“Damn,” Martinsson said. “I thought he said he always covered his tracks!”
Not another one, Wallander thought helplessly. I can’t cope with another one.
He was already on his way down the stairs with Martinsson at his heels.
Martinsson’s car was closer. Wallander put the police light on the roof.
Together they sped out of Ystad. It was ten o’clock in the morning. The rain was pouring down.
Chapter Thirty-Four
After the hair-raising drive to Loderup, Wallander finally met Robert’s mother. She was overweight and seemed very nervous. She had plugs of cotton wool in her nostrils and was lying on the sofa with a damp towel on her forehead.
Robert Modin’s father had opened the door when they had pulled into the driveway. Wallander searched in vain for his first name. He looked over at Martinsson.
“His name is Axel Modin.”
They got out of the car, and the first thing Axel Modin said was that Robert had taken the car. He repeated this sentence again and again.
“The boy took the car. He doesn’t even have a license.”
“Does he know how to drive?” Martinsson asked.
“Hardly I’ve tried to teach him. I have no idea how I got such an impractical son.”
But he knows his way around a computer, Wallander thought. However you explain that.
They ran across the yard to get out of the heavy rain. Once they were in the hall, Axel Modin said in a low voice that his wife was in the living room.
“She has a nosebleed,” he said. “She always gets one when she is upset.”
Wallander and Martinsson walked in to meet her. She started to cry when she heard that they were from the police.
“We’d better sit down in the kitchen,” Axel Modin said. “That way we won’t disturb her. She has a tendency to get anxious.”
Wallander sensed a note of sadness in his voice as he spoke of his wife. They walked out into the kitchen and Axel closed the door part of the way. During the entire conversation, Wallander had the feeling that he was listening for any sound from his wife.
He asked them if they wanted coffee and they both declined. They shared a feeling of urgency. During the ride out to Löderup Wallander had grown increasingly afraid. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he knew Robert could be in severe danger. They already had two dead youngsters in the case and Wallander couldn’t stand it happening a third time.
While they had been speeding down the highway toward Löderup, Wallander had been too nervous about Martinsson crashing the car to say anything, but once they reached the smaller roads where he was forced to slow down, he started asking some questions.
“How could he have known we were in Falk’s office? And how could he have used Falk’s account?”
“He probably tried to call you first,” Martinsson said. “Is your phone turned on?”
Wallander took it out. It was turned off. He swore.
“He must have guessed that we were likely to be there,” Martinsson continued. “And of course he had simply memorized the information about Falk’s e-mail. There’s nothing wrong with his mind.”
They didn’t get any further before it was time to turn into Modin’s yard. Now they were sitting in the kitchen.
“What happened?” Wallander asked. “We got what amounts to an SOS from Robert.”
Axel Modin stared at him in disbelief.
“An SOS?”
“He sent us an e-mail. But the most important thing now is that you tell us what happened on your end.”
“I don’t know anything,” Axel Modin said. “I didn’t even know you were on your way. But I have noticed that he’s been up late the past couple of nights. I don’t know what he’s been up to, but I know it has to do with those damned computers of his. This morning when I woke up around six he was still up. He must not have slept at all. I knocked on his door and asked if he wanted a cup of coffee. He said yes. He came down after about half an hour, but didn’t say anything. He seemed completely absorbed in his thoughts.”
“Was that typical of him?”
“Yes, it didn’t surprise me at all. I could see in his face that he hadn’t slept.”
“Did he tell you anything about what he was doing?”
“No, he never did. It wouldn’t have done any good. I’m an old man and I don’t understand the first thing about computers.”
“What happened after that?”
“He drank the coffee, had a glass of water, and went back upstairs.”
“I didn’t think he drank coffee,” Martinsson said. “I thought he was very particular about his dietary habits.”
“Coffee is the big exception. But you’re right. He’s vegan, he says.”
Wallander wasn’t sure what the criteria for a vegan were. Linda had tried to explain it all to him once and had mentioned things such as environmental consciousness, buckwheat, and sprouts. But it was beside the point in this discussion. He pressed on.
“So Robert returned to his bedroom. What time was it then?”
“A quarter to seven.”
“Did you receive any calls this morning?”
“He has a cell phone. I can’t hear it.”
“Then what happened?”
“At eight I went upstairs with breakfast for my wife. When I walked past his door I didn’t hear anything. I actually stopped and tried to hear if he might have gone to bed.”
“Do you think he had?”
“It was quiet and I think he was lying in bed. But I don’t think he was sleeping. I got the impression that he was thinking.”
Wallander wrinkled his nose.
“How could you know that?”
“I can’t, of course. But I don’t think it’s so hard to tell if a person behind that closed door is thinking with great concentration. Don’t you think you can sense it?”
Martinsson nodded in an understanding manner that irritated Wallander. The hell you’d be able to tell if I was thinking hard if the door was closed, he thought to himself.
“Let’s move on. You gave your wife breakfast in bed.”
“Not in bed, actually. She has a little table in the bedroom. She’s often unsettled in the morning and needs a little time to herself.”
“And then?”
“I went back down to the kitchen to wash the dishes and feed the cats. And the chickens out back. We have a couple of ducks as well. Then I went down to the mailbox and got the morning paper. Then I had some more coffee and read the paper.”
“And the whole time you didn’t hear any noise from upstairs?”
“No. It was after this that it happened.”
Martinsson and Wallander grew more attentive. Axel Modin got up and walked over to the living-room door. He pulled it a little closer, then came back to the table and sat down.
“I suddenly heard Robert’s door open with a bang. He came rushing down the stairs with incredible speed. I only had time to stand up before he reached the kitchen. He looked completely in shock, as if I were a ghost. Before I had time to say anything he ran out into the hall and locked the front door. Then he came back and asked me if I had seen anyone. He screamed it at me, that is.”
“That was what he said? ‘Have you seen anyone?’?”
“He was beside himself. I asked him what the matter was, of course. But he didn’t listen to me. He was looking out the window, here in the kitchen and in the living room. My wife started yelling from upstairs. She was frightened by the noise. It was pretty hectic in here for a few minutes, I can tell you.”
“What happened?”
“When he came back into the kitchen, he had my shotgun with him and ordered me to get the ammunition for it. That scared me, and I asked him again what had happened but he didn’t say anything. He just wanted that buckshot. But I didn’t give him any.”