The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

Author:Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg [Ingelman-Sundberg, Catharina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Humour, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781447250999
Google: RZP6AAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00D5TSMEE
Goodreads: 18053391
Publisher: Pan
Published: 2012-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Thirty-Eight

The Volvo drove past the underground station and stopped at the Sollentuna remand prison. The driver, Kalle Ström, and two prison service officials helped Martha out of the car and made sure she had her purse belt, walking stick and walker.

‘Weird thingamy that,’ said Kalle, pointing at Martha’s reflector arm.

‘I don’t want people crashing into me, do I?’ she explained. ‘Rather a walker with a reflector than a damaged hip.’

Kalle smiled to himself. He had driven many criminals in his time and most of them were highly unpleasant, but he particularly liked this unusual lady. She seemed fascinated by prisons and had hummed ‘God in Disguise’ all the way from the Kronoberg station.

Martha thanked him for the ride, leaned on her walker and looked around her. She shook her head when she saw the huge grey buildings of the Sollentuna Centre.

‘Now, boys, look at those, they are like horizontal skyscrapers. Ugly as sin. The people responsible ought to be in prison—not me!’

‘But this building isn’t so bad, is it?’ Kalle objected, pointing at the Sollentuna remand prison. Martha leaned her head to one side and looked up at the façade. The tall construction stood out from the grey buildings surrounding it and shone when the light touched the glass. Here were interesting reflections to look at from the outside—it seemed so silly that from now on she would be stuck inside.

‘This way,’ said one of the officials, showing them the entrance. It was now that she would have to hand over all her belongings and would be admitted as a remand prisoner. Suddenly the seriousness of it all struck her, and she remembered the shock when the constable at Kronoberg had leaned forward, looked them in the eye and said, ‘We don’t put men and women in the same prison.’

At that moment, Martha had thought she would faint. How could she possibly have overlooked something like that? She was ashamed, realizing that if they were convicted both she and Christina would be parted from their old-fashioned suitors for an entire year. If they had known that, they might have preferred to stay in the retirement home—but then, on the other hand, they wouldn’t have experienced any of their adventures. As usual, everything in life was a trade-off. Regrettably, she wouldn’t have the company of Christina or Anna-Greta either.

‘You won’t be able to be together,’ the constable had said.

‘Why not?’ Christina had asked.

‘When several people are involved in the same crime, we must keep them apart.’

‘But you can’t do that,’ Martha protested. ‘We are like one big family, we must stick together.’

‘But that’s exactly what we want to prevent. The paintings and the money are still missing, and you mustn’t have a chance to agree on a story.’

The five had looked helplessly at the constable and couldn’t even feel any pride about the indirect praise. A heavy silence descended upon them and they all looked at Martha.

‘You went on so about how much better it would be in prison,’ said Anna-Greta indignantly.

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