Hannu nodded his agreement.
IRENE SPENT THE rest of the afternoon writing her reports and studying the results of the investigation into the fire at the doctor’s mansion.
The fire had burned rapidly, taking the old wooden building down to its foundation. If the fire had been set, the arsonist had luck on his side to have it destroyed so completely.
Chapter 16
FOR ONCE IRENE arrived home before the twins. On Thursdays they didn’t come home until six in the evening, because they both had basketball practice right after school. Irene found a wonderfully aromatic chicken stew in the refrigerator, which Krister had made the night before. She only had to use her culinary skills to put the rice up to boil.
Still, she had to check one thing before the girls came home. She took the stairs two at a time to Jenny’s room. The poster roll was still under the bed. Not that it made things easier, but it could be a starting point for a discussion.
And maybe it would have been, if Jenny and Katarina hadn’t come in through the front door at that moment.
“Things are going down. They call it ‘direct action.’ These are great guys who know what they stand for. Not meek weaklings who are all talk and no fight. And they’re feminists, too. They think women and men are equal. That kind of stuff.”
Jenny’s voice was crystal clear to Irene as she stood there in her daughter’s bedroom. Without knowing exactly why, she swiftly crossed the hall to her own room. Sammie made a tumult downstairs greeting the twins, and it overrode the girls’ voices. Irene quietly pulled her door almost shut, leaving a small crack in order to listen and look out.
“How nice of them,” Katarina said sarcastically. “And if we weren’t, would we even be protected under their animal-rights legislation? Or would we be of less value than a hamster?”
“God, you’re so mean. It’s great that they’re on our side.”
“On our side. As long as we agree with them, sure. Just try stating your own opinion and they’d kick you out quicker than you could say jackrabbit.”
“No they wouldn’t. I can say what I believe. There’s a lot of girls in our group. We can say what we want. And it’s not a problem, because we all agree anyway.”
Angry stomping on the stairs followed Jenny up to her room. Irene heard her messing around for a while, before she stomped back down. From the kitchen came the familiar sound of the refrigerator door opening.
“Did you drink all the apple juice?” howled Jenny.
“There was just a little bit left.”
“How damned considerate. You know I don’t drink milk.”
“Fucking ex-cuse me.”
The tone as well as the language were so horrendous that Irene fantasized going downstairs to tell them to wash their mouths out with soap so their tongues wouldn’t turn black and fall off. Then she heard Jenny say, “You’re just mad that I’m actually doing something to change the world. This evening we’re going to—”
Jenny stopped talking, and Irene froze.
“So what’s your big plan?” Katarina scoffed.
“Direct action.”
A moment of silence. Finally Katarina said, “What do you have there?”
“None of your business.”
“You’re an idiot.”
Irene peeked down the stairs and saw Katarina head toward the bathroom door in a rage. Katarina slammed the door and locked it dramatically. At the counter, Jenny was drinking a glass of water, the poster roll jammed up under her left arm. She held a tomato sandwich in the other hand. She had her jacket on. Then she headed for the door, opened it, and left.
The second the door closed behind Jenny, Irene shot down the stairs. Without making a sound, she pulled on her jacked and slipped out after her daughter.
It was dark and below freezing outside. Irene saw Jenny in the light of a street lamp and realized she was heading for the bus stop. Irene whirled back toward the garage and got into her car. She drove slowly toward the bus stop and parked the car in the darkness between two streetlights a short distance away. As she turned off the motor, she saw Jenny appear by the bus shelter. A few minutes later, the bus arrived, and Jenny climbed aboard. Irene followed at a distance.
Jenny got off the bus at the Frölunda Square stop. She started to walk toward one of the apartment buildings. Irene was distracted as she parked the car and paid the fee. She lost sight of Jenny. She knew only the building Jenny had entered, but not which entrance she’d used.
Irene cursed her own idiocy. What would it matter if she’d gotten a parking ticket? Now she had to sit and wait, since there was nothing else she could do. As she waited, she took out her cell phone and called Katarina.
“Hi, sweetheart. I’m going to be a little late this evening. There’s chicken stew in the fridge. Could you boil some rice and throw together a salad? … Oh, so you already had a sandwich, I see.… But maybe you’ll want some dinner once I get home.… All right. I understand. Could you at least take Sammie out for his walk before you head over to Anna’s? … Okay, thanks. Be home by ten. School tomorrow. Bye, now.”
Irene hung up and prepared to wait for Jenny to reappear. She waited a long time.
Her car was freezing cold, and it was almost nine in the evening when she saw her daughter again. Jenny was not alone. She was in the middle of a gang of six people; it was hard to say whether they were girls or boys. All of them wore hoodies that shadowed their faces. The young people headed over to an old Volvo 240. It was hard to tell its true color under the predominant color of rust. It was a real clunker. Irene had almost wanted to go see if its inspection was current when she’d first caught sight of it. One of the taller people, who Irene assumed was a boy, opened the trunk. He searched for something, then pulled it out and handed it to Jenny. Jenny took off her jacket in spite of the cold weather to put on this new article of clothing. Irene had a chill down her spine when she saw that it was a hoodie, too. Jenny pulled the string on the hood so that little could be seen of her face. Now she looked like all the others.
The whole gang hopped into the car. It protested loudly at being started, but finally it began to move. The thick exhaust made it impossible for the kids to see Irene following them. She could have been only five yards behind them and they wouldn’t have seen her through the smoke. Nevertheless, she kept her distance.
The car turned onto Radiovägen and headed toward the suburb of Mölndal. Irene had no difficulty following them, since the Volvo could hardly go more than forty-five miles an hour. Its engine sounded like an old sewing machine set at zigzag.
They passed the Radiomot and kept going until, to Irene’s surprise, the car signaled a left turn. The car drove up Viktor Hasselblads Gata. Irene dropped back a little more, since there was not much traffic here at this hour. The rusty clunker slowed even further and began to creep along the road. What were they up to? Irene’s worst suspicions were confirmed when the car turned off onto a small side street. She hit the gas and went on past. She was able to see the neon sign reading NISSE’S MEAT AND DELI.
Irene switched off her headlights as she turned down a neighboring side street. She got out of the car as quietly as possible and closed the door carefully. She decided to head back via the roads behind the industry buildings along Viktor Hasselblads Gata. It would have been much easier to walk down the main street, but she was sure the gang would have assigned someone to keep watch.
It wasn’t easy to find her way among the confusion of side streets. Finally she was able to recognize the back side of the neon sign for Nisse’s Deli. A high fence surrounded the large parking lot behind the building, but at the corner there was a clump of bushes that would provide a good hiding place.