shadows were dotted around near the entrance doors, but even so he felt pretty sure they hadn't noticed him putting the file into the carrier. Of course, there was a risk that they would search the bag, but he thought it was unlikely since they had watched him buy the two records.
He looked at his watch: only 10 minutes to go until Baiba was due at their meeting place. He was still uneasy, but he felt more secure now for having got rid of the file. He went upstairs to the furniture department. Although it was still early, there were lots of customers gazing dreamily or in resignation at suites and bedroom furniture. Wallander strolled slowly towards the area displaying kitchen equipment. He didn't want to arrive too soon, but wanted to get to the meeting place at the exact time they had planned, and so he filled the time by wandering around and looking at various light fittings. They had agreed to meet among the ovens and refrigerators, all of which were made in the Soviet Union.
He saw her straight away. She was examining a cooker, and he noticed that it only had three hotplates. He could tell immediately that something was wrong. Something had happened to Baiba, something he had suspected the moment he woke up that morning. His uneasiness bristled and sharpened all his senses.
She noticed him at the same moment. She smiled, but he could see the fear in her eyes. Wallander walked towards her, not bothering to establish what positions the shadows had taken up. Just for the moment his whole attention was concentrated on finding out what had happened. He stood beside her, and they both stared at a dazzling white refrigerator.
'What's happened?' he asked. 'Just tell me the important bits, we haven't much time.'
'Nothing's happened,' she said. 'It was just that I couldn't leave the university as they had it under observation.'
Why is she lying, he wondered frantically. Why is she trying to lie so convincingly that I won't notice?
'Did you get the file?' she asked.
He hesitated over whether he ought to tell the truth, but then he decided he was fed up with all the lies.
'Yes, I got the file,' he said. 'Mikelis was reliable.'
She gave him a quick look.
'Give me it,' she said. 'I know where we can hide it.'
It was clear to Wallander that this was not Baiba speaking. It was her fear that was asking for the file, the threat she was exposed to.
'What's happened?' he asked again, this time more firmly, and perhaps with a note of anger. 'Nothing,' she insisted.
'Don't lie,' he said, unable to prevent his voice from rising. 'I'll give you the file. What will happen if you don't get it?'
He could see she was at the end of her tether. Don't collapse just yet, he thought in desperation. We're still one step ahead of them as long as they are not sure whether or not I've got the major's testimony.
'Upitis will die,' she whispered.
'Who has threatened you with that?'
She shook her head dismissively.
'I have to know,' he said. 'It won't have any effect on Upitis if you tell me.'
She looked at him in horror. He took hold of her arm and shook her.
'Who?' he said. 'Who was it?'
'Sergeant Zids.'
He let her go. Her reply had made him furious. Would he never get to know which of the colonels was at the core of the conspiracy?
He noticed the shadows closing in on them. They now seemed to have decided that he had the major's testimony. Without pausing to think he grabbed hold of Baiba and dragged her with him in a race for the stairs. Upitis won't be the first to die, he thought. It'll be us, unless we can get away.
Their sudden flight had confused the pack of dogs. Even though he doubted whether they could get away, he knew they would have to try. He pulled Baiba after him down the stairs, elbowed aside a man who hadn't managed to get out of their way, and suddenly they found themselves in the clothing department. Sales assistants and customers stared at them in astonishment as they charged past. Wallander stumbled and fell into a rack of suits. As he pulled and grabbed at the suits, the rack overturned. When he fell, he'd landed on his injured hand and the pain shot through his arm like a knife. A security guard came running up and took hold of his arm, but Wallander had no inhibitions any longer. He punched the man in the face with his good hand, then pulled Baiba after him towards where he hoped there might be a back staircase or an emergency exit. The shadows were catching up, and making no attempt to conceal themselves now. Wallander was pushing and pulling at doors that refused to budge, but eventually came to one standing ajar. They emerged into a back staircase, but he could hear footsteps coming towards them from below: there was no choice but to head for the upper floor.
He flung open a fire door and they came out on to a roof covered with gravel. He looked round for an escape route, but they were trapped. The only way down from the roof was the long leap into eternity. He noticed he was holding Baiba's hand. There was nothing to do but wait. He knew that the colonel who would soon step out on to the roof would be the man who had murdered the major. The grey fire door would reveal the answer at last, and he realised bitterly that it no longer mattered whether he'd guessed right or not.
When the door opened and Colonel Putnis stepped out accompanied by a group of armed men, however, he was surprised even so to see that he had been wrong. Despite everything he had come to the conclusion that Murniers was the monster who had been lurking for so long in the shadows.
Putnis came towards them with a very serious expression on his face. Wallander could feel Baiba's nails digging into his hand. He can't very well order his men to shoot us here, Wallander thought desperately. Or maybe he can? He recalled the execution of Inese and her friends, and suddenly he could feel himself trembling, overcome by fear.
Then Putnis's face broke into a smile, and Wallander realised to his bewilderment that it wasn't an animal of prey standing before him and smiling, but a man displaying great friendliness.
'You don't need to look so perplexed, Mr Wallander. You seem to think I'm the one behind all this business. But I must say, you're a very difficult person to protect.'
For one brief moment Wallander's mind stood still. Then he realised he'd been right after all, that it wasn't Putnis but Murniers who was the devil's henchman he'd been hunting for so long. He'd also been right in suspecting there was a third possibility, that the enemy also had an enemy. Everything fell into place. His judgement hadn't let him down, and he stretched out his left hand in order to greet Putnis.
'A somewhat unusual meeting place,' Putnis said, 'but you are obviously a man of surprises. I must admit that I wonder how you managed to get into the country without our border guards noticing.'
'I hardly know myself,' Wallander said. 'It's a very long story.'
Putnis seemed concerned about his injured hand. 'You ought to get that treated as soon as possible,' he said.
Wallander nodded, and smiled at Baiba. She was still tense and didn't seem to understand what was going on.
'Murniers,' Wallander said. 'So he was the one?'
Putnis nodded. 'Major Liepa's suspicions were well founded.'
'There's a lot I don't understand,' Wallander said.
'Colonel Murniers is a very intelligent person,' Putnis said. 'Certainly, he's an evil man, but I'm afraid that only shows that sharp minds often have a tendency to be located in heads belonging to brutal people.'
'Is that certain?' Baiba said suddenly. 'That he was the one who killed my husband?'
'He wasn't the one who smashed his skull,' Putnis said. 'That is more likely to have been his faithful sergeant.'
'My driver,' Wallander said. 'Sergeant Zids. The one who killed Inese and the others in the warehouse.'
Putnis nodded. 'Colonel Murniers has never liked the Latvian nation,' he said. 'Even though he played the part of a police officer who held the political world at a distance, as do all professionals, in his heart and soul he is a fanatical supporter of the old regime. As far as he's concerned, God will always be in the Kremlin. That was the guarantee for his being able to form an unholy alliance with various criminals without interference. When Major Liepa began to see through him, he set false trails implicating me. I have to admit it was a long time before I began to suspect what was happening. Then I decided I might as well continue pretending not to know what was going
