The Fifth Woman

CHAPTER 19

It started to rain just after they left Hoor. By then Wallander had begun to doubt the whole undertaking. Was it really worth the trouble of driving all the way to Almhult? What did he actually think he would achieve? Yet deep down he had no doubts. What he wanted was not a solution, but to move a step further in the right direction.

Bo Runfeldt had been angry when Wallander had told him where they were going, asking if this was some kind of joke. What did his mother’s death have to do with the murder of his father?

“You and your sister seem reluctant to talk about what happened,” he said. “In a way, I can understand it. People don’t like to talk about a tragedy. But why don’t I believe that it’s the tragedy that makes you reluctant to talk about it? If you give me a good answer, we’ll turn around and drive back. And don’t forget, you’re the one who brought up your father’s brutality.”

“There you have my answer,” Runfeldt said. Wallander noticed an almost imperceptible change in his voice. A hint of a defence beginning to crumble.

Wallander cautiously probed deeper as they drove through the monotonous landscape.

“You said that your mother talked about committing suicide?”

It took a while before Runfeldt answered.

“It’s strange that she didn’t do it earlier. I don’t think you can imagine what hell she was forced to live in. I can’t. No-one can.”

“Why didn’t she divorce him?”

“He threatened to kill her if she left him. She had every reason to believe he would do it. I didn’t know anything back then, but later on I understood.”

“If the doctors suspect abuse, they’re obliged to report it to the police.”

“She always had an explanation, and she was convincing. She would say anything to protect him. She might say she was drunk and fell down. My mother never touched alcohol, but of course the doctors didn’t know that.”

The conversation died as Wallander overtook a bus. He noticed that Runfeldt seemed tense. Wallander wasn’t driving fast, but his passenger was clearly nervous in traffic.

“I think what kept her from committing suicide was my sister and me,” he said after a while.

“That’s natural,” Wallander replied. “Let’s go back to what you said earlier, that your father had threatened to kill your mother. When a man abuses a woman, he doesn’t usually intend to kill her. He does it to control her. Sometimes he hits too hard, and the abuse leads to death. But generally there’s a different reason for murder. It’s taking it one step further.”

Runfeldt replied with a surprising question.

“Are you married?”

“Not any more.”

“Did you ever hit your wife?”

“Why would I do that?”

“I just wondered.”

“We’re not talking about me here.”

Runfeldt was silent. Wallander remembered with horrifying clarity the time that he had struck Mona in a moment of uncontrollable rage. She had fallen, hit the back of her head against the doorframe, and blacked out for a few seconds. She almost packed her bags and left, but Linda was still so young. And Wallander had begged and pleaded. They had sat up all night. He had implored her, and in the end she had stayed. The incident was etched in his memory, but he couldn’t now recall what they had been fighting about. Where had the rage come from? He didn’t know. There were few things in his life that he was more ashamed of. He understood his own reluctance to be reminded of it.

“Let’s get back to that day ten years ago,” Wallander said. “What happened?”

“It was a Sunday,” Runfeldt said. “5 February 1984. It was a beautiful, cold winter’s day. They used to go out on excursions every Sunday, to walk in the woods, along the beach, or across the ice on the lake.”

“It sounds idyllic,” said Wallander. “How am I supposed to make this fit with what you said before?”

“It wasn’t idyllic. It was just the opposite. My mother was always terrified. I’m not exaggerating. She had long ago crossed the boundary where fear takes over and dominates your whole life. She must have been mentally exhausted. But he wanted to take a Sunday walk, and so they did. The threat of a clenched fist was ever present. I’m convinced that my father never saw her terror. He probably thought all was forgiven and forgotten each time. I assume he regarded his abuse of her to be chance incidents of rash behaviour. Hardly more than that.”

“I think I understand. So what happened?”

“Why they had gone to Smaland that Sunday, I don’t know. They parked on a logging road. It had been snowing, but it wasn’t particularly deep. They walked along the road to the lake, and out onto the ice. Suddenly it gave way and she fell in. He couldn’t pull her out. He ran to the car and went to get help. She was dead, of course, when they found her.”

“How did you hear about it?”

“He called me himself. I was in Stockholm at the time.”

“What do you remember of the phone conversation?”

“Naturally he was very upset.”

“In what way?”

