Silver Tears(55)

Her voice was flat.

“No. You’re not investigating a crime. My ex-husband was convicted of the crime that you apparently believe I committed. What’s more, you’re off on some sort of one-woman crusade. There’s no investigation. The only place there is one is inside your head. No one else thinks there’s anything to investigate. You’re all on your own, aren’t you?”

Yvonne didn’t reply.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Yvonne swallowed. Her lips trembled. She was a completely different person here—in her own home—compared with when she had sought Faye out. The surprise seemed to have made her unsure of herself.

“You’re, what? Fifty-five?”

“Fifty-nine,” Yvonne replied.

Silence again. Faye began to get frustrated. Although Yvonne seemed more accommodating, she wasn’t getting through to her. Not properly. Her attitude was apparently to wait and see.

“What are your dreams?”

Yvonne shifted her weight to her other foot but remained silent.

“You’ve worked for many long years. Bad pay. Awful hours. No one thanking you for trying to keep Stockholm safe. No family. After your shifts, you come here to this rathole and watch TV. You like Greece. You’ve got six years left until retirement if they don’t fire you before that since you’re an awkward weirdo, and then you’ll slowly waste away.”



Faye smacked her lips thoughtfully. “I like awkward weirdos,” she said to herself.

She glanced at the pictures on the walls and stopped at the Mamma Mia! movie poster again. Pale sand. Turquoise water. A jetty. A yacht in the distance. Happy, smiling people. And suddenly she knew how she could influence Yvonne Ingvarsson. Everyone had their price. And she had just realized what Yvonne’s was.





FJ?LLBACKA—THEN

The wind picked up. I was sitting in the bow, staring into the twilight, clinging to the rail so that I didn’t fall in. If I fell, I would die. The currents would take me and pull me down. My body would probably never be found. It would be an end to the nightmare and the fear. The thought was appealing. But other than the grief I knew it would cause Mom, I also knew I could never do it. The world could be grim and dark, but it could also be bright and beautiful. Like Mom. She was the light. We had to get away.

There were happy people everywhere. In the papers, on TV, on the radio. I saw their faces, heard their laughter, their stories. The novels I read were filled with them. Some of our neighbors in Fj?llbacka seemed happy, even though they lived next door to hell. Our darkness didn’t seem to spill over the garden boundaries. But who knew? I saw only the outside. Just like they saw us only from the outside, through their kitchen windows or the same old chats across the hedge about the lawn.

I’d had the misfortune to be born into the wrong family. A family that was broken from the beginning. I would have to break free, correct, repair. Mom didn’t have the strength. It was up to me.

Roger and Tomas wouldn’t keep quiet. They thought I was going to blab. But I knew they would be the ones who bragged about what had happened. Everything I’d kept silent about. Everything that had gone on behind closed doors in our home. The family’s secrets. Everything would emerge. That couldn’t be allowed to happen. Mom wouldn’t survive it. They were her secrets too.



I pictured the moment when Sebastian had stood by the window. After the rape. During the rape. How his face had looked like Dad’s. It would continue. It would all continue. Suddenly, it was clear to me and I knew I had to act.

Sebastian? I felt nothing but hatred toward him, but Mom loved him. I would spare him for her sake. Try to, anyway. I couldn’t make any promises. Not any longer. But the others…They were going to die.





Faye whipped out her mobile and dialed the number for her British lawyer, George Westwood. Her heart was pounding as the phone rang. The stakes were high.

Yvonne watched her with a frown.

The lawyer picked up on the fourth ring and Faye greeted him briefly before getting straight to the point.

“I want to buy a house in Greece. On an island. Think Mamma Mia! When it’s all sorted, I want the contract signed over into the name of a friend of mine.”

Yvonne’s eyes opened wide and her mouth gaped, but she shut it again. Faye recognized that she had her and relaxed.

“I want you to do this as soon as possible—it’s a very dear friend of mine, George.”

“Of course.”

Yvonne began to pace back and forth across the living room floor. It looked as if she was wrestling with herself, but Faye had seen her look and sensed the changed mood. She understood she had already won.

“And just to make sure you understand quite how dear this friend is to me, I’d like you to transfer three million kronor to an account associated with the transaction. For unforeseen expenses.”

Yvonne stopped and stared at Faye. The hostility in her gaze was gone. Now she just looked downright shocked.



“From the account in the Caymans?” George asked. Despite the rather peculiar conversation, he sounded calm and collected. Almost amused.

“Yes, that’ll be fine. I’ll send the details later. Thanks, George. Let me know when it’s done.”

Faye stood up and put the phone back in her bag.