He is soon home again. He turns his phone on and waits for Astra to ring. Because she is going to, isn’t she? Surely?
When Astra climbs into the taxi, she is rather bewildered by all the emotions rushing around inside her. She has had a wonderful evening with Eddie: wild sailing, romantic dinner, intimate conversation, night swimming and kissing in the nude – all within the course of a few hours. What a pace! They are probably beginning to fall in love with each other, she thinks, and smiles to herself. She would never have thought that she would fall for a guy with extra-large coloured silk shirts. She is usually waylaid by blokes with expensive suits and smart hairstyles. Astra has no idea which women Eddie has had, but she doesn’t think they usually have an electronic calendar and ten-thousand-kronor shoes in their hall. But evidently opposites attract each other; the greater the charge at the ends, the greater the magnetism.
She tries to phone Titus again. Perhaps he has turned his phone on now.
Titus is sitting at the kitchen table staring at his mobile phone, and answers immediately when it rings:
‘Hi Astra. Where are you?’
‘I’m sitting in a taxi. But where are you? What’s happened?’
‘I’m at home. Can you come over?’ he says in a serious but short tone.
‘Sure. Are you all right?’
‘We can talk more when you’re here.’
Titus doesn’t even notice that Astra has no make-up and that her hair has that after-sex look. As soon as she comes in, he takes her hand and leads her to the computer. He bends down and puts the tube into his mouth. The breathalyser-lock approves his breath and the computer welcomes him to a new work session. He spreads his hands.
‘There, you see? I’m sober.’
‘Yes, I see that. I’m very pleased, I must say. What the hell are you playing at, really?’
Titus looks seriously at Astra and says that he’ll tell her everything.
And he does.
He tells her why he was forced to send her a false text message. How and why he came across Lenny. That Lenny was sloshed and blurted out everything Eddie had said about how he was going to mount Astra. How Lenny laughed and was twitching and jerking at the same time as he was obviously deeply impressed by Eddie’s ability to seduce women. How he imitated Eddie’s obscene gestures with which described that the final conquest would take place on all fours. That Titus hadn’t really believed Lenny, but that Lenny could even quote from a poem Eddie had written about Astra. Some rubbish about something that ‘shines all shiny’ and how he would shag her on his boat Come aboard amour. And that Eddie had said to Lenny that as soon as he had Astra on the hook then he would start pumping her for information about Titus’ new book.
That last bit wasn’t really planned. It just sort of slipped out.
Titus becomes silent and realises he can’t just keep on gabbling non-stop. He must give Astra a chance to digest it all.
The strategy has worked. He can see that from her long face. He isn’t proud of himself, but he does feel that what he has saved is of considerable value.
‘I didn’t know what to do! All I knew was that you were on a sailing date with Eddie. And I know Eddie, he can twist anybody round his little finger. I just had to do something. Do you understand?’
Astra stares at Titus. The words from Titus’ outburst whirl around inside her head, but don’t form any proper meaning. Shines all shiny… shines all shiny… shines all shiny… the words create a little whirlpool in her brain like water draining from a bathtub. At first you hardly notice anything, there is just a little trace of movement on the surface. But soon the laws of gravity and the forces of nature get the upper hand. The whirlpool makes demands, and it takes with it everything it can see on its increasingly wild clockwise journey. It can even suck a big toe into the drain.
In Astra’s head, the shines-all-shiny whirlpool whizzes around faster and faster. It soon sucks down common sense, which until now has managed to swim calmly and sensibly on the surface. Perspective and discernment join the roundabout too. ‘Shines all shiny’ grows into a maelstrom. She recognises that expression all too welclass="underline" they are Eddie’s words, no doubt about it. She feels disgusted, partly by the idea that Eddie had planned his romantic attack upon her. Can it really be true? She is also disgusted to have been a subject of discussion between two cultural misfits at a pub as if she were just some damned plaything. She has no wish whatsoever to be the focus of their conversation. Why is she sitting here in the middle of the night in the flat of a nutty has-been who not only interferes in her life but also thinks he is capable of writing a book that can top the bestseller lists in several different categories? How did she get sucked into this swamp? This is crazy, why couldn’t she have an ordinary job instead? Lawyer, accountant, bank director, any bloody job at all?
But no way is she ever going to descend to Titus’ Neanderthal level and start crying or talking it out with him. Never ever. Coolness and professionalism, these are the only things that work with these decrepit old men.
‘I don’t know what to say, Titus. This is just too much. You make me so tired.’
‘I know, Astra. I’m sorry that it turned out like this. At first I didn’t know what I should do. But I was forced to tell you the truth.’
Astra inhales a slow breath through her nose and exhales it the same way. Then she gets up and leaves Titus.
She feels like she has gone down the plughole herself.
CHAPTER 28
Working Period
A few days pass. August comes to an end and September takes over.
After his visit to study Eddie’s home, Titus feels a great sense of calm. Eddie has obviously had the idea of starting on The Best Book in the World since he has a folder in his computer with that name. But everything he touches is lacking in substance. It is useless. He is never going to succeed by himself. That is most satisfactory, in Titus’ opinion.
Titus, however, is churning out chapter after chapter for his concise manuscript. It is brief, powerful and without a load of boring digressions into detail and recourse to cliché. He is going to keep his readers on tenterhooks and treat them to one cracker after the other.
He finds several wonderful recipes that will allow Håkan Rink to stick to his ABC Method. Soon he’ll have a fully fledged cookery book. The parallel track around fulfilling yourself and finding your self-respect is also becoming much clearer as Håkan Rink and his team achieve major breakthroughs in their personal lives and in their police work. Titus writes checklists and provides examples of concrete plans of action so that the readers can build up speed with their own successful lives as soon as they have finished reading. No end of doctrines, tips and good advice. Meanwhile, the thriller itself is most captivating; the run-through of Serial Salvador’s driving forces is not only an exposé of the dark side of mankind, but also an excellent guide to the history of the twentieth century seen from the perspective of the most important ‘isms’ of the whole period. Titus writes several short essay-like sections which he indicates with an indentation of the text so that the readers will understand that they can just skim through if they are feeling impatient. It is vital keep the readers on-side.