She points at a name.
"He will take care of everything."
"Strange."
He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment.
"It must have been strange for her to arrange her own funeral."
The nurse pads him on the shoulder.
"I"ll get you another cup of coffee."
He nods silently as he just looks at the papers in his hands. When the nurse pa.s.ses one of her colleagues, she answers the unasked question in her eyes.
"His mother just died."
She holds out the cold cup to her.
"I"ll get him some fresh coffee."
Marc jumps when the sound of his phone suddenly breaks the silence in the hospital corridor, and, feeling almost scared, he looks around him. The officer further down the hall looks at him attentively and they exchange a quick look before Marc nods at him and takes out his phone from his pocket.
"Yes."
His voice is hardly more than a whisper and no one answers.
"h.e.l.lo."
Marc can sense some noise.
"Come on, I"m in the hospital. My mother just died, so if you want something, come out and say it. I don"t have the patience for this."
Still nothing even though Marc had spoken with a loud and clear voice.
"OK. I"ll hang up then."
He has already taken the phone away from his ear when he hears the voice. It sounds familiar.
"I can"t hear you. The connection is bad. Can you speak up?"
Marc"s eyes wander down the hall. The officer is still looking at him. Marc nods again and forces himself to smile.
"Yes, I remember you. You left the elevator when I entered it. How are you today? Feeling better?"
Marc looks down at the brown linoleum which isn"t helping to lighten up the dullness of the corridor.
"Yes, I got the name. I know who he is."
He breathes in and out a couple of times.
"When would you like me to start the surveillance of him?"
He looks at the toes of his shoes.
"Now?!"
He breathes a few times again.
"It"ll have to wait a couple of hours. I need to get some sleep."
He looks at his watch.
"It"s a quarter past ten."
He looks up at the officer down the hall.
"I can start around seven tonight."
He notices that the officer moves around restlessly and on stiff legs.
"OK, let"s say that. But I have to sleep from time to time."
He holds the phone out from his ear and looks at it.
"Is this your number?"
Marc sighs and his voice is irritated.
"Don"t call me from a phone with caller ID and think that I can"t see your number. Call me nerdy about my job, but that"s how it is. Is this the number you want me to call with information?"
He smiles a little to himself.
"OK. If you want a report..."
He stops in the middle of the sentence.
"...then you"ll have to send me an email address I can send my weekly report to. The address is on my card. My fee is also to be paid weekly. I"ll send you the account number together with the report. Me fee is... All right... Goodb... All right then."
He looks at the phone shaking his head before he puts it back in his pocket.
The officer takes a quick look at his watch, before pulling the sleeve back over it looking annoyed. He puts his hands to his lower back and bends backwards. The elevator doors open. The sound seems to fill the hall and the man in the suede jacket further down the hall looks up from his phone to watch the man getting out of the elevator. For a moment the two men look at each other.
"Fredericsson."
The officer sounds relaxed.
"Absolutely nothing has happened tonight. Are you sure this is not a waste of time?"
"You can go now. I"ll take over. Will there be a replacement?"
The officer nods and looks at his watch again.
"In 15 minutes."
"OK. Go home and get some sleep."
Marc is still looking at the two people by the elevator when the nurse brings him his coffee.
"At least this is warm."
Marc nods in the direction of Fredericsson.
"What has happened since the police is here?"
She looks at him for a long time before replying hesitantly.
"A woman was a.s.saulted in her own home. It was bad."
Marc looks at her thoughtfully.
"Attempted murder?"
"But she"ll survive. The perpetrator just missed the main artery in her neck."
"She was lucky."
"Yes, very. Otherwise she wouldn"t be alive now."
He raises his eyebrows and drinks from his coffee. He bites his lip when the coffee burns its way down his throat and looks straight at the nurse.
"You know what the worst part is? It actually helps to know that you"re not the only one feeling bad."
She shrugs. He takes another sip of his coffee, and a new light slowly starts to shine in his eyes. He takes another sip and looks at the nurse again.
"Thanks, I feel better now."
The nurse looks at him with surprise.
"Your coffee wasn"t warm?"
He gets up and looks down at the nurse.
"Thank you again."
He picks up the papers with his mother"s handwriting and slowly walks down the hall.
A nurse pa.s.ses Fredericsson on her way into Evy"s room with a cup of coffee.
"Do you have to be sick or dead to get some coffee around here?"
He looks down at the coffee and then back at the nurse. His voice is cheerful, but it"s obvious that the nurse doesn"t think it"s funny. She moves her head in the direction of the room behind the counter. Fredericsson looks at the officer for a long time.
"I"ll get it."
"You"re a true friend."
The officer smiles with a shrug.
"You haven"t changed much."
Fredericsson smiles a crooked smile as he starts to walk in Marc"s direction.
"I"m too old for that. Now I"m just a grumpy old man."
Fredericsson doesn"t look at the officer as he speaks.
"Ha. You"re not retiring any time soon."
Fredericsson turns his head.
"So you think I have lots of time to change?"
The officer just shakes his head and disappears behind the counter.
Fredericsson stops outside Evy"s room. He"s still looking directly at Marc.
"Good morning."
Fredericsson"s voice is still a little rusty and he looks down with envy at Marc"s coffee.
"It tastes like coffee. It probably is coffee. But I"m not sure it works like coffee. Let me tell you a secret.
Marc looks at him for a long time.
"Yes?"
"I think it"s decaf."
Fredericsson gives out a loud sigh.
"Don"t say that."
Marc nods.
"And another secret..."
Fredericsson leans a little closer to Marc.