The Shadow Woman by Åke Edwardson Page B

wallet.
    “Yes?”
    “We’re conducting an in—”
    “Is it the murder on the other side of Boråsleden? I just read about it. We were talking about it a moment ago,” the woman said, and a barechested man in swimming trunks suddenly appeared behind her.
    “It’s just routine. We have to ask everyone in the vicinity if they’ve seen or heard anything within the last twenty-four hours.”
    “When should we be counting from?” the man asked. “My name is Petersén, by the way.” He held out his hand. Halders shook it.
    “Same here,” the woman said. “Denise.” She smiled and held out her hand, and Halders squeezed it gently.
    “Halders,” Halders said.
    “Come in, by the way,” the man said. He followed the couple to an outdoor patio that was paved with what might have been mosaic tiles.
    “Would you like a refreshment?” the man asked, and Halders answered with a yes.
    “A drink? Gin and tonic?”
    “I’m afraid—”
    “A beer?”
    “That would do nicely.”
    The man walked back inside the house, and the woman sank into a folding chair that looked complicated. She nudged a pair of sunglasses to the tip of her nose and seemed to look at Halders. He looked back. She dangled one sandal on her foot. The sandal was red, like the fire in the sun.
    “I’m happy to be of service in the meantime,” she said.
    Don’t let your imagination run away with you now, Halders thought. Try to keep a little blood up in your head.
    The man returned with a tray and three bottles of beer.

15
    WINTER HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT BENNY VENNERHAG, FOR THE moment, when he called.
    “I heard you solved it—the attack on your colleague.”
    “Where’d you hear that?”
    “You haven’t become naive, now, have you, Inspector?”
    Winter thought of his hands around Vennerhag’s jaw.
    “I’m still in pain,” Vennerhag said.
    “What?”
    “The brutality of the police force. What you did to me the other day? I could—”
    “I may need your help again soon,” Winter said mellifluously.
    “I don’t like that tone in your voice,” Vennerhag said. “And in that case it’ll have to be over the phone.” He waited but Winter said nothing more. “What do you need help with?”
    “I don’t know yet, but I might be in touch soon.”
    “What if I leave town?”
    “Don’t.”
    “I’m not allowed to leave town?”
    “When did you last leave town, Benny?”
    “That’s beside the point, Inspector.”
    “You haven’t been outside the city limits in four years, Benny.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “You haven’t become naive, now, have you, Master Thief ?”
    Vennerhag snickered. “Okay, okay. I know what it is anyway. I read the papers. But I don’t see how I can be of any help to you when I don’t know anything about it. Who is she, by the way?”
    “Who?”
    “The dead woman, for Christ’s sake. The body. Who is she?”
    “We don’t know.”
    “Come on, Winter. There’s no such thing as an unknown body anymore.”
    “Maybe not in your world.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    Winter was tired of Vennerhag’s voice. He wanted to end the conversation.
    “I honestly don’t know who she is,” he said. “I may end up needing your help. And you will help me then, won’t you, Benny?”
    “Only if you’re nice.”
    “The police are always nice.”
    Vennerhag’s laugh cut through the phone line again. “And everybody else is mean. How’s Lotta doing, by the way?”
    “She told me that you called and complained.”
    “I didn’t complain. And it was for your own good. What you did was out of order. It may be hot as hell, but you keep your emotions in check.”
    “Don’t call her anymore. Stay away from her.”
    “How far away? You said I wasn’t supposed to leave town, remember?”
    “I’ll be in touch, Benny,” Winter said, and hung up the receiver. His hand was sticky.
    He stood and pulled off his blazer and hung it over the back of the chair, then rolled up the sleeves of his white