Firewall - By Henning Mankell & Ebba Segerberg Page 0,123

answer. It's a gross insult." She started to protest, but he interrupted her. "Is there anything else?"

"I'm still not finished."

Wallander remained where he was. The situation was almost unbearably tense. He was not going to back down, but he wanted to get out of the room as rapidly as possible.

"The situation is sufficiently serious for me to have to take action," she said. "For as long as the investigation is in progress I have to suspend you."

Wallander heard her words and knew what they meant. Both Svedberg and Hansson had been suspended. In Hansson's case, Wallander had been convinced that the allegations were false. In Svedberg's case, he hadn't been so sure, but Svedberg's word had later been corroborated. But in neither case had he supported Bj枚rk, who was chief then, in his decision to suspend his colleagues. It seemed to him to be taking sides against them before the investigation had even begun.

Suddenly his anger left him. He was completely calm.

"You do as you like," he said. "But if you suspend me I shall resign with immediate effect."

"That sounds like a threat."

"I don't care what the hell it sounds like. It's simply a fact. And don't think you can count on me coming back when the investigation proves that they were lying and I was telling the truth."

"I wish you would cooperate instead of threatening me with your resignation."

"I have been a police officer for a very long time," Wallander said, "and I know perfectly well that the step you say you are obliged to take is not in the regulations. There's someone higher up who's nervous about that picture in the paper and who wants an example made of me, and you are choosing to go along with it."

"It's nothing like that," she said.

"That's exactly what it's like. When were you planning to suspend me? As soon as you dismissed me from this meeting?"

"The man from H盲ssleholm has undertaken to work quickly. Since we are up to our ears in a case I was going to put it off."

"Why bother? Let Martinsson take charge. He'll do an excellent job."

"I thought we would finish the week as we are."

"No," Wallander said. "Nothing is as we are right now. Either you suspend me now or you don't do it at all."

"Why do you have to resort to these threats? I thought we had a good working relationship."

"I thought so too. But clearly I was wrong."

They were silent.

"So how is it going to be?" Wallander asked. "Am I suspended or am I not?"

"You are not suspended," she said. "At least not right now."

Wallander marched out of her office. He realised he was drenched in sweat. He locked his office door behind him, and the full force of his emotions assailed him. He wanted no more than to write his resignation, clear out his office and leave the station for good. The afternoon meeting, and every future meeting, would have to take place without him. He was never coming back.

At the same time something inside him resisted the furious urge. If he left now, it would look as if he was guilty. That way the verdict of the investigation wouldn't have much impact. He would be forever tainted.

Slowly he arrived at his decision. He would go on working for now, but he would inform his colleagues of the situation. The vital thing was that he had let Holgersson know how things stood. He did not intend to toe the line on this or to ask for mercy.

He began to calm down. He opened his door wide and got on with his work. At noon he went home and took his clothes out of the dryer. He picked out the pieces of Elvira's letter from the bin. He didn't have a very good reason for doing that; perhaps it was because she had nothing to do with the police.

He had lunch at Istv谩n's restaurant and chatted with one of his father's friends who was there. He returned to the station shortly after 1.30 p.m.

He walked in, feeling somewhat on edge. Holgersson could have changed her mind since their meeting and decided to suspend him after all. He didn't know how he would react to this. He couldn't even begin to imagine what his life would look like after that. Secretly he found the idea of handing in his resignation appalling. But there were only a few unimportant messages waiting for him. Holgersson had not tried to reach him. Wallander took a few deep