Хеннинг Манкелль - Before the Frost

“Where are you?”

“At the station.”

“Is Zeba back yet? I called her apartment but there’s no answer.”

Linda was immediately on her guard.

“She’s still missing.”

“I’m so worried about her.”

“Me too.”

She must really be worried, Linda thought. She can’t lie that well.

“I need to talk,” Anna said.

“Not now,” said Linda. “I can’t get away right now.”

“Not even for a few minutes? If I come up to the station?”

“You aren’t allowed in.”

“But can’t you come out? Only a few minutes?”

“Are you sure this can’t wait?”

“Of course it can.”

Linda heard that Anna was disappointed. She changed her mind.

“A few minutes, then.”

“Thanks. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Linda walked down the corridor to her father’s office. Everyone seemed to have vanished. She wrote on a note that she left on the desk: I’ve gone out for some air and to talk to Anna. Back soon. Linda.

She put on her jacket and left. The corridor was empty. The only person she passed on the way out was the cleaning woman with her cart. The police officers manning the incoming calls were busy and did not look up. No one saw her walk past the reception area.

The cleaning woman, Lija, who was from Latvia, normally started at the far end of the corridor, where the criminal investigators had their offices. Since several rooms there were occupied, she started with Inspector Wallander’s office. There were always loose pieces of paper under his chair that he hadn’t managed to throw into the wastebasket. She swept up everything that was under the chair, dusted here and there, and then left the room.

Linda waited outside the station. She was cold and pulled the jacket tightly across her body. She walked down to the poorly lit parking lot and spotted her dad’s car. She felt her pocket and confirmed that she still had the spare keys. She checked her watch. More than ten minutes had gone by. Why wasn’t Anna here?

Linda waited at the entrance to the police station. No one was around. In other parts of the building there were shadows behind the lit-up windows. She walked back over to the parking lot. Suddenly something made her feel ill at ease and she stopped short, looking around, listening. The wind rustled through the trees as if to catch her attention. She turned around quickly, adopting a defensive posture as she did so. It was Anna.

“Why did you sneak up on me like that?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Where did you come from?”

Anna pointed vaguely in the direction of the entrance to the lot.

“I didn’t hear your car,” Linda said.

“I walked.”

Linda was more than ever on her guard. Anna was tense, her face troubled.

“What’s so important?”

“I just want to know about Zeba.”

“But we talked about that on the phone.”

Linda made a gesture up toward the glowing windows of the station.

“Do you know how many people are working in there right now?” she continued. “People with only one thing on their mind: finding Zeba. You can think what you like, but I’m part of that team and I don’t have time to stand here talking to you.”

“I’m sorry, I should go.”

This doesn’t add up, Linda thought. Her whole inner alarm system was ringing. Anna was acting confused. Her sneaking manner and her unconvincing apology didn’t match up.

“Don’t go,” Linda ordered sharply. “Now that you’re here, you might as well tell me what’s going on.”

“I’ve already told you.”

“If you know anything about where Zeba is, you have to tell me.”

“I don’t know where she is. I just came to ask you if you’ve found her, or at least have any clues.”

“You’re lying.”

Anna’s reaction was so surprising that Linda didn’t have time to prepare for it. It was as if Anna underwent a sudden transformation. She shoved Linda in the chest and shouted, “I never lie! But you don’t understand what’s happening!”

Then she turned and walked away. Linda didn’t say anything. She watched — speechless — as Anna walked away. Anna had one hand in her pocket. She has something in there, Linda thought. Something she’s clinging to like a life vest. But why is she so upset? Linda wondered if she should run after her, but Anna was already far away.

She walked back up to the front doors of the police station, but something stopped her. She tried to think fast. She shouldn’t have let Anna go. If it was true, as she thought, that Anna was acting strange, then she should have brought her into the station and asked someone else to talk to her. She had been given the task of staying close to Anna. Now she had made a mistake and brushed her away far too soon.

Linda tried to make a decision. She wavered between going back in and trying to stop Anna. She chose the latter and decided to borrow the car, since that would be faster. She drove the way that Anna should have walked, but without spotting her. She drove back the same way but saw nothing. There was an alternate route — same result. Had Anna disappeared again? Linda drove to her apartment building and stopped. The lights were on in the apartment. On her way to the front door, Linda saw a bicycle. The tires were wet, and the water-splashed frame had not yet dried. It wasn’t raining, but the streets were full of puddles. Linda shook her head. Something warned her against ringing the doorbell. Instead she returned to the car and backed it up until it was in shadow.

She felt that she needed to consult with someone, so she dialed her father’s cell phone. No answer. He must have misplaced it again, she thought. She dialed the number to Lindman’s phone. Busy, just like Martinsson’s, which she tried next. Linda was about to try all three again when a car turned onto the street and stopped outside Anna’s door. It was dark blue or black, maybe a Saab. The light in Anna’s apartment was turned off. Linda’s whole body was tense; her hands holding the cell phone were sweaty. Anna appeared and climbed into the back seat, then they drove away. Linda followed. She tried to call her dad, but he still didn’t answer. On Österleden she was overtaken by a speeding truck. Linda stayed behind the truck but pulled out from time to time to make sure the dark car didn’t disappear. It turned onto the road to Kåseberga.

Linda kept as great a distance between herself and the other car as she dared. She tried to make another call but only managed to drop the cell phone between the seats. They passed the road to Kåseberga Harbor and kept driving east. It was only when they reached Sandhammaren that the car in front of her made a right turn. The move seemed to come out of nowhere, as the driver had not used the turn signal. Linda continued past the place where it had turned and only stopped when she had gone over a hill and around a corner. She found a bus stop and turned around, then drove back, although she didn’t dare take the same turn.

Instead she chose a small dirt road to the left. It came to an end by a broken gate and a rusty harvester. Linda climbed out of the car. There was a stronger wind down here by the sea. She looked around for her father’s black knit watch cap. When she pulled it over her head, she felt as if it made her invisible. She wondered if she should try to call again, but when she saw that her phone’s battery was running low she put it in her pocket without calling and started walking back the way she had come. It was only a few hundred meters back to the other road. She walked so fast that she broke into a sweat. The road was dark. She stopped and listened, but only heard the wind and the roar of the sea.