The Double Silence (Andas Knutas 7)

and Stina ended up sitting next to each other. Beata landed next to Sam, and way at the back sat Håkan and John. The bus jolted along the gravel roads, through flocks of sheep, and headed towards the wide expanse of the sea. Film clips were shown on the TV monitor before they arrived at each of the locations where the movies were shot.
    ‘Bergman made a total of four feature films on Fårö –
Through a Glass Darkly
,
Persona
,
Shame
and
The Passion of Anna
– as well as two documentaries,’ the guide told them. ‘According to some film critics, the windswept and barren landscape here on Fårö supposedly symbolizes the inner life of the main characters. Bergman himself said that the natural setting here suited him perfectly, and it inspired him tremendously.’
    Everyone was listening attentively to the guide’s lively account.
    ‘Ingmar Bergman came to Fårö for the first time on a stormy April day in the early 1960s. He came here only reluctantly, looking for a location for
Through a Glass Darkly
. In reality, Bergman wanted to shoot the film on the Orkney Islands north of Scotland, but those plans were too expensive for the Swedish film company. The cinematographer Sven Nykvist had shot newsreels on Gotland and Fårö during the war, so he was able to tell his colleague about the barren landscape. Bergman instantly fell in love with the island, built a house here, and became a resident in 1967. He has meant a great deal to the people who live here. He donated money for various construction projects and filmed documentaries about the lives of the islanders. He put Fårö on the world map. That’s why the local people, for all these years, have been so loyal to him. No islander would ever tell a visitor where he lived, and in all this time they have respected Bergman’s well-known need for solitude.’
    ‘Is the location of his house still a secret, even after his death?’ asked Stina.
    ‘Yes. You won’t get any of the locals to tell you where it is,’ explained the guide with a smile. ‘Not even me.’
    The tour continued. They found out that Bergman always drove his car down the middle of the road, that the islanders mostly viewed him as a nice man who drove to the shops and bought the newspaper every day, and as someone who was good at finding work for them – many Fårö residents were extras in his films.
    While the guide was talking, Andrea poked Stina in the side.
    ‘Look how she’s carrying on,’ she hissed, motioning behind them. Stina discreetly turned around. Beata was on the other side of the aisle in the row behind them, sitting close to Sam and talking nonstop. She had one hand on his thigh, and he didn’t seem to mind.
    ‘What does she think she’s doing? Is she out of her mind?’ Andrea whispered to Stina. ‘She’s acting worse than ever. I’m going to say something to her.’
    ‘Wait,’ Stina told her. ‘Take it easy. You know how she is. Besides, he’s moving her hand away.’
    Andrea took a quick look back. Beata’s hand was gone now, and shecould tell that Sam was feeling uncomfortable. He pressed closer to the window. She turned back to Stina.
    ‘I don’t understand why she acts like that. Last night she was bloody annoying.’
    ‘She drank too much,’ said Stina drily. ‘We all do sometimes, don’t we?’
    Andrea was irritated by Stina’s apparent reluctance to bad-mouth a friend. That definitely didn’t improve her mood. She wished this damn tour would be over soon so they could go to the beach. She glanced at her watch; they’d been out for an hour and a half. The sun was blazing through the dusty windows, and it was getting hotter with every minute that passed. Sweat ran down her back, and to make matters worse, the bus had no air conditioning.
    ‘I’ve got a slight hangover myself,’ she went on. ‘But I noticed you didn’t drink much last night.’
    Stina smiled.
    ‘No, but that’s because I’m on call, you know. They could tell me to come in to work at any time. I didn’t want to run the risk of getting drunk. But it looks like there are others suffering from a hangover.’
    She motioned towards Håkan and John, who had both fallen asleep at the back of the bus.
    Andrea again glanced to the side and gave Beata an angry look.
    ‘On the other hand, she looks quite alert. At the next stop I’m going to change places with her. And that’s that.’
    The tour ended in Hammars, and everyone realized that they must be very close to