'You're the one who can best answer that question,' Wallander said. 'Who knew that Isa used to come to you when she had problems with her parents?'
'Everyone in the village knew,' Lundberg said. 'But I can't think of anyone who would have called and used my name.'
'Someone could have seen the ambulance,' Martinsson said. 'Did no one call to ask what had happened?'
'Karin Persson called,' Lundberg said. 'She lives in the hollow down by the main road. She's very curious and keeps tabs on everyone. But I can't imagine she can make herself sound like a man on the phone.'
'Was there no one else?'
'Ake Nilsson dropped by on his way back from work. He brought some pork chops. We told him what had happened, but he didn't even know Isa so he wouldn't have called.'
'Anyone else?'
'The postman came by with some unexpected news. We won 300 kronor in the Lottery. He wanted to know if the Edengrens were home. We told him that Isa was in the hospital, but what reason would he have to call?'
'There was no one else?'
'No.'
'You did the right thing in telling us about this,' Wallander said firmly, ending the conversation. Lundberg went back down the stairs, pulled his boots back on and left.
'When I was out at the nature reserve last night,' Wallander said, 'I had the feeling that I was being watched by someone in the darkness. I thought I'd imagined it, but now I'm starting to wonder. This morning I even asked Edmundsson to examine the spot with his dog. Is someone keeping an eye on us?'
'I know what Svedberg would have said.'
Wallander looked at Martinsson with surprise. 'What would he have said?'
'It was something he said when we were working on the smuggling case, during the spring of 1988, if you remember. That we should stop from time to time and look back over our shoulders. Like the Indians.'
'What would we see?'
'Someone who shouldn't be there.'
'That would mean we should station men out here to keep watch over the house, in case someone decides to search Isa's room. Is that what you mean?'
'Something like that.'
'There's no 'something' about it. You either think that's what we should do, or you don't.'
'I'm just telling you what I think Svedberg would have said.'
Wallander realised how tired he felt. His irritation lay just below the surface. He knew he should apologise to Martinsson, just as he should have explained himself to Hoglund at the nature reserve. But he didn't.
They went back to Isa's room. The wig was lying on the desk next to Wallander's phone. He knelt down and looked under the bed, but found nothing. When he stood up he felt dizzy. He grabbed Martinsson's arm to steady himself.
'Don't you feel well?'
Wallander shook his head. 'It's been years since I could stay up this many nights in a row without really feeling it. It'll happen to you, too.'
'We should ask Lisa for extra staff.'
'She's already talked to me about it.' Wallander said. 'I told her we'd get back to her. Is there anything else we need to look at here?'
'I don't think so. There's nothing unusual in the cupboard.'
'How about anything that seems to be missing? Anything that should be in a young woman's cupboard that isn't there?'
'Nothing that I can think of.'
'Then let's get going.'
It was close to 9.30 a.m. when they returned to their cars.
'I'll call Isa's parents myself,' Wallander said. 'The rest of you will have to take on Boge, Norman and Hillstrom's parents. I don't want to be responsible for what might happen if we don't get hold of Isa. They may know something, and so might the others in the photo that we found at Svedberg's flat.'
'Do you think something's happened?'
'I don't know.'
They drove away. Wallander thought back to the conversation with Lundberg. Who had made that call? He had a gnawing feeling that Lundberg had said something else that was important, but he couldn't think what it was. I'm tired, he thought. I don't listen to what people say and then I have the feeling that I missed something important.
When they arrived back at the station, they went off in separate directions. Ebba stopped him as he walked past the reception desk.
'Mona called you,' she said.
Wallander came to a complete stop. 'What did she want?'
'She didn't tell me.'
Ebba gave him her phone number in Malmo. Wallander already knew it by heart, but Ebba was very thoughtful. She also handed him a number of other phone messages.
'Most of them are from reporters,' she said consolingly. 'You don't have to get back to them.'
Wallander got some coffee and went into his office. He had just taken off his jacket and sat down when the phone rang. It was Hansson.
'There's nothing new to report,' he said. 'Just so you know.'
'I want either you or Ann-Britt to come back to the station,' Wallander said. 'Martinsson and I can't quite keep up with everything that has to be done. For example, who's in charge of searching for the cars?'
'I am. I'm working on it. Has anything happened?'
'Isa Edengren escaped from the hospital this morning. It worries me.'
'Which one of us would you rather have?'
Wallander would have preferred Hoglund. She was a better police officer than Hansson. But he didn't say so.
'It doesn't matter. Just one of you.'
He hung up and dialled Mona's number in Malmo. Every time she called, which wasn't often, he feared that something had happened to Linda. She answered on the second ring. Wallander always felt a twinge of sorrow when he heard her voice. Was it his imagination or was the feeling getting weaker? He wasn't sure.
'I hope I'm not bothering you,' she said. 'How are you?'
'I'm the one who called you,' he said. 'I'm fine.'
'You sound tired.'
'I am tired. You've probably seen in the papers that one of my colleagues is dead. Svedberg. Do you remember him?'
'Barely.'
'What did you want?'
'I wanted to tell you that I'm going to get married again.'
Wallander was quiet. For a moment he nearly hung up, but he stayed as he was, speechless.
'Are you there?'
'Yes,' he said. 'I'm still here.'
'I'm telling you that I'm getting remarried.'
'Who to?'
'Clas-Henrik. Who else would it be?'
'Should you really be marrying a golfer?'
'That's not a very nice thing to say.'
'Then I should apologise. Does Linda know?'
'I wanted to tell you first.'
'I don't know what to say. Perhaps I should congratulate you.'
