the side of the bed. Then he lay down and stared at the ceiling. I must make up my mind what Iâm doing here, he thought. I came here to try to understand what had happened, to understand what Molin had been so frightened of. Now Iâve seen the house where he was murdered, and Iâve found a camping site that might have been a hiding place.
He wondered what to do next. The obvious thing would be to drive up to Ostersund and meet this Larsson.
But then what?
Maybe the journey here was pointless. He should have gone to Mallorca. The Jämtland police would do what they had to do. One day he would find out what had happened. Somewhere out there was a murderer waiting to be arrested.
He lay on his side and looked at the blank television screen. He could hear some young people laughing in the street below. Had he laughed at all during the day that had just passed? He searched his
memory, but couldnât even remember a smile. Just at this moment Iâm not the person I usually am, he thought. A man whoâs always laughing. At the moment Iâm a man with a malignant lump on his tongue whoâs scared to death about whatâs going to happen next.
Then he looked at his shoes. Something had stuck to one of the soles, he discovered, trapped in the pattern of the rubber sole. A stone from the gravel path, he thought. He reached to extract it.
But it wasnât a stone. It was part of a jigsaw puzzle piece. He sat up and adjusted the bedside lamp. The piece was soft and discolored by soil. He was certain he hadnât stepped on any pieces inside the house. It might have been outside the house. Nevertheless, his intuition told him that the jigsaw piece had stuck to the sole of his shoe at the place where the tent had been pitched. Whoever killed Herbert Molin had been camping at the lakeside.
Chapter Six
T he discovery of the broken jigsaw puzzle piece livened him up somewhat. He sat at the table and started making notes about everything that had happened in the course of the day. It took the form of a letter. At first, he couldnât think to whom it should be addressed. It occurred to him that it should go to the doctor who was expecting to see him in BorÃ¥s on the morning of November 19. Was there nobody else to write to? Perhaps it was that Elena wouldnât understand what he was talking about? At the top of the page he wrote: The fear of Herbert Molin, and underlined the words with forceful strokes of his pen. Then he noted one by one the observations heâd made in and around the house, and where the tent had been. He tried to draw some conclusions, but the only thing that seemed to him definite was that Molinâs murder had long been planned.
It was 10 P.M. He hesitated, but decided to phone Larsson at home and tell him he would come and see him in Ostersund the following day. He looked for the number in the phone book. There were a lot of Larssons, but predictably only one Giuseppe, a police officer. His wife answered. Lindman explained who he was. She sounded friendly. While he was waiting, he wondered what Larssonâs hobby might be. Why didnât he have a hobby himself, apart from football? He hadnât managed to find an answer before Larsson came to the phone.
âStefan Lindman,â he said. âFrom BorÃ¥s. I hope this isnât too late.â
âNot quite. Another half hour and Iâd have been asleep. Where are you?â
âIn Sveg.â
âJust down the road, then.â Larsson roared with laughter. âA couple
of hundred kilometers is nothing to us up here. Where do you get to if you drive two hundred kilometres from BorÃ¥s?â
âAlmost to Malmö.â
âThere you go, you see.â
âI thought I might visit you in Ostersund tomorrow.â
âYouâre welcome to come. Iâll be there quite early in the morning. The police station is behind the National Rural Agency building. Itâs a small town.