The Pyramid (8 page)

They drove back to Arlöv in silence. There was no longer any rain.

Wallander got out of the car. No police cars, no reaction. Nothing.
Only the lone light in the kitchen window.

Wallander carefully opened the gate. He walked back to the window.
Before he heaved himself up to look he drew some deep breaths.

If things were as he suspected it would be very unpleasant.

He stood on tiptoe and gripped the windowsill. The woman was still sitting in the chair, staring straight at him with the same expression.

Wallander walked round the back of the house and opened the balcony door. In the light from the street he glimpsed a table lamp. He turned it on, then he removed his boots and walked out into the kitchen.

The woman was sitting there in the chair. But she was not looking at Wallander. She was staring at the window.

Around her neck was a bicycle chain, tightened with the help of a hammer handle.

Wallander felt his heart thumping in his chest.

Then he located the telephone, which was out in the hall, and he called the police station in Malmö.

It was already a quarter to eleven.

Wallander asked to speak to Hemberg. He was told that Hemberg had left the police station at around six o'clock. Wallander asked for his home number and called him immediately.

Hemberg picked up. Wallander could hear that he had been sleeping and had been awakened by the call.

Wallander explained the situation.

That there was a dead woman sitting in a chair in a town house in
Arlöv.

Hemberg came out to Arlöv a little after midnight. At that point the forensic investigation was already under way. Wallander had sent
Andersson home in his car without giving him a better explanation of what had happened. Then he had stood by the gate and waited for the first police car to arrive. He had spoken with a detective inspector by the name of Stefansson, who was his own age.

'Did you know her?' he asked.

'No,' Wallander answered.

'Then what are you doing here?'

'I'll explain that to Hemberg,' Wallander said.

Stefansson regarded him sceptically but did not ask any further questions.

Hemberg started by walking around the kitchen. He stood in the doorway for a long time, simply looking at the dead woman. Wallander saw how his gaze travelled around the room. After standing there for a length of time he turned to Stefansson, who appeared to have great respect for him.

'Do we know who she is?' Hemberg asked.

They went into the living room. Stefansson had opened a handbag and spread some identifying documentation on the table.

'Alexandra Batista-Lundström,' he answered. 'A Swedish citizen, but born in Brazil in 1922. It seems she came over right after the war. If I have understood this correctly, she was married to a man named
Lundström. There are divorce papers here from 1957. But at that point she already had citizenship. She gave up the Swedish surname later on.
She has a post office savings account under the name of Batista. No
Lundström.'

'Did she have any children?'

Stefansson shook his head.

'It doesn't seem like anyone else lived here with her. We've talked to one of the neighbours. Apparently she has lived here since the place was built.'

Hemberg nodded and then turned to Wallander.

'Let's go up a floor,' he said, 'and let the technicians work undisturbed.'

Stefansson was on his way to join them, but Hemberg held him back. There were three rooms upstairs. The woman's bedroom, a room that was basically empty except for a linen cupboard, and a guest room.
Hemberg sat down on the bed in the guest room and indicated to
Wallander that he should sit in the chair in the corner.

'I really only have one question,' Hemberg began. 'What do you think it is?'

'You're of course wondering what I was doing here.'

'I would probably put it more forcefully,' Hemberg said. 'How the hell did you end up here?'

'It's a long story,' Wallander said.

'Make it short,' Hemberg replied. 'But leave nothing out.'

Wallander told him. About the betting forms, the telephone calls, the taxicabs. Hemberg listened with his eyes stubbornly directed at the floor. When Wallander finished, he sat for a while without saying anything.

'Since you've found a murder victim, I naturally have to praise you for it,' he started. 'There also seems to be nothing wrong with your determination. Nor has your thinking been completely wrong. But apart from these things, it goes without saying that your actions have been completely unjustifiable. There is no room in police work for anything resembling independent and secret surveillance, with detect ives assigning themselves their own work. I say this only once.'

Wallander nodded. He understood.

'Do you have anything else to tell me? Apart from what led you here to Arlöv?'

Wallander told him about his visit to Helena at the shipping company.

'Nothing more?'

'Nothing.'

Wallander was prepared for a lecture. But Hemberg simply got up from the bed and nodded for him to follow suit.

On the stairs he stopped and turned round.

