Nyberg got up as well. 'I should probably have a look at the telescope right away,' he said.
They drove out to Hedeskoga in Nyberg's car. The unmarked police car was still parked at the intersection. Wallander got out and spoke to the officer behind the wheel.
'He arrived about 20 minutes ago in a Mazda.'
'Then you can go back,' Wallander said.
'You don't want us to stay?'
'It won't be necessary.'
Wallander got back in the car and they pulled up outside the house.
'He's home,' he said to Nyberg. 'No doubt about that.'
Music was coming from an open window. It had a Latin beat. Wallander rang the bell and the music was turned down. Bjorklund opened the door wearing only a pair of shorts.
'I have a couple of questions that couldn't wait,' Wallander said.
Bjorklund seemed to think for a moment, then smiled. 'Now I understand,' he said.
'What do you understand?'
'Why that car was parked up by the turn-off.'
Wallander nodded. 'I was looking for you earlier today. My questions can't wait.'
Bjorklund let them in and Wallander introduced Nyberg.
'Once upon a time I also thought about becoming a forensic technician,' Bjorklund said. 'The idea of dedicating my life to interpreting evidence was appealing to me.'
'It's not as exciting as you'd think,' Nyberg replied.
Bjorklund looked mildly astonished.
'I wasn't talking about adventure,' he said. 'I was talking about being a person who follows traces.'
They stopped in the entrance to the big room. Wallander noted Nyberg's amazement at Bjorklund's menage.
'I'm going to get right to the point,' he said. 'You have a small shed to the east of the house. There's an instrument in there hidden under a piece of tarpaulin. I think it's a telescope, and I want to determine whether or not it came from Svedberg's flat.'
Bjorklund balked. 'A telescope? In my shed?'
'Yes.'
Bjorklund instinctively took a step back. 'Who's been snooping around out here?'
'I told you that I came looking for you earlier today. The door to your shed was open and I went in. I found the telescope.'
'Is that legal? Are the police allowed to enter other people's homes at will?'
'If you have an opinion to the contrary, feel free to make a report to the ombudsman.'
Bjorklund looked at him with animosity. 'I think I will,' he said.
'For God's sake,' Nyberg interrupted angrily. 'Let's just get this cleared up.'
'So you claim to have no knowledge of a telescope on your property.'
'That's right.'
'Do you realise that doesn't sound very believable?'
'I don't care what it sounds like. As far as I'm concerned, there's no telescope anywhere on my property.'
'We'll soon determine whether that's the case,' Wallander said. 'If you refuse to cooperate I'll leave Nyberg here and get a search warrant from the chief prosecutor. You should have no doubts about that.'
Bjorklund was still hostile. 'Am I accused of a crime?'
'For now I simply want an answer to my question.'
'I've already given you one.'
'So you deny knowledge of the telescope? Could Svedberg have put it there without your knowledge?'
'Why would he have done that?'
'I'm simply asking if it's possible, that's all.'
'Of course he could have done it while I was away over the summer. I never check what's in the shed.'
Wallander sensed that Bjorklund was telling the truth, and experienced this as a relief.
'Shall we go and look?'
Bjorklund nodded and slipped on some clogs. His upper body was still bare.
When they had arrived at the shed and turned on the light, Wallander pulled the others back and turned to Bjorklund.
'Does anything in here look different?'
'Like what?'
'It's your shed. You should know.'
Bjorklund looked around and shrugged. 'It looks like it normally does.'
Wallander directed them into the corner and lifted the tarpaulin. Bjorklund's surprise seemed genuine.
'I have no idea how that got there,' he said.
Nyberg crouched down to have a better look, directing a strong torch beam at it.
'I don't think we need to speculate further about who it belongs to,' he said, pointing to something.
Wallander looked more closely and saw a small metal plate with Svedberg's name on it. Bjorklund no longer seemed angry.
'I don't understand,' he said. 'Why would Karl Evert hide his telescope here?'
'Let's go back inside and leave Nyberg to his work,' Wallander said.
As they walked back to the house, Bjorklund asked if he wanted some coffee. Wallander said no. He seated himself for a second time on the uncomfortable pew.
'Do you have any idea how long it could have been there?'
Bjorklund now seemed to be trying to give thorough answers.
'I don't have a good memory for rooms,' he said. 'My memory for objects is even worse. I don't think I could come up with any kind of a time frame for you.'
Something seemed to occur to him. Wallander waited.
'Is it possible that someone else put it there?' Bjorklund asked.
'If so, it would probably have been someone who knew you two were related.'
Wallander saw that something was troubling Bjorklund.
'What are you thinking about?'
'I don't know if this means anything,' he said doubtfully. 'But I had the feeling once that someone had been here.'
'How did you get this feeling?'
'I don't know. It was just a feeling.'
'Something must have set it off.'
'That's what I'm trying to remember.'
Wallander kept waiting. Bjorklund seemed lost in thought.
'It was a couple of weeks ago,' he said. 'I had been in Copenhagen and returned in the afternoon. It had been raining. As I walked across the yard something made me stop. At first I didn't know what it was, but then I saw that someone had moved one of the sculptures.'
'One of the monsters?'
'They're copies of the medieval gargoyles from the cathedral in Rouen.'
'I thought you had a poor memory for objects.'
'That doesn't apply to my sculptures. Not when someone has changed their position. I was certain that someone had been in the yard while I was gone.'
'And it wasn't Svedberg.'
'No. He never came out here unless we had arranged it.'
'You can't be sure of that, though.'
'No, but I feel sure. I knew him, and he knew me.'
Wallander nodded, encouraging him to continue.
'A stranger had been here.'
