Nasrin’s temporary home assistant, Torsten Emanuel Rudin, had a terrible stammer. Tea-Bag started giggling when she first heard him speak. Leyla was furious with her and Tanya had to come between them in order to stop Leyla from punching Tea-Bag.
‘Are you the one who writes c-c-c-c-c-c—’
‘No,’ Humlin broke in sharply. ‘I don’t write crime novels.’
‘I mean those concise, minimalist poems,’ Torsten said.
Leyla stood between them.
‘This is my professor,’ she said proudly. ‘He is going to teach me to be a great writer. He knows all the words there are.’
Then she sat down in Torsten’s lap. The chair groaned beneath them. Love takes many forms, Humlin thought. This may be one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.
‘I’ve run away from home,’ Leyla announced.
Torsten was taken by surprise. His exclamation died away in a long stutter.
‘I’m frightened,’ Leyla said, ‘but I’ve done what I had to do. Now my family will hunt for me as long as I live.’
She looked at Humlin.
‘They’re going to think it’s your doing.’
Humlin immediately felt a sense of panic.
‘Why would they think that?’
‘They’ve seen you pat girls on the cheek. They think we send secret messages to each other.’
‘I’m shocked by what you have told me about your sister. But that convinces me all the more that you need to speak to your parents about this.’
‘About what?’
‘About the fact that there’s someone in your life,’ Humlin said nodding at Torsten.
‘They’ll kill me and lock me up for ever.’
‘They’ll hardly kill you first and then lock you up. As far as I have understood what happened, no one in your family had anything to do with what happened to Fatti.’
‘She doesn’t exist.’
Humlin gasped.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Of course she exists. What I mean is, it’s as if she’s never existed. As if she closed all the doors, pulled a scarf over her head and stopped existing. Even though she’s still alive.’
‘You can be dead even though you’re alive, and alive although you’re dead.’
It was Torsten who spoke, and he did so without a single stutter. He smiled. Leyla smiled. Everyone smiled. It was a shared triumph.
The conversation died away.
Tea-Bag and Tanya washed the dishes while Leyla and Torsten went off together somewhere in the big house. Humlin walked down into the den in the basement. There was a large jumping jack in the shape of a policeman hanging on a wall. Something about it made Humlin feel uneasy. It was eleven o’clock. He hesitated, then dialled Andrea’s number. She picked up straight away.
‘I hope I didn’t wake you up.’
‘I had just fallen asleep. Where are you?’
‘Gothenburg.’
‘Why are you calling?’
‘I wanted to talk to you. Isn’t that what people do? I thought we were a couple.’
‘“I thought we were a couple.” Listen to yourself. You sound like someone from an old Swedish movie. I want to end this relationship right now.’
‘I can’t manage without you, Andrea.’
‘You’ll manage perfectly well without me. If you don’t, that’s your problem. When are you coming back?’
‘I don’t know. Don’t you at least want to know what’s happened?’
‘Is anyone dead?’
‘No.’
‘Seriously injured?’
‘No.’
‘Then I don’t want to know. Call me when you get back. Good night.’
Andrea hung up. Humlin stared at the jumping jack. That’s not a police officer, he thought. It’s me.
Humlin walked back up the stairs. The kitchen and living room were empty. He continued to the first floor. Through a half-open door he saw Tea-Bag and Tanya stretched out on a double bed. They were holding hands. Tea-Bag still had her coat on. Tanya’s mouth was moving but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. The door to the next room was closed. When he pushed his ear up against the door he could hear Torsten’s stuttering voice. He walked back downstairs.
This would be the right moment to leave, he thought. The seminar is over, the seminar that never was. But I can’t leave yet. I haven’t heard the end of Tanya’s story. And I don’t know if that monkey I sometimes see is real or not.
Humlin finally fell asleep in an armchair. He immediately started to dream. Olof Lundin was rowing across a bay with furious speed. Humlin was in a boat with Tea-Bag, fishing. Suddenly police dogs were swimming towards them from all sides. He drew back and woke up when one of the dogs bit him on the shoulder. It was Tanya shaking his arm. Humlin looked at his watch in confusion. A quarter to two. He hadn’t been asleep for more than twenty minutes. He saw Tea-Bag behind Tanya.
‘She’s real,’ Tanya said.
‘Who?’
‘Fatti, Leyla’s sister. I know where she lives. Do you want to meet her?’
‘According to Leyla, Fatti sits in an apartment with the curtains drawn and a silk scarf over her head — why on earth would she want to meet me?’
‘Leyla visits her every day. That’s why she’s never in school. She’s been taking care of her sister.’
‘Why didn’t she say that?’
‘Don’t you have any secrets?’
‘This isn’t about that.’
Tea-Bag broke into the conversation.
‘Should we leave?’
‘Can’t this wait?’
‘Do you want to meet Fatti or not?’
