An hour earlier she had got hold of a sleepy Pau on his mobile. He answered in monosyllables and with unhappy grunts, but after she told him about their visit to the hospital, his tone changed. When she explained they were going to visit a freelance, he finally allowed himself to be persuaded, and a short time later he showed up at Libri di Luca with rumpled hair and wrinkled clothes.
'But he might be dangerous,' Pau insisted.
'It's not even certain that he has anything to do with this,' she replied. 'Besides, I never said it was a man, did I?'
Pau shrugged and muttered something unintelligible.
Katherina took out her key ring and removed the key to the shop. 'You can close up at five if there aren't any customers. Here's the key to the front door.'
'I have a key,' replied Pau, sticking his hands in his pockets. 'I'll take care of things, don't worry.'
At that moment Jon's Mercedes pulled up at the kerb outside the shop. Katherina grabbed her jacket and bag and headed for the door.
'Have fun working,' she called, giving Pau a wry smile.
'Very funny,' he said, raising his hand. 'Now get out of here.'
Katherina went over to the car. Jon had climbed out and was standing there looking at the cloudless blue sky above the buildings. His nostrils flared and contracted in time with the deep breaths he was taking, as if he wanted to savour the city air one last time before their trip out to the country. It was the first time Katherina had seen him wearing something other than a suit. Instead, he had on jeans and a heavy woollen sweater. He looked good.
'How long will it take to get there?' Katherina asked after a slightly awkward hug.
'An hour, maybe an hour and a half,' replied Jon as he started the car. 'I don't think there's anything but tracks through the fields where his farm is located, so we'll probably have to take a roundabout route.'
Katherina waved to Pau, who was watching them from the new windows of Libri di Luca. He didn't wave back but instead turned round and disappeared further into the shop so she couldn't see him. The Mercedes pulled into the street, and they slipped into the flow of traffic.
Neither of them said anything until they got out of the city. Without the shadows from the buildings, the sharp autumn sun made them both squint.
'Do you think he's the one?' asked Katherina.
'It's possible, though I don't really see what his motive would be, twenty years after he was banished.' Jon paused. 'Unless Mr Nшrreskov has gone insane from being alone. Maybe one day he just snapped, and he turned his anger towards the event that started his whole downward slide – his banishment.'
'But why did he stop, back then?'
'It could be that he was satisfied with splitting up the Society,' Jon suggested. 'It was Luca's project and an effective way to hurt him.'
Katherina thought about Pau's warning. He'd probably only meant it as a joke or as a means of getting out of being a bookseller for the day, but if Tom had gone crazy out on his farm, so isolated from other people, it suddenly didn't seem so implausible that he might react violently to being disturbed. If he really was the one, then he'd already committed murder.
'But this time merely hurting Luca apparently wasn't enough,' Jon went on, sounding bitter. 'This time Luca had to die.'
'Could it have been an accident? Maybe he just wanted to give Luca a scare, but he didn't stop in time.'
'You could answer that better than me. Are receivers capable of killing by accident?'
Katherina stared out of the windscreen at the road ahead. The sunlight made the surface gleam, giving it a raw, metallic sheen. All the guilt resurfaced and she felt her throat close up. The seatbelt seemed to tighten and the interior of the car suddenly felt very cramped. This time she couldn't disappear or evade the issue as she had been lucky enough to do many times before.
'Are receivers capable of that?' Jon repeated.
'Yes,' she replied reluctantly. 'I've killed someone myself.' She noticed that Jon gave her a sidelong glance, but she kept her eyes on the road and resisted the temptation to rub the scar on her chin.
'It was my Danish teacher,' she began. 'My favourite teacher. Her name was Grethe. I don't remember how old she was. You don't pay much attention to things like that when you're a kid – that's when adults have only two ages: grown-up and old. I was twelve. My problems with reading had begun to show up for real and I was often sent to the remedial class, separated from my classmates. But not on that particular day.' She paused, shifting in her seat to find a more comfortable position.
'As usual, everyone was begging Grethe to read us a story. I was one of the most eager because I loved hearing stories read aloud. It made me forget my own reading problems. When Grethe read to us, we were all equal. That day she had brought a new book to school.The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. One of the other girls had brought a cake – you know the kind that's coloured bright green and covered with a thick layer of brown frosting that gets stuck in your throat? It took time to cut the cake into equalsized pieces and hand them out to everyone in class. When we all had a piece, Grethe took her glasses out of a worn leather bag and put them on, pushing them into place on the bridge of her nose. As soon as she put on her glasses we were all as quiet as mice. She started reading. We'd already heard her read the Emil books andThe Children of Noisy Village and other stories by Lindgren, but we weren't at all prepared for the sad beginning ofThe Brothers Lionheart. I was instantly gripped by the story. From the very first page I was so enthralled that I even forgot to eat my cake.'
Katherina fell silent. Jon turned his head to look at her for a moment as his way of urging her to go on.
'Grethe was incredibly good at reading aloud. Since then I've often wondered whether she had the powers, or whether it was just a natural gift. Whenever she read, we would be instantly hypnotized by her voice and cadence. As I sat there in class, I had the feeling that this book was something special and I didn't want the reading ever to stop. I wanted to hear the story all the way to the end, without any unnecessary breaks or disturbances. The book had such a beautiful voice, gentle and patient like a loving grandmother. Without knowing what I was doing, I clung to Grethe's presentation of the story, almost pulling her through it. The strong feelings that the brothers shared in the beginning hit me so hard that I must have unconsciously reinforced them and sent them back to Grethe.'
Katherina clasped her hands in her lap.
'The bell rang, but I didn't want the story to stop there and I refused to let Grethe go; I forced her to keep reading. The other kids in class started looking at each other in bewilderment. They'd never experienced anything like this before, but everybody was happy that the story was continuing because we'd reached the section where Jonathan is reunited with his brother. But Grethe had started to shake. You couldn't hear it in her voice, but her hands were trembling, and there was a hint of fear in her eyes behind her glasses. I didn't notice much, because I was so happy. I wanted to hear the whole story, know everything that happened, so I greedily forced Grethe to go on.' Katherina sighed heavily. 'It was only when one of the girls in the class started screaming that I realized something was wrong. Blood was running out of Grethe's nose and ears, pouring down over her lips and chin and neck. The spell was instantly broken. I was terrified and covered my mouth with both hands so I wouldn't scream. Grethe's voice stopped. Her body collapsed and toppled over onto the floor, making her glasses fly across the linoleum. Everybody else jumped up to help her. Some kids ran for help while one of the boys, whose father was a fireman, put Grethe in a first-aid position. But I stayed in my seat. I couldn't take my eyes off the body on the floor. Grethe's eyes were staring blankly at the linoleum and I didn't doubt even for a second that she was dead. I knew I had killed her.'