Read Online The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell - Free Book Online

much fun.”
    “What are they up to now?”
    “I’m thinking about the Estonia . All of our colleagues who died.”
    Wallander sat in silence. He should have thought about that himself.
    “I think you can imagine the mood,” she went on. “How could we just sit there, discussing organisational problems between the national police and the districts all over the country?”
    “We’re probably just as helpless in the face of death as everyone else,” Wallander said. “Even though we shouldn’t be, since we’ve seen so much of it. We think we’re used to it, but we aren’t.”
    “A ferry sinks one stormy night and suddenly death is visible in Sweden again,” she said. “After it’s been hidden away and ignored for so long.”
    “You’re right, I suppose. Although I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
    He heard her clearing her throat. After a pause she returned.
    “We discussed organisational problems,” she said, “and the eternal question of what should take priority.”
    “We ought to spend our time catching criminals,” said Wallander. “Bringing them to justice and making sure we have enough evidence to get them convicted.”
    “If only it was that simple,” she sighed.
    “I’m glad I’m not the chief,” Wallander said.
    “I sometimes wonder myself,” she said, and left the rest of her sentence unfinished. Wallander thought she was going to say goodbye, but she had more to say.
    “I promised that you would come up to the police academy in early December,” she said. “They want you to give a talk on the investigation of last summer. The trainee officers requested it.”
    Wallander was shocked.
    “I can’t do that,” he said. “I just can’t stand up in front of a group of people and pretend I’m teaching. Somebody else can do it. Martinsson’s a good speaker. He ought to be a politician.”
    “I promised you’d come,” she said, laughing. “It’ll be fine, really.”
    “I’ll call in sick,” Wallander said.
    “December is a long way off,” she said. “We can talk more about this later. I really called to hear how your holiday was. Now I can tell it turned out fine.”
    “And everything’s quiet here,” Wallander said. “All we have is a missing person. But my colleagues are handling it.”
    “A missing person?”
    Wallander recounted his conversation with Sven Tyrén.
    “How often is it something serious when people go missing?” she asked. “What do the statistics say?”
    “I don’t know about the statistics,” said Wallander. “But I do know that there’s very seldom a crime or even an accident involved. When it comes to old or senile people, they may have simply wandered off. With young people there’s usually a rebellion against their parents or a longing for adventure behind it. It’s rare that anything serious is involved.”
    They said goodbye and hung up. Wallander was dead set against giving lectures at the police academy. It was flattering that they had asked for him, but his aversion was stronger. He would try to talk Martinsson into taking his place.
    He went back to the smuggling operation. Just after 8 a.m. he went to get some more coffee. Since he felt hungry, he also helped himself to a few biscuits. His stomach no longer seemed upset. Martinsson knocked on the door and came in.
    “Are you feeling better?”
    “I feel fine,” Wallander said. “How’s it going with Holger Eriksson?”
    Martinsson gave him a baffled look.
    “Who?”
    “Holger Eriksson. The man I wrote a report on, who might be missing? The one I talked to you about?”
    Martinsson shook his head.
    “When did you tell me? I can’t have heard you. I was pretty upset about the ferry accident.”
    Wallander got up from his chair.
    “Is Hansson here yet? We have to get started on this immediately.”
    “I saw him in the hall,” Martinsson said. They went to Hansson’s office. He was sitting staring at a lottery ticket. He tore it up and dropped the pieces in his