Hakan Nesser - The Inspector and Silence

A soft female voice answered the phone. He explained that he’d been informed that one of the confirmands had disappeared. The woman at the other end of the line sounded genuinely surprised, and said that nobody had been missing at lunch two hours previously.

Kluuge thanked her, and hung up.

The second call had come yesterday. Half an hour before the end of office hours. Miss Miller had already gone home, and the phone had been switched through to the chief of police’s office.

‘Hello. Chief of Police Kluuge here.’

‘You haven’t done anything.’

The voice sounded a little louder this time. But it was the same woman, no doubt about it. The same tense, forced composure. Somewhere between forty and fifty, although Kluuge acknowledged that he was bad when it came to guessing age.

‘Who am I speaking to?’

‘I rang yesterday and reported that a little girl had disappeared. You’ve done nothing about it. I assume she’s been murdered. If you don’t do something, I’ll be forced to turn to the newspapers.’

That was the point at which Kluuge felt the first pang of panic. He gulped, and his mind was racing.

‘How do you know that a girl has disappeared? I’ve investigated the matter. Nobody is missing from the camp at Waldingen.’

‘You mean you’ve called them and asked? Of course they’ll deny it.’

‘We’ve carried out certain checks.’

He thought that was quite a good line, but the woman wouldn’t be fobbed off.

‘If you don’t do something, they’ll kill some more.’

There was a click as she hung up. Kluuge sat there for a while with the receiver in his hand, before replacing it and diverting his attention to the portrait of Lilian Malijsen in her bridal gown, in a gilded frame at the far end of the desk.

My God, he thought. What if she’s telling the truth?

He had heard quite a bit about the Pure Life. And read a lot. As he understood it, they got up to all kinds of things.

Speaking in tongues.

Exorcizing devils.

Sexual rituals.

Mind you, the latter was probably just a malevolent rumour. Wagging tongues and the usual upright envy. Rubbish! Kluuge thought, and returned to contemplating the blossoming elders. But somewhere deep down – perhaps at the very core of his emotions, to borrow one of Deborah’s latest pet expressions – he recognized that this was serious.

Serious. There was something about that woman’s voice. There was also something about the situation in itself: his own disgracefully well-organized existence – Deborah, the terraced house, his stand-in duties as chief of police, the perfect mornings… It was only fair and just that something like this should crop up.

There has to be a balance, as his father used to say. Between plus and minus. Between successes and failures. Otherwise, you’re not alive.

He stuck a pencil in his mouth. Began chewing it as he tried to imagine Malijsen’s reactions if it turned out that a little girl had been found murdered on his patch, and the police had been tipped off but ignored it. Then he imagined the consequences of disturbing the divine peace that ruled over the heavenly fishing grounds. Neither of these options produced especially cheerful visions in Merwin Kluuge’s mind’s eye. Nor especially useful ones with regard to his possible future career prospects.

The Pure Life? he thought. A little girl missing?

It wouldn’t surprise him.

Not at all, dammit.

He’d made up his mind. Picked up the telephone and dialled the number of the police station in Maardam.

‘A hand grenade?’ said the chief of police.

‘No doubt about it,’ said Reinhart. ‘A seven-forty-five. He chucked it in through an open window, it rolled along the floor and exploded under the stage. Incredibly lucky, only eight injured and they’ll all pull through. If it had gone off on the dance floor we’d have had a dozen corpses.’

‘At least,’ said deBries, adjusting his wine-red silken cravat that had become slightly awry.

‘Do you need any help with your scarf?’ Rooth wondered.

‘And then what happened?’ Munster was quick to intervene.

‘He peppered some parked cars with an automatic weapon,’ Reinhart continued. ‘A nice chap, no inhibitions to speak of.’

‘My God,’ said Ewa Moreno. ‘And he’s still on the loose?’

‘Getting ready for this evening, no doubt,’ suggested Rooth. ‘We ought to go after him.’

‘Professional soldier?’ wondered Jung.

‘Very possibly,’ said Reinhart.

‘Excuse me,’ said Heinemann, who had arrived late. ‘Could we start from the beginning again? I’ve only heard about it on the radio.’

Chief of Police Hiller cleared his throat and wiped his temples with a tissue.

‘Yes, that’s probably best,’ he said. ‘Reinhart, you’ve been there, so I think you ought to give us the full story. Then we’ll have to decide how to allocate available resources.’

Reinhart nodded.

‘Kirwan Disco,’ he began. ‘Down at Zwille, alongside Grote Square. Full of people. Shortly after half past two this morning – they close at three – an unknown person threw a hand grenade in through an open window. The explosion was audible all over the centre of town, but as I said, the damage was limited because it went off under the stage. The band that had been playing there ten minutes previously were still there, but they’re not feeling too good.’

The door opened and Van Veeteren came in.

‘Carry on,’ he said, flopping down onto a chair. The chief of police looked at the clock. Reinhart raised an eyebrow before continuing.

‘Eight people injured, but none of the injuries life-threatening. Twenty or so with minor wounds were admitted to the Rumford and Gemejnte hospitals, but most of them will be allowed home today. There are a few witnesses who saw a man running away from the scene.’

‘Not a lot to go on,’ said Jung. ‘It was dark, and they only saw him from quite a long way off. But all were sure that it was a male person though.’

‘Women don’t behave like that,’ said Rooth. ‘Not the ones I know, at least.’

‘Typical male behaviour,’ said Moreno. ‘I agree.’

Chief of Police Hiller tapped his desk with his Ballograf in irritation.

‘And then what?’ asked Munster. ‘You mentioned cars.’

Reinhart sighed.

‘About half an hour later, somebody – let’s hope it was the same idiot, or we’re dealing with two of them – started shooting at parked cars outside the Keymer church. Probably from somewhere in Weivers Park. That could be heard all over town as well. It only lasted for about fifteen to twenty seconds, and nobody saw a damned thing. An automatic weapon. Two to three salvoes. About thirty shots, at a guess.’

‘Klempje, Stauff and Joensuu are busy crawling around among the cars,’Jung explained. ‘And Krause is taking care of the car owners.’

‘A fun job,’ said deBries.

‘No doubt,’ said Reinhart. ‘Krause could probably do with some help. There are twelve owners concerned, including two German families in transit.’

‘White Mercs,’ elaborated Jung.

Van Veeteren stood up.

‘Excuse me,’ he said. ‘I’ve forgotten my toothpicks downstairs in my office. I won’t be long.’

He left the room, and silence reigned.

‘Ah well,’ said Hiller after a while. ‘This is most annoying. What with it being the holiday period and all that.’

Nobody present reacted at all. Jung held his breath.

‘Ah well,’ repeated Hiller. ‘We obviously need to set a few officers to work on this. All available resources. It’s clearly a lunatic who could well strike again. At any moment. Well? Who’s available?’