Read The Writing on the Wall for Free Online Page A

had … I don’t know, do they still call it a steady date?’
    ‘Goodness knows. But at least you and I speak the same language.’
    ‘I suppose she must have had her crushes like everyone else – but she’s never mentioned them here at home.’
    ‘Didn’t she confide in her mother?’
    A hint of coldness flashed in her eyes. ‘No, fancy that – she didn’t.’
    ‘So we can’t come up with any names, can we?’
    She shook her head.
    ‘Did I understand correctly, on my visit to Åsa’s house, that they’d been in the Guides together?’
    ‘Yes they were, right from Brownies up to Class 7 or 8. Then they both suddenly packed it in.’
    ‘Any idea why?’
    ‘No. They just said they were fed up of it. That they’d grown out of it.’
    ‘Maybe I could talk to one of the Guides leaders from that time?’
    ‘I can’t imagine it has anything to do with – with all that !’
    ‘No … probably not. But is there a name you could give me?’
    ‘Of one of the Guide leaders? Er … The one we had most to do with in the last years was called … what was it now? Yes, I’ve got it! Sigrun Søvik.’
    I noted down the name. ‘And Astrid Nikolaisen’s address – do you have that?’
    She nodded, stood up, went across to the wall unit again and pulled out a drawer. She leafed through a pile of papers before taking out a photocopy and bringing it over to me. ‘This should be this year’s.’
    I looked at the class list, running my eyes quickly down the names until I got to Astrid Nikolaisen. I glanced up. ‘I couldn’t keep it for a bit, could I? In case any other names turn up?’
    ‘Do you expect them to?’ she asked anxiously, as if she’d suddenly started to wonder whether I was keeping anything back from her.
    ‘It’s just so I don’t have to bother you each time I –’
    ‘You’re not bothering me! I’m paying for it, aren’t I?’
    ‘Yes, if it comes to that … But …’ I held the list up, repeating the question with my eyes.
    ‘Of course you can keep it! – I’ve got last year’s anyway. There aren’t many changes.’
    I drained my cup of coffee. ‘Anything else I should know?’
    She shot a glance at me. ‘Like what, for example?’
    ‘Oh, I … How long have you and your husband been separated?’
    ‘Since August. It was during the summer holidays that things finally fell apart.’
    ‘Classic.’
    ‘Not how you think. We made the mistake of never going on holiday together. There was a lot of trouble down at the paper, as you’ll no doubt remember, blank pages and things, so he couldn’t go anywhere before school started again. And by that time we were already … Then eventually he took a week in London, or wherever it was, on his own, and when he got back home …’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Things like this don’t happen overnight anyway. They build up like a thunderstorm.’
    ‘And Torild was out at sea, in an open boat?’
    She looked at me perplexed. ‘What?’
    ‘What I mean is … how did she take it? Did she react in any particular way?’
    She gazed wistfully ahead. ‘No, I … Well, as I said yesterday, I suppose she did become a bit more distant. It was as though she’d opted out from what was left of family life. She went out more in the evenings, never brought anyone home and … would come home late herself.’
    ‘The other children … did they react in the same way?’
    ‘No, that was it.’ She shifted her gaze to the window and looked out.
    When she looked at me again, you could see the fear in her eyes. She held her clenched fist against her breast. ‘Of course, you do ask yourself, when things like this happen: is it my, or our, fault? Where did we go wrong? But the others have had just the same upbringing! Stian, well he’s only ten, so I mean … He’s completely dependent on his mummy and daddy. As for Vibeke, she’s managing fine – she’s registered the situation and is doing just as well at school as ever. So what can the reason