“Can you be upset in more than one way?”

“Was he crying? Was he in shock? Try to describe it.”

“He wasn’t crying. I can only remember my father having tears in his eyes when he talked about rare orchids. It was more that he was trying to convince me he had done everything in his power to rescue her. But that shouldn’t be necessary, should it? If someone’s in trouble, you do everything you can to help, don’t you?”

“What else did he say?”

“He asked me to try to get hold of my sister.”

“So he called you first?”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

“We came down to Skane. Just like now. The funeral was a week later. I spoke to a policeman. He said that the ice must have been unexpectedly thin. My mother wasn’t a big person.”

“Is that what he said? The police officer you spoke to? That the ice must have been ‘unexpectedly thin’?”

“I have a good memory for detail. Maybe that’s why I’m an accountant.”

They passed a cafe and decided to stop. During the brief meal, Wallander asked Runfeldt about his work in international accounting. He listened without paying much attention. Instead, he went over their conversation in his mind. Something was important, but he couldn’t quite pin it down. As they were about to leave the cafe, his phone rang. It was Martinsson. Runfeldt stepped aside to give Wallander some privacy.

“We seem to be out of luck,” Martinsson said. “Of the officers who were working in Almhult ten years ago, one is dead and the other has retired to Orebro.”

Wallander was disappointed. Without a reliable informant, the trip would lose much of its purpose.

“I don’t even know how to find the lake,” he complained. “Aren’t there any ambulance drivers? Wasn’t the fire department called in to pull her out?”

“I’ve located the man who offered to help Gosta Runfeldt,” said Martinsson. “I know his name and where he lives. The problem is that he doesn’t have a phone.”

“Is there really somebody in this country today who doesn’t have a phone?”

“Apparently. Do you have a pen?”

Wallander searched his pockets. As usual he didn’t have either a pen or paper. He waved over Runfeldt, who handed Wallander a gold-plated pen and one of his business cards.

“Jacob Hoslowski,” Martinsson said. “He’s an eccentric man who lives alone in a cottage not far from Stang Lake, which is due north of Almhult. I talked to a woman at the Town Hall who said that there’s a sign to Stang Lake next to his driveway. But she couldn’t give me exact directions. You’ll have to stop at a house and ask.”

“Do we have somewhere to stay overnight?”

“IKEA has a hotel, and you have rooms reserved.”

“Doesn’t IKEA sell furniture?”

“Yes, they do. But they also have a hotel. The IKEA Inn.”

“Anything happening?”

“Everyone’s really busy, but it sounds as if Hamren’s coming down from Stockholm to help out.”

Wallander remembered the two police detectives from Stockholm who had assisted them during the summer. He had nothing against having them again.

“Not Ludwigsson?”

“He was in a car accident; he’s in hospital.”

“Serious?”

“I’ll find out, but I didn’t get that impression.”

Wallander hung up and returned the pen.

“It looks valuable,” he said.

“Being an accountant for Price Waterhouse is one of the best jobs around,” Runfeldt said. “At least in terms of salary and future prospects. Wise parents today advise their children to become accountants.”

“What’s the average salary?” asked Wallander.

“Most people who are employed above a certain level have individual contracts. Which are confidential, of course.”

Wallander took this to mean that the salaries were extremely high. His own salary as a detective with many years of experience was quite low. If he had taken a position in the private sector, he could have earned at least double what he was on now, but he had made his choice, he would stay with the police, at least as long as he could survive on his salary.

They reached Almhult at 5 p.m. Runfeldt asked if it was really necessary to stay the night. Wallander didn’t have a good answer. Runfeldt could have taken the train back to Malmo. But Wallander told him that they wouldn’t be able to visit the lake until the following day because it would soon be dark, and he wanted Runfeldt to go with him.

After they checked into the hotel, Wallander set off at once to find Jacob Hoslowski’s house. He stopped at the road sign posted at the entrance to the town and made a note of Stang Lake’s location, then headed away from town. It was already dusk. He turned left and then left again. The forest was dense. The open landscape of Skane was far behind him. He stopped when he saw a man mending a gate near the road. The man gave him directions, and Wallander drove on. The engine started to knock. His Peugeot was getting old. He wondered how he could afford a new one. He had bought this car after his first one had blown up on the E65 one night. It had also been a Peugeot. Wallander had the feeling that his next car would be the same make. The older he got, the harder it was for him to break his habits.

