Henning Mankell - Wallander's First Case

‘Every Wednesday afternoon. Between two and three, I think. Or perhaps a little later.’

‘Did he buy anything else?’

‘No.’

‘How can you remember all this so precisely? You must have a large number of customers.’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘But I think you remember more than you realise. If someone starts to ask you it just comes back up.’

Wallander looked at her hands. She wore no rings. He briefly considered asking her out but then dismissed the thought, horrified.

It was as if Mona had overheard his thoughts.

‘Is there anything else you remember?’

‘No,’ she said, ‘but I’m sure he was talking to a woman.’

That surprised Wallander.

‘How can you be sure of that?’

‘You can hear it,’ she said firmly.

‘You mean that Halen was calling to set up a time to meet with a woman?’

‘What would be strange about that? He was old, of course, but that doesn’t matter.’

Wallander nodded. Of course she was right. And if she was right he had found out something valuable. There had been a woman in Halen’s life after all.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘Do you remember anything else?’

Before she answered, a customer walked in. Wallander waited. There were two little girls who took a great deal of care in selecting two bags of sweets, which they then paid for with an endless series of five-ore pieces.

‘That woman may have had a name that started with A,’ she said. ‘He always spoke very quietly. I said that earlier. But her name may have been Anna. Or a double name. Something with A.’

‘Are you sure of this?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘But I think so.’

Wallander only had one more question.

‘Did he always come in alone?’

‘Yes, always.’

‘You’ve been a great help,’ he said.

‘May I ask why you need this information?’

‘Unfortunately not,’ Wallander said. ‘We ask questions, but we can’t always tell you why.’

‘Maybe I should join the police,’ she said. ‘I’m not planning to work in this shop for the rest of my life.’

Wallander leaned over the counter and wrote down his telephone number on a small notepad next to the cash register.

‘Call me sometime,’ he said. ‘We can get together and I can tell you what it’s like to be a police officer. Anyway, I live right round the corner.’

‘Wallander,’ she said. ‘Is that what it is?’

‘Kurt Wallander.’

‘My name is Maria. But don’t get any ideas. I already have a boyfriend.’

‘I won’t,’ Wallander said and smiled.

Then he left.

A boyfriend can always be overcome, he thought as he stepped into the street. And stopped short. What would happen if she really called him? If she called while Mona was over? He asked himself what he had done. At the same time he couldn’t help but feel a certain satisfaction.

Mona deserved it. That he gave his phone number to someone named Maria who was very beautiful.

As if Wallander was being punished for the mere thought of sinning, the rain started to pour down at that moment. He was drenched by the time he got home. He laid the wet cigarette packets on the kitchen table and stripped off all his clothes. Maria should have been here now to towel me off, he thought. And Mona can cut hair and take her damn coffee break.

He put on his dressing gown and wrote down in his notepad what Maria had said. So Halen had called a woman every Wednesday. A woman whose name started with the letter A. In all likelihood it was her first name. The question now was simply what this meant, other than that the image of the lonely old man had been shattered.

Wallander sat at the kitchen table and read through what he had written the day before. Suddenly he was struck by a thought. There should be a sailors’ register somewhere. Someone who could tell him about Halen’s many years at sea, which vessels he had worked on.

I know someone who could help me, Wallander thought. Helena. She works for a shipping company. At the very least she can tell me where I can look. If she doesn’t hang up on me when I call.

It was not yet eleven. Wallander could see through the kitchen window that the downpour was over. Helena didn’t normally take her lunch break until half past twelve. That meant that he would be able to get hold of her before she left.

He got dressed and took the bus down to the Central Station. The shipping company that Helena worked for was in the harbour district. He walked in through the gates. The receptionist nodded at him in recognition.

‘Is Helena in?’ he asked.

‘She’s on the phone. But you can go on up. You know where her office is.’

It was not without a feeling of dread that Wallander made his ascent to the first floor. Helena could get angry. But he tried to calm himself, thinking that at first she would simply be surprised. That could give him the time he needed to say that he was here purely on business. It was not her ex-boyfriend Kurt Wallander who was here, it was the police officer by the same name, the would-be criminal investigator.

The words ‘Helena Aronsson, Assistant Clerk’, were printed on the door. Wallander drew a deep breath and knocked. He heard her voice and walked in. She had finished her phone call and was sitting at the typewriter. He had been right. She was clearly surprised, not angry.

‘You,’ she said. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I’m here on police business,’ Wallander said. ‘I thought you might be able to help me.’

She had stood up and was already looking like she was going to ask him to leave.

‘I mean it,’ Wallander said. ‘It’s nothing personal, not at all.’

She was still on her guard.

‘What would I be able to help you with?’

‘May I sit down?’

‘Only if it won’t take long.’

The same power language as Hemberg, Wallander thought. You’re supposed to stand there and feel subordinate, while the person with power remains seated. But he sat down and wondered how he could once have been so in love with the woman on the other side of the desk. Now he could not remember her being anything other than stiff and dismissive.

‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘So there’s no need for you to ask.’

‘I’m fine too.’

‘What do you want?’

Wallander sighed internally over her rude tone but told her what had happened.

‘You work in the shipping industry,’ he finished. ‘You would know how I could find out what Halen really did at sea. Which companies he worked for, which ships.’

‘I work with freight,’ Helena said. ‘We rent vessels or cargo space for Kockums and Volvo. That’s all.’

‘There must be someone who knows.’

‘Can’t the police find this out some other way?’

Wallander had anticipated this question and had thus prepared an answer.

‘This case is being handled a little on the side,’ he said, ‘for reasons that I can’t go into.’

He could see that she only partly believed him. But she seemed amused.

‘I could ask some of my colleagues,’ she said. ‘We have an old sea captain. But what do I get in return? If I help you?’

‘What would you like?’ he asked in return, in as friendly a tone as he could muster.

She shook her head.

‘Nothing.’

Wallander stood up.

‘I have the same phone number as before,’ he said.

‘Mine is different,’ Helena said. ‘And you’re not getting it.’

When Wallander was back out on the street he noticed that he was damp with sweat. The meeting with Helena had been more stressful than he had wanted to admit. He ended up standing still, wondering what to do next. If he had had more money he would have gone to Copenhagen. But he had to remember that he had taken a sick day. Someone could call him. He shouldn’t stay away from home too long. And also he was finding it increasingly difficult to justify the fact that he was spending so much time on his dead neighbour. He went to a cafe across from the Denmark ferries and had the daily special. But before he ordered he checked to see how much money he had. He would have to go to the bank tomorrow. He still had a thousand kronor there. That would last him for the rest of the month. He ate stew and drank some water.