Misterioso

superintendent.”

At this rate I’ll be the chief of police in another fifteen minutes, thought Hjelm as he took a small chair facing the Guardian.

“Your assumption is quite correct, Guardian,” he said in an ingratiating tone. “It has to do with two of your members. Both have been murdered within the past few days.”

Clofwenhielm didn’t look especially shocked, although perhaps a bit wary. He straightened the collar of his lavender cloak.

“The brothers of the Order of Mimir usually hold positions in society where acts of violence are extremely rare. Are you insinuating that it had something to do with the Order of Mimir?”

“Not at all. We’re looking into every possible connection between the two victims, and our primary concern at the moment is to prevent another murder. The fact that they were both members of this organization is one of these connections.”

“I understand. So what is this about?”

“You don’t read the newspapers, Guardian?”

“Very seldom anymore,” said Clofwenhielm. “Having decided to devote myself to the organization, I retired not only from my job but also from those parts of the outside world that I find repulsive. That’s permissible when you reach a certain age.”

“And a certain financial status.”

“Of course,” said Clofwenhielm, his tone neutral.

“How many members does the Order of Mimir have?”

“Sixty-three,” and he said, “all very carefully chosen. Well, sixty-one, now,” he corrected himself.

“Of course,” said Hjelm, his tone equally neutral. “Do you know all of them personally?”

“What goes on within the order has very little to do with anything personal. We are preoccupied with what is above and beyond the personal. And besides, during the rituals we usually wear cloaks, rather like the one I’m wearing now, and masks of various types representing the Nordic gods. I seldom see anyone’s face. But now we’re touching on proprietary information.”

“Top, top secret.”

“Precisely,” said Clofwenhielm, without for a second questioning the odd choice of words.

“There’s one thing I’m curious about,” said Hjelm. “Can you explain to someone who’s a complete outsider what makes these kinds of organizations so attractive to certain groups in society?”

“I could give you an idealistic answer and say that we’re united by a desire to expand our consciousness, to open pathways into the unexplored parts of our souls. But that wouldn’t be entirely in keeping with the truth. Many by-products of the world I’ve left behind follow the brothers here from the outside: prestige, the feeling of being one of the chosen, an attitude of superiority, the desire to make connections, freedom from women, and an often artificial sense of tradition.

“The Order of Mimir can be traced back to Geijer’s Gothicism of the early 1800s, which marked a resurgence of interest in Nordic mythology. But ninety percent of the members have no clue about this. If I required of the brothers the same purity and enthusiasm that I expect of myself, I would be sitting here chanting all alone. And that might not be such a bad idea.” Clofwenhielm sighed a bit before returning to his usual thunderous tone of voice. “All right, so what are the names of the two departed brothers?”

“Kuno Daggfeldt and Bernhard Strand-Julen.”

The Guardian of the Order of Mimir let his fingers wander over the computer keyboard. “I see,” he said hesitantly. “Once again we have taken a small step across the magical border into secrecy.”

“Do you mean that we’re touching on confidential matters?”

“We’re bordering on that, in any case. Allow me to think for a moment.”

David Clofwenhielm was allowed time to think.

“All right,” he said at last. “Assisting the authorities in a murder investigation concerning two of our brothers must be given priority. Come over here, Hjelm.”

Hjelm looked at the screen over Clofwenhielm’s shoulder.

“As you can see, I’m scrolling through the names relatively quickly so that you won’t be tempted to memorize too many of them. Sometimes you’ll notice an asterisk flashing past in front of a name. There’s one in front of both the ones you mentioned. Here we have Daggfeldt, and here’s Strand-Julen. An asterisk next to each. There are ten of them altogether. You can sit down again, Hjelm.”

Hjelm did as he was told. He felt like a schoolboy. All the elevations in title had apparently collapsed.

“The asterisk indicates, to put it simply, that they’re no longer members of the Order of Mimir.”

“Do you mean that they’ve forgotten to pay their annual dues?”

Once again the Guardian uttered an ear-splitting bellow of laughter. “This is a fraternal order, my boy, not a country club. No, I put the asterisk there myself for quite another reason. The men in question have chosen to establish a subgroup within the Order of Mimir, the so-called Order of Skidbladnir. In lay terms, their group functions as a subsidiary, independent but at the same time always answerable to the parent company. They wanted to develop certain ritualistic ideas that were not found acceptable by the Order of Mimir, meaning by me, but they didn’t want to leave entirely. And let me emphasize that there was no real conflict behind the formation of the Order of Skidbladnir.”

“No grumbling in the corridors?”

“There are no corridors here, nor any grumbling. Any antagonisms that have arisen have been on a more personal level, and as I mentioned, that sort of thing doesn’t interest me.”

“Do you recall who or what was the driving force behind the secession?”

“When the matter was presented to me, and this was about six months ago, we were all wearing our masks after an intense ceremony here. I have no idea who or what prompted the whole thing. But I accepted their proposal; I’m not running a reformatory here, you know. The administrative arrangements seemed quite acceptable. But I was expecting to receive certain reports regarding their progress, et cetera, and so far nothing has been forthcoming.”

“What are the differences between the Order of Mimir and the Order of Skidbladnir? What did the other men want to develop?”

“You won’t be able to entice me any further into our secret domains, officer. It’s a matter of specific details in the rituals. Nothing radical. A desire to develop certain ceremonial aspects a bit further.”

“I’m sure you’d be willing to give me a list of the names with an asterisk,” said Hjelm, aware that he’d now been drastically demoted to the rank of officer.

Two taps of the keys, a rustling sound under cheese bell number two, and then David Clofwenhielm, Guardian of the Order of Mimir, lifted off the lid and let a microscopic inkjet printer pump out two pages of A-4 paper.

“I assume that the same tact and finesse that you have demonstrated here today, Hjelm, will be shown regarding these pages. I would be very upset to hear that the media had gotten hold of them.”

“I would too,” said Hjelm.

They both stood and shook hands.

“I’d like to thank you for all your help, Guardian,” said Hjelm. “Just one little question. What is it that this organization actually does?”

“Does?” said Clofwenhielm in surprise. Then he really let loose.

The periodic bursts of laughter moved like shock waves, seeming to propel Hjelm up the stairs and out onto Stallgrand.

April weather, thought Hjelm, peering through the rain trickling down the windows of the cafe. As capricious as fate. Occasionally someone crossed Vasterlanggatan with the collar of his coat or jacket turned up, dashing along the wall of the building, vainly seeking shelter under balconies that didn’t exist. The rain lashed against the big windows of Cafe Gramunken, and light was noticeably absent. He squinted his eyes, staring at the Order of Mimir printouts. A flash of lightning abruptly lit up the cafe, leaving behind a lavender light that blocked his vision for a moment.

“Shit. Thanks a lot,” said Hjelm to the lightning.

“Shit yourself, and here you are,” said the girl with the white apron as she poured him another cup of coffee. He looked up at her in surprise. She was nothing but a lavender silhouette.

When his vision returned to normal, he went back to skimming the list. It included the home and business