A Nearly Normal Family

This chapter jumps back in time to the week prior to Stella Sandell’s arrest. The Sandells, consisting of Adam, his wife (Ulrika), and their daughter (Stella), lead ordinary lives filled with work, hobbies, and small pleasures like dining out and weekend excursions. However, there are underlying tensions, particularly regarding the relationship between Adam and Stella. The family celebrates Stella’s 18th birthday at Adam’s favorite Italian restaurant. His gift of a Vespa Piaggio to Stella seems to exacerbate the gap between his expectations and Stella’s desires.

Adam, a pastor with the Church of Sweden, reflects on his life, faith, and the complexities of understanding the world. The week following Stella’s birthday is seemingly ordinary. However, there’s a sense of underlying tension, particularly around Stella’s increasing independence and Adam’s difficulty understanding her.

On the night of the murder, Adam texts Stella but only receives a reply right before she returns home late at 1:55 a.m. He hears her shower and rummage around in the laundry room before she says goodnight.

Adam wakes up late and learns that Stella has already left. He and Ulrika visit Dino and Alexandra, the parents of Stella’s friend Amina Bešić, for a late lunch. On their way, Adam notices police activity near Polhem School. During the lunch, the conversation reveals that Amina is unwell and has missed a handball match, which is odd. Amina joins them briefly but looks unwell. When Adam comments about Stella potentially catching her illness, Amina reacts nervously, indicating to Adam that she is lying about having seen Stella recently. He reflects, “Lying is an art that few people fully master” (17).

Adam reflects on Stella, highlighting her competitive nature and emotional impulsiveness. He recalls an incident at one of Stella’s handball matches where she hurt an opposing goalie. Despite these challenges, he considers Stella likable and just. Her close bond with Amina, whom Adam praises as strategic, helps her maintain balance. Adam feels regret over not addressing Stella’s emotional issues more fully, acknowledging that pride may have prevented the family from seeking external help.

Once Adam and Ulrika return home, Ulrika becomes anxious about Stella still not being home or answering her phone. Despite having been worried about Stella up until this point, Adam now becomes preoccupied with making carbonara. As Ulrika gets more concerned about Stella’s forgotten phone, Adam thinks she’s overreacting. He rationalizes Stella’s behavior as typical of a teenager. However, Adam then makes a chilling discovery: Stella’s favorite blouse in the laundry, stained with dark marks. He realizes that the situation with Stella might be more serious than he thought.

Adam reflects on his belief in God. He and Ulrika met during their university days and had distinct personalities and paths. Before he and Ulrika married, Adam told her about a life-changing experience—saving a young girl from drowning—that played a pivotal role in his turn toward faith. This moment, marked by a profound sense of divine intervention and strength, solidified his belief in God and led him toward his path as a pastor.

Grappling with his concern over the stained blouse found in the laundry and what it might imply about Stella, Adam turns to prayer, seeking divine intervention to protect his daughter. Ulrika starts a frantic search for more information about Stella’s whereabouts. Ulrika sends out a group text seeking information about Stella, while Adam reflects on his frustration and concern. He hesitates at Ulrika’s suggestion that they involve the police, believing it to be excessive. Suddenly, someone calls the family’s seldom-used landline.

Adam reflects on the unexpected conception of Stella and the circumstances surrounding her birth. Throughout Ulrika’s pregnancy, Adam exhibited calm certainty despite Ulrika’s anxiety. Approaching the situation with a faith-driven optimism, he did not fully grasp the seriousness of childbirth until he witnessed Ulrika in labor.

Ulrika reveals that the landline call was from Michael Blomberg, a lawyer and former colleague. Blomberg has been appointed to represent Stella, who is now with the police. Adam’s mind jumps to the possibility of Stella having survived a crime. Before they leave to meet Blomberg, Ulrika rushes off to do something unseen by Adam. Adam’s thoughts drift back to Stella’s early years and her first words.

Stella is in police custody and suspected of murder. The urgency of the situation propels Adam and Ulrika to the police station, but before they enter the taxi, Ulrika vomits near the trash bins. Blomberg reveals that the victim is 32-year-old Christopher Olsen, a successful businessman and the son of Margaretha Olsen, a notable figure in legal circles. His cause of death is ruled as deadly force with a bladed weapon. During the discussion with Blomberg, Ulrika turns to Adam, seeking to establish an alibi for Stella. She asks Adam if he was awake when Stella came home, implying that his awareness of her return could be crucial in proving her innocence.

Once home, Ulrika contacts her connections, seeking any information that could aid their daughter. Adam, meanwhile, obsessively searches online for details about the incident and the victim, Christopher Olsen.

