Part 34 (1/2)

'Sophia Grenborg?' the man said, astonished. 'Is she supposed to have committed fraud?'

'I can't answer that,' Annika said apologetically. 'I was just wondering if you could keep me informed of the result of your investigation. Not that you should make public any costs that don't concern me, but please, just tell me if, or when, you decide to involve the police.'

The manager cleared his throat. 'Well, anything like that is a long way away at this point,' he said. 'Naturally, we shall have to begin by conducting a thorough internal investigation. We'll be contacting our auditors at once.'

Annika closed her eyes and swallowed. She wished the manager the best of luck and hung up. Then sat in silence wondering how long she ought to wait before the next call.

Not at all, she decided.

So she called the head of Economics & Devolution and started with hesitant questions about the Federation's policy regarding the involvement of employees in non-operating sham companies. When the man got angry and was on the point of hanging up she asked if they had investigated why Sophia Grenborg, one of their employees, had only been a.s.sessed for an income of 269,900 kronor for the previous calendar year.

The man was thoroughly taken aback.

She concluded with the question: 'The Federation of County Councils is funded by the tax-payers. Do you think it's acceptable for the Federation's employees to attempt to get out of paying tax?'

Naturally, he could only reply one way: 'Of course not.'

She promised to get back to him to find out how the internal investigation was progressing.

After that she got up, finding that the muscles in her legs were completely stiff, and she had cramp in the back of her thigh. The lump in her chest twisted and tore at her, its metallic sharpness had spread through her body and was threatening to paralyse her.

She slapped her legs with her fists until they obeyed her again, then heated up a mug of coffee in the microwave and made the third call, to the head of International Finance. She asked what the Federation thought of right-wing extremism among its employees. She had received information that one of their employees had previously been active in an extremist group, and that the employee's cousin had been convicted of incitement to racial hatred, and she was wondering how appropriate it was that this person was now involved in the project looking into threats, among them threats from the extreme right, against our political representatives.

The head of International Finance was unfortunately unable to comment on that at the moment, but he promised that the matter would be investigated and if she called him on Monday or Tuesday she could probably get some sort of comment.

Afterwards she slumped on the kitchen chair, feeling the floor sway, her head and limbs numb.

She had jumped.

Now she just had to land on her feet.

Sunday 22 November

39.

Thomas reached for the coffee-pot and found it was empty. He felt himself getting annoyed, his jaw clenching. He sighed quietly and glanced at his wife on the other side of the kitchen table. She was on her fourth mug, had drunk the whole pot, which he had made, before he had managed to get a single cup. She didn't notice his frustration, was deeply immersed in an essay by a professor of Islamic studies on the question of exactly who could be regarded as an Iraqi. She had pulled her hair into a messy knot on top of her head, idly brus.h.i.+ng aside a stray lock that had fallen in front of her eyes. Her dressing gown was loosely tied; he could see her smooth skin beneath the towelling.

He looked away and stood up.

'Do you want more coffee?' he said sarcastically.

'No, not for me, thanks.'

She didn't look up, paid him no attention.

I may as well be part of the furniture, he thought. A means of her living comfortably and writing whatever d.a.m.n articles she feels like A means of her living comfortably and writing whatever d.a.m.n articles she feels like.

He composed himself and filled the little pan with more water. At home in Vaxholm they had always had an electric kettle, both at his parents' and during his marriage to Eleonor, but Annika thought that was unnecessary.

'Just another machine. We've got so little s.p.a.ce as it is. Besides, it's quicker to boil water on the gas stove than in a kettle.'

She was right about that, but that wasn't the point. The point was that his s.p.a.ce was shrinking. She took up so much b.l.o.o.d.y s.p.a.ce. The more she took, the less there was left over for him.

Before the business with the Bomber he hadn't seen it so clearly. Back then, everything happened slowly, his s.p.a.ce was stolen a piece at a time without him noticing. The children arrived and she got the editor's job and of course he did his bit, but then everything went back to normal while she was at home and could look after the apartment and the kids. And now he was suddenly expected to retreat to his little corner and hand over his life to her.

He looked at his wife as the pan of water began to bubble. Sharp and edgy, slight, with soft b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Vulnerable and fragile and hard as nails.

She must have felt him looking at her, because she looked up at him, confused. 'What?' she said.

He turned away. 'Nothing.'

'Right,' she said, picking up the paper and leaving the kitchen.

'Hang on,' he called after her. 'Mum rang and asked us to Sunday lunch. I said yes; hope that's okay?'

Why am I asking? he thought. Why am I apologizing for accepting an invitation to visit my own parents? Why am I apologizing for accepting an invitation to visit my own parents?

'What did you say?'

She walked sternly back into the kitchen, he turned and looked at her, standing there with the newspaper dragging on the floor.

'Twelve o'clock,' he said. 'Lunch in Vaxholm.'

She shook her head, steaming with disbelief. 'How can you say yes to something like that without even asking me?'

He turned back to the stove, pouring water into the cafetiere.

'You were on your mobile again; I didn't want to disturb you.'

'This is disturbing me more. I'm not going.'

He was seized by an overwhelming and unreasonable impulse to shake her until the knot of hair on the top of her head came loose and her teeth shook and the dressing gown slid from her shoulders.

Instead he closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing, addressing his reply to the ventilation unit. 'I'm not going to end up with the same c.r.a.p relations.h.i.+p with my parents that you've got with yours.'

He heard from the rustling of the newspaper that she'd left the kitchen.

'Okay,' she said expressionlessly from the hall. 'Take the children, but I'm not going.'

'Of course you're coming,' he said, still to the ventilation unit.

She came back into the kitchen. He looked at her over his shoulder; she was naked apart from her socks.

'And if I don't?' she said. 'Are you going to hit me over the head and drag me there by my hair?'

'Sounds good,' he said.