He and Jerry had stepped out of the lift five minutes earlier, and his ex-wife had been waiting.
‘Hello, Jerry,’ Marika said quietly. ‘How are you?’
Marika had met Jerry only once before, but that was a long time ago, the year before the twins were born. She had met Per’s mother Anita several times by that stage and things had gone very well, and she insisted on meeting his father as well. So one weekend when they weren’t far from Kristianstad, Per had driven into the centre and rung the doorbell of Jerry’s apartment.
He had been hoping that no one would be at home.
But Jerry had opened the door dressed in a dark-blue silk dressing gown and leopard-print underpants, and had invited them in for lunch: toast with whitefish roe. Plenty of sparkling wine as well, of course. When they left he had given them the latest issues of Babylon and Gomorrah as a present — just to destroy the romance.
After that, Marika hadn’t wanted to see Jerry again.
And now, fourteen years later, they were standing here face to face. Per wasn’t sure if Jerry actually recognized his ex-wife. He was just staring at Marika, but then that was what he did with everybody these days.
‘Jerry doesn’t say much any more,’ said Per. ‘But apart from that he’s doing pretty well. Aren’t you, Jerry?’
His father merely nodded, still staring at Marika.
‘Have you been in to see Nilla?’ Per asked.
‘Yes... she’s feeling quite cheerful today. I have to go — the doctor wants to see me. Will you come with me?’
Per shook his head. He was frightened of hearing any news about Nilla. ‘Not today.’
‘It might be important,’ said Marika.
‘Every meeting about Nilla is important,’ Per said quickly. ‘I’ll be back soon, but there’s something Jerry and I have to do right now. That’s important, too.’
‘Can’t you put it off?’
‘No... We’ve got to go to a meeting.’
He didn’t want to say it involved the police. Marika nodded, but she didn’t look pleased.
‘See you later,’ said Per, heading into the ward.
Nilla was sitting cross-legged on her bed, drinking something out of a glass; she was dressed in her pyjamas, and her back was straight. She nodded at her father as he came in, but carried on drinking. Per looked at the strange, orange liquid in the glass and asked her, ‘What are you drinking?’
‘Carrot juice.’
‘Did you buy it yourself?’
She took another swig and shook her head. ‘Emil gave it to me... His mum makes it for him, and she adds all kinds of vitamins that are supposed to make him better. But he doesn’t like it.’
‘But you do?’
‘It’s OK... and at least it means he doesn’t have to drink it.’
From outside they heard the sharp tone of a nurse as she asked a patient what he was doing in the corridor. The response was a barely audible mumble.
‘I see. In that case we’ll try a bed-pan,’ said the nurse, and her footsteps tapped away down the corridor.
‘Are you staying?’ asked Nilla. ‘Mum will be back soon, she’s just gone to a meeting.’
He shook his head. ‘I can’t, Granddad’s waiting for me.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘We’re... we’re just going for a bit of a drive around Kalmar.’
He was lying to his daughter, just as he had lied to Marika.
Marika had gone when Per got back to the lifts. Jerry was sitting on a chair with his mobile to his ear. He ended the call before Per reached him.
‘Who were you talking to?’ Per asked on the way down in the lift. ‘Did somebody ring you?’
Jerry peered out of the window. ‘Bremer,’ he said.
‘He’s dead, Jerry.’
‘Bremer wanted to talk.’
‘Did he?’
Per twisted Jerry’s phone around and looked at the display: NUMBER WITHHELD again.
They went back to the car; Per sat down next to his father and started the engine. ‘Do me a favour, Jerry,’ he said. ‘Don’t tell the police Hans Bremer rang you. They might get the wrong idea about you.’
Jerry didn’t reply. He remained silent for a little while as they drove through Kalmar, but as they were passing a little games shop with the windows painted over, he followed it with his eyes. Then he opened his mouth and said two words Per didn’t quite catch.
‘What? What did you say, Jerry?’
‘Moleng Noar.’
‘Moleng... What’s that?’
Jerry smiled to himself. ‘Malmö.’
‘Moleng Noar in Malmö?’
Jerry nodded.
‘It sounds like a Chinese restaurant,’ said Per. ‘Or is it a person... a Chinese person you knew in Malmö?’
Jerry shook his head.
‘Cindy,’ he mumbled all of a sudden. ‘Suzie, Christy, Debbie...’
‘Was it a place where you used to meet girls in Malmö?’
His father merely nodded and smiled to himself; he didn’t speak again as they drove through the town.
The police station in Kalmar was a large, yellow-brick building with narrow windows. It was just north of the town centre, and occupied half a block.
Jerry looked at the sign that said POLICE outside the entrance, and gave a start. He refused to move.
‘It’s fine,’ Per said quietly. ‘They just want to talk to us.’
He gave their names to the woman on reception and sat down with Jerry on a plastic-covered sofa. In front of them was a poster on the dangers of selling alcohol to those under-age, featuring the sorrowful eyes of a young girl and the words DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DAUGHTER’S DOING TONIGHT?
Yes, I do, thought Per.
Lars Marklund, the inspector he had spoken to on the phone, came out after a few minutes. He was casually dressed in jeans and grey polo-neck sweater.
‘Welcome,’ he said, shaking hands. ‘We thought we’d have a chat with you on your own first, Per. Then we’ll bring Gerhard in later.’ He glanced at Jerry. ‘You can wait here for the time being, Gerhard.’
Jerry suddenly looked anxious. He tried to get up, but Per bent down to him. ‘You just stay here, Jerry, it’ll be fine... I’ll be back soon.’
His father seemed to consider this, then he nodded.
Marklund led Per to a small, bare room containing nothing but a desk covered in various folders, and two chairs. ‘Take a seat... So you’re from Öland?’
Per sat down opposite him. ‘That’s right.’
‘It’s a beautiful place... I’ve always fancied a house on Öland. Is it expensive?’
‘I should think it might be... I don’t really know. I inherited my cottage.’
‘Lucky you.’ Marklund picked up a pen and looked at Per. ‘OK... Can you just tell me in your own words exactly what you saw both outside and inside the house that day? Every detail is important.’
‘About the fire, you mean?’
Per glanced down at the desk, and saw that Marklund was resting his elbow on some kind of technical report, and a sketch of the ground floor of Jerry’s house. He could see arrows and crosses on the drawing, and the words FIRE STARTED DELIBERATELY IN FIVE PLACES! written in pencil.
‘Absolutely, tell me all you can about the fire,’ said Marklund. ‘How you discovered it, when you made that discovery, exactly where you were in the house, whether you noticed any damage before the fire, and how you think the fire spread.’
Per took a deep breath, then started to explain how he had gone to Jerry’s house to pick up his father, only to discover that he had been attacked with a knife. He told Marklund he had gone back into the house, up the stairs and into the smoke-filled room where the bed was on fire. He thought he had seen a man’s body there, then heard a woman screaming from another room. And then the fire suddenly seemed to be getting closer from several different directions, and he had to jump out of the window.