Firewall - By Henning Mankell & Ebba Segerberg Page 0,93
himself for having sent in the ad to the dating agency. Even though he wasn't expecting an answer, he had done something.
He put on his coat and went to the nearest video shop, on Stora ?stergatan. It turned out the shop closed at 9 p.m. on Sundays. He walked on towards Stortorget, the main square, stopping from time to time to look in shop windows.
Where the feeling came from he couldn't say, but suddenly he turned around. No-one was there, apart from a group of teenagers and a security guard. He thought about what H枚glund had said, about being careful.
I'm imagining things, he thought. No-one is stupid enough to attack the same police officer twice in a row.
When he got to Stortorget, he turned down Hamngatan and then took ?sterleden home. The air was crisp. It felt good to be out.
He was back in his flat at 10.15 a.m. He found one can of beer in the fridge and made some sandwiches. Then he sat in front of the television and watched a discussion about the Swedish economy. The only thing he got out of the programme was that the economy was both good and faltering. He nodded off and looked forward to finally getting an undisturbed night's sleep. The case was going to have to get along without him for a few hours.
He went to bed at 11.30 a.m.
He had just fallen asleep when the phone rang.
He counted nine rings before they stopped. Then he pulled the cord out of the socket and waited. If it was one of his colleagues they would try his mobile. He hoped that wouldn't happen.
The mobile on his bedside table rang. It was the patrol officer stationed outside Falk's flat on Apelbergsgatan. His name was Elofsson.
"I don't know how important this is," he said, "but a car has driven past here several times in the last hour."
"Did you get a good look at the driver?"
"That's why I'm telephoning, actually. You remember the orders you gave us." Wallander waited impatiently. "I think he looked Asian," Elofsson said. "But I can't be 100 per cent sure."
Wallander didn't hesitate. The peaceful night he had been looking forward to was already ruined.
"I'll be there."
He hung up and looked at the time. It was one minute past midnight.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Wallander drove past Apelbergsgatan and parked on J枚rgen Krabbes V盲g. It took him about 5 minutes to walk from there to Falk's building. The wind had died down. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was gradually getting chillier. October in Ystad was always a month that had trouble making up its mind.
The undercover car with Elofsson and his colleague was parked on the other side of the street and about half a block down. When Wallander reached the car, the back door was opened for him and he climbed in. There was a pleasant smell of coffee inside. Wallander thought of all the nights he had spent in cars like this one, fighting the desire to sleep, fighting the cold.
They exchanged some casual remarks. Elofsson's colleague had only been in Ystad for about six months. His name was El Sayed and he came originally from Tunisia. He was the first policeman with an immigrant background to have worked in Ystad. Wallander had been worried that El Sayed would meet with hostility and prejudice. He had no illusions about what his colleagues thought of getting a non-white recruit. As it turned out his fears had been justified. El Sayed had to put up with his share of off-colour jokes and mean-spirited comments. How much of it he noticed and had been expecting, Wallander was still not sure. Sometimes he felt badly that he had never taken the time to invite him over for a meal. No-one else had either. But after a while the young man and his easygoing personality had grown on them and he was becoming part of the group.
"He came from a northerly direction," Elofsson said. "From the Malm枚 road. At least three times."
"When was he here last?"
"Just before I called you. I tried your regular phone first. You must be a deep sleeper."
Wallander ignored this. "Tell me again, every detail," he said.
"You know how it is. It's only when they go past the second time that you really take notice."
"What was the car?"
"A navy blue Mazda saloon."
"Did he slow down as he went past?"
"I don't know if he did the first time, but he definitely did the second."