Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [204]
Charges were never filed. She had resigned the same evening and went home and cried for a week. Then she pulled herself together and went to see Dragan Armansky. She explained what she had done and why she had left the force. She was looking for a job. Armansky had been sceptical and said he would need some time to think it over. She had given up hope by the time he called six weeks later and told her he was ready to take her on trial.
Linder frowned and stuck the baton into her belt at the small of her back. She checked that she had the Mace canister in her right-hand pocket and that the laces of her trainers were securely tied. She walked back to Berger’s house and slipped into the garden.
She knew that the outside motion detector had not yet been installed, and she moved soundlessly across the lawn, along the hedge at the border of the property. She could not see him. She went around the house and stood still. Then she spotted him as a shadow in the darkness near Beckman’s studio.
He can’t know how stupid it is for him to come back here.
He was squatting down, trying to see through a gap in a curtain in the room next to the living room. Then he moved up on to the veranda and looked through the cracks in the drawn blinds at the big picture window.
Linder suddenly smiled.
She crossed the lawn to the corner of the house while he still had his back to her. She crouched behind some currant bushes by the gable end and waited. She could see him through the branches. From his position Fredriksson would be able to look down the hall and into part of the kitchen. Apparently he had found something interesting to look at, and it was ten minutes before he moved again. This time he came closer to Linder.
As he rounded the corner and passed her, she stood up and spoke in a low voice:
“Hello there, Fredriksson.”
He stopped short and spun towards her.
She saw his eyes glistening in the dark. She could not see his expression, but she could hear that he was holding his breath and she could sense his shock.
“We can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way,” she said. “We’re going to walk to your car and—”
He turned and made to run away.
Linder raised her baton and directed a devastatingly painful blow to his left kneecap.
He fell with a moan.
She raised the baton a second time, but then caught herself. She thought she could feel Armansky’s eyes on the back of her neck.
She bent down, flipped him over on to his stomach and put her knee in the small of his back. She took hold of his right hand and twisted it round on to his back and handcuffed him. He was frail and he put up no resistance.
*
Berger turned off the lamp in the living room and limped upstairs. She no longer needed the crutches, but the sole of her foot still hurt when she put any weight on it. Beckman turned off the light in the kitchen and followed his wife upstairs. He had never before seen her so unhappy. Nothing he said could soothe her or alleviate the anxiety she was feeling.
She got undressed, crept into bed and turned her back to him.
“It’s not your fault, Greger,” she said when she heard him get in beside her.
“You’re not well,” he said. “I want you to stay at home for a few days.”
He put an arm around her shoulders. She did not to push him away, but she was completely passive. He bent over, kissed her cautiously on the neck, and held her.
“There’s nothing you can say or do to make the situation any better. I know I need to take a break. I feel as though I’ve climbed on to an express train and discovered that I’m on the wrong track.”
“We could go sailing for a few days. Get away from it all.”
“No. I can’t get away from it all.”
She turned to him. “The worst thing I could do now would be to run away. I have to sort things out first. Then we can go.”
“O.K,” Beckman said. “I’m not being much help.”
She smiled wanly.