The White Lioness by Henning Mankell Read Free Book Online

his seat and closed his eyes. She never got that far, he thought. What happened on the way?

CHAPTER FOUR
    The alarm beside Wallander's bed rang at 4.45 a.m. He pulled his pillow over his face. I get far too little sleep, he thought dejectedly. Why can't I be one of those policemen who put everything to do with work aside as soon as they get home?
    He stayed in bed, and turned his mind back to his brief visit to Akerblom's house the night before. It had been pure torture to look into his distraught eyes and tell him they hadn't managed to find his wife. Wallander had escaped from the house as quickly as he could, and he felt unwell as he drove home. Then he had lain awake until 3 a.m. in spite of his exhaustion.
    We've got to find her, he thought. Now. Soon. Dead or alive. We just have to find her.
    He had arranged with Akerblom that he would be in touch in the morning, once the search had begun again. Wallander realised he would have to go through Louise Akerblom's belongings, to find out what she was really like. Somewhere in the back of Wallander's mind was the nagging thought that there was something very peculiar about her disappearance. There were peculiar circumstances every time a person went missing; but there was something in this case that was different from anything he had experienced before. He badly wanted to know what it was.
    Wallander forced himself out of bed, switched on the coffee machine, and went to turn on the radio. He cursed when he remembered the burglary, and it occurred to him that nobody would now have time to deal with that investigation.
    He took a shower, got dressed, and drank his coffee. The weather did not improve his temper. It was pouring, and the wind was up. It was the worst possible weather for a line search. All day long the fields and coppices around Krageholm would be full of tired, irritable policemen, dogs with their tails between their legs, and fed-up conscripts from the local regiment. Still, that was Bjork's problem. His job was to go through Mrs Akerblom's belongings.
    He drove to the split oak tree. Bjork was pacing irritably up and down the verge.
    "What awful weather," he said. "Why does it always have to rain when we're out looking for somebody?"
    "It's odd," Wallander said.
    "I've talked to the lieutenant-colonel: his name's Hernberg," said Bjork. "He's sending two bus-loads of conscripts, at 7 a.m. I think we might as well start straightaway. Martinsson's done all the spadework."
    Wallander nodded appreciatively. Martinsson was good when it came to line searches.
    "I thought we'd call a press conference for 10 a.m.," Bjork said. "It would help if you could be there. We'll have to have a photograph of her by then."
    Wallander gave him the one he still had in his inside pocket. Bjork studied Louise Akerblo m's picture.
    "Nice girl," he said. "I hope we find her alive. Is it a good likeness?"
    "Her husband thinks it is."
    Bjork put the photograph into a plastic wallet which he carried in one of his raincoat pockets.
    "I'm going to their house," Wallander said. "I can be of more use there."
    As Wallander made to walk over to his car, Bjork grabbed him by the shoulder.
    "What do you think?" he said. "Is she dead? Is there some crime at the back of all this?"
    "It can hardly be anything else," Wallander said. "Unless she's been hurt and is lying in agony somewhere or other. But I don't think so."
    "I don't like the look of this," Bjork said. "Not one little bit."
    Wallander drove back to Ystad. The grey sea was very choppy.
    When he entered the house in Akarvagen, two little girls stood staring at him, wide-eyed.
    "I've told them you're a policeman," Akerblom said. "They know Mama's lost, and you're looking for her."
    Wallander nodded and tried to smile, despite the lump that came into his throat. "My name's Kurt," he said. "What's yours?"
    "Maria" and "Magdalena", the girls said, one after another.
    "Those are lovely names," Wallander said. "I have a daughter named