Before the Frost Read Online Free PDF Page A

jumping into a void wouldn’t solve anything. Linda started defending herself—how could Annika possibly understand anything about her problems? But Annika hadn’t backed down, she had simply stayed calm, as if she had infinite patience. When Linda finally did climb down from the railing and start crying, from a sense of disappointment that was actually relief, Annika had started crying too. They hugged each other and stood there for
a long time. Linda told her that she didn’t want her father to hear about it. Not her mother either, for that matter, but especially not her dad. Annika had promised to keep it quiet, and she had been true to her word. Linda had thought about calling the Malmö police station to thank her many times, but she never got further than lifting the receiver.
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    She put the photograph back into the bookcase, thought briefly about the police officer who had been killed, and went to bed. She was woken up in the morning by Kristina getting ready for work. Kristina was her brother’s opposite in almost every regard: tall, thin, with a pointed face and a shrill voice that Linda’s dad made fun of behind her back. But Linda loved her aunt. There was something refreshingly uncomplicated about her, and in this way too she was her brother’s opposite. From his perspective, life was nothing but a heap of dense problems, unsolvable in his private life, attacked with the force and fury of a ravenous bear in his work.
    Linda took the bus to the airport shortly before nine in the hopes of catching a plane to Malmö. All of the morning headlines were about the murdered police officer. She got on a plane leaving at noon and called her dad when she got to Sturup.
    â€œDid you have a good time?” he asked when he came to pick her up.
    â€œWhat do you think?”
    â€œHow could I know? I wasn’t there.”
    â€œBut we talked on the phone last night—remember?”
    â€œOf course I remember. You were rude and unpleasant.”
    â€œI was tired and upset. A police officer was murdered. No one was in a good mood after that.”
    He nodded but didn’t say anything. He let her off when they got to Mariagatan.
    â€œHave you found out anything more about this sadist?” she asked.
    At first he didn’t seem to understand what she was referring to.
    â€œThe bird hater? The burning swans?”
    â€œProbably just a prank call. Quite a few people live around the lake and someone would have seen something if it wasn’t.”

    Wallander drove back to the police station and Linda walked up to the apartment. Her father had left a note by the phone. It was a message from Anna, Important. Call back soon. Then her father had scribbled something she couldn’t read. She called him at work.
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell me Anna called?”
    â€œI forgot.”
    â€œWhat have you written here—I can’t read your handwriting.”
    â€œShe sounded worried about something.”
    â€œHow do you mean?”
    â€œJust that. She sounded worried. You’d better call her.”
    Linda called but Anna’s line was busy. When she tried again there was no answer. At seven o’clock in the evening, after she and her dad had eaten, she put on her coat and walked over to Anna’s place. As soon as Anna opened the door Linda could see what her father had meant. Anna’s expression was different. Her eyes darted around anxiously. She pulled Linda into the apartment and shut the door.
    It was as if she were in a hurry to shut out the outside world.

5
    Linda was reminded of Anna’s mother, Henrietta. She was a thin woman with an angular, nervous way of moving, and Linda had always been a little afraid of her.
    Linda remembered the first time she had played at Anna’s house. She must have been around eight or nine. Anna was in another class at school and they had never been able to figure out exactly what had drawn them to