Sidetracked - By Henning Mankell & Steven T. Murray Page 0,54
children said the same thing. They searched through all his address books without finding Wetterstedt’s name.”
“Carlman wasn’t in Wetterstedt’s address book either,” said Höglund.
“So the link is invisible,” said Wallander. “Or, more precisely, elusive. Somewhere we must be able to find it. If we do, we may also catch sight of the killer. Or at least a motive. We have to dig deep and fast.”
“Before he strikes again,” said Hansson. “There is no knowing whether that will happen.”
“We also don’t know who to warn,” said Wallander. “The only thing we know about the killer or killers, is that they plan the murders.”
“Do we know that?” Åkeson interjected. “It seems to me you’re jumping to that conclusion prematurely.”
“Well there’s no indication that we’re dealing with someone who kills on impulse, who has a spontaneous desire to rip the hair off his victims,” replied Wallander, feeling his temper rise.
“It’s the conclusion that I’m having trouble with,” said Åkeson. “That’s not the same thing as discrediting the evidence.”
The mood in the room grew oppressive. No-one could miss the tension between the two men. Normally, Wallander wouldn’t hesitate to argue with Åkeson in public. But this evening he chose to back down, mainly because he was exhausted and knew he would have to keep the meeting going for hours yet.
“I agree,” was all he said. “We’ll scrub that conclusion and settle for saying that the murders appear planned.”
“A psychologist from Stockholm is coming down tomorrow,” said Hansson. “I’m going to pick him up at Sturup Airport. Let’s hope he can help us.”
Wallander nodded. Then he threw out a question that he hadn’t really prepared. But now seemed a suitable time.
“The murderer,” he said. “For the sake of argument let’s think of him for the time being as a man who acts alone. What do you see? What do you think?”
“Strong,” said Nyberg. “The axe blows were delivered with tremendous force.”
“I’m afraid he’s collecting trophies,” said Martinsson. “Only an insane person would do something like that.”
“Or someone who intends to throw us off the track with the scalps,” said Wallander.
“I have no idea,” said Höglund. “But it must be someone who’s profoundly disturbed.”
In the end the character of the killer was left. Wallander summed up in one last run-through, in which they planned the investigative work to be done and divided up the tasks. At around midnight Åkeson left, saying that he would help out by arranging for reinforcements for the investigative team whenever they thought it necessary. Although they were all exhausted, Wallander went over the work one more time.
“None of us is going to get a lot of sleep for the next few days,” he said in closing. “And I realise that this will throw many of your holiday plans into chaos. But we have to muster all our forces. We have no option.”
“We’ll need reinforcements,” said Hansson.
“Let’s decide about that on Monday,” said Wallander. “Let’s wait until then.”
They decided to meet again the following afternoon. Before then Wallander and Hansson would present the case to the psychologist from Stockholm.
Then they broke up and went their separate ways. Wallander stood by his car and looked up at the pale night sky. He tried to think about his father. But something else kept intruding. Fear that the killer would strike again.
CHAPTER 14
Early on Sunday morning, 26 June, the doorbell rang at Wallander’s flat on Mariagatan in central Ystad. He was wrenched out of a deep sleep and at first thought the telephone was ringing. When the doorbell rang again he got up quickly, found his dressing gown lying halfway under the bed, and went to the door. It was Linda with a friend Wallander hadn’t met. He hardly recognised Linda either, since she had cropped her long blonde hair and dyed it red. But he was relieved and happy to see her.
He let them in and said hello to Linda’s friend, who introduced herself as Kajsa. Wallander was full of questions. How did they come to be ringing his doorbell so early on a Sunday morning? Were there really train connections this early? Linda explained that they had arrived the night before, but they had stayed at the house of a girl she had gone to school with, whose parents were away. They would be staying there for the whole week. They came over so early because after reading the papers in the past few days, Linda knew it would be hard to get hold of her father.