'We do our own cleaning. And clients didn't go into the office.'
'So it was just you and Rolf?'
'Yes, although I was hardly ever here.'
'Have there been any burglaries?'
'No.'
'I looked for the envelope that this letter came in,' Birch said. 'I couldn't find it anywhere.'
'It must have been thrown away,' she said. 'Rolf likes to keep things tidy. The rubbish is collected every Monday.'
Wallander looked at Birch. There was no reason for her to lie. He didn't think they could get any further.
'How close was your relationship?' he asked.
She understood what he was getting at, but didn't seem to mind. 'It was nothing personal,' she said. 'We worked well together and I learned a lot from him. I'm hoping to set up my own studio one day.'
It was over. Birch said he would drive her home while Wallander drove back to Ystad. They parted outside on the street.
'I still don't understand it,' she said. 'I spent the last two days in an isolated house in an equally isolated forest, and I come back to this.'
She began to cry and Birch put an arm around her protectively.
'I'll take her home now,' he said. 'Will you give me a call later?'
'I'll call you from Ystad,' Wallander said. 'Where are you going to be?'
'I'm going to search his flat later tonight.'
Wallander made sure that he had Birch's mobile number, then crossed the street to his car. It was 10.30 p.m.
Before he had a chance to start the car, the phone buzzed in his pocket and he answered.
'Is this Kurt Wallander?'
'Yes.'
'Lone Kjaer here. I just wanted to tell you that the woman we're calling Louise is at the Amigo right now. What do you want us to do?'
Wallander made a quick decision. 'I'm already in Malmo. I'll be right over. If she leaves, have someone follow her.'
'There's a boat leaving at 11 p.m., I think. That brings you to Copenhagen at around 11.45 p.m. I'll meet you on this side.'
'Just don't lose her,' Wallander said. 'I need this one.'
'We'll watch over her well, I promise.'
Wallander hung up and stared unseeing into the darkness, his excitement growing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Wallander picked her out as soon as he got off the boat. She was wearing a leather coat, she had short blond hair, and she was younger than he imagined, and smaller. But there was no doubt that she was in the force. Why, he couldn't have said, but he could always pick out the police officer in a group of strangers.
He stopped in front of her and they exchanged greetings.
'Louise is still at the bar,' she said.
'If that really is her name,' Wallander said.
'Why is she so important to your investigation?'
Wallander had been thinking about this on the way over. He couldn't connect her to the crimes in any way. All he wanted to do was talk to her. He had so many questions.
'I think she may have interesting information for us. Of course, a bar is hardly the best place for this kind of a conversation.'
'You can always use my office.'
A police car was waiting for them, and they drove away in silence. Wallander thought about the last time he had been in Copenhagen. It was when he'd attended a performance of
Lone Kjaer was speaking to someone on the car radio.
'She's still there,' she said, pointing out the window. 'It's across the street. Do you want me to wait for you?'
'Why don't you come in?'
The broken neon sign simply read 'igo'. Wallander was about to meet the woman he'd been wondering about since he'd found her photograph in Svedberg's secret compartment under the floorboards.
They opened the door, pushed aside the heavy red curtain, and entered the bar. It was warm and smoky inside, the lighting was tinged red, and it was full of people. A man walked towards them on his way out.
'All the way at the end of the bar,' he said to Lone Kjaer.
Wallander nodded to him, then left Kjaer by the door and started making his way through the crowd.
He caught sight of her. She was sitting at the far end of the bar. Her hair looked just as it had in the photograph. Wallander stood frozen, watching her. She looked like she was alone, although there were people on either side of her. She was drinking a glass of wine. When she turned her head in his direction, he slipped behind a tall man who was drinking a beer. When Wallander looked again she was staring down at her glass of wine. Wallander turned, nodded to Kjaer, and made his way over to Louise.
He was in luck. Just as he reached her, the man on her left stood up and left. Wallander sank down on the bar stool, and she glanced at him quickly.
'I think your name is Louise,' Wallander said. 'My name is Kurt Wallander, and I'm a police officer from Ystad. I need to speak to you.'
She tensed up for a moment, then relaxed and smiled.
'All right, but I'd like to visit the ladies' room first, if you don't mind. I was just about to get up when you sat down.'
She got up and walked towards the back of the room, where there were signs to the men's and women's lavatories.
The bartender caught Wallander's eye, but he shook his head to indicate he wouldn't be ordering anything. She doesn't speak with a Scanian dialect, he thought. But she is Swedish.
Kjaer came closer. Wallander gave her a sign that everything was proceeding smoothly. The clock hanging on the wall advertised a brand of whisky that Wallander had never heard of. Four minutes went by. Wallander looked over at the area leading to the lavatories. A man walked by, then another. He tried to concentrate on his questions, wondering which he should ask first.
Seven minutes had gone by now, and he realised something was wrong. He got up and walked towards the lavatories. Kjaer appeared at his side.
'Go into the ladies' room and look around.'
'Why? She hasn't come out again. I would have seen her if she had tried to leave.'
'Something's wrong,' Wallander said. 'I want you to check for me.'
Kjaer went into the women's lavatory and Wallander waited. She was back again almost immediately.
'She's not in there.'
'Damn it,' Wallander said. 'Is there a window in there?'
Without waiting for an answer he jerked the door open and went in. Two women were adjusting their make- up in front of the mirror. Wallander hardly noticed them. Louise was gone. He ran out again.
'She must still be here somewhere,' Kjaer said in disbelief. 'I would have seen her.'
'But she isn't,' Wallander said.
He made his way to the front door through a throng of people that seemed to be getting thicker all the time. The bouncer looked like a wrestler.
'Ask him,' Wallander said. 'We're looking for a woman with medium-length dark hair. Did anyone like that leave recently? It would have been ten minutes ago at the most.'
