‘Linda Persson.’
The silence on the other end lasted a little too long.
‘Can I call you back?’
The question made her hesitate. Would Ines in the kitchen hear the phone ring?
‘Sure, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.’
‘I’ll ring in a couple of minutes.’
What choice did she have?
‘OK.’
She put back the receiver but lifted it and pressed down the button with her finger instead. The shorter the ring the better.
The seconds dragged by.
Her sudden nervousness was consuming more energy than she could afford. How long would she be able to last without some sleep? Was it possible that she had been unlucky enough that the man she had talked to knew Linda, that he could hear it wasn’t Linda on the line?
And then the phone rang.
‘Kortbacken pre-school, Linda Persson.’
‘Yes, this is computer support. Now, let’s see. I’ve cleaned things up a little so there shouldn’t be any problem. You just have to type a new password on the line and then confirm it three times in the dialogue boxes that come up afterwards. OK?’
‘That’s great. Thanks for your help.’
‘No problem. That’s what we’re here for.’
Uh-huh.
She hung up the phone and tried to gather her wits again.
Linda’s new password. That wasn’t so hard.
She smiled to herself and typed the word in the dialogue box and then confirmed it three times according to the instructions.
And then she was in.
She quickly scrolled down through the inbox but couldn’t find any mail from Henrik. Amongst the sent emails there was none to his address either. Either they only delivered their fucking letters by hand or else she used another email address when she was out seducing the kids’ fathers. She was probably afraid of losing her job, that little bitch.
Ha!
She clicked on ‘Write a new message,’ opened her briefcase and took out the original letter and the address lists for the children in the day-care. It took her only a few minutes to type out the letter, even though she added a few typos, and then she started reading through the address list. Simon’s pappa looked pretty good, he would get one. And then Jakob’s pappa, that might make his wife less interested in organising the planning meetings before the damned Stone-Age camp.
She clicked on ‘Send’ and they were off.
There, Linda. It’ll be very interesting to see how you explain this.
She turned off the computer, stuffed the letters back in her briefcase, and was just about to get up. Suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps approaching in the corridor outside, and she held her breath. The next moment the door handle was pushed down. She looked around. The room had no hiding places. The sound of keys rattling. With no time to think she slipped quickly out of the chair and crawled under the desk. The next instant the door opened, and she saw a pair of feet in indoor sandals approaching. As if the risk of being caught would be less if she closed her eyes, she shut them tight. At least she wouldn’t have to see the expression on Ines’s face if she found her under the desk. That mustn’t happen!
The sound of paper being picked up on the desk above her head. Had she taken everything? What if she had forgotten something? Or what if Ines had to throw something in the wastebasket squeezed in next to her under the desk? Of course, there was absolutely no reasonable explanation for why she was under there. Why had she hidden? She was just leaving a message for Kerstin. If Ines saw her she would be lost. Her revenge would be revealed as soon as the email was read by the recipients. Good Lord, what had she done? A sudden sound made her open her eyes in pure terror. Ines’s feet were only a few centimetres from her own. And then that sound again, longer this time. Her mind refused to decipher what she was hearing; maybe it was only a sound effect a second before the world found out about her miserable attempt. Then the feet in front of her hurried to the door and at the same instant her brain released the information: it was a doorbell she had heard. As soon as Ines left she crept out, her legs wobbly. She cast a glance at the desk to make sure she hadn’t left any papers and then hurried toward the nearest exit, the one through Axel’s section. The fatigue could no longer be held back, it felt like being inside a glass bubble; her world was shielded from what had once been called reality. The fear of being caught had used up the last of her adrenaline, which right now was the only thing keeping her on her feet. To keep going, she would have to force herself to risk sleeping for a while. Maybe in the car? Maybe if she drove off and parked somewhere safe, where nobody would find her?
She got into the car and started it.
A few hours’ sleep.
She had to sleep.
First, sleep for a while and then she would drive home and put together a really nice Friday night dinner for her family.
He lay naked in the bed. The flat was cleaned and neat, he had only left the sheet untouched. The walls of the room were bare; everything that had hung there when he woke up this morning was gone. All that was left was a smouldering heap of ashes down by Årstaviken. And somewhere in Karolinska Hospital lay a body, but it no longer had anything to do with him. It meant as little to him as it had done three years and five months before, before he knew that it existed.
Soon it too would be ashes.
But his body was alive. For the first time it was alive and really alert. No longer like an enemy that he constantly had to deny, restrain, force back. All longing was suddenly permitted. The desire pulsing inside him was not a threat but a basis for all the fantastic things that awaited him.
He put his hand on his neck, then ran it slowly down over his chest and closed his eyes. Followed the memory of her hand and continued down over his belly. Just like this she had touched him. Just like this her hands had liberated him.
Why didn’t she call?
The phone lay on the floor next to him at a right angle to the rug, and he no longer knew how many times he had looked at it, placed his hand on it as if it could reveal how much longer he would have to wait.
He wanted so much. He wanted so much and finally it was all possible, and yet it was almost more than he could bear to sit and wait. It was like torture.
He thought about all the wonderful possibilities that their meeting had created. Everything they could do together. Everything he had dreamed that he would do with Anna. It had all been taken away from him, and now he had been given a new chance. He would start working again, it shouldn’t be difficult to get his job back as a postman, but that was only the beginning. Now he would realise his dream and take that course in trigonometry. He would sign up for it on Monday.
Why didn’t she call?
He got up and went into the kitchen. The only thing edible in the refrigerator was a sausage wrapped in plastic with processed risotto. The date stamp said that it should have been eaten no later than the day before, but that couldn’t be helped. He dumped the contents into a saucepan.
How could he have been so stupid not to ask for her phone number? What if she didn’t dare ring? What if she thought he wasn’t interested since he had fallen asleep without asking for her phone number? Damn it, he didn’t even know her last name. What must she think?
It was so strange that they hadn’t talked more. But actually he knew why. They had so much to say to each other that they chose to remain silent.
After all, they had all the time in the world.
What if she had been sitting there, hesitating with the receiver in her hand and didn’t dare call? The thought made his stomach knot up. What an idiot he was for not asking! The only thing he knew about her was her first name. Her first name and the fact that he would never leave her. If he had to turn all of Stockholm upside down he would find her.