“Something that happened during the war.”
She lit another cigarette. Lindman looked at her hands and wished he could hold them.
“So the police don’t believe my theory? About the woman from Scotland?”
“Nothing is excluded. We follow up every lead. That’s one of the basic rules.”
“I shouldn’t smoke while you’re eating.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve already got cancer.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Did I hear you correctly?”
“It was a joke. I’m totally fine.”
What he really wanted to do was leave the table. Go up to his room and call Elena. But there was something else driving him now.
“A strange sort of joke.”
“I suppose I wanted to see how you reacted.”
She put her head to one side and looked hard at him.
“Are you making a pass at me?”
He emptied his glass.
“Don’t all men do that? You must be aware that you are very attractive.”
She shook her head but didn’t say anything, and moved her glass away when Lindman tried to give her more. He filled his own glass.
“What did you and Elsa Berggren talk about?”
“She was tired. What I was most interested in was meeting the woman who knew my father and had helped him to buy the house where he died. She had known my mother, but we didn’t have much to say to each other.”
“I’ve wondered about their relationship. Apart from the Nazi link.”
“She said she was sorry my father was dead. I didn’t stay long. I didn’t like her.”
Lindman ordered coffee and a brandy, and asked for the bill.
“Where do you think this Hereira is now?”
“Perhaps he’s up in the mountains. He’s still in the area, I am sure of it.”
“Why?”
“I think he wants to know who killed Andersson.”
“I can’t work out what connection that man had with my father.”
“Nor can we. It will become clear sooner or later, though. We’ll catch up with both the murderers, and we’ll find out what their motives were.”
“I hope so.”
Lindman swallowed the brandy in one gulp, and sipped at his coffee. After he signed his bill, they went out to the lobby.
“Will you let me offer you another brandy?” she said. “In my room. But don’t expect anything else.”
“I stopped expecting anything long ago.”
“That doesn’t sound quite true.”
They walked down the corridor. She unlocked her door. Lindman was standing as close to her as possible without actually touching her. On her desk was a laptop computer with a glittering screen.
“I have my entire life on this,” she said. “I can still keep working while I’m waiting for the funeral.”
She poured some brandy for him from a bottle on the table. She didn’t take any herself, but kicked off her shoes and sat on the bed. Lindman could feel that he was getting drunk. He wanted to touch her now, undress her. His train of thought was interrupted when his cell phone rang in his jacket pocket. It was bound to be Elena. He didn’t answer.
“Nothing that can’t wait,” he said.
“Don’t you have a family?”
He shook his head.
“Not even a girlfriend?”
“It didn’t work.”
He put his glass down and put out his hand. She stared at it for a long time before taking it.
“You can sleep here,” she said. “But please expect no more than me lying beside you.”
“I’ve already said I don’t expect anything.”
She shuffled along the edge of the bed until she was sitting close to him.
“It’s been a long time since I met anybody who expects as much as you do.”
She stood up. “Don’t underestimate my ability to see through people. Do whatever you like,” she said. “Go back to your room and come back later. To sleep, nothing more.”
When Lindman had finished showering and wrapped himself in the biggest towel he could find, his phone rang again. It was Elena.
“Why haven’t you called?”
“I have been asleep. I don’t feel well.”
“Come back home. I’m waiting for you.”
“Just a few more days. I really must sleep now. If we go on talking I’ll be awake all night.”
“I miss you.”
“And I miss you.”
I lied, he thought. And a little while ago I denied Elena’s existence. The worst of it is that just at this moment, I couldn’t care less.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When Lindman woke up the next morning Veronica Molin had already left. There was a message on the computer screen: “I’ve gone out. Make sure you’ve left by the time I get back. I like men who don’t snore. You are one.”