'I've arranged for tea,' Harderberg said in a friendly tone. 'I hope you take tea, Inspector?'
'Yes, please,' Wallander said. 'Especially in weather like this. The walls here at Farnholm must be very thick.'
'You're referring to the fact that we can't hear the wind, I suppose,' Harderberg said. 'You're right. The walls are indeed very thick. They were built to offer resistance, both to enemy soldiers and to raging gales.'
'It must have been rather difficult to land today,' Wallander said. 'Did you come to Everod or Sturup?'
'I use Sturup,' Harderberg said. 'You can get straight out into the international routes from there. But the landing was excellent. I have only the best pilots.'
The African woman Wallander had met on his first visit emerged from the shadows. They sat in silence while she poured tea.
'This is a very special tea,' Harderberg said.
Wallander thought of something he had read that afternoon.
'I expect it's from one of your own plantations,' he said.
The constant smile made it impossible to tell whether Harderberg was surprised that Wallander knew that he owned tea plantations.
'I see you are well informed, Inspector Wallander,' he said. 'It is true that we have a share in Lonrho's tea plantations in Mozambique.'
'It's very good,' Wallander said. 'It's hard for me to imagine what is involved in doing business in all four corners of the world. A policeman's existence is rather different. But then, I suppose you must have found it pretty hard yourself in the early days: from Vimmerby to tea plantations in Africa.'
'They were indeed very long strides,' Harderberg said.
Wallander noted that Harderberg ended the opening exchanges with an invisible full stop. He put down his teacup, feeling rather insecure. The man opposite radiated controlled but apparently unlimited authority.
'I think we can keep this very brief,' Wallander said after a moment's pause, during which he could not hear the slightest whisper from the storm outside. 'The solicitor Gustaf Torstensson, who died in a car accident after visiting your castle, was in fact murdered. The accident was contrived in order to conceal the crime. Apart from whoever it was who killed him, you were the last person to see him alive.'
'I must admit I find the whole business inconceivable,' Harderberg said. 'Who on earth would want to kill poor old Gustaf Torstensson?'
'That's precisely the question we are asking ourselves,' Wallander said. 'And who could be sufficiently cold- blooded to disguise it as a car accident?'
'You must have some idea?'
'Yes, we do, but I'm afraid I can say no more.'
'I understand,' Harderberg said. 'You will realise how disturbed we were by what happened. Old Torstensson was a trusted colleague.'
'Things didn't get any easier when his son, too, was murdered,' Wallander said. 'Did you know him?'
'I never met him. But I am aware of what happened, of course.'
Wallander was feeling increasingly insecure. Harderberg seemed unmoved. Normally, Wallander could very quickly surmise whether or not a person was telling the truth, but this man, the man sitting opposite him, was different.
'You have business interests all over the world,' Wallander said. 'You preside over an empire with a turnover of billions. If I understand it rightly, yours is close to being listed among the world's biggest enterprises.'
'We shall overtake Kankaku Securities and Pechiney International next year,' Harderberg said. 'And when we do, yes, we'll be one of the top one thousand companies in the world.'
'I've never heard of the companies you referred to.'
'Kankaku is Japanese, and Pechiney is French,' Harderberg said.
'It's not a world I am at all familiar with,' Wallander said. 'It must have been quite unfamiliar to Gustaf Torstensson too. For most of his life he was a simple provincial solicitor. But nevertheless you found a place for him in your organisation.'
'I freely admit that I was surprised myself. But when we decided to move our Swedish base to Farnholm Castle, I needed a lawyer with some local know-how. Torstensson was recommended to me.'
'By whom?'
'I'm afraid I can no longer remember that.'
That's it, Wallander thought. He knows very well who it was, but he prefers not to say. A barely perceptible shift in his impassive features had not escaped Wallander's notice.
'I gather he dealt exclusively with financial advice,' Wallander said.
'He made sure the transactions we had with the rest of the world were in accordance with Swedish law,' Harderberg said. 'He was most meticulous. I had great faith in him.'
'That last evening,' Wallander said. 'I suppose you were sitting in this very room. What was the meeting about?'
'We had made an offer for some properties in Germany that were owned by Horsham Holdings in Canada. I was due to meet Peter Munk a few days later to try to clinch the deal. We discussed if there were any formal obstacles in the way. Our proposal was that we should pay partly in cash and partly in shares.'
'Peter Munk? Who is he?'
'The principal shareholder in Horsham Holdings,' Harderberg said. 'He's the one who runs the business.'
'The discussions you had that night were routine?'
'As I remember, yes.'
'I understand that other persons were present,' Wallander said.
'There were two directors from Banca Commerciale Italiana,' Harderberg said. 'We'd intended paying for the German properties with some of our holdings in Montedison. The transaction was to be handled by the Italian bank.'
'I'd be grateful for the names of those persons,' Wallander said. 'In case it arises that we need to speak to them as well.'
'Of course.'
'Gustaf Torstensson left Farnholm Castle immediately after the meeting, I take it,' Wallander said. 'Did you notice anything out of the ordinary about him that night?'
'Nothing at all.'
'And you have no idea why he was murdered?'
'I find it totally incomprehensible. An old man who led a solitary life. Who would want to kill him?'
'That's just it,' Wallander said. 'Who would want to kill him? And who would want to shoot his son as well, a couple of weeks later?'
'I thought you indicated that the police had a lead?'
'We do have a lead,' Wallander said, 'but we don't have a motive.'
'I wish I could help you,' Harderberg said. 'If nothing else I'd like the police to keep me informed about developments in the case.'
'It's very possible that I may need to come back to you with some more questions,' Wallander said, getting to his feet.
'I'll answer them as best I can,' Harderberg said.
They shook hands again. Wallander tried to look beyond the smile, beyond those ice-blue eyes. But somewhere along the line he came up against an invisible wall.
'Did you buy those buildings?' Wallander asked.
'Which buildings?'
'In Germany.'
The smile became even broader.
'Of course. It was a very good deal. For us.'
They took leave of each other at the door. Miss Lind was standing there in her bare feet, waiting to escort him out.
'We've found your notebook,' she said as they walked through the big entrance hall, and she handed him an