'I looked for you today,' he said. 'To tell you the results of the weapons inspection. There was nothing unexpected in the report. But they said you had called in sick?'

'I had a stomach ache this morning. Stomach flu.'

Hemberg gave him an ironic look.

'That was quick,' he said. 'But since you seem to have got better you can stay here tonight. You may learn something. Don't touch anything, don't say anything. Just make mental notes.'

At half past three the woman's body was taken away. Sjunnesson had arrived shortly after one. Wallander wondered why he didn't seem at all tired even though it was the middle of the night. Hemberg,
Stefansson and another detective had methodically searched the apartment, opened drawers and cupboards, and found a number of things that they put out on the table. Wallander had also listened to a conversation between Hemberg and a medical examiner called Jörne. There was no doubt that the woman had been strangled. In his initial examination Jörne had also found signs that she had been struck on the head from behind. Hemberg explained that what he most needed to know was how long she had been dead.

'She has probably been sitting in that chair for a couple of days,'
Jörne answered.

'How many?'

'I won't hazard a guess. You'll have to wait until the autopsy is complete.'

When the conversation with Jörne was over, Hemberg turned to
Wallander.

'You understand, of course, why I asked him this,' he said.

'You want to know if she died before Hålén?'

Hemberg nodded.

'In that case it would give us a reasonable explanation for why a person had taken his own life. It is not unusual for murderers to commit suicide.'

Hemberg sat down on the couch in the living room. Stefansson was standing out in the hall, talking to the police photographer.

'One thing we can nonetheless see quite clearly,' Hemberg said after a pause. 'The woman was killed as she sat in the chair. Someone hit her on the head. There are traces of blood on the floor and on the wax tablecloth. Then she was strangled. That gives us several possible points of departure.'

Hemberg looked at Wallander.

He's testing me, Wallander thought. He wants to know if I measure up.

'It must mean that the woman knew the person who killed her.'

'Correct. And more?'

Wallander searched his mind. Were there any other conclusions to be drawn? He shook his head.

'You have to use your eyes,' Hemberg said. 'Was there something on the table? One cup? Several cups? How was she dressed? It is one thing that she knew the person who killed her. Let us for the sake of simplicity assume it was a man. But how well did she know him?'

Wallander understood. It bothered him that he had initially missed what Hemberg had been getting at.

'She was wearing a nightgown and robe,' he said. 'That's not something you wear with just anyone.'

'How did her bed look?'

'It was unmade.'

'Conclusion?'

'Alexandra Batista may have had a relationship with the man who killed her.'

'More?'

'There were no cups on the table, but there were some unwashed glasses next to the stove.'

'We will examine them,' Hemberg said. 'What did they drink? Are there fingerprints? Empty glasses have many exciting things to tell us.'

He rose heavily from the couch. Wallander suddenly realised that he was tired.

'So we actually know a great deal,' Hemberg continued. 'Since there are no signs of an intruder we will work with the hypothesis that the murder was committed under the auspices of a personal connection.'

'That still doesn't explain the fire at Hålén's place,' Wallander said.

Hemberg studied him critically.

'You're getting ahead of yourself,' he said. 'We are going to move forward calmly and methodically. We know some things with a great deal of certainty. We proceed from these things. What we do not know, or what we cannot be sure of, will have to wait. You cannot solve a puzzle if half of the pieces are still in the box.'

They had reached the hall. Stefansson had finished his conversation with the photographer and was now talking on the phone.

'How did you get here?' Hemberg asked.

'Taxi.'

'You can come back with me.'

During the trip back to Malmö Hemberg did not say anything. They drove through fog and a drizzling rain. Hemberg dropped Wallander off outside his building in Rosengård.

'Get in touch with me later on today,' Hemberg said. 'If you've recovered from your stomach flu, that is.'

Wallander let himself into his apartment. It was already morning.
The fog had begun to dissipate. He didn't bother taking his clothes off.
Instead, he lay down on top of the bed. He was soon asleep.

The doorbell jerked him awake. He sleepily stumbled out into the hall and opened the door. His sister, Kristina, was standing there.

'Am I disturbing you?'

Wallander shook his head and let her in.

'I've been working all night,' he said. 'What time is it?'

'Seven. I'm going out to Löderup with Dad today. But I thought I would look in on you first.'

