The telephone rang. He hesitated before answering.
"I hear we've had some great news." It was Per Akeson. "I have to say I'm delighted." Akeson was the public prosecutor with whom Wallander had, over the years, established the best working relationship. They had often had heated discussions about the best way of interpreting case data, and Wallander had many times been angry because Akeson had refused to accept one of his submissions as sufficient grounds for an arrest. But they had more or less always seen eye to eye. And they shared a particular impatience at cases being carelessly handled.
"I have to admit it all seems a bit strange," Wallander said.
"Rumour had it that you were about to retire on health grounds," Akeson said. "Somebody ought to tell Bjork to put a stop to all these rumours that keep flying around."
"It wasn't just a rumour," Wallander said. "I had made my mind up to chuck it in."
"Might one ask why you changed your mind?"
"Something happened," Wallander said evasively. He could tell that Akeson was waiting for him to continue, but he did not oblige.
"Anyway, I'm pleased you've come back," Akeson said, after an appropriately long silence. "I'm also certain that I'm expressing the sentiments of my colleagues in saying that."
Wallander began to feel uncomfortable about all the goodwill that was flowing in his direction, but which he found hard to believe. We go through life with one foot in a rose garden and the other in quicksand, he thought.
"I assume you'll be taking over the Torstensson case," Akeson said. "Maybe we ought to get together later today and work out where we stand."
"I don't know about 'taking over'," Wallander said. "I'll be involved, I asked to be. But I suppose that one of the others will be leading the investigation."
"Hmm, none of my business," Akeson said. "I'm just pleased you're back. Have you had time to get into the details of the case?"
"Not really."
"Judging by what I've heard so far, there doesn't seem to have been any significant development."
"Bjork thinks it's going to be a long haul."
"What do you think?"
Wallander hesitated before replying. "Nothing at all as yet."
"Insecurity seems to be on the increase," Akeson said. "Threats, often in the form of anonymous letters, are more common. Public buildings which used to keep open house are now barricading themselves like fortresses. No question, you'll have to go through his clients with a fine-tooth comb. You might find a clue there. Someone among them might have a grudge."
"We've already started on that," Wallander said.
They agreed to meet in Akeson's office that afternoon.
Wallander forced himself to return to the investigation plan he had started to sketch out, but his concentration wandered. He put his pen down in irritation and went to fetch a cup of coffee. He hurried back to his office, not wanting to meet anybody. It was 8.15 by now. He drank his coffee and wondered how long it would be before he lost his fear of being with people. At 8.30 he gathered his papers together and went to the conference room. On the way there it struck him that unusually little had been achieved during the five or six days that had passed since Sten Torstensson had been found murdered. All murder investigations are different, but there always used to be a mood of intense urgency among the officers involved. Something had changed while he had been away. What?
They were all present by 8.40, and Bjork tapped the table as a sign that work was about to commence. He turned at once to Wallander.
"Kurt," he said, "you've just come into this case and can view it with fresh eyes. What do you think we should do now?"
"I hardly think I'm the one to decide that," Wallander said. "I haven't had time to get into it properly."
"On the other hand, you're the only one who's so far come up with anything useful," Martinsson said. "If I know you, you'll have sat up last night and sketched out an investigation plan. Am I right?"
Wallander nodded. He realised that in fact he had no objection to taking over the case.
"I have tried to write a summary," he began. "But first let me tell you about something that happened just over a week ago, when I was in Denmark. I ought to have mentioned it yesterday, but it was all a bit hectic for me, to say the least."
Wallander told his astonished colleagues about Sten Torstensson's trip to Skagen. He tried hard to leave out no detail. When he finished, there was silence. Bjork eventually spoke, making no attempt to conceal the fact that he was cross.
"Very odd," he said. "I don't know why it is that you always seem to find yourself in situations that are out of normal procedures."
"I did refer him to you," Wallander objected, and could feel his anger rising.
"It's nothing for us to get excited about now," Bjork said impassively. "But it is a bit strange, you must agree. What is of course clear is that we have to reopen the investigation into Gustaf Torstensson's accident."
"It seems to me both natural and necessary that we advance on two fronts," Wallander said. "The assumption being that two people have been murdered, not one. It's a father and a son, moreover. We have to think two thoughts at the same time. There may be a solution to be found in their private lives, but it might also be something to do with their work, two lawyers working for the same firm of solicitors. The fact that Sten came to see me to talk about his father being on edge might suggest that the key concerns Gustaf Torstensson. But that is not a foregone conclusion - for one thing, there's the postcard Sten sent to Mrs Duner from Finland when at the time he was in Denmark."
"That tells us something else as well," Hoglund said.
Wallander nodded. "That Sten also thought that he was under threat. Is that what you mean?"
"Yes," Hoglund said. "Why else would he have laid a false trail?"
Martinsson put his hand up, indicating he wanted to say something. "It would be simplest if we split into two groups," he said. "One to concentrate on the father, and the other on the son. Then let's see if we come up with anything that points in the same direction."
"I agree with that," Wallander said. "At the same time I can't help thinking there's something odd about all this. Something we ought to have discovered already."
"All murder cases are odd, surely," Svedberg said.
"Yes, but there's something more," Wallander said. "And I can't put my finger on it."
Bjork indicated it was time to conclude the meeting.
"As I've already started delving into what happened to Gustaf Torstensson, I might as well go on," Wallander said. "If nobody has any objections."
"The rest of us can devote ourselves to Sten Torstensson, then," Martinsson said. "Can I assume that you'll want to work on your own to start with, as usual?"
"Not necessarily. But if I understand it rightly, the Sten case is much more complicated. His father didn't have so many clients. His life seems to be more transparent."
"Let's do that then," Bjork said, shutting his diary with a thud. "We'll meet every day at 4.00, as usual, to see how far we've got. Oh, and I need help with a press conference later today."
"Not me," Wallander said. "I haven't got the strength."
"I thought Ann-Britt might do it," Bjork said. "It won't do any harm for people to know she's here with us now."
"That's fine by me," she said, to the others' surprise. "I need to learn about such things."
After the meeting Wallander asked Martinsson to stay behind. When the others had left, he closed the door.