Sidetracked - By Henning Mankell & Steven T. Murray Page 0,38

to the pole, so the wind wouldn’t blow the ladder over. Wallander went to help him, but saw Nyberg begin to climb down. They met in the hall.

“That could have waited,” said Wallander. “You might have been blown off the ladder.”

“If I fell off I might have hurt myself,” Nyberg said sullenly. “And of course checking the light could have waited, but it might have been forgotten. Since you were the one who wondered about it, and I have a certain respect for your ability to do your job, I decided to look at the light. I can assure you that it was only because you were the one who asked me.”

Wallander was surprised, but he tried not to show it.

“What did you find?” he asked instead.

“The bulb wasn’t burnt out,” said Nyberg. “It was unscrewed.”

“Hold on a minute,” Wallander said, and went into the living-room to call Sara Björklund. She answered.

“Excuse me for disturbing you so late at night,” he began. “But I have an urgent question. Who changed the light bulbs in Wetterstedt’s house?”

“He did that himself.”

“Outside also?”

“I think so. He did all of his own gardening, and I think I was the only other person who set foot inside his house.”

Except for whoever was in the black car, thought Wallander.

“There’s a light by the garden gate,” he said. “Was it usually turned on?”

“In the winter, when it was dark, he always kept it lit.”

“That’s all I wanted to know,” said Wallander. “Thanks for your help.”

“Can you manage to climb up the ladder one more time?” he asked Nyberg when he came back to the hall. “I’d like you to screw in a new bulb.”

“The spare bulbs are in the room next to the garage,” said Nyberg and started to pull on his boots.

They went back out into the storm. Wallander held the ladder while Nyberg climbed up and screwed in the bulb. It went on at once. Nyberg climbed back down the ladder. They walked out onto the beach.

“There’s a big difference,” said Wallander. “Now it’s light all the way down to the water.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” said Nyberg.

“I think the place where he was murdered is somewhere within this circle of light,” said Wallander. “If we’re lucky we can get fingerprints from the light fixture.”

“So you think the murderer planned the whole thing? Unscrewed the bulb because it was too bright?”

“Yes,” said Wallander, “that’s pretty much what I’m thinking.”

Nyberg went back into the garden with the ladder. Wallander stayed behind, the rain pelting against his face.

The cordons were still there. A police car was parked just above the dunes. Except for a man on a moped there were no onlookers left.

Wallander turned around and went back inside the house.

CHAPTER 10

He stepped into the basement just after 7 a.m. The floor was cool under his bare feet. He stood still and listened. Then he closed the door behind him and locked it. He squatted to inspect the thin layer of flour he had dusted over the floor the last time he was here. No-one had intruded into his world. There were no footprints. Then he checked the traps. He had been lucky. He had a catch in all four cages. One of the cages held the biggest rat he had ever seen.

Once, towards the end of his life, Geronimo told the story of the Pawnee warrior he had vanquished in his youth. His name was Bear with Six Claws, since he had six fingers on his left hand. That had been his first enemy. Geronimo came close to dying that time, even though he was very young. He cut off his enemy’s sixth finger and left it in the sun to dry. Then he carried it in a little leather pouch on his belt for many years.

He decided to try out one of his axes on the big rat. On the small ones he would test the effect of the can of mace.

But that would be much later. First he had to undergo the big transformation. He sat down before the mirrors, adjusted the light so that there was no glare, and then gazed at his face. He had made a small cut on his left cheek. The wound had already healed. It was the first step in his final transformation.

The blow had been perfect. It had been like chopping down a tree when he cut into the spine of the first monster. He had heard the jubilation of the spirit world from within him. He