Before the Frost by Henning Mankell Read Free Book Online Page B

orchestra was playing in the distance and Baiba and I just stood there watching him. In my dream I thought, ‘This is no dream, this is real’ and I was incredibly happy.”
    â€œAnd you complain about having too many nightmares.”
    He wasn’t listening.

    â€œThe door opened—that was you, of course—a car door. It was summer and very warm. The whole world was full of light like an overexposed picture. Everyone’s face was white and without any shadows. It was beautiful. We were about to drive away when I woke up.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    He shrugged.
    â€œIt was just a dream.”
    Linda wanted to tell him about Anna, but her dad lumbered out into the kitchen and drank some water from the faucet. Linda followed him, and when he was done he stood up and looked at her, smoothing his hair down in the back.
    â€œYou were out late. It’s none of my business, I know, but I have an idea you want me to ask you about it.”
    Linda told him. He leaned against the refrigerator with his arms crossed. This is how I remember him from my childhood, she thought. This is how he always listened to me, like a giant. I used to think my dad was as big as a mountain. Daddy Mountain.
    He shook his head when she finished.
    â€œThat’s not how it happens.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œThat’s not how people disappear.”
    â€œBut it’s not like her. I’ve known her since I was seven. She’s never been late for anything.”
    â€œHowever idiotic it sounds, some time has to be the first. Let’s say she was preoccupied by the fact that she thought she had seen her father. It’s not unlikely that she—as you suggested yourself—went back to look for him.”
    Linda nodded. He was right. There was no reason to assume anything else had happened.
    Wallander sat down on the sofa.
    â€œYou’ll learn that all events have their own logic. People kill each other, lie, break into houses, commit robberies, and sometimes they simply disappear. If you winch yourself far enough down the well—that’s how I often think of my investigations—you’ll find the explanation. It turns out that it was highly probable that such and such a person disappeared, that another robbed
a bank. I’m not saying the unexpected never happens, but people are almost never right when they say ‘I never would have believed that about her.’ Think it over and scrape away the layers of exterior paint and you’ll find other colors underneath, other answers.”
    He yawned and let his hands fall onto the table.
    â€œTime for bed.”
    â€œNo, let’s stay here a few more minutes.”
    He looked at her intently.
    â€œYou still think something happened to your friend?”
    â€œNo, I’m sure you’re right.”
    They sat quietly at the kitchen table. A gust of wind sent a branch scraping against the window.
    â€œI’ve been dreaming a lot recently,” he said. “Maybe because you’re always waking me up in the middle of the night. That means I remember my dreams. Yesterday I had the strangest dream. I was walking around a cemetery. Suddenly I found myself in front of a row of headstones where I started recognizing the names. Stefan Fredman’s name was among them.”
    Linda shivered.
    â€œI remember that case. Didn’t he break into this apartment?”
    â€œI think so, but we were never able to prove it. He never told us.”
    â€œYou went to his funeral. What happened?”
    â€œHe was sent to a psychiatric institution. One day he put on his war paint, climbed up on the roof, and threw himself off.”
    â€œHow old was he?”
    â€œEighteen or nineteen.”
    The branch scraped against the window again.
    â€œWho were the others? I mean on the headstones.”
    â€œA woman called Yvonne Ander. I even think the date on the stone was right, though it happened a