Amina calls Adam and admits to lying about seeing Stella on the night of the murder. Adam forgives Amina’s lie as a misguided attempt to protect Stella. Ulrika receives a call informing her that the prosecutor has ordered Stella’s remand, meaning she will be held in jail. The next morning, Ulrika receives another call, this time from Blomberg, and informs Adam that the police are coming to search their house. Adam immediately thinks of the stained blouse, which he hid in the laundry room. In a moment of panic, he realizes the blouse is now gone.

The narrative shifts to a parent-teacher conference that Adam and Ulrika attended when Stella was five. The teacher, Ingrid, brings up concerns about Stella’s behavior, particularly her tendency to be dominant and get angry when things don’t go her way. This news causes Adam to become embarrassed and defensive. Ulrika is dismissive, suggesting that Stella’s assertiveness could be a positive trait. Adam questions how much they should try to curb this aspect of Stella’s personality.

Chief Inspector Agnes Thelin interrogates Adam about Adam’s activities on the night of the incident and Stella’s supposed plans. Adam describes Stella as typically unresponsive to texts in an attempt to normalize her behavior on the night in question. Despite an internal struggle, Adam also decides to provide Stella with an alibi, stating she came home at 11:45 p.m. He begins to rationalize this lie, thinking to himself, “Better a kind lie than a hurtful truth” (47).

Adam recalls a time when he attempted to instill a sense of moral awareness in Stella, much like his father did with him. He asked her, “Does it [her action] feel good in your heart?” (50). His intention was to make her reflect on her actions and feel a sense of empathy or remorse. Stella instead replied, “My heart doesn’t feel anything. It’s just beating” (50). This response was eerie and concerning for Adam, indicating a lack of emotional response or understanding that he would have expected in such a situation. In the present, Ulrika informs Adam that the prosecutor has requested Stella’s detention, implying that the police have found incriminating evidence in their house.

During a meeting in Michael Blomberg’s office, Blomberg informs Adam and Ulrika about a footprint found at the crime scene matching Stella’s shoe size. He also discusses the forensic analysis of items taken from their home. A witness, My Sennevall, claims to recognize Stella from her workplace at H&M and places Stella near the crime scene. Adam has growing doubts about Blomberg’s effectiveness as a defense attorney. Blomberg comments on Adam’s reputation for honesty, suggesting that Adam’s confirmation of Stella’s return time would be crucial in establishing her innocence.

Adam and Ulrika arrive at the courthouse for Stella’s custody hearing. Stella enters, flanked by guards and appearing resigned and defeated. The decision is made to conduct the hearing behind closed doors, barring Adam and Ulrika from being present. The possibility that Stella might be guilty begins to take root in Adam’s mind, conflicting with his paternal instincts and his faith.

Adam also grapples with the disbelief that such a tragedy could befall a family like theirs, which he considers “perfectly ordinary” and well-adjusted. As the chapter closes, the judge states that Stella is under reasonable suspicion for murder.

Adam and Ulrika wait anxiously outside Michael Blomberg’s office. When he arrives, he reveals potentially significant information about Christopher Olsen, including his troubled past business dealings and allegations of abuse and sexual assault. However, Adam is skeptical of Blomberg’s strategy to present an alternative perpetrator, thus creating reasonable doubt.

Privately, Adam brings up the stained blouse he had found earlier to Ulrika. Ulrika’s responds, “What stains?” (60), implying she doesn’t know about it (however, the novel later reveals that she disposed of it).

Adam feels he is losing control. His nights are restless, he obsessively cleans, and he experiences deepening fear and uncertainty about Stella’s involvement in the crime. In an attempt to regain some semblance of control, Adam decides to visit the playground where the murder occurred. Frustrated by the uncertainties and driven by a desperate need to do something, he resolves to speak with the eyewitness, My Sennevall, who claims to have seen Stella at the scene.

Adam goes to the apartment building where Christopher Olsen lived and where My Sennevall, the eyewitness who claimed to have seen Stella, resides. He finds My’s apartment and convinces her to let him in. She claims to have seen Stella twice on the night of the murder: first entering Christopher’s building and later standing on the sidewalk. My heard a man screaming around one o’clock, the time of the murder, and her certainty that the sounds came from the playground aligns with the timeline the police have established. However, Adam struggles with the reliability of My’s testimony, thinking to himself that My “sound[s] so naïve, almost like she [is] out of touch with reality” (60). My states that it wasn’t the first time Stella had been in the area.

During a flashback to when Stella and Amina were 14, Amina approaches Adam about Stella’s cannabis use, a substance that is illegal in Sweden. This discovery leads to a series of events, including confrontations, arguments, and the involvement of various professionals. Adam’s reflections on this period in their lives reveal his feelings of inadequacy and failure as a parent. His embarrassment of their private lives being on display is evident when he asks, “What must people think of us?” (71). The support he receives from colleagues offers some comfort, but he still feels exposed and judged for not being able to manage his own daughter.