The wind picked up in the early, pale dawn. Wallander heard the coast guard arriving and went to the landing. The policemen approached him with suspicion. Wallander could understand their reaction. What was a police officer from Skane doing out here on one of their islands? If he had been on holiday, it would have been different. He led them to the crevice, and turned away as they lifted the blanket. One of the officers demanded to see Wallander's police ID. Wallander lost his temper. He tore his wallet from his pocket and threw his ID card on the ground. Then he walked away. His fury left him almost immediately, replaced by a paralysing fatigue. He sat down on the front steps to the house with a bottle of water.
Harry Lundstrom came and found him. He'd seen Wallander lose his temper and had thought how tactless it had been to ask him for his police badge at that moment. It was clear, after all, that he was a fellow police officer. The call had come from the Ystad police, with very specific information. A detective by the name of Kurt Wallander was on Barnso Island. He had found a dead girl, and he needed assistance.
Harry Lundstrom was 57 years old. He had been born in Norrkoping and was considered the best detective in the city by everyone but himself. When Wallander flew into a rage, Lundstrom had understood his reaction. He didn't know what events lay behind the murder, but he knew that it had to do with the dead police officer and the three young people. Beyond that it was very unclear. But Harry Lundstrom had a huge capacity for empathy. He could imagine what it might have felt like to find a girl dressed only in her nightgown, curled in a crevice, with a bullet hole in her head.
Lundstrom sat down next to Wallander on the steps.
'That was a thoughtless thing of them to do,' he said. 'Asking for your ID like that.'
He stretched out his hand and introduced himself. Wallander immediately felt that he could trust him.
'Should I speak to you?'
Lundstrom nodded.
'Then let's go inside,' Wallander said.
They sat in the living room. After he'd called Martinsson on Lundstrom's phone, and arranged for Isa's parents to be notified of her death, he took more than an hour to explain who the dead girl was, and the circumstances surrounding her murder. Lundstrom listened without taking notes. Now and again they were interrupted by officers with questions. Lundstrom provided simple and clear instructions. When Wallander had finished talking, Lundstrom asked about a few details. Wallander thought that they were exactly the questions he would have asked himself.
It was already 7 a.m. and through the windows they could see the coast guard's boat scraping against the dock.
'I'd better get back up there,' Lundstrom said. 'You can stay here, of course. You've seen more than enough.'
The wind was very strong now, and Wallander shivered.
'It's an autumn wind,' Lundstrom said. 'The weather has started to turn.'
'I've never been in this archipelago before,' Wallander said. 'It's very beautiful.'
'I played handball when I was young,' Lundstrom said. 'I had a picture of the Ystad team on my bedroom wall, but I've almost never been to your parts.'
As they walked along the path, they could hear dogs barking in the distance.
'I thought it would be best to comb the island,' Lundstrom said, 'in case the killer is still here somewhere.'
'He arrived by boat,' Wallander said. 'He anchored on the west side.'
'If we had more time, we'd arrange to put some of the nearby harbours under surveillance,' Lundstrom said. 'But it's too late now.'
'Maybe someone saw something,' Wallander said.
'We're on to it,' Lundstrom said. 'I've considered the possibility. Someone may have seen a boat anchoring here late last night.'
Wallander remained at a distance while Lundstrom walked up to the crevice and had a brief discussion with his colleagues. He felt sick to his stomach. What he wanted most of all was to get off the island as soon as possible. His feeling of being somehow responsible for the crime was very strong. They should have left the island last night. He should have realised the danger of staying. The murderer seemed always to be in a position of knowing what they were doing. It had also been a mistake to let her sleep downstairs. He was aware that blaming himself was unreasonable, but he couldn't help it.
Lundstrom reappeared, and at the same time an officer with a dog came from the opposite direction. Lundstrom stopped him.
'Find anything?'
'There's no one on the island,' the officer said. 'She traced him to a bay on the west side, but the scent ended there.'
Lundstrom looked at Wallander. 'You were right,' he said. 'He came and left by boat.'
They walked down to the main house again. Wallander thought about what Lundstrom had just said.
'The boat is important,' he said. 'Where did he get hold of it?'
'I was just thinking the same thing,' Lundstrom said. 'If we assume that the killer is not from around here, which I think we have to, then we have to find out where he got the boat from.'
'He stole it,' Wallander said.
Lundstrom stopped. 'But how did he find his way here in the middle of the night?'
'He may have been out here before, and there are maps.'
'Do you really think he's been out here before?'
'We can't rule that out.'
Lundstrom started walking again.
'A stolen or borrowed boat,' he said. 'It must have happened near here. Either in Fyrudden, Snackvarp or Gryt. If he didn't steal it from a private dock, that is.'
'He can't have had a lot of time,' Wallander said. 'Isa ran away from the hospital yesterday morning.'
'Criminals in a hurry are always the easiest to trace,' Lundstrom said.
They reached the landing and Lundstrom talked to a police officer who was adjusting one of the ropes. They took shelter from the wind by the boathouse.
'There's no reason to keep you here,' Lundstrom said. 'I assume that you want to go home.'
Wallander felt a need to describe his feelings. 'It shouldn't have happened,' he said 'I feel responsible. We should have left here yesterday. And now she's dead.'
'I would have done the same thing that you did,' Lundstrom said. 'This was where she ran to. This was where you could start to get her talking. You couldn't have known what was going to happen.'
Wallander shook his head. 'I should have realised how much danger she was in.'
They walked up to the house, and Lundstrom said he would do his best to ensure cooperation between the Norrkoping and Ystad police.
'I'm sure there'll be the odd complaint about our not being informed that you were up here, but I'll see that they keep quiet.'
Wallander got his bag and they returned to the landing. The coast guard would drop him back on the mainland. Lundstrom remained on the landing and saw them off. Wallander lifted his hand in a gesture of gratitude.
He threw his bag in the car and went to pay his parking ticket. As he was walking back he saw Westin on his way into the harbour. Wallander walked out to meet him, noting Westin's sombre expression as he stepped ashore.
'I take it you've heard the news,' Wallander said.
'Isa is dead.'
'It happened last night. I woke up when she screamed, but I was too late.'
Westin looked at him grimly. 'So it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come out here last night?'
There it is, Wallander thought. The accusation. The one I can't defend myself against.
He took out his wallet. 'How much do I owe you for yesterday's trip?'
'Nothing,' Westin said.
Westin began to walk away. Wallander remembered that he had one more question to ask him.
