One Step Behind

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

He woke up when the phone rang, sat up in bed with a jerk, then staggered out into the kitchen. It was Le

"Were you sleeping?" Westin asked apologetically.

"Not at all," Wallander answered. "But I was in the shower. Can I call you back in a couple of minutes?"

"No problem. I'm at home."

There was a pen on the table, but no piece of paper in sight, not even the newspaper. Wallander wrote the number down on the table. Then he hung up and put his head in his hands. He had a pounding headache and he was more tired now than before he had gone to bed. He rinsed his face with cold water, looked around for some aspirin, and put water on for coffee. But there was no more coffee. That was the last straw. Almost 15 minutes went by before he called Le

"I think you must have been asleep after all," he said. "But you did say to call if I thought of anything that might be important."

"We work around the clock," Wallander said. "It's hard to get enough sleep. But I'm glad you called."

"It's two things, really. One is about that policeman who came by earlier, the one who was shot. When I woke up this morning, I remembered something he had said as we were going out to the islands."

Wallander stopped him and went to the living room to get a notebook.

"He asked me if I had ferried any women to Bärnsö Island recently."

"And had you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact."

"Who?"

"A woman called Li

"Why was she going out to Bärnsö?"

"Isa's mother had ordered new curtains for the house. She and Vederfeldt knew each other from childhood. She was going out there to measure everything."

"Did you tell Svedberg this?"

"I didn't think it was any of his business, so I avoided going into details."

"How did he react?"

"Well, that's just it. He insisted that I tell him more about her. Finally I told him she was a childhood friend of Isa's mother and then he completely lost interest."

"Did he ask anything else?"

"Not that I can think of. But he became agitated when he realised that I had taken a woman out to Bärnsö. I remember it so clearly now that I don't know how I ever forgot it."

"What do you mean by agitated?"

"I'm not so good at describing these things, I guess. But I would say 'afraid' even."

Wallander nodded. Svedberg had been afraid it was Louise.

"What about the other thing? You said there were two."

"I must have slept really well. This morning I also thought of what it was I said to you as we were approaching that first landing. I said that you end up knowing everything about people, whether or not you want to. Do you remember that?"

"Yes."

"That's all. I hope it helps."

"Yes, it does. I'm glad you called."

"You should come out here sometime in the autumn," Westin added. "When it's quiet."

"Do I take that to mean you're inviting me?" Wallander asked.

"Take it any way you like," Westin laughed. "But you can normally take me at my word."

After they had finished the conversation, Wallander walked slowly into the living room. He remembered the conversation now, about delivering post in the islands. Suddenly he caught hold of the thought he had been trying to grasp for so long. They were looking for a killer who pla

Something told Wallander it couldn't be this simple. This wasn't the way things worked. It was too far-fetched. Nonetheless, it answered one of the most difficult questions in the investigation: how the killer managed to gather all his information.

All trace of sleepiness was gone now. He realised he had hit on a possible explanation. There were weaknesses, of course, not least the consideration that the victims did not live along a single postal route. But perhaps it wasn't actually a postman. Could it be someone who sorted the post before it was carried out?

He quickly showered, put his clothes on, and left. It was 9.15 a.m. when he walked through the main doors of the police station. He felt the need to discuss his latest ideas with someone, and he knew exactly who that person was. He found her in her office.

"I hope I don't look like you do," said Höglund as he walked through her door, "if you'll excuse me for being so blunt. Did you sleep at all last night?"

"A couple of hours."

"My husband's leaving for Dubai in four days. Do you think we'll have closed the door on this hell by then?"

"No."

"Then I don't know what I'm going to do," she said and let her arms fall by her sides.

"You'll just work when you can, it's as simple as that."

"It's not simple at all," she replied. "But men rarely understand that."

Wallander didn't want to be pulled into a conversation about the problems of finding childcare, so he quickly changed the topic to the latest events. He told her about the policeman who had seen Louise out at Nybrostrand. He also told her about his conversation with Lone Kjær.

"So Louise exists. I was begi

"We still don't know if that really is her name, but she exists. I'm sure of it. And she's very interested in our investigation."

"Is she our killer?"

"I suppose we can't rule her out completely, but she could also be someone who has found herself in Svedberg's situation."

"Following in someone else's tracks?"

"Yes, something like that. I want everyone alerted to the fact that she may return to the crime scene."

Wallander now turned the conversation to Westin's phone call. Häglund listened attentively, but he could tell that she was sceptical.

"It's worth looking into," she said when he finished. "But I see a number of potential problems with your idea. For one, do people even write letters any more?"

"It's not perfect, but I see it more as an answer to part of the problem. An idea that may complete the picture, rather than give us the entire solution."

"We've come across a couple of postmen in the course of this investigation already, haven't we?"

"There have been two," Wallander said. "Westin, and the postman that Isa's neighbour, Erik Lundberg, mentioned had come by the day that Isa was taken to the hospital."

"Maybe we should find out if his voice matches the one that made the phone call to the hospital."

It took a moment for Wallander to follow her. "You mean the person who said he was Lundberg?"

"Yes. The postman knew she was in the hospital since Lundberg told him. He also knew that Lundberg knew."

Wallander's head was starting to spin. Was there something to all this? His fatigue was returning and he wasn't sure he could trust his own ability to reason any more.

"Then there's this matter with Svedberg," he said. He told her about the charges that had been filed. "I don't understand why he wouldn't investigate the alleged attack by Nils Stridh on his brother. He even resorted to threatening Stig Stridh, to protect Nils Stridh at all costs. Why? He was lucky the whole thing was dropped by the authorities. He could have been severely reprimanded."

"It doesn't sound like Svedberg at all."

"That's what makes me suspicious. He must have felt pressured to act in that way."