第 18 部分阅读
“youputavastaountofworkintothiscase。wasthereanyleadyoureebernothavingfollowedup？”
morellchuckled。“no。i’vedevotedanendlessaountoftietothiscase；andican’tthinkofanythingthatididn’tfollowuptothebitter；fruitlessend。evenafteriwasprootedandovedawayfrohedestad。”
“movedaway？”
“yes；i’notfrohedestadoriginally。iservedtherefro1963until1968。afterthatiwasprootedtosuperintendentandovedtotheg？vlepolicedepartentfortherestofycareer。butevening？vleiwentondiggingintothecase。”
“idon’tsupposethathenrikwouldeverletup。”
“that’strue；butthat’snotthereason。thepuzzleaboutharrietstillfascinatesetothisday。iean…it’slikethis：everypoliceofficerhashisownunsolvedystery。ireeberfroydaysinhedestadhowoldercolleagueswouldtalkinthecanteenaboutthecaseofrebecka。therewasoneofficerinparticular；aannaedtorstensson—he’sbeendeadforyears—whoyearafteryearkeptreturningtothatcase。inhisfreetieandwhenhewasonholiday。whenevertherewasaperiodofcalaongthelocalhooliganshewouldtakeoutthosefoldersandstudythe。”
“wasthatalsoacaseaboutaissinggirl？”
morelllookedsurprised。thenhesiledwhenherealisedthatblokvistwaslookingforsoesortofconnection。
“no；that’snotwhyientionedit。i’talkingaboutthesoulofapolicean。therebeckacasewassoethingthathappenedbeforeharrietvangerwasevenborn；andthestatuteofliitationshaslongsincerunout。soetieinthefortiesawoanwasassaultedinhedestad；raped；andurdered。that’snotaltogetherunon。everyofficer；atsoepointinhiscareer；hastoinvestigatethatkindofcrie；butwhati’talkingaboutarethosecasesthatstaywithyouandgetunderyourskinduringtheinvestigation。thisgirlwaskilledintheostbrutalway。thekillertiedherupandstuckherheadintothesoulderingebersofafireplace。onecanonlyguesshowlongittookforthepoorgirltodie；orwhattorentsheusthaveendured。”
“christalighty。”
“exactly。itwassosadistic。poortorstenssonwasthefirstdetectiveonthesceneaftershewasfound。andtheurderreainedunsolved；eventhoughexpertswerecalledinfrostockhol。hecouldneverletgoofthatcase。”
“icanunderstandthat。”
“myrebeckacasewasharriet。inthisinstancewedon’tevenknowhowshedied。wecan’tevenprovethataurderwasitted。butihaveneverbeenabletoletitgo。”hepausedtothinkforaoent。“beingahoicidedetectivecanbetheloneliestjobintheworld。thefriendsofthevictiareupsetandindespair；butsoonerorlater—afterweeksoronths—theygobacktotheireverydaylives。fortheclosestfailyittakeslonger；butfortheostpart；tosoedegree；theytoogetovertheirgrievinganddespair。lifehastogoon；itdoesgoon。buttheunsolvedurderskeepgnawingawayandintheendthere’sonlyonepersonleftwhothinksnightanddayaboutthevicti：it’stheofficerwho’sleftwiththeinvestigation。”
threeotherpeopleinthevangerfailylivedonhedebyisland。alexandervanger；sonofgreger；bornin1946；livedinarenovatedwoodenhouse。vangertoldblokvistthatalexanderwaspresentlyinthewestindies；wherehegavehiselfovertohisfavouritepasties：sailingandwhilingawaythetie；notdoingascrapofwork。alexanderhadbeentwentyandhehadbeenthereonthatday。
alexandersharedthehousewithhisother；gerda；eightyyearsoldandwidowofgregervanger。blokvisthadneverseenher；shewasostlybedridden。
thethirdfailyeberwasharaldvanger。duringhisfirstonthblokvisthadnotanagedevenaglipseofhi。harald’shouse；theoneclosesttoblokvist’scabin；lookedglooyandoinouswithitsblackoutcurtainsdrawnacrossallthewindows。blokvistsoetiesthoughthesawarippleinthecurtainsashepassed；andoncewhenhewasabouttogotobedlate；henoticedaglieroflightingfroarooupstairs。therewasagapinthecurtains。fororethantwentyinuteshestoodinthedarkathisownkitchenwindowandwatchedthelightbeforehegotfedupand；shivering；wenttobed。intheorningthecurtainswerebackinplace。
haraldseeedtobeaninvisiblebutever…presentspiritwhoaffectedlifeinthevillagebyhisabsence。inblokvist’siagination；haraldincreasinglytookontheforofanevilgolluwhospiedonhissurroundingsfrobehindthecurtainsanddevotedhiselftono…one…knew…whatattersinhisbarricadedcavern。
