket and pushed it aside. The carrots were for the supper she’d cook this evening. Then she took off her gardening gloves and dropped them next to the basket before she headed towards Peter. She squinted her eyes, trying to catch sight of Nea on the tractor. She’d probably fallen asleep, as she always did. It had been an early start for the child, but she loved going to the woods with Peter. She loved her mother, but she adored her father.
Peter drove the tractor into the farmyard.
‘Hi, honey,’ said Eva after he switched off the engine.
Her heart beat faster when she saw his smile. Even after all these years he could still make her weak at the knees.
‘Hi, sweetheart! Have the two of you had a good day?’
‘Er, um …’
What did he mean by ‘the two of you’?
‘What about the two of you?’ she said.
‘What?’ said Peter, giving her a sweaty kiss on the cheek.
He looked around.
‘Where’s Nea? Is she taking an afternoon nap?’
There was a great rushing in Eva’s ears, and as if from far away she heard herself say:
‘I thought she was with you.’
They stared at each other as their world split apart.
Linda glanced at Sanna as she sat beside her, bouncing in the passenger seat of the car.
‘What do you think Stella will say when she sees all the clothes you’ve bought?’
‘I think she’ll be happy,’ said Sanna with a smile, and for a moment she looked like her cheerful little sister. Then she frowned in that typical way of hers. ‘But maybe she’ll be jealous too.’
Linda smiled as she drove into the farmyard. Sanna had always been such a considerate big sister.
‘We’ll have to explain to her that she’ll get lots of nice clothes when she starts school too.’
She’d hardly stopped the car before Sanna jumped out and opened the back door to take out all the shopping bags.
The front door of the house opened, and Anders came out on to the porch.
‘Sorry we’re a little late,’ said Linda. ‘We had to stop for a bite to eat.’
Anders gave her an odd look.
‘I know it’s dinnertime soon, but Sanna had her heart set on going to a café,’ Linda went on, smiling at her daughter, who gave her father a quick hug before running inside the house.
Anders shook his head.
‘It’s not that. I just … Stella hasn’t come home.’
‘She hasn’t?’
The look on Anders’s face made her stomach knot.
‘No, and I rang both Marie and Helen. They weren’t home either.’
Linda let out a sigh and shut the car door.
‘Oh, I’m sure they must’ve forgotten about the time. You’ll see. You know how Stella is. She probably wanted to walk through the woods and show them everything.’
She kissed Anders on the lips.
‘I expect you’re right,’ he said, but he didn’t look convinced.
The phone was ringing, so Anders hurried into the kitchen to take the call.
Linda frowned as she leaned down to take off her shoes. It wasn’t like Anders to get so upset. But he’d had a full hour to wonder what might have happened to the girls.
When she straightened up, she found Anders standing in front of her. The expression on his face brought back the knot in her stomach full force.
‘That was KG on the phone. Helen is back home now, and they’re about to eat dinner. KG rang Marie’s house, and according to him, both girls claim they dropped Stella off around five.’
‘So what are you saying?’
Anders pulled on his trainers.
‘I’ve searched everywhere on the farm, but maybe she went back to the woods and got lost.’
Linda nodded.
‘We need to go out and look for her.’
She went over to the bottom of the stairs and called to their elder daughter.
‘Sanna? Pappa and I are going out to look for Stella. She’s probably over in the woods. You know how much she loves being there. We’ll be back soon!’
Then she looked at her husband. She didn’t want him to let on to Sanna how uneasy they both felt.
Half an hour later they could no longer hide their concern from each other. Anders was gripping the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles were white. After searching the woods next to their property, they’d driven back and forth along the road, slowly passing all the places where they knew Stella usually went. But they hadn’t seen any trace of her.
Linda put her hand on Anders’s knee.
‘We should head home now.’
Anders nodded and looked at her. The worry in his eyes was a frightening reflection of her own.
They needed to ring the police.
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