The line started crackling something terrible, and the chief inspector was forced to bellow out his final questions in order to overcome the noise.
“These three, plus Werner Biedersen. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“With a young woman?”
“Yes.”
“Did anybody else see this?”
“Could be. I don't know.”
“Have you spoken to anybody else about it? Then or now?”
“No,” said Melgarves. “Not as far as I recall, at least.”
Van Veeteren thought for a few more seconds.
“Many thanks,” he said eventually. “Thank you for some extremely useful information, Mr. Melgarves. I'll get back to you.”
He hung up.
Now, he thought. We're almost there.
“What the hell do you mean?” he roared ten minutes later. “Do we still not know where he is?”
Münster shook his head.
“Hell and damnation!” bellowed the chief inspector. “What about his wife?”
“Not at home,” Münster explained. “DeBries keeps on phoning all the time.”
“Where do they live?”
“Saaren.”
“Saaren?” said Van Veeteren. “Up north… it all fits in. How far is it to there? A hundred and fifty kilometers? Two hundred?”
“Something like that,” said Münster.
Van Veeteren took out four toothpicks. Broke them in two and threw the bits on the floor. Reinhart appeared in the doorway.
“Have we got him?” he asked.
“Got him?” roared Van Veeteren. “Have we hell! He's been off the map for several weeks, and his missus is out shopping!”
“But it is Biedersen?” said Reinhart.
“Biedersen,” said Münster. “Who's next, that is. Yes.”
“Have you got a cigarette?” asked Van Veeteren.
Reinhart shook his head.
“Afraid not. Just my old briar. What do we do now, then?”
The chief inspector clenched his hands and closed his eyes for two seconds.
“Okay,” he said, opening his eyes again. “This is what we do. Reinhart and I drive up to Saaren. The rest of you keep on chasing after his wife from here. If you find her, tell her to stay at home until we come, or she'll be jailed for life. Then we shall have to see what happens next.”
Reinhart nodded.
“Ask her if she knows where he is,” he added. “And keep us informed. We'll try to find her as well, of course.”
Münster made a note.
“So, we're off now,” said Van Veeteren, gesturing toward Reinhart. “Go down to the pool and collect a car. I'll be at the entrance five minutes from now. I just need to collect a few things first.”
“Are you sure that it's so damned urgent?” asked Reinhart when Van Veeteren had settled into the passenger seat.
“No,” said Van Veeteren, lighting a cigarette. “But when you've been in a straitjacket for seven weeks, I'll be damned if it isn't time to stretch a bit.”
40
He woke up with a start and fumbled for his pistol. Took hold of it and looked out the window. Noted that everything looked the same as before-except that the sun was shining.
He realized that it must be the sun that had warmed up the loft. He was lying just underneath the ceiling, but it wasn't at all the same all-pervading chill he'd experienced so far. On the contrary it was nice and warm-and it was a few minutes to ten.
Ten! It dawned on him that he had slept for over nine hours on end. He had snuggled down in bed shortly after half past twelve the previous night, and he didn't recall having lain awake for very long. No sleepless periods during the night, either.
So he'd been lying here for nine hours. And what had been the point? He'd have been much more of a helpless victim than a guard dog, that was for sure. Would he have even woken up if she had come creeping up the stairs?
He rolled over onto his side and opened the window wide. The sunshine was very bright out there. Small birds were fluttering around in the shrubbery outside the kitchen door. The sky was blue, dotted here and there with tufts of scudding cloud.
Spring? he thought. What the hell am I doing here?
He recalled the previous evening. He'd stayed at the inn until eleven o'clock, and then thrown caution to the wind on the way back home. He'd simply stood up and left. Taken the main street-the chapel, Heine's, Van Klauster's-and then the narrow lane home to his cottage.
He'd had his pistol in his hand all the time, to be sure-with the safety catch off. But still…
He'd even entertained the thought of using the real bed, but something had held him back.
It was a week now. Eight days, to be precise, and as he brewed some coffee and buttered some bread in the kitchen, he decided that this would have to do. Today would have to be the last day. He would have to face up to the facts and acknowledge that he was wasting his time. It wouldn't bear fruit. He would have fuck-all to show for it, so that was that.
He might just as well have left right away, before lunch; but Korhonen had promised to show him some pictures of his new Thai girlfriend, and so he'd said he would be there tonight as well.
But after that, he'd draw the line. The realization that it had been a mistake to come here had been growing inside him for some time now-the realization that it was pointless, and that these weren't the circumstances in which she intended to confront him.
His telephone call to his wife four days ago-and her mention of the woman from Copenhagen who had been trying to contact him-had naturally been an indication and a confirmation. But not that she intended turning up here. Merely that she knew where he was.
It must have been her-he'd realized that right away: he didn't have any female business contacts in Copenhagen. Nor any male ones, come to that. But this delay… these days that passed by without anything happening. The only way he could interpret it was that she had declined his invitation. Refused to meet him on his terms.
The cowardly bitch, he thought. You murdering whore, I'll get the better of you, no matter what!
Nevertheless, he didn't relax his safety procedures this final day. Despite his recognition of the fact that his calculations had failed, he spent his accustomed hours out in the forest. Ate his meals as usual, did a bit of packing after dark, and was aware of the fact that he mustn't be reckless.
On his guard, as usual. His gun was always within reach. And he kept himself hidden.
Only one more night. Just one.
He didn't bother to think about how he would go about things in the future. He didn't have the strength, after all those efforts that had led nowhere.
He would leave here tomorrow.
He would make some new decisions tomorrow.
He listened to the eight o'clock news, then sneaked out into the darkness. Paused as usual outside the front door, pistol in hand, eyes skinned and ears cocked; then he set off for the village and the inn. The air was still warm, and it seemed to him that the spring he'd woken up to that morning had decided to stay on. At least for a few more days.
“Shouldn't we contact the police in Saaren?” said Reinhart when they'd been driving for forty kilometers and the chief inspector hadn't said a word.
“Have you forgotten who's chief of police there?” asked Van Veeteren.
“Oh my God! Yes, of course. Mergens. No, it would be best to keep him out of this.”
Van Veeteren nodded and lit his third cigarette within twenty minutes.
“What the hell would we say to him, anyway?” he said after a while. “Ask him to come down like a ton of bricks on Mrs. Biedersen, and lock her up until we get there?”
Reinhart shrugged.
“He'd like that,” he said. “No, you're right. We'll deal with this ourselves.”
“Can't you go a bit faster?” Van Veeteren wondered.