Åke Edwardson: The Shadow Woman

The sun was high, the blaze heavy out on the square in front of the district police headquarters. Winter had misread the shade from the trees, and the heat in the front seat was nearly unbearable. He adjusted the air-conditioning.

He drove eastward past New Ullevi Stadium and pulled over next to a big house in Lunden. A dog barked like crazy from next door, rattling its running chain.

The entrance to the house was in the shade. Winter rang the doorbell and waited, then pressed it again. But no one opened the door. He headed back down the front steps and turned left and started walking along the stucco wall.

Round the back of the house, the sun glittered in a swimming pool. Winter took in the smell of chlorine and tanning oil. At the pool’s edge was a deck chair with a naked man sitting in it. His body was heavy and evenly tanned, a vivid color that shimmered mutedly against the Turkish towel protecting the chair from sweat and oil. Winter coughed gently, and the naked man opened his eyes.

“I thought I heard something,” he said.

“Then why didn’t you come to the door?” Winter asked.

“You came in anyway.”

“I could have been somebody else.”

“That would’ve been nice.” The man remained lying there in the same position.

His penis lay shriveled up against a muscular thigh.

“Get dressed and offer me something to drink, Benny.”

“In that order? Have you become homophobic, Erik?”

“It’s a question of aesthetics.” Winter looked around for a chair.

The man, whose name was Benny Vennerhag, got up and grabbed a white robe from the footstool and gestured at the water.

“Why don’t you take a dip while you’re waiting?” He sauntered off toward the house and turned around on the veranda. “I’ll bring out a couple of beers. You’ll find swimming trunks in the drawer of the footstool. Nice T-shirt. But who wants to go to London?”

Winter took off his shirt and shorts and dove into the water. It felt cool against his skin, and he swam along the bottom of the pool until he reached the other end. He got out, dove in again, and turned over on the bottom and looked up at the sky, the surface of the water like a ceiling of floating glass. There was a crackling down there from the tiled walls, unless the sound was coming from his eardrums. He stayed under the water for a long time before gliding back up to the surface. He saw a face flicker into view above him.

“Trying to break some kind of record?” Vennerhag asked, and held a beer out over the water.

Winter stroked his hair back over the top of his head and took the bottle. It was cool in his hand. “You live a comfortable life,” he said, and drank.

“I deserve to.”

“Like hell you do.”

“No need to be bitter, Inspector.”

Winter heaved himself up and sat down on the edge of the pool.

“Swimming in your underwear. What happened to your sense of style and taste?”

Winter didn’t answer. He drank down the last of his beer and set the bottle on the paving stones, then took off his wet boxers and pulled on his shorts.

“Who was it that beat up my Aneta?” Winterasked, and turned toward Vennerhag.

“What are you talking about?” Vennerhag sat up again.

“A woman on my tea-from my department was assaulted and badly beaten last night, and if you find out who did it, I want to know,” Winter said. “Now or in due course.”

“That’s not your style either.”

“I’m a different man now.”

“Well, you can sa-”

“This is serious, Benny.” Winter had stood up. He walked over to the deck chair and crouched down, bringing his face close to his host’s. He smelled alcohol and coconut oil. “I tolerate you as long as you’re honest with me. As soon as you stop being honest with me, I won’t tolerate you anymore.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Then all this is over,” Winter said, stone faced.

Vennerhag gazed around at his property.

“What kind of a threat is that? And how am I supposed to know what happened to your fellow officer, Erik?”

“You know more lowlifes than I do. You’re a criminal. You’re a racist. If you’ve heard anything, I want to know.”

“I’m also your ex-brother-in-law,” Vennerhag said, and smiled. “Don’t come here and start acting all cocky.”

Winter suddenly grabbed hold of the man’s jaw and squeezed hard.

“They smashed off this part of her face,” he said, and leaned in closer and pressed harder. “You feel that, Benny? You feel that, when I squeeze here?”

Vennerhag jerked his head to the side, and Winter let go.

“You’re out of your mind, you fucking bastard,” Vennerhag said, and massaged his chin and cheeks. “You should get help.”

Winter felt dizzy. He closed his eyes and heard the rasping sound as the other guy ran his hand over his chin again.

“Jesus Christ,” Vennerhag said. “You shouldn’t be free to roam the streets, you fucking maniac.”

Winter opened his eyes again and looked at his hands. Were they his? It had felt good clenching his fingers around Vennerhag’s jaw.

“That’s how I oughta talk to Lotta,” Vennerhag said.

“You don’t go anywhere near her,” Winter said.

“She’s damn near as crazy as her brother anyway.”

Winter stood. “I’ll call you in a few days,” he said. “Meanwhile ask around.”

“Thanks for the visit,” Vennerhag said. “Jesus Christ.”

Winter stuffed his wet boxers into his pocket and pulled on his T-shirt. He left the same way he came in, climbed into his car, and drove toward town. He drove past the police station and continued to Korsvägen and drove across Guldheden to Sahlgrenska Hospital. The city looked cold again through the windows.

The street services had planted three palm trees at the entrance to the hospital, but through the tinted windows of Winter’s Mercedes the trees looked frozen in their pots.

Aneta Djanali seemed to stiffen as she reached for something on the wheeled table by her bed. He saw the surprise in her eyes as he entered her room and went quickly to her bedside, smiling and handing her the newspaper.

“I’ll just sit here for a spell,” he said. “Until the worst of the heat has settled.”

MOMMY WASN’T THERE ANYMORE. SHE HAD CALLED OUT FOR her, but the man said that Mommy would be coming soon, and so she waited and stayed quiet. It was dark and no one turned on the light. She had to go wee-wee, but she was too scared to say anything, so she held it in, and that made it feel even colder as she sat on the chair by the window.

She could see through the gap at the bottom of the shade that the forest was just outside the window. The wind blew through the trees. It smelled bad in here. Mommy’s gotta be coming soon.

The man said something to another man who had entered the house. She crept closer to the wall. She was hungry but more scared than hungry. Why hadn’t they gone home after that awful thing happened? When they drove away from there? There had been a man driving the car, and they had driven back and forth between the houses, and then another man had carried her with him when he jumped out of the car. Then they had jumped into another car, and that one had taken them away. She had looked around when she finally felt brave enough, but then Mommy wasn’t there.

“Mommy!” she had cried out, and the man had said that Mommy would be coming soon. She had cried out again and the man had become really angry and squeezed her shoulder hard. He was mean.

They were all mean, and they shouted and smelled bad.

“What do we do with the kid?” one of them said, but she couldn’t hear what the other man answered. He mumbled as though he didn’t want her to hear.