The man nodded and took a few steps closer to her, putting one foot up on the block he had just set.
“Time for me to go to work,” she said.
“I was just going to offer you a cup of coffee,” the man said and Eva couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.
“Are you taking a break right now?”
“No, we’re done for the day.”
Two of the man’s fellow workers were waiting in the background.
“Where do you work?”
“At a restaurant. It’s called Dakar.”
“Then you will have to be the one to invite me,” the man said and laughed. “See you!”
He gave her a mischievous look before he joined his colleagues and left for the work trailer.
She ended up standing around for a little while longer before biking the rest of the way.
A heated discussion was under way in Dakar’s kitchen. Feo’s aggravated voice and Donald’s interruptions could be heard out all the way into the dressing room.
When Eva stepped into the kitchen the two chefs abruptly stopped and stared at her.
“Don’t let me interrupt,” she said.
Donald turned his back on her, grabbed a pot from the rack but changed his mind, put it back, and walked out to the bar instead. They heard how he took out a bottle of soda or mineral water. Donald never drank anything stronger than this on the job.
“We were talking about the union. They want to come here.”
Eva nodded.
“Anything in particular?”
“No, they have some campaign. I’m in the union now, but not Donald. He calls them parasites.”
“I don’t know that I’ve ever found them so helpful, but I still think it’s important to join.”
“Exactly! Suddenly it happens.”
Donald returned.
“Have you formed a club now?”
“Yes, you are treasurer,” Feo said.
This, her third evening, involved the most work so far. A party of sixteen had come thundering in at six o’clock. They had been playing golf all day and now demanded drinks and food. Eva recognized one of them, a classmate from the Eriksberg school, but he did not recognize her, or else he didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“I hate golfers,” Tessie said.
After the party, which had not been booked in advance and created a great deal of work in the bar and kitchen, there were dinner guests in a steady stream until nine o’clock. Luckily Johnny was working as well and so they were three chefs and one apprentice.
Tessie demonstrated the extent of her professional capabilities. Eva quickly realized that the other waiter, Gonzo, did not maintain a particularly stunning pace. After having being fired he mainly walked around muttering about the “fascists,” Slobodan and Armas. It was even worse after Slobodan turned up at eight o’clock to have a glass of grappa. Then Gonzo seemed to move in slow motion.
It was Tessie, assisted by Eva, who managed to maintain the level of service and Eva’s respect for her increased even more.
At half past nine things calmed down. The last desserts were going out, the party of golfers had disbanded after lounging in the bar for an hour, the rest of the dinner guests were gradually paying and leaving. Eva sat down. Donald had started scrubbing down the meat stove; Feo, who was putting finishing touches on the last desserts, offered Eva an ice cream, which she declined, while Johnny started to cover things in plastic wrap, clear things away, and put them into cold storage.
Måns, the bartender, looked in.
“There’s a phone call for you, Eva. You can take it in here,” he said rapidly, and left again.
Eva looked around, bewildered. Feo pointed to the wall where the telephone was mounted. The kids, she thought, and an image of Patrik’s bleeding face appeared in her mind.
She listened without saying more than “yes,” “no,” and “of course,” then she replaced the receiver.
“I have to go home,” she said. “I have to stop now.”
“Has something happened?”
She shook her head, but changed her tack as quickly.
“It was the police,” she said.
“The police?” Feo asked.
“And to think I’m on a bike,” she sobbed. “Can someone call me a cab?”
“I can take you,” Johnny said, immediately untying his apron. “I took the car today. The rest of you can manage, can’t you?”
Donald nodded.
A patrol car was parked outside the front of the building, and a group of teenagers had assembled in the yard. Eva recognized many of them. A few were classmates of either Hugo or Patrik.
Johnny accompanied Eva into the apartment. She had not said a single word during the drive to explain what had happened. Johnny suffered with her and the silent anxiety that drove her to lean forward in her seat with one hand on the dashboard.
There were two police officers in the kitchen, one female and one male. Two unfamiliar and frightening people in her kitchen, two gigantic figures who took up the entire room, that was how Eva perceived them and they gave her a feeling of terror.
There is no security, she thought. Everything breaks down, the joy of the past week with a new job, a new hairstyle, and a new life. All of that had been brushed aside.
“What has happened? Where is Patrik?”
She stared at Hugo who was sitting wedged in between the wall and one of the officers.
“Come here!”
Hugo got up and stood behind her.
“We’re looking for Patrik. We have received a report of an assault and we have reason to believe he was involved.”
It was the female officer who was speaking.
“Assault? You think Patrik assaulted someone?”
“Wouldn’t you like to sit down?”
Eva shook her head, suddenly infuriated by the fact that these two were occupying her home, her kitchen. This was a place for Eva, Patrik, and Hugo and no one else!
“Was it necessary to drive a police car up to the front of the building?” Johnny asked.
“Who are you? Are you Patrik’s father?”
“I’m a colleague of Eva’s,” Johnny said. “I gave her a ride here.”
“Perhaps you could leave us now.”
“He stays,” Eva said.
“Okay,” the male officer said. “We know that a man was assaulted in this area last night. This evening someone was stabbed. We have reason to believe it is the same man. He is being treated at a hospital for his injuries. He is in fairly bad shape.”
He looked fixedly at Eva while he spoke.
“We believe that Patrik had a part in this. There are a couple of witnesses who say he was there, at least last night. Do you know where your son is?”
“No, I’ve just come from work.”
“So you have no idea of where your son may have been last night or where he is right now?”
“What is your name?”
“I introduced myself before but I can do so again. I am Harry Andersson, and my colleague is Barbro Liljendahl.”
“Do you have any children?”
He nodded.
“How old are they?”
“That’s not relevant to the matter at hand.”
“Do you know exactly what they are doing right now?”
“That isn’t relevant in this context.”
“Don’t come here, you little shit, and tell me how I should raise my children.”
“I understand that you are upset, and naturally we are not here to criticize you, but you have to understand that it is our duty to follow up on anything that can have a bearing on an assault case. Especially when there is a knife involved.”
“Patrik doesn’t own a knife.”
“Tell us about last night,” Barbro Liljendahl urged.
Eva felt Hugo’s arms around her middle.
“Hugo came home and went to bed around ten o’clock. I sat up and waited for Patrik who was supposed to be home by ten-thirty at the latest, but I fell asleep on the couch. I was really tired. When I woke up in the middle of the night, Patrik was home. He was sleeping in his room. Then I went to bed too.”
“So you don’t know when Patrik came home?”