Mathias emptied his glass in one swig.
‘No,’ said Wim. ‘I only saw him in passing, but he seemed the same as ever.’
‘Nothing unusual about the girls either?’
Wim shook his head. His father belched.
‘No,’ he said. ‘They just stood there holding on to the cart, as usual.’
‘Hmm,’ said Van Veeteren. ‘Will you promise to contact us if you should think of anything? Anything at all that might seem tasty.’
Tasty? he thought. I’m losing my way with words.
‘Of course,’ said Fingher, scratching his head. ‘Obviously we’ll do anything we can to help. But I have to say I’m fucked if I know what you’re after.’
Van Veeteren ignored the criticism.
‘Last Monday, then?’ he asked instead. ‘I assume Yellinek wasn’t here then, in any case.’
‘Correct,’ said Fingher. ‘Only one of the women came on Monday.’
‘No girls?’
‘Not a single one.’
‘Did she explain why?’
‘Explain? Did she hell. Just stood there looking like a fart in a bottle, trying to be posh – as if she was God’s mother’s cousin or something.’
Van Veeteren cleared his throat.
‘You’re not religious yourself, I take it, Mr Fingher.’
‘No fucking chance,’ said the farmer and belched again.
‘Same here,’ said his son.
The chief inspector emptied his glass.
‘Ah well, thank you,’ he said. ‘I won’t disturb you any longer. But do get in touch if you think of anything… As I said.’
‘Of course,’ said Fingher, and began shepherding the chief inspector back to the road.
‘Sunday evening,’ he said, fixing the twelve-year-old with his eyes.
The girl, whose name was Joanna Halle, was gazing down at the table and rubbing her wrists nervously.
‘Sound a bit more friendly, perhaps,’ whispered the young psychologist into his ear.
‘Would you like to tell me a bit about what you were doing last Sunday evening?’ Van Veeteren tried again. ‘When you were down by the rock, swimming.’
‘We were swimming,’Joanna Halle explained.
‘I see. Who, exactly?’
‘There was me and Krystyna and Belle. And Clarissa.’
‘And you were swimming?’
‘Yes,’ said the girl.
An intelligent conversation, this, Van Veeteren thought. Gliding along as if on rails.
‘Were you friends, the four of you?’
‘Yes… No, not exactly…’
‘What do you mean?’
Don’t they teach pupils how to speak in school nowadays? he wondered.
‘We were just… sort of.’
‘Really? What time was it when you were there, roughly speaking?’
‘I don’t know, but we were back at six o’clock in any case, that’s when we have dinner.’
‘Did anything special happen when you were down there by the rock?’
‘No – what do you mean, something special?’
‘I don’t know. What did you talk about?’
‘Nothing special.’
‘You didn’t fall out?’
‘Fall out?’
‘Yes. Do you understand what that means?’
‘Yes, but we don’t fall out at the Pure Life, only Other people do that.’
‘Are you telling me the truth?’
‘Clear.’
Clear? the chief inspector thought. I’d better arrest more children so that I can learn how to communicate with them.
But Marieke Bergson and the others hadn’t caused any problems of that kind, so he decided for the moment that it was Joanna Halle who was a bit hard to get through to. Not himself.
‘Were all four of you together all the time?’ he wondered.
‘Can’t remember.’
‘Do you remember how you left there?’
Joanna Halle seemed actually to be thinking for the first time.
‘I was with Krys,’ she said.
‘Krystyna Sarek?’
‘Yes.’
‘So Clarissa and Belle Moulder were together?’
‘I think so.’
‘But you don’t know?’
‘Yes, they were still there when we left. Or at least, Belle was.’
‘But you didn’t see Clarissa when you left the rock?’
‘Yes, she must have been there.’
‘Come on, you must make your mind up. Was Belle on her own or were they both there when you and Krystyna left?’
‘They were both there.’
‘Sure?’
‘Clear.’
The chief inspector sighed and glanced at the psychologist, but she looked as inscrutable as a potato in glasses. Das Ding an sich, he thought grimly. The thing in itself.
‘But you didn’t see Clarissa later on at all?’
‘No… No, I didn’t.’
‘Do you remember if you saw Yellinek at all when you got back here?’
‘Yellinek?’
‘Yes. Will it be easier if I ask every question twice?’
The psychologist glared at him.
‘No, that’s not necessary,’ said Joanna Halle. ‘No, I didn’t see Yellinek until we went to the farm.’
‘So you’re saying you were one of those who went to collect the milk last Sunday evening?’
‘Of course. It was my turn.’
She looked at him in a way he realized was meant to express mild contempt.
‘Who else was there?’
She thought for a moment.
‘Krys and the sisters.’
‘The sisters?’
‘Yes, Lene and Tilde.’
Van Veeteren nodded.
‘Let’s go back to the rock where you went swimming. Did you notice anybody else while you were there?’
‘No, we were the only ones there.’
‘No other grown-ups either?’
‘No.’