When he reached the next turn-off, Wallander drove down a rough dirt road. After 100 metres he stopped and parked, afraid that he might get stuck. He got out of the car and started walking. There was a rustling in the trees that stood close together along the narrow road. He walked briskly to keep warm.

The house stood right on the side of the road. It was an old-fashioned cottage. The yard was full of old cars. A solitary rooster was sitting on a stump, staring at him. There was a light in one window. Wallander saw that it was a kerosene lamp. He wondered whether he should postpone his visit until the following day, but he had come so far. He went up to the front door. The rooster sat motionless on the stump. He knocked. After a moment he heard a shuffling sound and the door opened. The man standing there in the dim light was younger than Wallander had expected, maybe about 40. Wallander introduced himself.

“Jacob Hoslowski,” replied the man. Wallander could hear a faint, almost imperceptible accent in his voice. The man was unwashed. He smelled bad. His long hair and beard were matted.

“I wonder if I might disturb you for a few minutes,” he said.

Hoslowski smiled and stepped aside.

“Come in. I always let in anyone who knocks on my door.”

Wallander stepped inside the dark hall and almost tripped over a cat. The whole house was full of them. He’d never in his life seen so many cats in one place before. It reminded him of the Forum Romanum, but here the stench was appalling. He followed Hoslowski into the larger of the two rooms in the house. There was almost no furniture, just mattresses and cushions, piles of books, and a single kerosene lamp on a stool. And cats, everywhere. Wallander had an uneasy feeling that they were all watching him with alert eyes, ready to hurl themselves at him at any moment.

“I don’t often visit a house without electricity,” said Wallander.

“I live outside of time,” Hoslowski replied simply. “In my next life I’m going to be reincarnated as a cat.”

Wallander nodded. “I see,” he said. “Were you living here ten years ago?”

“I’ve lived here ever since I left time behind.”

“When did you leave time behind?”

“A long time ago.”

Wallander could see this was the most accurate answer he was going to get. With some difficulty he sank down onto one of the cushions, hoping that it wasn’t covered with cat piss.

“Ten years ago a woman went out onto the ice at Stang Lake near here and drowned,” he went on. “Do you remember the incident? Even though, as you say, you live outside of time?”

Wallander noticed that Hoslowski reacted positively to having his timeless existence accepted.

“A winter Sunday ten years ago,” said Wallander. “According to the report, a man came here and asked you for help.”

Hoslowski nodded. “A man came and pounded on my door. He wanted to borrow my telephone.”

Wallander looked around the room. “But you don’t have a phone?”

“Who would I talk to?”

Wallander nodded. “What happened then?”

“I directed him to my nearest neighbours. They have a telephone.”

“Did you go with him?”

“I went over to the lake to see if I could pull her out.”

Wallander paused and backed up a bit.

“The man who pounded on your door — I presume he was upset?”

“Maybe.”

“What do you mean by ‘maybe’?”

“I remember him as being oddly calm.”

“Did you notice anything else?”

“I forget. It took place in a cosmic dimension that has changed many times since then.”

“Let’s move on. You went over to the lake. What happened then?”

“The ice was smooth. I saw the hole. I walked over to it. But I didn’t see anything in the water.”

“You say that you walked? Weren’t you afraid the ice would crack?”

“I know what it can hold. Besides, I can make myself weightless when I have to.”

You can’t talk sense with a madman, Wallander thought.

“Can you describe the hole in the ice for me?”

“It was probably cut by a fisherman. Maybe it froze over, but the ice hadn’t had a chance to get thick.”

Wallander thought for a moment.

“Don’t ice fishermen drill small holes?”

“This one was almost rectangular. Maybe they had used a saw.”

“Are there usually ice fishermen on Stang Lake?”

“The lake is full of fish. I fish there myself. But not in the winter.”

“Then what happened? You stood next to the hole in the ice. You didn’t see anything. What did you do then?”

“I took off my clothes and got into the water.”

Wallander stared at him.

“Why in God’s name did you do that?”

“I thought I might be able to feel her body with my feet.”

“But you could have frozen to death.”

“I can make myself insensitive to extreme cold or heat if necessary.”

Wallander realised he should have anticipated this answer.

