'That's probably true,' she said and put down the watering can. 'I take it you're here about Matilda Lamberg?'

'Not for her sake, of course. It's about the woman who visits her. The one who isn't her mother.'

Margareta Johansson looked at him. A swift wave of concern passed over her face.

'Does this have anything to do with the father's murder?'

'It's not very likely, but I have been wondering who she is.'

Margareta Johansson pointed at a half-open door leading to an office.

'We can sit in there.'

She asked if Wallander wanted any coffee, and he declined.

'Matilda doesn't get many visitors,' she said. 'When I came here fourteen years ago, she had already been here six years. Only her mother came to see her. Perhaps another relative on some rare occasion. Matilda doesn't really notice if she has a visitor. She is blind, with poor hearing, and she doesn't react much to what goes on around her. But we still wish that those who reside here for many years, perhaps their whole lives, receive visits. Perhaps simply to give a feeling that they do in fact belong? In the larger context.'

'When did this woman begin her visits?'

Margareta Johansson thought back.

'Seven or eight years ago.'

'How often does she come?'

'It has always been very irregular. Sometimes half a year has gone by between visits.'

'And she has never given her name?'

'Never. Only that she is here to see Matilda.'

'I assume you have informed Elisabeth Lamberg about this?'

'Yes.'

'How did she react?'

'With surprise. She has also enquired as to who the woman is, and has asked us to call and tell her as soon as she arrives. The problem is simply that the woman's visits have always been very brief. Elisabeth Lamberg has never managed to get here before the woman has left.'

'How does the woman get here?'

'By car.'

'That she has driven herself?'

'I have never actually thought about that. Perhaps there has been someone else in the car that no one has noticed.'

'I assume that there isn't anyone who might have noticed what type of car it was? Or even made a note of the number plate?'

Margareta Johansson shook her head.

'Could you describe the woman to me?'

'She is between forty and fifty years old. Slender, not particularly tall. Simply but tastefully dressed. Short, blonde hair. No make-up.'

Wallander jotted this down.

'Is there anything else you've noticed about her?'

'No.'

Wallander stood up.

'Don't you want to meet Matilda?' she asked.

'I don't think I have the time,' Wallander said evasively. 'But most likely I'll be back here again. And I want you to notify the Ystad police if that woman returns. When was she here last?'

'A few months ago.'

She followed him outside. A nurse's assistant walked by pushing a wheelchair. Wallander caught sight of a shrunken boy under a blanket.

'Everyone feels better in the spring,' Margareta Johansson said. 'We can see it even in our patients, who are often completely sealed in their own worlds.'

Wallander said goodbye and walked over to his car. He had just started the engine when the telephone rang in Margareta Johansson's office. She called out that it was Svedberg. Wallander walked back in and took the receiver.

'I've tracked down the driver,' Svedberg said. 'It was easier than I had dared hope. His name is Anton Eklund.'

'Good,' Wallander said.

'It gets better. Guess what he told me? That he has the habit of keeping the passenger lists of all his trips. And that he has pictures from this particular one.'

'Taken by Simon Lamberg?'

'How did you know?'

'I did what you told me. I guessed.'

'To top it off, he lives in Trelleborg. He's retired these days. But we have a standing invitation to look him up.'

'We should absolutely take him up on that. As soon as possible.'

But first Wallander had another visit to think about. One that couldn't be put off.

From Rynge he was planning to drive straight to Elisabeth Lamberg's house.

He had a question he wanted an immediate answer to.

She was out in the garden when he pulled up. She was bent over the flower beds. Her grief over her recent loss was apparently neither deep nor long-lasting; as he listened over the fence, he thought he could hear her humming. As Wallander opened the gate, she heard him and straightened up. She held a little shovel in her hand and squinted in the sunlight.

'I'm sorry I had to come back and bother you again so soon,' Wallander said. 'But I have an urgent question.'

She put the shovel down in a basket next to her.

'Should we go in?'

'It's not necessary.'

She pointed to some deckchairs that were nearby. They sat down.

'I've talked to the director of the nursing home where Matilda is,' Wallander began. 'I went there.'

'Did you see Matilda?'

'Unfortunately, I had very little time.'

He didn't want to tell her the truth. That it was almost impossible for him to confront the seriously handicapped.

'We talked about the unknown woman who comes to visit her.'

Elisabeth Lamberg had put on a pair of dark glasses. He could not see her eyes.

'When we spoke about Matilda last time, you never mentioned anything about this woman. That surprises me. It makes me curious. Above all, it strikes me as strange.'

'I didn't think it was important.'

Wallander hesitated over how hard or direct to be. After all, her husband was brutally murdered a couple of days ago.

'It's not the case, then, that you know who the woman is? And that you for some reason don't want to talk about her?'

She took off her sunglasses and looked at him.

'I have no idea who she is. I've tried to find out, but I haven't been successful.'

'What have you done in order to find out about her?'

'The only thing I could do, which is to ask the staff to call me as soon as she appears. Which they have. But I've never made it out there in time.'

'You could of course have asked the staff not to let her in? Or given orders that she was not allowed to visit Matilda without providing a name?'

Elisabeth Lamberg looked confused.

'She did give her name, the first time she was there. Didn't the director tell you that?'

'No.'

'She introduced herself as Siv Stigberg, and she said she lived in Lund, but I haven't been able to find anyone by that name there. I've looked into it. I've looked through telephone directories for the entire country. There is a Siv Stigberg in Kramfors, and another in Motala. I've even been in touch with both of them. Neither one understood what I was talking about.'

'She gave a false name? That must have been why Margareta Johansson didn't say anything.'

'Yes. That's the only reason I can imagine.'

Wallander reflected on this. He now believed that she was telling the truth.

'The whole thing is remarkable. I still don't understand why you didn't tell me this from the start.'

'I realise now that I should have.'

'You must have really wondered who she was, why she was paying these visits.'

'Of course. That was why I instructed the director to let her keep visiting Matilda. I was hoping to make it in time one day.'

'What does she do when she's there?'

'She only stays a short while. Looks at Matilda, but never says anything. Even though Matilda can hear when someone talks to her.'

'Did you ever ask your husband about her?'

Her voice was filled with bitterness when she answered.

'Why should I have done that? He wasn't interested in Matilda. She didn't exist.'

Wallander got up out of the deckchair.

'Nonetheless, I have an answer to my question,' he said.

He went straight to the station. The feeling of urgency was suddenly very strong. It was already late afternoon. Svedberg was in his office.