Tanya shook her head impatiently.
‘We want to hold another meeting tonight to make up for the missed one last night.’
Humlin thought about the phone call with Andrea.
‘I can’t.’
Tanya’s eyes flashed with anger.
‘Are you backing out on us again?’
‘I thought we had agreed that there was no backing out on my part.’
‘If you want us to believe in you, you’ll come to the meeting tonight.’
‘I have plans.’
Tanya got up.
‘Leyla won’t be very happy when I tell her what you just said.’
Humlin desperately searched for a way out.
‘Can’t we have the meeting now, before my train leaves?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Leyla has to go to school.’
‘Why isn’t she already in school then?’
‘She’ll be in trouble if anyone finds out she isn’t there.’
‘I’ll be in trouble if I’m not in Stockholm this evening. What about having the meeting this afternoon?’
‘I’ll ask.’
Tanya went back to the other table. Humlin thought of her as a messenger sent back and forth between two warring camps. He then thought that Sweden had turned into a country he really knew very little about.
Tanya returned.
‘Five o’clock,’ she said.
Humlin revised the schedule in his head.
‘We can meet for up to two hours,’ he said. ‘Then I have to go. Where shall we meet?’
‘At my place.’
‘I’d be grateful if Haiman were not invited this time.’
‘He won’t be there.’
‘How can I be sure of that?’
‘No one is going to know about this meeting. Leyla will take care of it.’
Humlin became concerned.
‘How will she do that?’
‘She’ll say she’s over at Fatima’s.’
‘Who is that?’
‘A Jordanian friend of hers. If Leyla’s parents call to check up on her they’ll get the message that Leyla and Fatima have gone to see Sasha. And if they call there they’ll hear they’re all over at my place. And if Leyla’s parents do start calling it’s okay because Fatima’s brother will call us to let us know. That way she’ll have time to go home without being found out.’
Humlin sensed but did not quite understand what Leyla’s life must be like. Leyla left the cafe. She smiled briefly at him, a secret sign that no one else saw. Shortly afterwards Tanya got up and gestured for him to follow her. They took a tram out to Stensgården. When they arrived Tanya escorted him to one of the apartment buildings at the edge of the isolated housing project. They took the lift to the seventh floor. Humlin expected to see ‘Nilsson’ on the front door but he realised the situation was a bit more complicated when she told him to keep his voice down and then proceeded to use one of her skeleton keys to open the front door.
‘Take off your shoes,’ she told him once they were inside. ‘Don’t turn on the TV or the radio.’
‘Isn’t this your apartment?’
‘I live here when it’s unoccupied.’
‘You have no key?’
‘I don’t need keys.’
‘I know. Who lives here?’
‘Some people by the name of Yüksel.’
‘Are they related to you?’
‘I have no relatives.’
‘Then how come you are allowed to live here?’
‘They’re in Istanbul right now.’
‘And they have no idea that you’re living here.’
‘Right.’
‘I thought you said we were going to have this meeting at your place?’
‘This is my place. I find out which apartments are going to be empty and when. People who are away or who have moved. Then I move in for a while. I leave before anyone comes back or the new people move in.’
‘How do you know which apartments are going to be empty?’
‘Leyla knows everything about everyone around here. She lets me know if someone is going away.’
Humlin thought for a moment.
‘You don’t have a place of your own?’
‘How could I if I don’t even exist?’
‘What do you mean “don’t exist”?’
‘You saw the deportation notice. The police are after me. Now that I was forced to show them the ID with Tatyana Nilsson on it it’s only a matter of time before they put two and two together.’
‘So who are you?’
Tanya flinched.
‘You know who I am. I’m not answering any more questions. Don’t open the door if anyone knocks. Don’t answer the phone. I’ll be back in a few hours.’
‘Wait, I can’t stay in an apartment where the owners could come back at any moment!’
‘They won’t be back until next week. Leyla has a cousin who works at the travel agent where they booked their tickets.’
‘This whole thing makes me very nervous.’
‘How do you think I feel knowing that the police could find me at any time and throw me out of the country?’
Humlin couldn’t think of a good answer.
‘Is there anywhere I can lie down and take a rest?’ he asked.
‘There are beds in every room. It’s a large family.’
Tanya left. Humlin walked around the apartment very carefully and lay down on a bed in a room that — by the looks of the football posters on the wall — belonged to a teenage son. He pulled the blanket up to his chin and thought about the fact that he was in the middle of something he would never have been able to imagine even in his wildest dreams. Then he fell asleep.