Wallander asked her to put some coffee on while he had a wash and changed his clothes. He bathed his face in cold water for a long time.
By the time he came back out to the kitchen he had chased the long night out of his body. Kristina smiled at him.

'You are actually one of the few men I know who doesn't have long hair,' she said.

'It doesn't suit me,' Wallander answered. 'But God knows I've tried.
I can't have a beard either. I look ridiculous. Mona threatened to leave me when she saw it.'

'How is she doing?'

'Fine.'

Wallander briefly considered telling her what had happened. About the silence that now lay between them.

Earlier, when they had both lived at home, he and Kristina had had a close and trusting relationship. Even so, Wallander decided to say nothing. After she had moved to Stockholm the contact between them had become vague and more irregular.

Wallander sat down at the table and asked how things were with her.

'Good.'

'Dad said you had met someone who works with kidneys.'

'He's an engineer and he works at developing a new kind of di alysis machine.'

'I'm not sure I know what that is,' Wallander said. 'But it sounds very advanced.'

Then he realised that she had come for a particular reason. He could see it in her face.

'I don't know why,' he said, 'but I can tell that you want something in particular.'

'I don't understand how you can treat Dad this way.'

Wallander was taken aback.

'What do you mean?'

'What do you think? You don't help him pack. You don't even want to see his house in Löderup and when you bump into him on the street you pretend you don't know him.'

Wallander shook his head.

'Did he say that?'

'Yes. And he's very upset.'

'None of this is true.'

'I haven't seen you since I got here. He's moving today.'

'Didn't he tell you that I came by? And that he basically threw me out?'

'He hasn't said anything like that.'

'You shouldn't believe everything he says. At least not about me.'

'So it isn't true?'

'Nothing is true. He didn't even tell me he had bought the house.
He hasn't wanted to show it to me, hasn't even told me what it cost.
When I was helping him pack I dropped an old plate and all hell broke loose. And actually I do stop and talk to him when I see him on the street. Even though he often looks like a crazy person.'

Wallander could tell she wasn't quite convinced. That irritated him.
But even more upsetting was the fact that she was sitting here scolding him. That reminded him of his mother. Or Mona. Or Helena, for that matter. He couldn't stand these meddling women who tried to tell him what to do.

'You don't believe me,' Wallander said, 'but you should. Don't forget that you live in Stockholm and that I have the old man in my face all the time. That makes a big difference.'

The telephone rang. It was twenty minutes past seven. Wallander answered. It was Helena.

'I called you last night,' she said.

'I worked all night.'

'Since no one answered I thought I must have the wrong number, so I called Mona to check.'

Wallander almost dropped the receiver.

'You did what?'

'I called and asked Mona for your telephone number.'

Wallander had no illusions about what the consequences of this would be. If Helena had called Mona that meant Mona's jealousy would flare up with full force. It would not improve their relationship.

'Are you still there?' she asked.

'Yes,' Wallander said, 'but right now my sister is here.'

'I'm at work. You can call me.'

Wallander hung up and went back to the kitchen. Kristina looked curiously at him.

'Are you ill?'

'No,' he said. 'But I probably should go in to work now.'

They said goodbye in the hall.

'You should believe me,' Wallander said. 'You can't always rely on what he tells you. Let him know I'll be out to see him as soon as I have time. If I'm welcome, that is, and if someone can tell me where this house is.'

'At the edge of Löderup,' Kristina said. 'First you go past a country stall, then down a road bordered with willows. When that ends the house is on the left, with a stone wall to the road. It has a black roof and is very nice.'

'When did you go there?'

'The first load went yesterday.'

'Do you know what he paid for it?'

'He won't say.'

Kristina left. Wallander waved at her through the kitchen window.
He forced away his anger over what his father had said about him.
What Helena had said was more serious. Wallander called her. When he was told she was on the line with another caller he banged the receiver back on the hook. He rarely lost control, but now he noticed that he was close. He called again. Still busy. Mona is going to end our relationship, he thought. She thinks I've started courting Helena again.
It won't matter what I say. She's not going to believe me anyway. He called again. This time he got an answer.

'What did you want?'

Her voice was cold when she replied.

'Do you have to sound so unpleasant? I was actually trying to help you.'

'Was it really necessary to call Mona?'

'She knows I'm not interested in you any more.'

'She does? You don't know Mona.'