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was
not very good with voices. Especially women's voices.
He'd often listened to somebody on the phone who
sounded like what's-her-name, that sexy newsreader
on TV 4, only to find out when he met her, the caller
that is, that she looked like Old Mother Hubbard
and had been using a free bus pass for years. And
vice versa. A voice like gravel and a body like Marilyn
Monroe.
    'Who am I speaking to?' he asked, pen poised. She
introduced herself as Lena Sköld.
    'Something odd has happened,' said Lena Sköld.
    'Start from the beginning and let's hear all about it,'
said Alinder, the usual routine.
    'I can't understand it.'
    'What's happened?'
    'It's my little daughter . . . Ellen . . . She told me she'd
met somebody this afternoon.'
    'Go on.'
    'When she was out in the woods, a day nursery
outing. At Plikta. The children's playground. It's just at
the cross—'
    'I know where it is,' said Alinder.
    Only too well, he thought. He'd spent years there
when the children were little. He'd stood there, usually
frozen stiff, sometimes hungover, but he'd gone there
with the kids even so because Plikta was nearest to their
flat in Olivedalsgatan and he couldn't think up
any reason to say no. He was glad he hadn't said
no. Those who don't say no get their reward in due
course. Those who do say no get their punishment from
the children later on when they flee the nest without so
much as a backward glance.
    'She evidently met a man there. A mister as she put
it. She sat in his car.'
    'What do the staff say?'
    'The day nursery staff? Well, I phoned one of the
girls who was with them but she hadn't noticed
anything.'
    Alinder waited.
    'Is it usual for them not to notice anything?' asked
Lena Sköld.
    It depends if anything has happened, thought Alinder.
    'Where is your daughter now?' he asked.
    'She's sitting at the table here in front of me, drawing.'
    'And she's told you she's been in a car with a man.
Have I understood that correctly?'
    'That's how I understand it anyway,' said Lena Sköld.
    'So she went off with somebody? Without the staff
noticing?'
    'Yes.'
    'Is she injured?'
    Straight to the point. It's better to come straight to
the point.
    'No, not as far as I can see. I have actually looked.
Just now. It was only an hour ago that she mentioned
it.'
    'An hour?'
    'Well, two maybe.'
    'How does she seem?'
    'Well, happy, I suppose. As usual.'
    'I see,' said Alinder.
    'I didn't have anybody to ask about what I should
do,' said Lena Sköld. 'I'm a single parent and my
husb . . . er, my ex is not somebody I'd turn to about
anything at all.'
    I'll take your word for it, Alinder thought. This town
was full of real swine and their ex-wives were better off
keeping as many miles away from them as possible. The
children as well.
    'Do you yourself believe what Ellen says?' he asked.
    'Well I don't really know. She has a fertile imagination.'
    'Children do. So do a lot of adults.'
    'Are you referring to me?'
    'No, no, it was just something that slipped out. A
throwaway comment.'
    'I see.'
    'What did you say about Ellen's imagination?'
    He could hear the girl now. She must be sitting right
next to her mother at the table. He heard the word
'imagination' and heard Lena Sköld explaining what it
meant and then the girl asked another question he
couldn't catch. Then the mother's voice back on the line.
    'Sorry about that, but Ellen was listening to what I
said. She's gone to her room now to fetch some more
paper.'
    'Her imagination,' said Alinder again.
    'She makes up quite a lot, to be honest. Imaginary
things, or imaginary people. People she says she's been
talking to. Even here, at home. In her room. It's not
unusual for children, I suppose.'
    'But you decided to phone the police.'
    'Yes, I suppose that does sound a bit odd. But it was
different somehow. As if she hadn't made it up this time.
I don't really know how to explain it. But I sort of
believed it. Not that she said much, I should add.'
    'And the "it" you say you believed was that she'd
been in a