Firewall - By Henning Mankell & Ebba Segerberg Page 0,69
door and throw everything on the ground, but he managed to calm himself down.
Once he had finished eating he wasn't sure if he should go home or go back to the station. He needed to sleep, but his anxiety wasn't letting up. He drove to the station. There was no-one in the canteen, but the coffee machine had been fixed. Someone had written an angry note about not pulling too hard on the levers.
What levers? Wallander thought helplessly. I put my cup down and push a button. I've never seen a lever. He took his coffee back to his office. The corridor was deserted. He didn't know how many late nights he had spent there alone.
Once, when he was still married to Mona and Linda was a young child, Mona had turned up at his office, seriously cross, and told him he had to make a choice between his family and his work. That time he had immediately gone home with her. But there had been many times when he had chosen to stay on and work.
He took Martinsson's coat with him to the gents' and tried to clean it, but without success. Then he returned to his office and spent half an hour making notes about his conversation with Eriksson. When he had finished he yawned and stretched. It was 11.30 p.m. and he knew he should go home and try to sleep, but he forced himself to read through what he had written. He kept thinking about Falk's strange personality and his secret room with an altar to his own image. And the fact that no-one knew where he had his post sent. Then he thought about the thing Eriksson had said that had stuck in his mind: Falk turned down a number of lucrative job offers because he felt he had enough as it was.
Wallander checked the time. It was 11.40 p.m. He wanted to talk to Mrs Falk, to ask about Falk's will. It was too late to call, even though something told him that she wouldn't be asleep. Wallander yawned again. He put on his coat and turned off the light. As he was walking through reception one of the officers on the night shift stuck his head out of the control room.
"I think I have something for you," he said.
Wallander shut his eyes tight and hoped it wasn't something that would keep him up all night. He walked over and took the receiver the officer held out to him.
"Someone has discovered a body," he said.
Not another one, Wallander thought. We can't take that. Not right now. He held the receiver to his ear. "Kurt Wallander. What seems to be the matter?"
The man speaking on the other end was clearly agitated. He was screaming into the phone. Wallander held the receiver further away.
"Please speak more slowly," Wallander said. "Clearly and slowly. Otherwise we're not going to be able to get anywhere."
"My name is Nils J枚nsson. There's a dead man on the street."
"Where is that?"
"In Ystad. I tripped over him. He's naked and he's dead. It's horrible. I shouldn't have to see things like this. I have a weak heart."
"Calm down," Wallander said. "Nice and easy, now. You say there's a naked dead man on the street?"
"Isn't that what I said?"
"Yes, you did. Now tell me what street you're on."
"I don't know. It's a fucking car park."
Wallander shook his head.
"Is it a street or a car park?"
"It's something in between."
"And where is it?"
"I'm on my way from Trelleborg to Kristianstad. I was going to fill up the car and then he was just lying there."
"So you're calling from a petrol station?"
"I'm in my car."
Wallander had begun to hope the man was simply intoxicated and imagining things. But his agitation seemed real.
"What can you see from your car?"
"I think it's a department store."
"Is there a name?"
"I can't see any. I took the exit."
"What exit?"
"The one for Ystad, of course."
"From Trelleborg?"
"From Malm枚. I was on the main road."
A thought had come crawling out of Wallander's subconscious, though he had trouble believing it could be true.
"Can you see a cash machine from your car?" he said.
"That's where he is. On the pavement."
Wallander held his breath. The man kept talking and Wallander handed the phone to the officer who had been listening in the background.
"It's where Falk was found," Wallander said. "Maybe we've found him again."
"Who do you want me to send down there?"
"Call Martinsson and Nyberg. How many patrol cars are out right now?"