The Hidden Child
In this official TV Summer Book Club pick, worldwide bestseller Camilla Lackberg weaves together another brilliant contemporary psychological thriller with the chilling struggle of a young woman facing the darkest chapter of Europe's past…Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover an old Nazi medal among her late mother's belongings. Inspired to dig deep into her past, she visits a retired history teacher for answers. Two days later, he’s dead.Detective Patrik Hedström is on paternity leave. But his wife’s enquiries appear to have set off a chain of murders and he’s finding it hard to keep out of the investigation.A terrible secret from the darkest days of World War II is coming to light – and their families’ histories are right at the heart of it.
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CAMILLA LACKBERG
The Hidden Child
Translated by Tiina Nunnally
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2011 Published by agreement with Nordin Agency, Sweden First published in Swedish as Tyskungen
Copyright © Camilla Lackberg 2007
English translation © Tiina Nunnally 2011
The Hidden Child cover layout design © www.blacksheep-uk.com
Camilla Lackberg asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780007419494
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2011 ISBN: 9780007419487 Version: 2018-09-04
To Wille & Meja
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Fjällbacka 1943
Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Kristiansand 1943
Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Fjällbacka 1943
Chapter 7
Chapter 8: Fjällbacka 1943
Chapter 9
Chapter 10: Fjällbacka 1943
Chapter 11
Chapter 12: Kristiansand 1943
Chapter 13
Chapter 14: Fjällbacka 1943
Chapter 15
Chapter 16: Fjällbacka 1943
Chapter 17
Chapter 18: Grini, Outside Oslo, 1943
Chapter 19
Chapter 20: Fjällbacka 1944
Chapter 21
Chapter 22: Grini, Outside Oslo, 1944
Chapter 23
Chapter 24: Fjällbacka 1944
Chapter 25
Chapter 26: Fjällbacka 1944
Chapter 27
Chapter 28: Fjällbacka 1944
Chapter 29
Chapter 30: Fjällbacka 1944
Chapter 31
Chapter 32: Sachsenhausen 1945
Chapter 33
Chapter 34: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 35
Chapter 36: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 37
Chapter 38: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 39
Chapter 40: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 41
Chapter 42: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 43
Chapter 44: Germany 1945
Chapter 45
Chapter 46: Borlänge 1945
Chapter 47
Chapter 48: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 49
Chapter 50: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 51
Chapter 52: Fjällbacka 1945
Chapter 53: Fjällbacka 1975
Acknowledgements
Also by the Author
In the stillness of the room the only sound was from the flies. A constant buzzing from the frantic beating of their wings. The man in the chair didnât move, and he hadnât for a long time. He wasnât actually a man any more. Not if a man was defined as someone who lived, breathed, and felt. By now heâd been reduced to fodder. A haven for insects and maggots.
The flies buzzed in a great swarm around the motionless figure. Sometimes landing, their mandibles moving. Then flying off again in search of a new spot to land. Feeling their way and bumping into one another. The area around the wound in the manâs head was of particular interest though the metallic odour of blood had long since vanished, replaced by a different smell that was mustier and sweeter.
The blood had coagulated. At first it had poured from the back of his head and down the chair, on to the floor where it formed a pool. Initially it was red, filled with living corpuscles. Now it had changed colour, turning black. The puddle was no longer recognizable as the viscous fluid that ran through a personâs veins. Now it was merely a sticky black mass.
Some of the flies had had their fill. They had laid their eggs. Now, sated and satisfied, they simply wanted out. Their wings beat against the windowpane in their futile attempts to get past the invisible barrier, striking the glass with a faint clicking sound. Eventually they gave up. When their hunger returned, they went back to what had once been a man but was now nothing but meat.
All summer long Erica had circled around the thoughts that were always on her mind. Weighing the pros and cons, she would find herself tempted to go up there. But she never got further than the bottom of the stairs leading to the attic. She could blame it on the fact that the past few months had been so busy, with everything that had to be done after the wedding and the chaos in the house when Anna and her kids were still living with them. But that wasnât the whole truth. She was simply afraid. Afraid of what she might find. Afraid of rooting around and bringing things to the surface that she would have preferred not to acknowledge.
