Page 3 of The Living and the Dead

“Sixteen. Um, so is Mikael dead?”

The question sounded childish, and he must have heard it too, because he blushed. Siri held off on telling him. She was trying to get a sense of who this person sitting across from her was. Impossible to say, at this point. Maybe he was just a worried friend and classmate. Most people were no more than that.

“I know this is difficult, but we have to get through my questions first. How long were you all there, at the party?”

“Until around one. Killian got a little too drunk, I guess, and so did I, so we decided to walk home.”

“Do you remember what order people left in?”

Sander squinted, as if to see his memories more clearly.

“Mikael’s brother, Filip, left early, with a girl. They were almost the first. A little while later, Mikael left. Jakob too. And then me and Killian.”

“And that was at one o’clock?”

“There’s a clock on the wall in the front hall at Pierre’s. It said it was one when we left.”

“Which way did you go?”

Siri wished she had a map as Sander explained.

“And your friend?” she asked when he was finally finished. “Killian?”

“What about him?”

“Which way did he go?”

“Didn’t you talk to him?”

“We’re going to interview basically everyone around here, but right now I’d like to focus on what you have to say.”

“Okay, well, we left together. And when we said goodbye he kept going. So I guess it would have taken him a while after that to get home. He lives a little farther on.”

“But you’re sure he went home?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. How?”

“How what?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not being clear.” Siri shifted in her seat. She was getting too warm in her uniform. “What I meant was, how can you be sure he went home?”

“Well, because he said so. Where else would he have gone? He was super drunk.”

“You sounded so certain, as though you walked him all the way there. But you’re saying that’s not the case?”

“Killian is my best friend,” Sander said, as though he needed to defend himself. “If he was going to do something else, he would have said so. But obviously something could have happened along the way, like he ran into someone and decided to spend the night somewhere else. But it was the middle of the night, so who would he have run into?”

Siri waited, as if she found the question more intriguing than rhetorical.

“Do you two typically walk home?”

“Depends on where we’ve been. But there’s no bus up here, so you have to get home from Oskarström on your own. Either on foot, or by bike, or on a moped, you know? Or by car.”

“And what did you do when you arrived home?”

“Nothing. I fell asleep and then I woke up about an hour ago.”