Hemberg sipped his coffee and looked thoughtfully out the window. It was raining.
‘You know the rest,’ he continued. ‘Blom did not find any stones. He suspected that Batista must have them. Since he introduced himself as a friend of Halen, she let him in without suspecting anything. And Blom took her life. He had a violent nature. He had shown that before. From time to time when he was drinking he proved himself capable of extreme brutality. There are a number of cases of assault in his past. On top of the manslaughter charge in Brazil. This time Batista bore the brunt.’
‘Why did he take the trouble to go back and set the apartment on fire? Wasn’t he taking a risk?’
‘He hasn’t given any explanation other than the fact that he became enraged that the stones were missing. I think it’s true. Blom is an unpleasant person. But perhaps he was afraid that his name was somewhere in the apartment on some piece of paper. He probably hadn’t had time to check around exhaustively before you surprised him. But of course he was taking a risk. He could have been discovered.’
Wallander nodded. Now he had the whole picture.
‘It’s really just a case of a horrible little murder, and a greedy man who shoots himself,’ Hemberg said. ‘When you become a criminal investigator you’ll come across this many times. Never in the same way. But with more or less the same basic motive.’
‘That was what I was going to ask you about,’ Wallander said. ‘I realise that I have made many mistakes.’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ Hemberg said curtly. ‘You’ll start with us the first of October, but not before.’
Wallander had heard correctly. He exulted inside. But he didn’t show it, only nodded.
Hemberg stayed a little while longer. Then he left and went off in the rain. Wallander stood at the window and watched him drive away in his car. He absently fingered the scar on his chest.
Suddenly he thought of something he had read. In what context, he did not know.
There is a time to live, and a time to die.
I made it, he thought. I was lucky.
Then he decided never to forget these words.
There is a time to live, and a time to die.
These words would become his personal incantation from now on.
The rain spattered against the windowpane.
Mona arrived shortly after eight.
That evening they talked for a long time about finally making the planned trip to Skagen next summer.