Chapter 14
Sander’s mother, Eva, was sitting at the kitchen table and warming her hands on her cup of coffee as she listened to the radio.
A couple of teenagers had tried to knock over the Christmas tree on Stora Torg in Halmstad overnight.
They gave up when one of them hurt his hand badly enough to seek medical attention.
A man had been caught breaking into an electronics store at the Eurostop shopping center in Stenalyckan.
According to the police, he had been trying to unplug all the appliances so they wouldn’t explode on New Year’s Eve.
The man had been carted off to the psychiatric ward under loud protestation.
New budget cuts for the municipality. Preparations under way for Christmas celebrations at county nursing homes. And now, the weather.
That was all. Sander opened the fridge, poured a glass of milk, and sat down beside his mother, yawning. The night before throbbed in his temples.
“How are you?” She drank her coffee. “Late night?”
“Where’s Dad?”
“He’s off checking something on my car. It didn’t sound so good when I started it yesterday, so he said he’d take it into the shop. Since it’s the weekend and all. Would you have wanted to go too?”
“No.”
“You always used to want to go with him when he ran errands. I think he misses that a little bit.”
Sander drank his milk but didn’t comment.
“Speaking of which,” she said, “where did you two go last night?”
“Pierre’s. We had to walk home, so, yeah, it did end up being a little late.”
“A little late?” Eva stood up and went to the sink to pour out the dregs of her coffee. “I’d say the middle of the night is more than a little late.”
“Quit with the nitpicking already.”
“Nitpicking? I don’t care if you are eighteen now, as long as you’re living under my roof I get to ask where you spend your time.
” She grinned and turned off the radio. “Guess I’ll head out now.
There’s a crashed car over by Kjell ?stholm’s farm, I don’t know what the hell is up but I thought I’d go by and see if I can help at all. ”
Sander looked perplexed. “What, did someone get hurt?”
“I don’t know, but I saw emergency lights this morning. Listen, I folded your laundry downstairs. Bring it up and clean your room. It’s a pigsty in there.”
“Hey, Mom.”
“What?”
Sander breathed, silence. “Never mind.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it was nothing. We can talk about it tonight or whatever.”
“Lean down.”
She was small and dark-haired, half a head shorter than her son, so he bent down just like he used to do. She pressed her lips to his forehead, her soft hand on the back of his neck, and Sander thought: Stay. Don’t go.
After his mom left, he turned on the faucet in the bathroom. The pipes creaked and hammered as he showered.
When he stepped out, there was someone outside, on the other side of the front door.
A knock. He could see their shadow moving but couldn’t tell who it was.
Sander dressed quickly and went to answer the door.
He caught a glimpse of the visitor through the window: a short, dark-haired woman with Asian features and a mouth like a small line on her face.
Sander had time to notice the word Polis on her shoulder.