The Postcard Killers - James Patterson [34]
Christer looked none the wiser.
She put her knapsack and bike helmet on the floor. Then she sat down next to them.
“A woman,” she said, “sitting like this.”
Then she lay down on the floor. “And a man, lying like this.”
She pulled one leg up, spread the fingers of one hand, and stretched the other hand out.
Christer blinked several times.
“Dessie,” he said, “what are you doing? What’s this all about? Surely you’re not decorating.”
Dessie sat up. She had the photocopy of the dead couple from Dalarö in her knapsack. She didn’t want to show it to Christer. He was so sensitive about blood. He used to think it was unpleasant even when she had her period.
“A picture,” she said. “I’m after a picture or a painting with people in the positions I just showed you.”
He looked thoughtfully at her.
She lay down again, stretching her right hand across the floor.
“Like this,” she said. “The man’s holding something in his right hand.”
“Dessie,” he said quietly, “why are you here?”
Dessie felt her cheeks starting to burn. He thought the painting was a pretext.
She jerked her neck, stood up, opened the knapsack, and pulled out the photocopy.
“Maybe you should sit down,” she said.
He took a step toward her.
“Just say it,” he said. “Tell me why you’ve come to see me. It’s not about art, Dessie.”
Dessie showed him the photocopy. She saw his eyes open wide and his face go as white as the walls.
She caught him before he fell.
“Good god,” he said. “Are those… are those… people?”
Her reply was needlessly harsh. It just came out that way.
“Not anymore. Look at the way they’re positioned. Doesn’t it remind you of anything? Where have I seen that before?”
“For heaven’s sake,” he said, shutting his eyes, shaking his head. “Take it away.”
“No,” Dessie said. “Take a proper look. Please. Look at the man.”
She helped Christer sit down on the floor. He was breathing deeply and had to put his head between his knees for a few seconds.
“Let’s see,” he said, taking the picture, looking at it for a couple of seconds, then pushing it away again.
“The Dying Dandy,” he said. “Nils Dardel, nineteen eighteen. It’s in the Museum of Modern Art.”
Dessie closed her eyes, seeing the painting before her. Of course! It floated up from her memory. She knew exactly which painting it was.
She leaned over and kissed her ex-husband on the cheek.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “This may save lives, Christer.”
Chapter 47
DESSIE CAUGHT HER BREATH AS she locked her bicycle outside the entrance to the Museum of Modern Art on the island of Skeppsholmen.
The yellow building was glowing in the sunlight, making her squint just to look up at it.
She didn’t think she’d been here since her divorce from Christer.
She went into the upper entry hall, into an environment similar to her ex-husband’s gallery: pristine white, harsh lighting. It looked just as she remembered it, the glass walls, the espresso bar, the chrome lamps.
She and Christer had been to a party here in the foyer just a few weeks before their marriage came to an end.
She went up to the information desk, staffed by a tall woman in an all-black outfit.
“Excuse me,” Dessie said. “I’m trying to find a painting called The Dying Dandy.”
“Eighty kronor,” the woman said.
Of course, the new right-wing government had abolished free entry to Sweden’s museums.
Dessie paid.
“You’re on the right floor. Just follow the corridor to the left as far as you can, then take a right and then the first left again,” said the woman in black.
Dessie couldn’t remember the reason for the party she had attended with Christer. It was probably someone’s birthday, or someone new had managed to get an exhibition at the Modern.
She suppressed the memory and headed off along the long corridor beyond the espresso bar.
The museum was almost empty at this early hour. She could hear people talking from deep within the catacombs but saw no one, not a soul. It wasn’t just newspapers but also an appreciation for art that was on the decline, even here in Sweden.
Eventually