The Shadow Girls полностью

Then she walked back to her chair in front of the TV, pushed some buttons on the remote control and started watching. A programme came on with several men seated around a table, discussing something. Sheep, I think. They talked about sheep-shearing. I said goodbye, took my coat and left. When I came out I looked down into the snow and tried to figure out which footprints belonged to Torsten and which were the ones that I had left.

Then I started walking back to the tram stop and it was light now and the snowflakes didn’t feel cold for some reason. I wondered what I should do. When I entered the underpass that leads to the tram stop I stopped short. Torsten was standing there. I stared at him. I thought I must be mistaken. But it was him. He was just standing there and even though I couldn’t know, I did know. There was only one reason why he would be standing there and that was that he was waiting for me.

Leyla stopped reading abruptly. A man had just entered the room and Humlin recognised him. It was Leyla’s father.

‘I haven’t told you any of this,’ she hissed. ‘I haven’t said anything. Nothing about Nana, nothing about the underpass.’

‘What happened after that?’ Tanya asked.

‘I can’t tell you now. Don’t you get what I’m saying?’

Leyla’s father approached the table. He was short and stocky. He looked around at them suspiciously and then turned to Humlin.

‘What is going on here?’

‘We’re conducting a writing seminar.’

‘It shouldn’t start without me.’

‘I’m sorry if there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. I start when all the girls are present. I can’t be expected to keep track of all their families.’

‘I am not simply a relative; I am Leyla’s father.’

He turned to his daughter and grabbed her arm roughly.

‘Where have you been all day?’

‘At school.’

‘No, you haven’t. They called home and asked why you weren’t there. Where have you been?’

‘At the hospital.’

‘Are you sick?’

‘No,’ Tea-Bag said, interrupting, ‘she felt dizzy and went to hospital. She’s had nightmares and difficulty sleeping.’

Leyla nodded. Her father paused, clearly hesitating as to whether or not he should believe this.

‘I can’t allow Leyla to participate in this course any longer.’

Humlin saw how Leyla tried to swallow her disappointment — or was it anger? He looked at her round face, shiny with sweat, and thought that her plump exterior hid not only a beautiful face but also a strong will.

‘What exactly is the problem?’ Humlin asked.

‘She’s not telling me the truth.’

‘What is it that isn’t true?’

‘She hasn’t been to the hospital.’

‘I have too,’ Leyla said softly.

Her father turned and shouted at her, a tirade of smattering sounds of which Humlin understood nothing. Leyla bowed her head submissively, but Humlin thought he could still see the streak of rebellion in her bearing. Törnblom stepped up and looked as if he were preparing for a boxing match.

‘I’m sure we can solve this somehow.’

He didn’t get any further. Haiman rose to his feet at that moment and approached the table.

‘Of course Leyla will continue her work here.’

‘You are not her father. I am her father, I decide.’

‘Let the girl decide for herself.’

The exchange between Leyla’s father and Haiman grew more heated. They used a kind of Swedish Humlin had never heard before. Suddenly Törnblom jumped in.

‘We’re expecting a TV crew to arrive soon. I would like to suggest that Leyla’s father be present for the interview as a representative of the parents. You would be interviewed with Leyla and Jesper. Damn it, we can’t have fights over little things like this.’

Haiman gave Törnblom a stern look, and Törnblom in turn gave Humlin the same stern look. Humlin could not recall a previous mention of this supposed return of the TV crew. He assumed it was an attempt by Törnblom to diffuse the situation.

‘It is not a little thing when a father believes his daughter has lied to him.’

‘But I’m sure she was at the hospital, like she said. Weren’t you, Leyla?’

Leyla nodded. Humlin heard Tanya mutter with anger on her behalf.