“Certainly not. Anyway, Job’s wife thought he should turn his back on God after everything that happened to him. Do you know what Job said in response?”
“No, what did Job say?”
“He said that if we accept all the good things from God, we must also be prepared to accept the bad.”
Ulrika replied with a snort. I wasn’t quite sure what it meant.
Then she sighed.
“We can’t keep living here.”
“What?”
Ulrika gazed past me and out the window again.
“Did you see the news online today?”
“Yes, Mom called.”
“Lund isn’t exactly a big city. What’s more, you and I have relatively public lives here.”
We kept staring into the darkness.
“Aren’t you being a little overdramatic?” I said.
“You have no idea. I’ve seen it happen so many times. People forced to flee, to give up their lives and start over somewhere else.”
“So you think Stella’s going to be convicted?”
She looked at me as if I were a child she was about to disappoint.
“Maybe not by the justice system. It’s too early to predict that right now. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s the court of public opinion that really counts. In general, people don’t care about the court’s decision.”
I couldn’t accept this.
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Not at all. One week in jail and you’re as good as guilty in people’s eyes. Even if Stella is freed of all suspicion, a seed of doubt will always remain in those who know who she is. At least as long as no one else is convicted of the crime.”
It sounded so cynical. Maybe it was bitter wisdom learned from almost twenty years in the criminal justice system—and there certainly was some truth in her reasoning. I only had to look at myself. How many times had I taken for granted that a suspect was guilty even though the courts came to the opposite conclusion? If Stella was freed but no one else was convicted of the murder, surely many people would doubt her innocence.
“You’re serious? You want us to move away from Lund?”
Ulrika nodded.
“Michael offered me something up in Stockholm.”
“Michael?”
“Blomberg.”
I blinked a few times. The darkness outside the window lingered in my vision like a shadow.
“What kind of thing?”
“He’s got a job for me, a big case that’ll take a long time, several months. The firm has an apartment downtown, for overnights; we can stay there till we find a place of our own.”
“We’re moving?”
She put her arms around my neck.
“It’s not going to be good for us to stay in this city.”
The warmth of her body softened me.
“What about Stella?”
“Stella will come with us, of course. Until she takes off for her Asia trip.”
“But she’s locked up.”
“After the trial,” Ulrika said, nuzzling my neck.
“After…？”
“There’s nothing we can do about it right now. In all likelihood it will go to trial.”
“You think so?”
I twisted my torso away, but Ulrika held me tight and pressed my cheek to her chest.
“But we know she’s innocent,” I said.
“We don’t know anything, honey.”
“What do you mean?”
I extracted myself from her arms. She looked so desperately tired. This was sapping us more than I ever could have imagined.
“She has an alibi!” I said. “Stella has an alibi.”
Ulrika reached out her hand.
“Honey, I was awake too when Stella came home last Friday. I know exactly what time it was.”
Something shattered inside me. Why hadn’t she said anything? She had known I was lying to the police.
What else did she know? I thought of the stained blouse and Stella’s phone.
“What really happened to Stella’s cell phone?”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought the police seized it, but that’s not what happened. What did you do with it?”
“I … I…”
Although she was looking at me, it was as if her gaze floated off. I felt lonely and abandoned, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something I would come to regret.
“What did you do with her phone?” I asked once more.
She stroked my cheek.
“The phone is gone,” she said.
I gasped. What had she done? Had she dumped Stella’s phone somewhere? If this got out, her career would be ruined.