They both rifled through the notes they had made. Hoglund finished first.
'Both barrels of the shotgun were fired,' she read. 'The pathologist and Nyberg are sure that the shots came in quick succession. The shots were fired directly at Svedberg's head at close range.'
Her voice shook. She took a deep breath and continued. 'It isn't possible to determine whether or not Svedberg was sitting in the chair when the shots were fired, nor what the exact distance was. From the arrangement of the furniture and the size of the room it cannot have been more than four metres, but it could have been much closer.'
Martinsson got up and mumbled something, then disappeared into the bathroom. They waited. He returned after a few minutes.
'I should have quit two years ago,' he said.
'We're needed now more than ever,' Wallander said sharply, but he understood Martinsson only too well.
'Svedberg was fully dressed,' Hoglund continued. 'That means he wasn't forced out of bed, but we still have no time frame.'
Wallander looked at Martinsson.
'I've been over this point again and again,' he said. 'But none of the neighbours heard anything.'
'What about noise from the street?' Wallander asked.
'I don't think it would cover the sound of a shotgun going off. Twice.'
'So we have no way of pinpointing the time of the crime. We know that Svedberg was dressed, which may allow us to eliminate the very late hours of the night. I've always been under the impression that Svedberg went to bed early.'
Martinsson agreed.
'How did the killer enter the flat? Do we know that?'
'The door shows no signs of a forced entry.'
'But remember how easy it was for us to get in,' Wallander said.
'Why did he leave his weapon behind? Was it panic?'
They had no answers to Martinsson's question. Wallander looked at his colleagues, who were tired and depressed.
'I'll tell you what I think,' he said. 'For what it's worth. As soon as I came into the flat I had the feeling that something was odd. What it was I don't know. There's been a murder that suggests a burglary. But if it isn't a burglary, then what? Revenge? Or is it possible to imagine that someone came here not to steal anything but rather to find something?'
He got up, picked up a glass from the kitchen counter, and poured himself some more water.
'I've talked to Ylva Brink at the hospital,' he said. 'Svedberg had almost no family. He had two cousins, one of whom is Ylva. They seem to have been in close contact. She mentioned one thing that I found odd. When she talked with Svedberg last Sunday he complained of being overworked. But he had just returned from holiday. It doesn't make any sense.'
Hoglund and Martinsson waited for him to continue.
'I don't know if it means anything,' Wallander said. 'But we need to know why.'
'Was it something to do with Svedberg's investigation?' Hoglund asked.
'The young people who went missing?' Martinsson said.
'There must have been something else as well,' Wallander said, 'since that wasn't a formal investigation. Anyway, he went on holiday just a few days after the parents first notified us.'
No one could come up with an answer.
'One of you will have to find out what he was working on,' Wallander said.
'Do you think he had a secret of some kind?' Martinsson asked carefully.
'Doesn't everybody have one?'
'So is that what we're looking for? Svedberg's secret?'
'We're looking for the person who killed him. That's all.'
They decided to meet again at the station at 8 a.m. Martinsson immediately returned to the flat next door to continue his interviews with the neighbours. Hoglund lingered. Wallander looked at her tired and ravaged face.
'Were you awake when I called?'
He regretted the question as soon as it came out. He had no business asking whether or not she had been up. But she didn't seem to mind.
'Yes,' she said. 'I was wide awake.'
'You came down here so quickly that I assume your husband must be at home with the children.'
'When you called, we were in the middle of an argument. Just a stupid little argument, the kind you have when you don't have the energy for the big ones any more.'
They sat quietly. Now and then they heard Nyberg's voice.
'I just don't understand it,' she said. 'Who would want to hurt Svedberg?'
'Who was closest to him?' Wallander said.
She looked surprised. 'I thought it was you.'
'No, I didn't know him that well.'
'But he looked up to you.'
'I have trouble imagining that.'
'You didn't see it, but I did. Maybe the others noticed it as well. He always took your side, even when you were wrong.'
'That still doesn't answer our question,' Wallander said, and asked it again. 'Who was closest to him?'
'No one was close to him.'
'Well, we have to get close to him now. Now that he's dead.'
Nyberg came into the kitchen, a cup of coffee in his hand. Wallander knew that he always had a thermos ready in case he was called out in the middle of the night.
'How's it going?' Wallander asked.
'It looks like a burglary,' Nyberg said. 'What we don't know is why the killer left his gun.'
'We don't have a time of death,' Wallander said.
'That's up to the pathologist.'
'I still want to hear your opinion.'
'I don't like to make guesses.'
'I know, but you have a certain experience in these matters. I promise I won't hold you to it.'
Nyberg rubbed his hand over his unshaven chin. His eyes were bloodshot.
'Maybe 24 hours,' he said. 'I doubt it's less than that.'
They let his words sink in. That means Wednesday night or early Thursday, Wallander thought. Nyberg yawned and left the kitchen.
'You should go home now,' Wallander said to Hoglund. 'We have to be ready to organise the investigation at 8 a.m.'
The clock on the wall read 5.15 a.m. She put on her coat and left. Wallander stayed in the kitchen. A pile of bills lay on the window sill. He leafed through them. We have to start somewhere, he thought. Next he went in to Nyberg and asked for a pair of rubber gloves. He returned to the kitchen and looked slowly around. He went through the cupboards and drawers methodically and noted that Svedberg kept his kitchen as neat as his office at work.
He left the kitchen and went into the study. Where was the telescope? He sat down in the desk chair and looked around. Nyberg came by and said they were ready to take Svedberg's body away. Did he want to see it again? Wallander shook his head. The image of Svedberg with half his head blown off was forever fixed in his mind. It was an image that didn't spare a single gruesome detail.
He let his gaze continue to wander around the room. The answerphone was on the desk, as well as a pencil holder, some old tin soldiers, and a pocket calendar. Wallander picked up the latter and leafed through it month by month. On 11 January, at 9.30 a.m., Svedberg had had a dentist's appointment. 7 March was Ylva Brink's birthday. On 18 April Svedberg had written the name 'Adamsson'. The name was also jotted down on 5 and 12 May. In June and July there were no notes at all.
