'I sometimes feel so desperately bloody tired of this whole business,' Widen said.
'It would be nice if we could have our time over again,' Wallander said.
'I sometimes say to myself, is that all it was? Life, that is. A few arias, loads of third-rate horses, constant money problems.'
'Come on, it's not all that bad, is it?'
'Convince me.'
'We have a reason to meet more often now. We can talk about it.'
'She hasn't got the job yet.'
'I know,' Wallander said. 'Phone me tonight.'
He got into his car, nodded to Widen and drove off. It was still quite early in the day. He made up his mind to pay another visit.
Half an hour later he parked in a no-parking area in the narrow street behind the Continental Hotel and walked to Mrs Duner's little pink house. He was surprised to see no sign of a police car in the vicinity. What had happened to the protection Mrs Duner was supposed to be receiving? He grew annoyed and worried at the same time. He rang the doorbell. He would get on to Bjork immediately.
The door opened a fraction, but when Mrs Duner saw who it was, she seemed genuinely pleased.
'I apologise for not having phoned in advance,' he said.
'It's always a pleasure to welcome Inspector Wallander,' she said.
He accepted her offer of a cup of coffee, even though he knew he had drunk too much coffee already. While she was busy in the kitchen Wallander took another look at her back garden. The lawn had been repaired. He wondered if she was expecting the police to provide her with another phone directory.
In this investigation everything seems to have happened a long time ago, he thought, and yet it's only a few days since I threw the directory at the lawn and watched the garden explode.
She brought in the coffee, and he sat on the flower-patterned sofa.
'I didn't see a police car outside when I arrived,' he said.
'Sometimes they're here, sometimes they're not,' Mrs Duner said.
'I'll look into it,' Wallander promised.
'Is it really necessary?' she said. 'Do you really think somebody is trying to harm me?'
'You know what happened to your employers. I don't believe anything else is going to happen, but we have to take all the precautions we can.'
'I wish I could make sense of it all,' she said.
'That's why I'm here,' Wallander said. 'You've had time to do some thinking. Often one needs to let a bit of time pass before things become clear, to let your memory warm up.'
'I have tried. Day and night.'
'Let's go back a few years,' Wallander said. 'To when Gustaf Torstensson was first offered the opportunity of working for Alfred Harderberg. Did you ever meet him?'
'No, never.'
'You spoke to him on the phone?'
'Not even that. It was always one of the secretaries who called.'
'It must have been a big deal for the firm to get a client like that.'
'Oh yes, of course. We began to earn much more money than we'd ever done before. We were able to renovate the whole building.'
'Even if you never met or spoke to Harderberg, you must have formed some idea of what he was like. I know you have a good memory.'
She thought before answering. Wallander watched a magpie hopping about in the garden while he waited.
'Everything was always urgent,' she said. 'Whenever he called in Mr Torstensson, everything else had to be put to one side.'
'Mr Torstensson must have discussed his client now and then,' he said. 'Told you about his visits to the castle.'
'I think he was very impressed. And also fearful of making a mistake. That was very important. I remember him saying several times that mistakes were forbidden.'
'What do you think he meant by that?'
'That if that happened Harderberg would go to another firm of solicitors.'
'Weren't you curious about Harderberg, and about the castle?'
'I wondered what it was like, of course. But he never said much. He was impressed, but reticent. I remember he once said that Sweden should be grateful for all the things Dr Harderberg was doing.'
'He never said anything negative about him?'
'Yes, he did, actually. I remember because it only happened once.'
'What did he say?'
'I can tell you word for word. He said: 'Dr Harderberg has a macabre sense of humour.''
'What do you suppose he meant by that?'
'I don't know. I didn't ask, and he didn't explain.'
'When was this?'
'About a year ago.'
'In what context did he say it?'
'He had just come back from Farnholm Castle. One of the regular meetings. I don't remember it having been anything out of the ordinary.'
Wallander could see he wasn't going to get any further on that tack.
'Let's talk about something completely different,' he said. 'When a solicitor's at work, there's always a lot of paper around. But we hear from the representatives of the Bar Council that there's very little in the files concerning the work Mr Torstensson did for Harderberg.'
'I was expecting that question,' she said. 'There were very special routines as far as work for Dr Harderberg was concerned. The only documents kept were the ones a solicitor regards as essential. We had strict instructions not to copy or save anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. Mr Torstensson took all the documents he worked on back to Farnholm Castle. That's why there's so little in the archives.'
'That must have seemed very odd to you.'
'The reason given was that Dr Harderberg's affairs were extremely sensitive. I had no reason not to accept that, so long as no rules were broken.'
'I understand that Mr Torstensson gave financial advice,' Wallander said. 'Can you remember any details?'
'I'm afraid I can't,' she said. 'They were complicated agreements between banks and companies in all four corners of the world. It was generally one of Dr Harderberg's secretaries who typed the documents. I was only rarely asked to type anything Mr Torstensson was going to take to Dr Harderberg. He typed up quite a lot of things himself.'
'But he didn't do that for other clients?'
'Never.'
'How would you explain that?'
'I assumed they were so sensitive that not even I was allowed to see them,' she said frankly.
Wallander declined the offer of a top-up for his coffee.
'Can you remember noticing any mention of a company called Avanca in any of the documents you saw?'
He could see she was trying hard to remember.
'No,' she said. 'It's possible I saw it, but I don't remember it.'
'Just one more question,' he said. 'Did you know about the threatening letters the firm received?'
'Gustaf Torstensson showed them to me,' she said. 'But he said they were nothing to worry about. That's why they weren't put in the archives. I thought he had thrown them away.'
'Did you know that the man who wrote them, Lars Borman, was a friend of Gustaf Torstensson?'
'No, and I am surprised to hear it.'
