Man On The Balcony Read Online Free PDF

dresses hung over the lid of the suitcase. The door of the inner room was open; Kollberg caught sight of a blue-painted bookshelf with books and toys. On top sat a white teddy bear.
    'Do you mind if we sit down?" Kollberg asked, and sat in one of the armchairs.
    The woman remained standing and said:
    'What has happened? Have you found her?"
    Kollberg saw the dread and the panic in her eyes and tried to keep quite calm.
    'Yes," he said. "Please sit down, Mrs. Carlsson. Where is your husband?"
    She sat in the armchair opposite Kollberg.
    'I have no husband. We're divorced. Where's Eva? What has happened?"
    'Mrs. Carlsson, I'm terribly sorry to tell you this. Your daughter is dead."
    The woman stared at him.
    'No," she said. "No."
    Kollberg got up and went over to her.
    'Have you no one who can be with you? Your parents?"
    The woman shook her head.
    'It's not true," she said.
    Kollberg put his hand on her shoulder.
    'I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Carlsson," he said lamely.
    'But how? We were going to the country…"
    'We're not sure yet," Kollberg replied. "We think that she… that she's been the victim of…"
    'Killed? Murdered?"
    Kollberg nodded.
    The woman shut her eyes and sat stiff and still. Then she opened her eyes and shook her head.
    'Not Eva," she said. "It's not Eva. You haven't… you've made a mistake."
    'No," Kollberg said. "I cant tell you how sorry I am, Mrs. Carlsson. Isn't there anyone I can call up? Someone I can ask to come here? Your parents or someone?"
    'No, no, not them. I don't want anyone here."
    'Your ex-husband?"
    'He's living in Malmö, I think."
    Her face was ashen and her eyes were hollow. Kollberg saw that she had not yet grasped what had happened, that she had put up a mental barrier which would not allow the truth past it He had seen the same reaction before and knew that when she could no longer resist, she would collapse.
    'Who is your doctor, Mrs. Carlsson?" Kollberg asked.
    'Doctor Ström. We were there on Wednesday. Eva had had a tummy ache for several days and as we were going to the country I thought I'd better…"
    She broke off and looked at the doorway into the other room.
    'Eva's never sick as a rule. And she soon got over this tummy ache. The doctor thought it was a touch of gastric influenza."
    She sat silent for a moment. Then she said, so softly that Kollberg could hardly catch the words:
    'She's all right again now."
    Kollberg looked at her, feeling desperate and idiotic. He did not know what to say or do. She was still sitting with her face turned towards the open door into her daughter's room. He was trying frantically to think of something to say when she suddenly got up and called her daughter's name in a loud, shrill voice. Then she ran into the other room. Kollberg followed her.
    The room was bright and nicely furnished. In one corner stood a red-painted box full of toys and at the foot of the narrow bed was an old-fashioned dollhouse. A pile of school-books lay on the desk.
    The woman was sitting on the edge of the bed, her elbows propped on her knees and face buried in her hands. She rocked to and fro and Kollberg could not hear whether she was crying or not.
    He looked at her for a moment, then went out into the hall where he had seen the telephone. An address book lay beside it and in it, sure enough, he found Doctor Strom's number.
    The doctor listened while Kollberg explained the situation and promised to come within five minutes.
    Kollberg went back to the woman, who was sitting as he had left her. She was making no sound. He sat down beside her and waited. At first he wondered whether he dared touch her, but after a while he put his arm cautiously around her shoulders. She seemed unaware of his presence.
    They sat like this until the silence was broken by the doctor's ring at the door.

8
    KOLLBERG WAS sweating as he walked back through Vanadis Park. The cause was neither the steep incline, the humid heat after the rain, nor his tendency to corpulence. At any rate not