The Library of Shadows

'How are things going?' he whispered.

'No change,' replied Katherina in a normal tone of voice. 'He's completely out of it.'

Jon set the bag on the bedside table.

'Newspapers, sweets, toothbrushes,' he said. 'We can borrow a bed tonight.' He took off his jacket, hung it on a hook behind the door and sat down in a chair on the other side of the bed.

Neither of them said anything, but Katherina was glad that she was no longer alone.

'Did you see anyone?' asked Jon after a long period of silence. 'I mean, out in the hall, immediately afterwards?'

Katherina shook her head. 'No one I recognized. That's the difficult thing about these powers – you can't see them just by looking at people. It's not like they walk around with a smoking gun behind their backs.'

'What's the range?'

'It varies, depending on the strength of a person's powers. A normal receiver, if you can say such a thing, would have to be in one of the adjacent rooms or on the floor directly above or below.'

'What about someone with your abilities?'

'A little further. Another floor, maybe two.'

'But it's not necessary to see the person?'

'No, but walls reduce the effect.'

Jon nodded once and then kept on, as if lost in his own train of thought.

'So my father's killer could have been standing outside Libri di Luca?' he said at last.

'In principle, yes,' replied Katherina. 'But it wouldn't be easy to sneak up on your father, so I assume the perpetrator was inside the shop in order to achieve maximum impact.' She sighed. 'But Iversen isn't nearly as strong as Luca was.'

'Yet he must represent some sort of threat,' said Jon.

'Or a risk,' said Katherina hesitantly. 'Luca was very focused whenever he read, and it was impossible to pick up any impressions from him, other than what the text conjured up. It was as if he could close out everything else the moment he started reading. Iversen is different. He can be quite unfocused, like most readers, which makes it possible for us to catch glimpses of what he has on his mind.'

'So he's not good at keeping a secret?'

'Consciously he is,' Katherina emphasized. 'But in the presence of a receiver he could give himself away inadvertently.'

'And someone was afraid he had information that we shouldn't find out about?'

'That would at least explain why they went after him, even in his condition.' Katherina studied the man lying in the bed between them. The colour had returned to his face. Only the bandages covering the cuts and burns he'd received in the fire bore witness to the fact he wasn't well. 'The question is whether even he realizes what it is that we're not supposed to know.'

It would take seven hours before they were able to get an answer to that question. Katherina and Jon took turns sitting next to the bed while the other one slept in the room next door. Iversen woke during Katherina's watch, and while the nurse checked his vital signs, she tiptoed out to wake Jon.

The patient seemed remarkably lively and in good spirits, which convinced the nurse that it would be all right for him to have visitors. He was even hungry, so the nurse ordered a couple of sandwiches, which he promptly started to eat.

'I feel as if I've just run a marathon,' he said in between bites. 'My body is completely drained.'

'Do you remember anything?' asked Katherina.

Iversen shook his head as he finished chewing.

'The last thing I remember is starting to read Mann.' He nodded towards the bedside table and the book Jon had taken from him. 'I think I'll wait a while before I try that one again,' he added, winking at Katherina.

'Pau brought it for you?' asked Jon.

'Yes, I rang him and asked him to come over with some reading material.' He laughed. 'Isn't it ironic? Every day you collect all sorts of books that you have the best intention of reading when you can find the time – and when you finally do have a chance, this happens.' He shook his head before he took another bite of the sandwich.

'I sure miss pizza,' he said after finishing his meal. The tray in front of him was covered with crumpled food wrapping. 'A good pepperoni with extra mushrooms.' He sighed. 'All right, so tell me what you've been doing.'

Katherina and Jon took turns telling him about what had happened since the fire – about visiting Kortmann, the meeting at the library in Шsterbro, Lee's apparent suicide and the meeting with the receivers. During the whole report Iversen listened attentively with a solemn expression on his face. When they were done, he sat there for a moment, shaking his head.

'Pau told me about Lee when he was here. It's terrible.'

'What do you think?' asked Jon. 'Did he commit suicide?'

'If the question is, did he take the overdose, then I think the answer is yes. It's what happened beforehand that's interesting.' Iversen's eyes flickered from Jon to Katherina. 'What clouded his mind to such an extent that he would choose to commit suicide?'

'According to the police, he was a prime candidate: single, a loner and slightly paranoid,' said Jon.

'No doubt,' said Iversen. 'He may have been predisposed in that direction, but he still needed a big push before he would kill himself. What was he reading?'

'Kafka,' said Jon, sounding surprised. 'Kortmann asked the same question.'

Iversen nodded. 'Kafka can be read in many different ways. Some people read his books as satire, others as nightmarish descriptions of society. You don't have to look very hard to find dejection or helplessness in Kafka's texts, and if the right places are reinforced, it's not difficult to feel rather depressed.'

'Reinforced by a receiver?' asked Jon.

'In principle a transmitter can do the same during a reading,' replied Iversen. 'But that would mean Lee wasn't alone. For a receiver it would be much easier. The person in question wouldn't have to be present in the same room, and if it was done subtly enough, Lee probably wouldn't notice he was being manipulated. He would feel himself becoming exceedingly depressed – so much so that he chose to take his own life.'

'Because of Kafka?'

'In actuality, almost any text could be used, but Kafka has that underlying melancholy that makes it possible to influence the reader in a much less noticeable way than if he were readingWinnie the Pooh, say.'

Katherina hadn't said a word during the conversation. She surmised where it was heading, and even though she didn't like to admit it, the discussion confirmed her own suspicions. There was no longer any doubt that a receiver was involved in the events. That had become crystal clear for her when she saw Iversen sitting in bed with no control over his body. With Iversen's theory of Lee's suicide, she had to admit that it pointed in the same direction, which in turn settled any doubts surrounding Luca's death, at least for her. In her mind she listed all the receivers she knew, one by one, and evaluated their motives and ability to pull off something like this, but she came up empty.

'By the way, Clara is mistaken with regard to freelances,' said Iversen, as if he had read her thoughts. 'I know of at least one receiver who was thrown out of the group.'

16

Jon could see from Katherina's reaction that this was news to her too. She sat up straight and leaned forward in her chair in order to hear better.

'Who?' asked Jon and Katherina at the same time.

'Strange that I didn't think of this before,' said Iversen, with a slight shake of his head. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. 'Tom,' he said, opening his eyes again. 'His name was Tom. Nшrregеrd or Nшrrebo, or something like that. Tom was a receiver, quite a good one, but a bit of a loner, as far as I remember.' Iversen nodded towards Katherina. 'It was before your time. In fact, it must have been around…' He opened his eyes wide and looked at Jon. 'I think it was more than twenty years ago. While your mother was still alive, I'm sure about that.'

'What happened?' asked Jon. 'Why was he thrown out?'

'It had something to do with a woman,' said Iversen, shaking his head. 'Sorry, but my memory isn't what it used to be, and it happened a long time ago. As far as I remember, he misused his powers as a receiver to get in bed with a woman. According to rumour, there was more than one, but in any case he got caught and was thrown out of the Society. He was a close friend of Luca's, and Luca was actually the person who exposed Tom and who assumed the heavy responsibility of banishing him.'