Stallo by Stefan Spjut Read Free Book Online

house.
‘And then guess what he did? You won’t believe it. He came even closer. He was standing right below the window, looking at us. He was staring at us so intently I closed the curtain. I couldn’t bear him looking at us like we were looking at him.’
‘So you saw him close up?’
‘Oh yes,’ Edit said. ‘I had a good look at him. He was wearing a jacket with a hood over his head. And his eyes … they were the worst thing about him. It was like looking at an animal’s eyes. They were yellow, bright yellow, with pupils like slits.’
‘Like a cat?’
‘Yes,’ said Edit. ‘Just like a cat.’
Susso nodded and looked away to the trees.
‘And it was obvious that he was thinking,’ Edit continued. ‘He was standing there planning something.’
After a few moments of silence she added:
‘He had some kind of business here, you could tell that a mile off.’
She shook her head.
‘We didn’t know what to do so I phoned Carina – that’s Mattias’s mother – and when she pulled into the drive he ran off immediately. Straight over there, towards the Westmans’.’ Edit pointed towards the neighbouring house. ‘And since then I haven’t seen him.’
‘And Mattias’s mother,’ said Susso, ‘did she see anything?’
‘Carina? No, no.’
Edit leaned towards Susso.
‘And she didn’t believe us either. That was the worst part. She insisted we had made it up, all of it. Me and the boy. Even though I showed her the tracks he had left when he ran. Well, they’re gone now. But I took pictures of them.’
Susso looked at her. This was something new.
‘But you can’t see anything,’ Edit said, waving her hand. ‘When you take pictures in the snow they don’t turn out very well. It’s all white. Anyway, when I wanted to show her the tracks she got angry. She put Mattias in the car and drove home. And they haven’t been back since. He doesn’t want to, Carina says. And Per-Erik, my son, won’t say anything at all.’
‘And the neighbours?’ asked Susso. ‘The Westmans, wasn’t it? Have you spoken to them?’
‘I have,’ said Edit. She shivered. ‘But I know what he’s like. He just shrugged his shoulders. And that’s just it,’ she said. She fixed her gaze on Susso, who had turned to face the Westmans’ house. ‘If you don’t know what he looked like, how strange his face was with those eyes, and how little he was – hardly a metre tall, I would say – then it’s hard to be interested. Hard to take it seriously.’
Susso put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her mobile. It was almost half past two and soon it would be completely dark.
‘You know what, Edit?’ she said. ‘I think this sounds very interesting, and that’s why I’d like to set up a camera. If that’s okay with you. It senses when anyone gets close to the house.’
Edit looked a little uncertain but did not protest, so Susso waded off and fetched her backpack from the car. The camera she dug out had a camouflage pattern. Two Velcro straps were wrapped round it.
The downpipe was the obvious choice. She positioned thecamera about a metre off the ground, with the lens aimed at a spot between the birches and the drive. She attached the top strap over the wall mounting that held the pipe in place so that the camera would not slide down. As she fixed the straps she explained to Edit how the sensor worked, how to check if the batteries had run out or the memory card had become full. Edit listened silently, leaning forwards in concentration, her eyebrows wrinkled sternly.
‘Because he was here in the daytime,’ said Susso, ‘I’ll set it to take pictures day and night. Remember that, so that you don’t walk over there and we get masses of pictures of you.’
‘Oh, right,’ said Edit, taking a quick step backwards.
‘But you can walk there now,’ said Susso.
‘Now?’
‘Yes,’ she said, rubbing her hat where her scalp had started to itch. ‘So I know the camera is working as it should. Walk around the cars and