‘Nonetheless someone might have seen us,’ he said.
‘No one saw us.’
Humlin thought about the impressive collection of keys she had hauled out, not to mention the crowbar.
‘Do you do this a lot?’ he asked.
He heard how silly the question sounded, but it was too late to take it back. Tanya sat down on the chair she had used last time. She removed her jacket and the backpack he only now saw she was carrying. She pulled her wet hair out of her face and placed a notebook and pen in front of her. She’s ready to start, Humlin thought. What do I do now?
Then it occurred to him that these events could be used as the start of a narrative. He quickly made some notes in his head.
‘You drew a picture of a heart last time,’ he said. ‘Whose heart was it?’
Instead of answering, she picked up her backpack and emptied the contents on the table. In the resulting jumble he could see everything from icons to pine cones, old cinema ticket stubs, a baby’s dummy, a tin opener, a piece of cut crystal and two brown envelopes. Tanya pushed the envelopes towards him. When he picked up the first she gestured to him in an irritated manner to take the other. He opened up the second envelope and saw that it contained a letter from the immigration authorities.
The letter was addressed to someone named Inez Liepa and the reasons given for the denial of her application were that she had given false information about her name and nationality, as well as the reason for her application for asylum. In the margin someone had doodled in a number of hearts from which drops of blood seeped down the page. Humlin assumed the latter had not been added by the immigration authorities.
Humlin picked up the first envelope. It was from the local police authorities in Västerås. This letter was also addressed to Inez Liepa, a Russian national, and it stated that she was to be deported from Sweden on the 14th of January 1998. Humlin put down the letter. She was still watching him very carefully. Do none of these people ever use their real names, he thought. First there’s Tea-Bag/Florence, now Inez/Tanya. He found it impossible to hide his disapproval.
‘We have laws and regulations in this country,’ he said, ‘in case you hadn’t noticed. How do you expect to be granted permanent residence if all the information you use has been falsified? Why can’t you simply tell them the truth?’
‘What truth?’
‘Your real name, for a start. Is it Inez or Tanya?’
‘Natalia.’
‘Natalia? Now you have a third name?’
‘I only have one real name. Natalia.’
‘And are you from Russia, Natalia?’
‘I was born in Smolensk.’
‘Liepa sounds Estonian. With a name like that people assume you come from a place like Riga.’
‘But Riga is in Lithuania, not Estonia.’
‘That was what I meant. Lithuania.’
‘There are so many countries in this world. It is easy to make mistakes.’
He looked at her searchingly but couldn’t tell if she was being ironic. He grew more irritated.
‘Can’t you just answer my question? What is your real name and what is your nationality? I would also like to know where Tea-Bag lives. I’m worried about her.’
She didn’t say anything. He looked at the objects that were still lying on the table.
‘You can of course also tell me why you decided to come to Sweden,’ he said. ‘In particular I’m rather curious to know how you have managed to dodge the police for so long. But most of all I want to know why you came. What made you leave your home? That is what you are here to write about. It is your story. I promise to listen, but I want to hear the truth. Nothing less. I am tired of this never knowing who you really are.’
Humlin waited. Inez/Tanya/Natalia was silent. Well, we have the whole night, he thought. She has to say something sooner or later.
But he was wrong. She had still said nothing after half an hour. The silence was finally broken by the sound of the front door being thrown open by a barking police dog. The dog was quickly followed by three armed officers.
‘Hands in the air where we can see them!’
Humlin felt like he was in a bad dream. But the fear was real.
‘I can explain,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing illegal going on here, I promise.’
Tanya was frozen in her chair. Her gaze was once more fixed on some point far away. But Humlin was sure she was following everything that went on in the room.
‘Please call Pelle Törnblom who owns this building.’
‘His alarm system indicated that the front door had been opened and the door does show signs of force.’
