The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg Read Free Book Online Page B

Diamond House.
    ‘Rogues! That’s what you are! You went too far when you took away our Christmas tree decorations! Do you hear me?’
    ‘What did you say?’ Anna-Greta asked, being rather hard of hearing.
    ‘What scrimping makes, the devil takes.’
    ‘Oh, I see, him,’ said Anna-Greta.
    Half an hour later they were at the Grand Hotel. When they had paid their taxi drivers and were approaching the hotel entrance, Martha stopped. Devoutly she looked up at the traditional old hotel.
    ‘What an exquisite building,’ she exclaimed. ‘Pity they don’t build them like this any more.’
    ‘You’d have to blame the architecture schools,’ said Rake. ‘I can’t understand why they have to study for years if they’re only going to design square blocks. I could manage that when I was four years old. And mine looked nicer too.’
    ‘Perhaps you ought to have been an architect then?’
    ‘Welcome to the Grand Hotel!’ a handsome porter interrupted them and bowed.
    ‘Thank you very much,’ Martha answered and tried to look as if she was a woman of the world. But however much she smiled, her voice gave away a certain lack of confidence. Being on the run
and
turning criminal at the same time was rather stressful at her age.

Nine
    The walkers rolled nicely and smoothly on the wall-to-wall carpet all the way to the reception desk. Martha looked with delight at the deep blue edging with the beautiful gold crowns. She thought of all the royalty that must have stayed here. A glance at the edge of the carpet and they would have seen their own crowns several times over.
    It took a while to check in because the staff discreetly did a check on their bank card. Luckily, Anna-Greta was well-off and there was enough in her savings account to cover them all, but nevertheless, they all felt nervous. The others had little more than their pensions and none of them had experience being in such grand surroundings. Finally, the reception staff confirmed their bookings and they were welcomed with smiles to the hotel.
    ‘We have to take the second door to the left after the stairs,’ said Brains, taking the lead. ‘You girls can have the Princess Lilian suite, where the big stars usually get to stay, and me and Rake can take two of the luxury suites.’
    ‘Heavens above, that will be far too expensive,’ said Anna-Greta, always the careful bookkeeper.
    ‘But, my dear, have you completely forgotten? We do not intend to pay,’ Martha whispered.
    In good cheer they walked along the corridor leaning on their walkers. After all that training in the gym they had good balance and didn’t really need them, but they knew that their walking aids could come in very useful all the same. Martha smiled. Who would suspect an old lady with a walker of any criminal activity? And the basket at the front was good for keeping loot in too.
    They continued slowly down the corridor until they saw a door on the left.
    ‘Here it is,’ said Brains self-confidently. He opened the door and entered, with the others close behind him. His eyes were like saucers. ‘Not much here that reminds me of Sundbyberg, I’ll say that.’
    ‘Heavens above, what a sight! The whole room is shining as if it was gold,’ said Christina.
    ‘And what lovely red upholstered chairs. Is this how rich people really live?’ wondered Brains.
    ‘But …’ muttered Rake. ‘Doesn’t it smell rather too much of perfume?’
    ‘I hardly dare go in. Have you seen the mirrors and the beautiful washbasins? Is this the Princess Lilian suite?’ Anna-Greta asked.
    ‘I don’t know,’ muttered Brains. ‘Perhaps rather too many mirrors for that …’
    ‘Eight mirrors in the same room,’ said Martha. ‘And just look at those fancy chandeliers on the ceiling, and all the marble and lamps over the washbasins.’
    ‘But where are the beds?’ wondered Christina, who was feeling tired and wanted to rest a while.
    ‘The beds?’ Brains looked around him. At that very same moment they