Another day at the office went by with nothing special
going on. But Elin was now on fire, and she constantly checked her mail in the
hope of finding a new request, but there was nothing. It was enough to drive
her insane! She so wanted another assignment, one that would truly challenge
her—one that was even more interesting than Helena’s. Elin had driven to the
cabin a third time and seen the men there, but since nothing new had come of it,
she decided she was done with it.
Now back at her apartment, she had
changed into something comfortable and eaten a snack. She was standing in the
bathroom washing her hands when Maja came home.
“Elin!” Maja was screaming. The
door to the apartment slammed shut. Maja’s bag made a loud noise as it landed
in a corner, and her rapid footsteps could be heard crossing the living room
floor. Elin hurriedly dried her hands. This was not at all like Maja, who was
usually the image of calm itself. Something must have happened. Elin opened the
door to see Maja standing before her, her hands on her hips. Her face was red;
her breathing, quick and shallow. She stared at Elin, furious: “What have you
done? Where did you go with my car?”
“Maja, calm down! What happened?”
“I will not calm down! I want to
know where you went with my car. Damn it!” Her dark eyes flashed at Elin.
“Fine, no problem. I’ll tell you.
Come on, let’s sit down.” Elin stepped toward Maja and tried to take her in her
arms, but Maja pushed her away.
“What? I haven’t done anything to
you. Whatever it is, I didn’t do it intentionally. What’s going on with the
car? Is something broken?” Elin looked at her, distraught. She had never seen
Maja like this before. Usually, it was Maja who had to calm Elin, not the other
way around. “Come on, let me hold you in my arms. I love you.”
That seemed to work. Maja lowered
her eyes, and her shoulders dropped. Elin put her arm around her and drew her
close. What was going on? Maja was sobbing. She embraced Elin and held her
tight. Her shoulders jerked, and she was howling like a hyena. God Almighty,
this must really be bad. Maja seldom cried, and never this hard. Elin was
getting seriously worried. What had happened here? After all, she had parked
the car in the courtyard, and everything had been fine. Unless someone had
tried to break in, but that would have happened later. And why did Maja think
Elin was to blame? That wasn’t like her at all.
Gradually, the sobbing subsided.
Elin led Maja into the living room and sat her down on the couch. Squatting
down before her, she looked into her tear-filled eyes.
“Now tell me everything, and if I’m
to blame, I’ll admit it right away. Promise! And I’ll formally apologize. But I
honestly have no idea what could be wrong with your car. I borrowed it again
the day before yesterday, but then I parked it in the courtyard, as usual.
Everything was still fine at that point. I swear!” Elin raised her right hand.
The corner of Maja’s mouth twitched
briefly into an unsuccessful smile. She dug around in her pants pocket,
produced a tissue, and blew her nose. Then she wiped her eyes with the back of
her hand. Luckily, she wasn’t wearing any makeup, or she would have looked even
worse.
“I was attacked,” she finally
gasped.
“What? Are you hurt?” Elin couldn’t
believe it. Maja was extremely well trained—she could perform any self-defense
move in her sleep. And what did this have to do with the car?
“No. They only threatened me.”
“That’s lucky.” Elin breathed a
sigh of relief. At least, Maja was unharmed. “But who threatened you? Now
please! Tell me the whole story from the beginning.” Elin gave her a
penetrating look. “All right, Maja?”
Maja blew her nose once more and
leaned back. “Yeah, OK. So I was walking out of the studio on my way to the
underground. Since it was still so light out, I took the shortcut through the
park. There was no one in sight other than that guy who’s been following me for
the past few days. He was sitting on a bench in the middle of the park. I was
trying to decide whether to turn around. But then I thought, ‘This is my chance
to find out what this is all about,’ and I walked right up to him. He
immediately stood up, and it was only then that I noticed he was wearing a
mask. I wanted to go back right away, but when I turned around, there were
three other guys standing before me, all with masks as well. I tried to escape
to the right, but these guys already had a knife at my throat, and they were
restraining me on all sides. Then they pulled me off the path and down into the
bushes, and one of them whispered that I should keep my trap shut. I was sure
they were going to rape me, and I was desperately trying to figure out how to
break free. But then one of them—a tall guy, definitely over six feet—said that
they just wanted to talk to me. I didn’t really believe that, but I waited to
see what they would say.”
Elin stared at her, spellbound.
“I need something to drink,” Maja
said.
Elin rose and went to the kitchen.
She had an uneasy feeling for some reason. Four guys, of all things, and one of
them very tall. That was surely no coincidence. But why?
Elin handed Maja a glass of water.
Maja drank eagerly. “And what did they want?” asked Elin.
“They claimed I’d followed them in
my car. And that they didn’t like having someone sneaking around behind them.