“But you didn’t find her?”

“No. I pulled myself back out of the water and got dressed. Right after that people came running. A car with ladders. Then I left.”

Wallander began to get up from the uncomfortable cushion. The stench in the room was unbearable. He had no further questions and didn’t want to stay any longer than he had to. At the same time he had to admit that Hoslowski had been obliging and friendly.

Hoslowski followed him out to the yard.

“They pulled her out later,” he said. “My neighbour usually stops by to tell me what he thinks I should know about the outside world. He’s a very nice man. He keeps me informed about everything that goes on in the local shooting club. Most of what happens elsewhere in the world he considers less important. That’s why I don’t know much about what’s happening. Maybe you’d permit me to ask whether at the present time there’s any kind of extensive war going on?”

“Nothing big,” said Wallander. “But lots of small ones.”

Hoslowski nodded. Then he pointed.

“My neighbour lives right nearby,” he said. “You can’t see his house. It’s maybe 300 metres from here. Earthly distances are hard to calculate.”

Wallander thanked him and left. It was quite dark now. He used his torch to see the way. Lights flickered between the trees. The house he came to seemed relatively new. In front stood a van with the words “Plumbing Services” painted on the side. Wallander rang the bell. A tall, barefoot man wearing a white undershirt wrenched open the door as if Wallander was the latest in an endless line of people who had come to disturb him. But he had an open and friendly face. He could hear a child crying somewhere in the house. Wallander explained briefly who he was.

“And it was Hoslowski who sent you over?” said the man with a smile.

“What makes you think that?”

“I can tell by the smell,” said the man. “It goes away with a good airing. Come on in.”

Wallander followed him into the kitchen. The crying was coming from upstairs. There was a TV on somewhere too. The man introduced himself as Rune Nilsson. Wallander declined a cup of coffee and told him why he was there.

“You don’t forget something like that,” Nilsson said. “It was before I was married. There was an old house here that I tore down when I built the new one. Was it really ten years ago that it happened?”

“Exactly ten years ago, give or take a few months.”

“He came and pounded on my door. It was the middle of the day.”

“How did he seem?”

“He was upset, but in control. He called the police while I put on my coat. Then we took off. We took a shortcut through the woods. I did a lot of fishing back then.”

“He gave you the impression of being in control the whole time? What did he say? How did he explain the accident?”

“She had fallen in. The ice broke.”

“But the ice was quite thick, wasn’t it?”

“You never know about ice. There can be invisible cracks or weaknesses. But it did seem strange.”

“Jacob Hoslowski said the hole in the ice was rectangular. He thought it might have been cut with a saw.”

“I don’t remember whether it was rectangular or not. Only that it was big.”

“But the ice around it was strong. You’re a big man but you weren’t afraid to go out on the ice?”

Nilsson nodded.

“I thought a lot about that afterwards,” he said. “It was a strange thing, a woman disappearing into a hole in the ice like that. Why couldn’t he have pulled her out?”

“What was his own explanation?”

“He said he tried, but she vanished too fast. Pulled down under the ice.”

“Was that true?”

“They found her several metres away from the hole, right under the ice. She hadn’t sunk down. I was there when they pulled her out. I’ll never forget it. I wouldn’t have believed that she could weigh so much.”

“What do you mean by that? That she could have ‘weighed so much’?”

“I knew Nygren, who was the police officer back then. He’s dead now. He told me several times that the man claimed that she weighed almost 80 kilos. That was supposed to explain why the ice broke. I never understood that. But I guess you always brood over accidents.”

“That’s probably true,” Wallander said, standing up. “Thanks for your time. Tomorrow I’d like you to show me where it happened.”

“Are we going to walk on water?”

Wallander smiled. “That’s not necessary. But maybe Jacob Hoslowski has that power.”

Nilsson shook his head.

“He’s harmless,” he said. “That man and all his cats. Harmless but nuts.”

Wallander walked back along the forest road. The kerosene lamp was still burning in Hoslowski’s window. Nilsson had promised to be home around 8 a.m. the next morning. He started up his car and headed back to Almhult. The knocking in the engine was gone now. He was hungry. It might be sensible to suggest to Runfeldt that they have dinner together. For Wallander the trip no longer seemed pointless.

