'Maybe I'm becoming a better person,' Wallander said. 'They say it's never too late.'
After meeting with Bjork he phoned Akeson at home. It was his wife who answered, and she was reluctant to let Wallander talk to her husband, who was in bed.
'Has he got a temperature?' Wallander asked.
'When you're ill, you're ill. Full stop,' Mrs Akeson said.
'I'm sorry,' Wallander insisted, 'but I've got to speak to him.'
After a considerable pause Akeson came to the phone. He sounded worn out. 'I'm ill,' he said. 'Influenza. I've been on the loo all night.'
'I wouldn't disturb you if it weren't important,' Wallander said. 'I'm afraid I need you for a few minutes this afternoon. We can send a car to collect you.'
'I'll be there,' Akeson said. 'But I can take a taxi.'
'Do you want me to explain why it's important?'
'Do you know who killed them?'
'No.'
'Do you want me to approve a warrant for the arrest of Alfred Harderberg?'
'No.'
'Then you can explain when I get in this afternoon.'
Wallander next phoned Farnholm Castle. He did not recognise the voice of the woman who answered. Wallander introduced himself and asked if he could speak to Kurt Strom.
'He doesn't come on duty until this evening,' the woman said. 'No doubt you'll get him at home.'
'I don't suppose you're prepared to give me his phone number,' Wallander said.
'Why ever not?'
'I thought it might be against your rules, security and so on.'
'No, not at all,' she said, and gave him the number.
'Please pass on my greetings to Dr Harderberg, and thank him for his hospitality the other evening,' Wallander said.
'He's in New York.'
'Well, please tell him when he comes back. Will he be away for long?'
'We expect him back the day after tomorrow.'
Something had changed. He wondered if Harderberg had issued instructions to respond positively to queries from the Ystad police.
Wallander dialled Strom's home number. He let it ring for some considerable time, but got no reply. He called reception and asked Ebba to find out where Strom lived. While he was waiting he went to fetch a cup of coffee. He remembered that he still had not been in touch with Linda, as he had promised himself he would be. But he decided to wait until evening.
Wallander left the station at around 9.30 and set off towards Osterlen. Strom apparently lived in a little farmhouse not far from Glimmingehus. Ebba knew the area better than most, so she had drawn him a rough map. Strom had not answered the phone, but Wallander had a hunch he would find him there. As he drove through Sandskogen he tried to remember what Svedberg had told him about the circumstances in which Strom had been kicked out of the police force. He tried to anticipate what his reception would be. Wallander had occasionally come across police officers who had been involved in a crime, and he recalled such occasions with distaste. But he could not avoid the conversation in store for him.
He had no difficulty following Ebba's map, and he drove straight to a small white-painted house typical of the area, to the east of Glimmingehus. It was set in a garden that was no doubt very pretty in the spring and summer. When he got out of the car two Alsatians in a steel cage started barking. There was a car in the garage, and Wallander assumed he had guessed right: Strom was at home. He did not need to wait long. Strom appeared from behind the house, wearing overalls and with a trowel in his hand. He stopped dead on seeing who his visitor was.
'I hope I'm not disturbing you,' Wallander said. 'I did ring, but I got no answer.'
'I'm busy filling in some cracks in the foundations,' Strom said. 'What do you want?'
Wallander could see Strom was on his guard.
'I've got something to ask you about,' he said. 'Maybe you can shut the dogs up.'
Strom shouted at the dogs and at once they fell silent.
'Let's go inside,' he said.
'No need,' Wallander said. 'We can stay here. It'll only take a minute.' He looked around the little garden. 'A nice place you've got here. A bit different from a flat in the middle of Malmo.'
'It was OK there as well, but this is closer to work.'
'It looks as though you live on your own here. I thought you were married?'
Strom glared at him with eyes of steel. 'What's my private life got to do with you?'
Wallander opened wide his arms in apology. 'Nothing,' he said. 'But you know how it is with former colleagues. You ask after the family.'
'I'm not your colleague,' Strom said.
'But you used to be, didn't you?'
Wallander had changed his tone. He was looking for a confrontation. He knew that toughness was the only thing Strom had any respect for.
'I don't suppose you've come here to discuss my family.'
Wallander smiled at him. 'Quite right,' he said. 'I haven't. I only reminded you that we used to be colleagues out of politeness.'
Strom had turned ashen. For a brief moment Wallander thought he had gone too far, and that Strom would take a swing at him.
'Let's forget it,' Wallander said. 'Let's talk about something else. October 11. A Monday evening. Six weeks ago. You know the evening I mean?'
Strom nodded, but said nothing.
'I really only have one question,' Wallander said. 'But let's get an important thing out of the way first. I'm not going to let you get away with not answering on the grounds that you'd be breaking the security rules of Farnholm Castle. If you try that, I'll make life so hellish for you, you'll wonder what hit you.'
'You can't do anything to me,' Strom said.
'I wouldn't be so sure of that,' Wallander said. 'I could arrest you and take you to Ystad with me, or I could phone the castle ten times a day and ask to speak to Kurt Strom. They would soon get the feeling that the police were far too interested in their head of security. I wonder if they know about your past? That could be embarrassing for them. I doubt if Dr Harderberg would be pleased if the peace and quiet of Farnholm Castle were to be disturbed.'
'Go to hell!' Strom said. 'Get to the other side of that gate before I throw you out.'
'I only want the answer to one question, about the night of October 11,' Wallander said, unconcerned. 'And I can assure you it won't go any further. Is it really worth risking the new life you lead? As I recall, when we met at the castle gates you said you were very happy with it.'
Wallander could see that Strom was wavering. His eyes were still full of hatred, but Wallander knew he would get an answer.
'One question,' he said. 'One answer. But a truthful one. Then I'll be off. You can get on with your repairs and forget I was ever here. And you can carry on guarding the gates of Farnholm Castle till the day you die. Just one question and one answer.'
An aeroplane flew past high above their heads. Wallander wondered if it was Alfred Harderberg's Gulfstream on its way back from New York already.
'What do you want to know?'
'That evening of October 11,' Wallander said. 'Gustaf Torstensson left the castle at 8.14 p.m. according to the printout of the gate checks I've seen. That could be forged, of course, but let's assume it's correct. We do know he did leave Farnholm Castle, after all. My question to you, Kurt Strom, is very simple. Did a car leave Farnholm Castle after Mr Torstensson arrived but before he left?'
Strom said nothing, but then he nodded slowly.
