Rites of Spring Anders Motte (classic children's novels txt) 📖

drooping and she doesn’t object to being put on the lead. Thea doesn’t tell her off. She’s in a hurry to get back to the coach house. She’s put it off for too long, but now she has to talk to David. Tell him what she found at his uncle’s house, what she suspects.

*

David doesn’t arrive home until gone eight o’clock, and she can sense his irritation the second he walks in. She’s made dinner, poured them each a glass of wine, but one look at his face tells her that’s not going to work.

‘Mum called me,’ he says without even taking off his jacket or sitting down. ‘Apparently, you’ve been round to Arne’s, asking questions about Elita Svart. What the hell are you doing, Thea?’

‘She was the one who told me to go and see Arne if I had any questions.’

‘Did she tell you to snoop around his house? Poke about among his things?’

‘It was Arne’s Polaroid camera that was used to photograph the four of you and Elita in the stone circle. He knew Elita, and he was there that night. Maybe he was the one who killed her.’

David stares at her. She hadn’t planned on blurting everything out like this, especially not the last bit, and she can see from his expression that she’s made a mistake.

‘Arne was there,’ she says again. ‘He’s threatened me. Left little Green Man figures on my car.’

David shakes his head.

‘I was there, Thea. Have you forgotten that? And I didn’t see Arne. Or do you think I’m lying?’

‘No . . .’ She pauses, playing for time. ‘He might have been hiding. Maybe he came out after you’d all run away.’

David shakes his head again.

‘I went back. I saw Leo bending over the sacrificial stone. Leo, who later confessed to having murdered Elita.’

Thea doesn’t know what to say.

‘I’m in the middle of the most important project of our lives,’ David goes on. ‘I’m working around the clock to get everything sorted, keep everyone happy. And the best you can come up with to help me is to start digging up the past. Making people angry and suspicious.’

Rage takes over his voice, making his accent stronger, oddly enough.

‘Plus you’re hanging out with people from the mining company who want to destroy the whole area. Brilliant way of fitting in with the community, Thea – well done!’

‘I’m not hanging out with him. He’s my patient . . .’

‘After everything I’ve done for you! Everything I’ve given up for your sake.’

The comment makes something that’s been bubbling away inside her for a long time suddenly boil over.

‘What the fuck have you given up, David? Your restaurants, your career? Are you seriously putting that on me?’

She gets to her feet, goes and stands in front of him.

‘You were a crap chef, David. Your colleagues were scared of you. You slept with several of your female employees, and please don’t bother denying it. The only thing that ruined your career was you, and the sooner you accept that, the better.’

She knows she’s gone too far before she’s finished the sentence. David has almost the same look in his eyes as when he was fighting with the builder the other day. He takes a step forward, clenches his fists. Emee stands up, growls loudly.

David freezes. He and the dog stare at each other for a few seconds.

‘Lie down, you little fucker!’ he snaps.

Emee doesn’t obey him. Instead she moves forward and bares her teeth, still growling.

David backs away, then turns and disappears through the front door, slamming it behind him.

70

Thea gives David an hour or so to calm down before she calls him. He doesn’t answer.

In the end she goes to bed. She tries to push aside all thoughts of Elita, David and Arne, but it’s impossible. Everything is spinning around in her mind; it stays with her in her sleep.

She dreams of the Polaroid, Elita and the children around the sacrificial stone. The ghostly hawthorn trees behind them are swaying in the wind.

Come to the stone circle at midnight. The spring sacrifice.

‘Wait a minute!’ Elita shouts.

Thea realises that the girl is talking to her. She is the one holding the camera, peering through the little viewfinder. The children in the masks are shuffling uncomfortably. A hare, a fox, an owl and a deer.

‘Pull harder!’ Elita tells them, tugging at the silk ribbons.

The children do as they’re told.

‘Now!’ Elita says to Thea. ‘Take the picture now!’

The next moment everything has changed. It’s night. A fire is burning in the stone circle. The sound of drumming and chanting reverberates from a tape player.

Elita is lying on her back on the sacrificial stone, looking up at her.

‘He’s on his way,’ she whispers. ‘Things have been set in motion, and the Green Man is riding through the forests. Can you hear him?’

Hoof beats are approaching in the darkness.

‘Tell the truth,’ Elita says. ‘Tell them who did it. Who killed me. The strongest love is unrequited love!’

*

Thea is woken by a sound, and at first she thinks David has finally come home. But it’s Emee, coughing.

She switches on the lamp. The dog is standing by the door; she is retching now, and before Thea can get out of bed Emee has thrown up on the floor.

‘What’s wrong, sweetheart?’

Emee tries to walk towards her; she wobbles and falls over. Thea is on her feet in a second. Emee gets up, seems confused. Whimpers loudly. Throws up again.

A sweetish, chemical smell spreads through the room, and Thea recognises it immediately. She’s experienced it before, many times. She grabs Emee’s jaws, forces them apart, sniffs.

Glycol – anti-freeze, no doubt about it. Emee has been poisoned by glycol, which means it’s urgent.

She pulls on her clothes, shouting for David.

No reply.

His bedroom door is open. The room is empty, the bed untouched. She tries his mobile but it goes straight to voicemail. Emee vomits again; she’s finding it difficult to stand.

Thea steers her towards the car and manages to put her on the back seat. She googles the nearest