The Drowned Boy Read Online Free Page A

feel uncertain, Carmen?” he asked again.
    “The whole day is just a blur,” she said curtly. She wrung her hands. She was on guard; he knew the signs.
    “And Tommy’s dad? What did you say his name was?”
    “Nicolai Brandt. And we’re married. I know what you’re thinking, that we’re young and silly, and we lack judgment.”
    “Not at all,” he said. “I would never think that. Where was Nicolai when it happened? Tell me.”
    “He was down in the cellar repairing some old bikes. He earns a bit of money doing simple repairs and gets quite a few jobs. He loves messing around with bikes; he’s obsessed. So he wasn’t there when it happened. I was alone in the kitchen and Tommy was sitting on a blanket on the floor. He had no clothes on because it was so hot and I wanted him to get some air. He often gets very sweaty. I’d opened the back door to get a draft through.”
    Sejer noted her body language and the pitch of her voice. She was now very focused and calm, as though she finally felt in control of the difficult situation. But her voice was monotonous, and he knew that this detail could signal distance. That she was keeping something terrible at a distance, which she simply couldn’t face.
    “Then I had to go to the bathroom,” she continued. “A chore I had to do in there. It took awhile. And when I came back, he’d gone. He wasn’t sitting on his blanket, and the room was empty. Tommy has just learned to walk,” she explained, “and he’s pretty good. He can get quite far in a minute, and I’d been away for a while. First I ran into the bedroom. I even checked under the comforter, because, you see, I panicked right away. Then I ran out of the house and looked around. But I couldn’t see him anywhere—not in the sandbox, not behind the house. I couldn’t even bear to think about the pond. Even though it was a constant threat, I pushed it out of my mind. But I went down in the end, because I had to look everywhere. And then I saw him by the jetty. He was lying face down under the water. I threw myself into the water without even thinking. I managed to get him out onto the grass. And I shouted as loud as I could for Nicolai. Eventually he came running out in a panic. It was so strange, because I heard the screams, but I didn’t recognize my own voice. Do you know what I mean?”
    She stopped talking and put her hand up to wipe away a stray tear.
    “But we couldn’t revive him. He was gone. Nicolai called an ambulance and they came really fast, and they tried to revive him as well. They tried and tried for ages, maybe as long as an hour; you should have seen the effort they made. But it didn’t help. No matter what they did, Tommy was gone.”
    Sejer sat and listened to the monotone explanation. He was observing her the entire time: her voice, her facial expression, and other signs. She could absolutely be telling the truth. Things like that had happened so many times before, younger and older children falling in the water, mostly when they were playing. But there was also a chance that she was putting it on, acting. She had a theatrical manner that was slightly artificial. And she was certainly very affected, concerned about her appearance and what people thought of her, because her back was straight and her chin tilted up.
    “Was Tommy a healthy boy?” he asked.
    “Oh yes,” she said with some force. “Yes. He has Down syndrome, but apart from that he’s very healthy. He’s never been sick or anything like that. Well, actually, he did once get an ear infection. And his temperature rocketed, so we had to take him to the ER in the middle of the night. But then he was given some medicine and he got well right away. Well, after a couple of days, that is. But apart from that, nothing.”
    “How did the fact that he had Down syndrome affect your daily life? Can you say a bit about that?”
    “Well, you know, he needed a bit more help. They develop very slowly and they don’t learn as