This would be their first and final warning. If they saw either me or the car
nearby again, our next meeting would proceed without a lot of talking. They
said they’d make short shrift of me.” Maja had tears in her eyes again, and she
let out several sobs. “I had to confirm that I understood. I obviously said
yes. After that, one of them hit me in the stomach full force, and I blacked
out. When I came to again, the four of them were gone.”
“God, how awful! I’m so sorry—I’m
sure they were the same guys I was observing. I just don’t understand why they
reacted so viciously. I’ve already put the whole thing to rest. Honestly, Maja,
I didn’t want to pull you in. I’m sure it was me they were after.”
“Yeah, that much was clear to me by
then. But did you go back to the cabin another time? You only told me about two
surveillances. And the men didn’t see you at all, did they?”
“Well, yes, they did. The second
time, they stopped briefly next to my—I mean, your car. I ducked right away,
but they might have written down or photographed the license plate number. I’m
sorry—that was my mistake. The first time, I did better and parked around the
corner. I’m sure they didn’t see the car that time. Then the day before
yesterday, I was there again for the third and last time because I just
couldn’t get the whole business out of my head. I wanted to get through the
surveillance quickly, so I drove the car down the dirt road to the fork where
it turns off to the cabin. On their way back, they obviously drove by your car,
but I was hoping they didn’t see it.”
Maja sighed. “But they did. Did you
find anything out?”
“No, that’s why I put the whole
thing to rest. The assignment is done. I just wanted to make sure one more time
that nothing new had come up. But it was the same game as the other times:
working together on their computers, four guys in two cars—nothing more.”
Maja was calmer now. Her breathing
was steady again. “I’m sorry I lit into you earlier. It’s clear that it wasn’t
your fault. I just needed to vent my frustrations on someone.”
“No problem. I probably deserved
it, anyway. When I think of how they could have attacked me instead, then I
know that I got off lightly with your tirade. But that should be a lesson to
me: I’ll no longer use your car for detective work. I see now what comes of
that. But tell me, can you describe these guys at all?”
Maja shook her head. “No. They all
had on black masks, hoodies, jeans, and sneakers. The one who was following me
earlier was wearing a brown parka, as usual—otherwise, I’m sure I never would
have recognized him. And as I said, one of the other three guys was very tall.
Aside from that, I didn’t notice anything special.”
Elin thought it over. “It fits in
any case. I mean, who else could it be? I just don’t understand why they would
make such a big deal out of it. If all they’re doing is playing harmless
computer games, they wouldn’t have had such a violent reaction. Something about the whole thing stinks—I’ve had that feeling from the very beginning. Four guys
who meet in secret in a secluded place several times a week ... that can’t
possibly be harmless.”
Maja sat up. “You’re not really
thinking of pursuing this further, are you? To be honest, I’ve had enough. I
can usually put up a good fight, but four men armed with knives—I’d rather not
risk that again. And I can tell you: they meant what they said.”
Elin raised both hands in defense.
“Stop worrying! Under no circumstances do I want anything to happen to you. But
it bothers the hell out of me that they could get away with this intimidation
act so easily. In my view, our best move would be to bring in the police.
They’d definitely find something interesting here—if only I knew what it was.”
“Thanks, but I really have no
interest in dealing with the police. You know how overworked they are. And
since nothing serious happened to me, I can imagine what priority they would
give this incident. Also, if these guys ever caught wind that the police were
involved, they’d get in their heads to make good on their threat. I really
don’t need that, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, I know. But this situation
doesn’t exactly feel safe, either. I mean, how do we know that they’ll leave us
in peace, even if we just lay low? Think about it. You run across one of these
guys by chance. You don’t even recognize him, but he alerts the others, and
there you are again with a knife at your throat.”
Maja looked at Elin in horror. “Do
you have to be so graphic? I’ve got chills running down my spine.”
“Sorry.”
“You’re right, though. It’s still a
risk. Let me see how I cope with it. Ask me again in a few days—maybe I’ll
change my mind. But please do not do anything without my consent! This thing
concerns me now, too. You can’t make the decisions on your own.”
“All right, Scout’s Honor. I’ll discuss
everything with you beforehand.”
Elin could easily understand Maja’s
point. And she would keep her promise. On the other hand, her detective
instincts had been aroused, and she wondered what lay behind this thing. Just
what sort of plot were they hatching in that cabin?
Elin rose and walked to the window.
She looked down at the entryway to the house on the other side of the street.
There was no one there.
“At least, they seem to have called
off their surveillance. I don’t see anyone there.”
“Sounds good. That’s something,
anyway.” Maja made no effort to check Elin’s observation but instead went
straight to the kitchen. “I need to eat something now. And a glass of wine
would also be good. Now that I think about it, more like several glasses.”
That was something Elin could fully
endorse. Right now, a little normalcy and relaxation were just what they both
needed.
