Читать книгу The Man on the Balcony - Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloeoe - Страница 10

‘Well,’ Ahlberg said, ‘that's how it happened. It was rather chilly that night and he had one of those old-fashioned electric heaters that he stood beside the bed. Then he kicked off the blanket in his sleep and it fell down over the heater and caught fire.’

Martin Beck nodded.

‘It seems quite plausible,’ Ahlberg said. ‘The technical investigation was completed today. I tried to phone you but you had already left.’

They were standing on the site of the fire at Borenshult and between the trees they could glimpse the lake and the flight of locks where they had found a dead woman three years earlier. All that remained of the burned-down house were the foundation and the base of the chimney. The fire brigade had, however, managed to save a small outhouse.

‘There were some stolen goods there,’ Ahlberg said. ‘He was a fence, this fellow Larsson. But he'd been sentenced before, so we weren't surprised. We'll send out a list of the things.’

Martin Beck nodded again, then said:

‘I checked up on his brother in Stockholm. He died last spring. Stroke. He was a fence too.’

‘Seems to have run in the family,’ Ahlberg said.

‘The brother never got caught but Melander remembered him.’

‘Oh yes, Melander … he's like the elephant, he never forgets. You don't work together any more, do you?’

Only sometimes. He's at headquarters in Kungsholmsgatan. Kollberg too, as from today. It's crazy, the way they keep moving us about.’

They turned their backs on the scene of the fire and went back to the car in silence.

A quarter of an hour later Ahlberg drew up in front of the police station, a low yellow-brick building at the corner of Prästgatan and Kungsgatan, just near the main square and the statue of Baltzar von Platen. Half-turning to Martin Beck he said:

‘Now that you're here with nothing to do you might as well stay for a couple of days.’

Martin Beck nodded.

‘We can go out with the motorboat,’ Ahlberg said.

That evening they dined at the City Hotel on the local speciality from Lake Vättern, a delicious salmon trout. They also had a few drinks.

On Saturday they took the motorboat out on the lake. On Sunday too. On Monday Martin Beck borrowed the motorboat. And again on Tuesday. On Wednesday he went to Vadstena and had a look at the castle.

The hotel he was staying at in Motala was modern and comfortable. He got on well with Ahlberg. He read a novel by Kurt Salomonson called The Man Outside. He was enjoying himself.

He deserved it. He had worked very hard during the winter and the spring had been awful. The hope that it would be a quiet summer still remained.