the door was broken, the hole patched, somewhat inadequately, by a security company’s tape. There was no mistaking the smell of smoke here either, as she opened the door and the Star Wars theme started to play. To judge by the chaos inside, they still had a lot of tidying up to do after the fire. She almost stumbled over a bucket full of filthy water that was standing beside the door. There were boxes everywhere and half of the shelves and racks towards the front of the shop were empty.
The second suspicious complete mess in half an hour, hardly a coincidence, at least not if Henke was involved. The question was, what had he got himself mixed up in this time?
Maybe Manga would be able to give her an answer?
‘Hello Rebecca!’ he said in a surprised tone of voice from behind some shelves.
‘Hi Manga, it’s been a while. Have you had visitors, or are you moving out?’
They exchanged a clumsy hug. A nightshirt and an embroidered waistcoat, his taste in clothes, at least, had changed dramatically since they last met.
‘Just some kids,’ he muttered, and she could tell at once that he was lying. ‘Powder from the extinguisher all over everything, so the insurance company are making a fuss …’
But it wasn’t just his feeble explanation that was making him blush.
Manga had always had a bit of a crush on her, which was hardly a disadvantage given the reason for her visit today.
‘My name’s Farook Al-Hassan these days,’ he added, cheering up a bit. ‘I converted when I got married two years ago.’
‘Oh, you’re married? And there was me thinking we’d end up together,’ she laughed, and watched as he turned a fetching shade of bright red.
So that explained the slightly odd clothes. Manga had gone and converted.
Maybe it wasn’t so strange when she thought about it, he’d always seemed to be searching for something.
The last time she saw him he’d been a militant vegan, and before that a local politician, unless it was the other way round …?
Manga was a smart lad, but there’d always been something lost about him. She just hoped he’d found something that worked for him now.
‘Have you got children too?’ she asked, mainly out of politeness.
‘A boy, eight months, Mohammed.’
He pulled out his wallet and she admired the miracle for the ten seconds that form demanded.
‘He looks like you, Ma … I mean, Farook,’ she said, with what she hoped was her friendliest smile. Get to the point, now, Normén!
‘Listen, I wanted to ask if you have any idea where Henke is?’
‘Er … what do you mean?’ Another feeble lie.
‘Well, I’ve been trying to call him but none of the numbers I’ve got seem to work, so I thought maybe you might know where he is?’
He shook his head and did his best not to meet her gaze.
‘Sorry, I haven’t seen him for a while …’
She frowned. Two fires, Henke missing and now thoroughly decent Manga lying to her face. Something was going on, and it was time that she found out what.
But just as she was about to open her mouth, Manga interrupted her.
‘Listen, Rebecca, now that you’re here there’s something I’ve been wanting to say for ages.’
‘Okay,’ she said warily.
She really didn’t have time for any latterday declarations of love, but on the other hand she needed his help now. Patience, Normén!
‘Well, Rebecca … I’ve always … I mean … oh, bugger …’
He took a deep breath and seemed to pull himself together.
‘You and Dag, all that business that happened with HP … well, you know?’
‘Mmm,’ she replied neutrally.
‘Well … I’ve sort of always … wanted to apologize to you. Dag and I were cousins, of course, and, well, you met him through me, and …’
He looked down at the counter. She suddenly felt sick. Probably the heat.
‘I mean,’ he sighed, making a last attempt, ‘I-I’ve always felt a b-bit guilty about it all,’ he stammered. ‘That it was sort of my fault, if you know what I mean?’
He shot her a pleading look and she had absolutely no idea how to respond.
‘Dag was older than me, of course, and we weren’t exactly close, b-but I knew perfectly well what sort of person he was. There were rumours about him, that he could be violent and … that his dad left because Dag beat him up. I mean, there was a lot of talk, but I never dared say anything … to you, I mean.’
He was looking down at the counter again.
Rebecca took a deep breath.
What did he expect her to say?
The feeling of nausea was getting worse. The air in the shop was stuffy and her top was starting to stick to her. She needed to put a stop to this discussion and get the conversation back on track, and fast.
‘Listen, Manga,’ she said, as calmly as she could. ‘We all make our own decisions, you, me, Henke and Dag. Right or wrong, we made our choices and in the end we each have to take the consequences. I was the one who fell in love with Dag, it was my decision to move in with him, and I was the one who didn’t report him when things started to go wrong. It was my responsibility.’
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the bastard painful truth, she thought bitterly. Okay, enough of that!
‘Getting back to Henke, I was wondering …’
‘But you don’t get it!’ he interrupted in a shaky voice. ‘HP told me he was thinking of killing him. That he was thinking of killing Dag! He told me what the bastard had done to you and how much he hated him. And I, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t try to stop him, I didn’t tell anyone, and then it all went to hell. Dag dead, HP in prison, and you …’
He stopped and looked at her sadly.
‘You didn’t get away scot-free either, Rebecca.’
He fell silent and she gave him a few seconds to pull himself together. Mind you, she needed the pause just as much herself. Waves of nausea were washing over her with full force now and she had to close her eyes for a few seconds to get her gag-reflex under control.
‘The only person who got out in one piece was me,’ he went on. ‘For me life just carried on almost as if nothing had happened. If I’d just opened my mouth, told s-someone what HP was going on about, then maybe everything would have been different? I could at least have told him to cool it. But I didn’t. I don’t really know why
