The Hermit by Thomas Rydahl Page B

tight across her cheekbones. She doesn’t seem friendly. At all. Erhard rolls the window down.
    Just then, the newscast begins the segment that he’s feared.
    A twenty-seven year old woman from Puerto del Rosario has confessed to abandoning a baby on the beach last week near Cotillo, where it…
    – Señor Piano Tuner.
    … of a car. When the car was discovered the baby was dead .
    – Señor!
    … now cooperating with the police to clarify the details in this unfortunate case. The police are positive that the mother herself is…
    The woman’s head appears right next to the open window. – I’ve waited all day.
    – Be quiet, Erhard says, turning up volume. – I need to hear this.
    … not remanded into custody. A decision in the case and the woman’s punishment is expected before the end of…
    The woman beside the car raises her voice so loud that he can’t follow the news. – I have never in all my life experienced such abysmal service. We had an agreement. I asked you to arrive on time.
    The news segment is over. The story had sounded exactly as the vice police superintendent had laid it out to him. And as Erhard had feared. The world moves on to other news.
    He glances to his left, where the woman glowers at him as if he’s about to leap out of the car. His entire nervous system wants to obey her stare, her command, but something holds him back.
    – I’m not paying you one cent more than twenty euros. In fact, I should get a free tune-up if this is the way you treat your clients.
    Erhard starts the engine.
    – Stop, you can’t leave. I’ve waited all day. Her face looks as though it’s about to crack.
    – There are more important things than your Steinway, Erhard says, before turning the vehicle around and heading towards the Palace.
    Bernal is surprised to see him. – Hermit, he says.
    – Is this what you meant by a local solution?
    – Calm down. What are you talking about? Bernal guides Erhard behind an ordinary shelf with files and boxes stuffed with electric cables.
    – This isn’t police work, damn it, this is nothing but…
    – What? What is it?
    – You and I both know that she’s not the one.
    – And why not?
    – Three or four days ago you had nothing, and you were frustrated. But now you’ve tied it all up in one neat little bow?
    – It goes quickly once you have a lead.
    – C’mon. You have no licence plate and a car with only thirty-one miles on the odometer? A girl from Puerto my ass.
    – Watch your language, Hermit.
    – Don’t you have any integrity?
    Bernal whispers. – I told you we will not survive an unresolved case like this. It’s bad PR. We won’t let that happen. With the casino and all that.
    – The casino? What does that have to do with anything?
    – Get out of your cave, mate. The tourist industry is bleeding. If they build the casino on Lanzarote because we’re suddenly bad company, then a whole lot of people will lose their jobs.
    – So what? You’ve charged some random mother so that we can have our casino?
    – Of course not. We’ve concluded a nasty case that doesn’t have a happy ending.
    – And what about the girl?
    – She’s not a girl, she’s a woman, and she knows what she’s doing.
    – Why did she do it then?
    – Does it even matter, since she’s confessed?
    Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s just Erhard. What the hell does he know about these kinds of things? It’s probably rare for all the pieces in a puzzle to fit together. – Where was the newspaper from? Erhard asks abruptly.
    Bernal is irritated. – I’m sorry that I brought you into this. It’s a terrible case, also for me. But it’s over now. Just forget it. We’ve made an arrangement with her. It was her baby.
    – An arrangement?
    – Lower your voice. Yes, an arrangement. We’ve closed the case.
    – Isn’t that just like Thomson and Thompson? An arrangement that gets exposed? Bernal, what have you done?
    – My job. Goddamn it, you don’t know what it’s