The civil servant with the big bags under his eyes leaned over the table. His teeth were yellow, his moustache dirty.
‘I represent the minister with responsibility for the navy,’ he said in a voice that suggested he enjoyed torturing others. ‘The minister is in full agreement with what the vice admiral has just said.’
H: son-Lydenfeldt slammed both hands down on to the desk.
‘You have twenty-four hours in which to make up your mind. You might think that this is an unnecessarily dramatic reaction from His Majesty’s armed forces, but in present circumstances the Swedish Navy cannot tolerate the slightest stain on its reputation. I believe you understand that.’
He took out his pocket watch.
‘You will report here tomorrow at 10 a.m.’
The meeting was over.
When Tobiasson-Svartman left the room he was forced to lean against the corridor wall, so as not to fall.
Chapter 146
He paused on the steps outside Naval Headquarters. He watched some sparrows pecking away on one of the gravel paths. Then he continued. But stopped when he came to the bridge. He was still in shock. But he was thinking clearly now.
He was convinced. There was only one possible explanation. Sub-Lieutenant Welander had returned from the dead. Or at least from the demi-monde he had occupied while slowly recovering from the tribulations he had suffered as he wriggled out of the grip of strong drink.
He could see it all in his mind’s eye.
Welander had not been cashiered but allowed to return to duty. Before that he had been reprimanded for the inadequate soundings he had made in the area surrounding the Sandsänkan lighthouse.
Needless to say, Welander had not understood what his accusers were talking about, and maintained that he had carried out his duties impeccably until the moment when everything fell to pieces. He had demanded to be confronted with the soundings Tobiasson-Svartman had attributed to him.
The truth had emerged. Welander had not in fact made any errors.
Tobiasson-Svartman started to walk over the bridge. Every step he took made him more certain that the bridge was like thin ice that could give way at any moment.
Chapter 147
That evening he sat in the warm room and told Kristina Tacker about his next mission. It put his mind at rest, describing an expedition that would never take place and which no superior officer had ordered him to undertake.
It was not the lies themselves that calmed him down. It was the impassive way his wife took in what he had to say. Thanks to her everything became real.
Her questions were always the same. Where would he be going? How long would he be away? Was there any danger involved?
‘It doesn’t have to be risky just because it’s secret,’ he said.
Without having prepared anything in advance he started to talk about lighthouse beams. The light projected from remote rocks or lightships in order to help ships stay on course. He talked about the beauty of the transit lines, the interplay between the red, green and white lights. He invented a mission he had never had and would never be given.
‘I shall be measuring the distance from which the beams of various lighthouses can be seen in different weather conditions,’ he said. ‘I shall be investigating the possibility of creating an extra line of defence round our country by misleading the enemy with beams of differing strengths.’
Then he stopped. ‘I’ve already said too much,’ he said.
‘I’ve already forgotten everything you said,’ she replied.
He thought he detected a hint of alarm in her voice, barely noticeable, but there even so. Measuring lighthouse beams. Perhaps he had gone too far? Did she not believe him? Was there, for the first time, a vague suspicion in her mind?
She looked down and stroked her stomach. ‘When will you be leaving?’
‘Nothing is fixed yet, but a decision could be made at short notice.’
‘I want you to be here when the baby comes.’
‘Obviously, I hope the expedition will be over by then. Or that it hasn’t even started. But I shall protest strongly if they want me to leave just when you are due to give birth.’
He stood up and went out on to the balcony.
He wondered where Sub-Lieutenant Welander lived.
Chapter 148
Two days later he had discovered that Welander lived on Kungsholmen.
When he called in at Skeppsholmen to submit his resignation he took the opportunity of visiting the personnel department. They informed him that at the moment Welander was not on board any navy ship.
His first new mission was to spend all his time outside the building where Welander had a flat.
It was four days before Welander appeared. He emerged from the front door with a woman and a girl aged about fourteen. Tobiasson-Svartman remembered vaguely that the family included a daughter and three sons. He followed them down Hantvarkergatan. When they came to Kungsholms Torg they went into a shop selling ladies’ wear, and when they came out again both the wife and the daughter were carrying parcels.
Sooner or later Welander would be on his own. He would confront him. He observed Welander’s face from a safe distance. The paleness and bloated features had gone. Welander really seemed to have overcome his addiction.
His wife was small and thin. She kept looking at her husband with a loving smile.
Chapter 149
Days passed. He waited, displaying the patience of a predator. The opportunity came one evening when he had been observing Welander for a week. The hydrographic engineer came out on his own. It was raining, and he set off towards the centre of town. He was walking fast, his gaze directed at the pavement ahead of him. Then he turned off on to a path running alongside the water in Riddarfjärden. The path appeared to be deserted.
Tobiasson-Svartman wrapped a scarf round the lower part of his face. In his pocket he had a hammer with an old sock round the head. He took it out and followed Welander along the path.
Yet he could not summon the courage to hit him, and he turned and ran away. He was afraid Welander would see him and follow, but there was no sound from the path behind him. He put the scarf and the hammer back into his overcoat pockets and forced himself to walk slowly.
When he came to Wallingatan he took his pulse. He did not go up to the flat until the rate had sunk to sixty-five.
Chapter 150
He continued leaving the flat every morning. He told Kristina Tacker that he was going to a meeting of the secret committee. He spent the days in museums and cafés. Eventually he reconciled himself to the fact that he had not dared to attack Welander. He was still furious, but unsure of where he should direct his rage.
Weeks passed. Kristina Tacker’s stomach became bigger and bigger.
He tired of going to museums first, then cafés. Instead he went for very long walks. As dusk fell he would imagine the lighthouses, the ones that had not yet been switched off on account of the war. He could see in front of him a beam of light over the sea. Soon he must start measuring it. It was time to give himself the order to set out.
He thought about Sara Fredrika and the skerry on the edge of the open sea.
The sea is calm, he thought. For once the sea around me is dead calm.
Chapter 151
One evening it dawned on him that he was outside the building where Ludwig Tacker lived, the place where those dreadful Christmas dinners were held.