When Wallander reached the hotel there was a message for him at the front desk. Bo Runfeldt had rented a car and gone to Vaxjo. He had good friends there, and intended to spend the night. He promised to return to Almhult early the next day. For a moment Wallander felt annoyed. He might have needed Runfeldt for something during the evening. He had left a phone number in Vaxjo, but Wallander had no reason to call him. He realised that he was relieved that he would have the evening to himself. He went to his room, took a shower, and found that he didn’t have a toothbrush with him. He got dressed and went in search of a shop where he could buy what he needed. He ate dinner at a pizzeria, thinking the whole time about the drowning accident. He was slowly piecing together a picture. Back in his hotel room, he called Hoglund at home. He hoped her children were in bed asleep. When she answered, he outlined what had happened. What he wanted to know was whether they had succeeded in tracking down Mrs Svensson, Gosta Runfeldt’s last client.

“Not yet,” she told him.

He kept the conversation short. Then he turned on the TV and watched distractedly for a while. Eventually he fell asleep.

When Wallander woke up just after 6 a.m., he felt well rested. By 7.30 a.m. he had eaten breakfast and paid for his room. He sat down in reception to wait. Runfeldt arrived a few minutes later. Neither of them mentioned his having spent the night in Vaxjo.

“We’re going on an expedition,” said Wallander. “To the lake where your mother drowned.”

“Has the trip been worth the trouble?” asked Runfeldt. Wallander noticed that he was irritable.

“Yes,” he replied. “And your presence has actually been of crucial importance, whether you want to believe it or not.”

Wallander wasn’t sure of this, of course, but he spoke so firmly that Runfeldt, if not totally convinced, at least looked pensive.

Nilsson was waiting for them. They walked along a path through the woods. There was no wind and the temperature was close to freezing. The water spread out before them. The lake was oblong. Nilsson pointed to a spot in about the middle of the lake. Wallander noticed that Runfeldt looked uncomfortable, and assumed he had never been there before.

“It’s hard to imagine the lake covered with ice,” said Nilsson. “Everything changes when winter arrives. Especially your sense of distance. What seems far away in the summer can suddenly seem much closer. Or the other way around.”

Wallander walked down to the shore. The water was dark. He thought he caught a glimpse of a little fish moving next to a rock. Behind him he could hear Runfeldt asking if the lake was deep. He didn’t catch Nilsson’s reply.

He asked himself what had happened. Did Gosta Runfeldt plan to drown his wife on that particular Sunday? That’s what he must have done. Somehow he must have prepared the hole in the ice. The same way someone had sawed through the planks over the pit at Eriksson’s place. And had held Runfeldt prisoner.

Wallander stood there a long time, looking at the lake spread out before them. But what he saw was in his mind.

They walked back through the woods. At the car they said goodbye to Nilsson. Wallander thought they should be back in Ystad well before midday.

He was mistaken. Just south of Almhult the car stopped, and wouldn’t start again. Wallander called the road service he belonged to. The man came in less than 20 minutes, but quickly concluded that the car had a problem that couldn’t be repaired on the spot. They would have to leave the car in Almhult and take the train to Malmo.

Runfeldt offered to buy the tickets and bought firstclass seats. Wallander said nothing. At 9.44 a.m., the train left for Hassleholm and Malmo. By then Wallander had called the police station and asked for someone to come to Malmo and pick them up. There was no good connection by train to Ystad. Ebba promised to see to it that someone was there.

“Don’t the police have better cars than that?” Runfeldt asked suddenly after the train had left Almhult behind. “What if there’d been an emergency?”

“That was my own car,” Wallander replied. “Our emergency vehicles are in much better shape.”

The landscape slid past the window. Wallander thought about Gosta Runfeldt. He was sure that he’d murdered his wife. Now Runfeldt himself was dead. A brutal man, probably a murderer, had now been killed in an equally gruesome way.

The most obvious motive was revenge. But who was taking it? And how did Holger Eriksson fit into the picture? Wallander had no answers.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the conductor. It was a woman. She smiled and asked for their tickets with a distinct Skane accent. Wallander felt as though she recognised him. Maybe she’d seen his picture in a newspaper.

“When do we get to Malmo?” he asked.

“12.15,” she replied. “Hassleholm 11.13 a.m.”

Then she left. She knew the timetable by heart.