watching him intently.
‘You’re a racoon,’ Sejer said.
She pulled a face. She needed time to decide what she thought about the comparison, but before she had time to feel anything at all, she was interrupted.
‘They’re fast and smart and cheeky,’ Sejer said, ‘and they steal food from others. They’re rogues, and they get everywhere. And they’re beautiful, of course.’
She might be an old soul, but Molly managed a smile. At least Sejer thought he saw something flicker across her face.
‘Do you want me to go on?’ he said. ‘Do you want me to tell you more about the racoon?’
She deigned to shrug, which he took to mean that he could do whatever he wanted.
‘Racoons are very popular,’ he said. ‘Do you know why?’
She did not reply.
‘Molly,’ he said. ‘Can you imagine why everyone wants a racoon?’
‘No,’ she mumbled.
‘Well, this might sound a little brutal,’ he smiled, ‘but you’re no sissy. Their meat is very tasty and their fur is the loveliest in the world. And they happen to thrive in captivity,’ he added. He let his eyes flash around her room.
‘You can put them in cages and they won’t lose their integrity.’
‘They came to fetch Jon’s things,’ she said. ‘Those two friends of his.’
Sejer pricked up his ears.
‘Go on.’
She held Melis up to her face. ‘I can play this game too, and I got Axel’s number at once.’
‘He’s no pussycat,’ Sejer said. ‘We agree on that, don’t we?’
‘He’s a snake,’ she said. ‘He slithers around.’
‘And Reilly?’ Sejer asked.
She pondered this.
‘He’s a lizard,’ she declared. ‘They aren’t easy on the eye, but they’re better than their reputation. The bigger ones can be dangerous to humans and the smaller ones can make good pets. You never know with lizards. Perhaps they become what you make them.’
She put Melis down on the bed, pinched a corner of the duvet and started twisting it.
‘You can ask your questions now,’ she said again.
Sejer looked at the racoon on the bed. She was wearing a red minidress and black knee-high socks.
‘You were the last person to talk to Jon before he got into the car. What did you talk about?’
She kept picking at the duvet.
‘That will remain between Jon and me,’ she said.
‘But can you tell me anything about his state of mind?’
‘State of mind? He was happy.’
‘Really?’ Sejer said. ‘He was happy? I’m sorry. I’m a bit taken aback. It was my impression that he didn’t want to go on the trip at all. That he went along because the staff here thought it was important. But you’re saying that he was happy?’
‘He was happy.’
‘He said so?’
‘You can tell.’
‘Tell me what you saw,’ Sejer asked.
‘He started running,’ she explained. ‘The car pulled up in front of the building and Jon started running.’
Sejer waited but nothing more followed.
‘And that means that he was happy?’
She looked up.
‘No one runs here at Ladegarden,’ she sighed. ‘We’re depressed, we drag ourselves around. Surely you can understand that.’
Sejer smiled and shook his head.
‘So what did you say to him?’ he asked. ‘What made him run so fast?’
She grew shy and looked away.
‘That will remain between Jon and me,’ she said. ‘But let me put it this way, we were making plans.’
‘For the future, you mean?’
She nodded. Again she held Melis up to her face.
‘Jon spent the night in the company of those two reptiles,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know what happened.
‘But we had plans.’
CHAPTER 10
Reilly put some fine sand in a turquoise plastic box and placed it below the kitchen window. The kitten instantly knew that it was meant to do its business there. At night the kitten slept in Reilly’s bed, curled up at his throat, and when it purred it felt like humming against his vocal cords. When Reilly wandered around his flat, it followed him faithfully. You think you’re a puppy, don’t you, though cats are supposed to be independent, didn’t you know that? But the kitten was not independent. It stuck to him like a limpet. Every time Reilly let himself fall into a chair to get high or to read the Koran it would claw at his corduroy trousers to be allowed up. In the morning when he had to go to work, it looked after him with lost eyes which were still blue. Reilly worked as a porter at the Central Hospital. He thought constantly about the kitten while he rolled beds down the corridors. He rolled children to the playroom, he rolled people in for surgery, he rolled the deceased down to the mortuary in the basement. He was in the habit of whistling quietly as he walked. And all the while he thought about the kitten.
Over the years, Reilly had started making mistakes, and sometimes the beds had ended up in the wrong place. He had been given a warning and he pulled himself together after that. God forbid that I roll someone who is still breathing down to the mortuary, he thought.
Reilly was going through his wardrobe looking for some smart clothes to wear for Jon’s funeral, but he had never owned nice clothes. Everything he had was worn and faded and almost none of it was clean. Most of what he found looked like rags, and he threw them in a pile on the floor. The kitten leapt on top of it to play. Having searched carefully for a long time, he found a high-necked jumper and a pair of khaki combat trousers with numerous pockets. The trousers were creased and it worried him. Yet he felt reasonably pleased, though other thoughts soon dragged him down. The kitten watched him while he got dressed and when he had finished, he took out the Koran.
What is the Day of Noise and Clamour? And what will explain to thee what the Day of Noise and Clamour is? It is a Day whereon men will be like moths scattered about, and the mountains will be like carded wool. Then, he whose balance of good deeds will be found heavy, will be in a life of good pleasure and satisfaction. But he whose balance of good deeds will be found light will have his home in a bottomless Pit. And what will explain to thee what this is? It is a Fire blazing fiercely!
He put the book away. He had studied the Koran extensively, but he did not believe in God. He just liked to pretend that a higher power existed. Now he had read that a punishment awaited him for everything he had done. It was a pit of burning fire. He did not believe in that either and that was a relief, but he told himself that he was atoning in his own way by repeatedly exposing himself to the violent threats in the Koran.
Axel picked him up in the Mercedes.
He was wearing a well-cut suit and a plum-coloured shirt, and he looked Reilly up and down.
‘We’re saying goodbye to Jon,’ he said. ‘And you look like a tramp.’
Reilly was aghast. He did not think the jumper was as bad as that, and the khaki trousers were his best pair.
‘Jon would not have cared about a few creases,’ he muttered.
He trudged down the stairs after Axel and got into the car. From the corner of his eye he studied Axel’s suit. It
