Free The Pyramid by Henning Mankell Page A

to commit suicide. Nor to be greedy per se.
    It was half past six. Lars Andersson had not called. Wallander decided to wait until seven o'clock. Then he would try again.
    The call from Andersson came at five minutes to seven.
    'Business always picks up when it's raining. I heard that you had called?'
    'I'm working on a case,' Wallander said. 'And I was thinking that you could perhaps help me. It's a matter of tracking down a driver who had a client last Wednesday. Around three o'clock. A pickup from an address here in Rosengård. A man by the name of Hålén.'
    'What's happened?'
    'Nothing that I can talk about right now,' Wallander said and felt his discomfort grow every time he avoided giving an answer.
    'I can probably find out,' Andersson said. 'The Malmö call centre is very organised. Can you give me the details? And where should I call to? The police headquarters?'
    'It's best if you call me. I'm leading this thing.'
    'From home?'
    'Right now I am.'
    'I'll see what I can do.'
    'How long do you think it will take?'
    'With a little luck, not very long.'
    'I'll be home,' Wallander said.
    He gave Andersson all the details he had. When the call was over he had a cup of coffee. Still no call from Mona. Then he thought of his sister. Wondered what excuse his father would give for him having left the house so abruptly. If he even bothered to say that his son had been there. Kristina often took her father's side. Wallander suspected it had to do with cowardice, that she was afraid of their father and his unpredictable temper.
    Then he watched the news. The auto industry was doing well. There was an economic boom in Sweden. After that they showed footage from a dog show. He turned down the volume. The rain continued.
He thought he heard thunder somewhere in the distance. Or else it was a Metropolitan plane coming in for landing at Bulltofta.
    It was ten minutes past nine when Andersson called back.
    'It's as I expected,' he said. 'The Malmö taxi call centre is extremely well organised.'
    Wallander had already pulled over a pen and paper.
    'The drive went out to Arlöv,' he said. 'There is no record of another name. The driver's name was Norberg. But I can probably hunt him down and ask him if he remembers what the client looked like.'
    'There's no chance that it could have been another trip?'
    'No one else ordered a taxi to that address on Wednesday.'
    'And the car went out to Arlöv?'
    'More specifically, to Smedsgatan 9. That's right next to a sugar mill.
    An old neighbourhood with rows of terraced houses.'
    'No rented apartments then,' Wallander said. 'Only a family must live there. Or a single person, I suppose.'
    'You would think so.'
    Wallander made a note of it.
    'You've done good,' he said.
    'I may have even more for you,' Andersson replied. 'Even if you never asked me for it. There is also a record of a cab ride from Smedsgatan.
Specifically, Thursday morning at four o'clock. The driver's name was
Orre. But you won't be able to get hold of him right now. He's on holiday in Mallorca.'
    Can taxi drivers afford to do that? Wallander thought. Is that because they make money under the table? But of course he mentioned nothing of these speculations to Andersson.
    'It could be important.'
    'Do you still not have a car?'
    'Not yet.'
    'Are you planning to go there?'
    'Yes.'
    'You can use a police car, of course, can't you?'
    'Of course.'
    'Because otherwise I could take you. I'm not doing anything in particular. It's a long time since we had a chat.'
    Wallander decided to take him up on his offer and Lars Andersson promised to pick him up in half an hour. During that time Wallander called directory assistance and asked who was registered on telephone service at Smedsgatan 9. He received the answer that there was service there but that the number was private.
    It was raining harder. Wallander put on his rubber boots and a raincoat.
He stood at the kitchen window and saw Andersson slow down in front of his building. The car had no