Free You're Mine Now by Koppel Hans Page B

I’m new, I don’t think you understand how important it is. Who am I going to talk to then?’
    Anna inspected her hands, which were red with his blood. She went over to the sink and washed them.
    ‘Email me your questions. I’ll answer. Let’s keep it simple. Okay?’
    She looked at him, shook her head with concern.
    ‘You have to be careful,’ she said. ‘Don’t do things like that. Do you realise that you frightened me?’
    He nodded. She stroked his arm.
    ‘I have to go.’
    Anna couldn’t hide the fact that she was in a rush to get out. She hurried down the stairs and Erik stood in the doorway and listened to her footsteps disappear. He went back into the flat, stood by the window, saw her come out of the door and run across the street.
    She didn’t even turn round.
    Erik went over to the bookshelves and picked up the T-shirt that looked like it had been thrown there by accident, and turned off the web camera that it had been hiding. He got his laptop, stopped the recording and pressed PLAY .

17
    ‘You don’t need to come and collect me,’ Kathrine said. ‘I’ll catch the bus.’
    ‘No, Mum, I’ll pick you up,’ Anna said, squeezing the phone between her shoulder and her ear, as both hands were busy putting the shopping away in the fridge. ‘I need to swing by Väla anyway.’
    ‘Well, do that first then,’ her mother said. ‘I don’t want to set a foot in there.’
    Anna almost laughed.
    ‘Mum, when are you going to reconcile yourself with Väla?’
    ‘Never.’
    ‘You’ll have to at some point. Everyone goes there. I just need to pop into the off-licence and buy a bottle of wine.’
    ‘Can’t you do that on Drottninggatan?’
    ‘There’s never anywhere to park.’
    ‘I’ll sit in the car.’
    ‘Okay. I’ll pick you up first then.’
    Anna put down the phone and discovered that her daughter had been listening to the conversation.
    ‘I’ll come with you to get Granny.’
    ‘No, sweetheart. Not this time.’
    ‘But I want to go to Väla.’
    ‘We’re not going to Väla.’
    ‘But you said you were.’
    ‘Granny didn’t want to, so I changed my plan. I’m going to another off-licence. You and I can go to Väla tomorrow afternoon. I’m in a bit of a rush right now.’
    Hedda let out a disappointed sigh, but accepted her fate. Anna put on her jacket and started to walk towards the car. She tapped on the bathroom window, which was ajar so the steam could get out.
    ‘Just going to collect Mum,’ she called.
    ‘Okay,’ Magnus answered, from the shower.
    Anna got into the car and reversed out. She drove slowly through the residential streets, lifting her finger from the wheel to greet people she knew, she passed the shop where she went almost daily and always bumped into acquaintances. A shop where you could openly look in your neighbours’ shopping trolley, out of curiosity and in search of inspiration. Mince? Yes, why not? It was a long time since they’d had meatballs. Rustic and seasonal. Some gherkins to go with it. Have we got vinegar?
    Kathrine was waiting outside her entrance on Kopparmöllegatan. She got into the car and gave Anna a kiss on the cheek.
    ‘Hello.’
    ‘Don’t understand what you’ve got against Väla.’
    Kathrine shivered.
    ‘Ugh,’ she said. ‘There are only four truly democratic things in life: pollution, bad weather, traffic jams and Väla shopping centre. A mecca for ugly people. I refuse. Väla has strangled the city centre, we’ll end up just like the United States. Massive parking lots, ugly and obese.’
    ‘Yes, Mother,’ Anna said, amused.
    She steered her way out of the street and down into the centre. She parked in a loading bay and turned on the radio to keep her mother company. When she returned, hiphop was blaring out of the loudspeakers.
    Anna looked at her.
    ‘You’re just doing that to provoke me.’
    Kathrine nodded her head in time to the bass a couple of times before turning it off.
    ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Tell