haraldwasvisitedonceadaybythehoe…helpservicefrotheothersideofthebridge。shewouldbringbagsofgroceries；trudgingthroughthesnowdriftsuptohisdoor。nilssonshookhisheadwhenblokvistaskedaboutharald。hehadofferedtodotheshovelling；hesaid；butharalddidnotwantanyoosetfootonhisproperty。onlyonce；duringthefirstwinterafterharaldhadreturnedtohedebyisland；didnilssondrivethetractoruptheretoclearthesnowfrothecourtyard；justashedidforalltheotherdriveways。haraldhadeoutofhishouseatastartlingpace；yellingandgesticulatinguntilnilssonwentaway。
unfortunately；nilssonwasunabletoclearblokvist’syardbecausethegatewastoonarrowforthetractor。asnowshovelandanuallabourwerestilltheonlywaytodoit。
intheiddleofjanuaryblokvistaskedhislawyertofindoutwhenhewasgoingtobeexpectedtoservehisthreeonthsinprison。hewasanxioustotakecareoftheatterasquicklyaspossible。gettingi. risonturnedouttobeeasierthanhehadexpected。afteraveryfeeeksofdiscussion；itwasdecreedthatblokvistpresenthiselfonmarch17attherull？kerprisonoutside？stersund；ainiu…securityprison。thelawyeradvisedhithatthesentencewouldverylikelybeshortened。
“fine；”blokvistsaid；withoutuchenthusias。
hesatatthekitchentableandpettedthecat；whonowarrivedeveryfewdaystospendthenightwithblokvist。frothenilssonshehadlearnedthatthecat’snaewastjorven。itdidnotbelongtoanyoneinparticular；itjustadetheroundsofallthehouses。
blokvistethiseployeralosteveryafternoon。soetiestheywouldhaveabriefconversation；soetiestheywouldsittogetherforhours。
theconversationoftenconsistedofblokvistputtingupatheorythatvangerwouldthenshootdown。blokvisttriedtoaintainacertaindistancefrohisassignent；buttherewereoentswhenhefoundhiselfhopelesslyfascinatedbytheenigaofthegirl’sdisappearance。
blokvisthadassuredbergerthathewouldalsoforulateastrategyfortakingupthebattlewithwennerstr？；butafteraonthinhedestadhehadnoty. enedthefileswhichhadbroughthitothedockinthedistrictcourt。onthecontrary；hehaddeliberatelypushedtheatterasidebecauseeverytiehethoughtaboutwennerstr？andhisownsituation；hewouldsinkintodepressionandlistlessness。hewonderedwhetherhewasgoingcrazyliketheoldan。hisprofessionalreputationhadiploded；andhiseansofrecoveringwastohidehiselfawayinatinytowninthedeepcountry；chasingghosts。
vangercouldtellthatblokvistwasonsoedaysabitoffbalance。bytheendofjanuary；theoldanadeadecisionthatsurprisedevenhiself。hepickedupthetelephoneandcalledstockhol。theconversationlastedtwentyinutesanddealtlargelywithmikaelblokvist。
ithadtakenalostthatwholeonthforberger’sfurytosubside。at9：30intheevening；ononeofthelastdaysinjanuary；shecalledhi。
“areyoureallyintendingtostayupthere？”shebegan。thecallwassuchasurprisethatblokvistcouldnotatfirstreply。thenhesiledandwrappedtheblankettighteraroundhi。
“hi；ricky。youshouldtryityourself。”
“whywouldi？whatissocharingaboutlivinginthebackofbeyond？”
“ijustbrushedyteethwithicewater。itakesyfillingshurt。”
“youhaveonlyyourselftoblae。butit’scoldashelldownhereinstockholtoo。”
“let’sheartheworst。”
“we’velosttwo…thirdsofourregularadvertisers。no…onewantstoerightoutandsayit；but…”
“iknow。makealistoftheonesthatjupship。soedaywe’lldoagoodstoryonthe。”
“micke…i’verunthenubers；andifwedon’tropeinsoenewadvertisers；we’llbebustbytheautun。it’sassipleasthat。”
“thingswillturnaround。”
shelaughedwearilyontheotherendoftheline。
“that’snotsoethingyoucansay；nestlingupthereinlaplanderhell。”
“erika；i’…”
“iknow。aan’sgottadowhataan’sgottado；andallthatcrap。youdon’thavetosayanything。i’sorryiwassuchabitchanddidn’tansweryouressages。canwestartagain？doidareeuptheretoseeyou？”
“wheneveryoulike。”
“doineedtobringalongariflewithwolf…shot？”
“notatall。we’llhaveourownlapps；dogteasandallthegear。whenareyouing？”
“fridayevening；ok？”
apartfrothenarrowshovelledpathtothedoor；therewasaboutthreefeetofsnowcoveringtheproperty。blokvistgavetheshovelalong；criticallookandthenwentovertonilsson’shousetoaskwhetherbergercouldparkherbmwthere。thatwasnoproble；theyhadroointhedoublegarage；andtheyevenhadengineheaters。
bergerdrovethroughtheafternoonandarrivedaround6：00。theystaredateachotherwarilyforseveralsecondsandthenhuggedeachotherforuchlonger。
therewasnotuchtoseeinthedarknessexceptfortheilluinatedchurch；andbothkonsuandsusanne’sbridgecaféwereclosingup。sotheyhurriedhoe。blokvistcookeddinnerwhilebergerpokedaroundinhishouse；akingrearksabouttheissuesof
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