The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Smith Alexander McCall

Author:Smith, Alexander McCall [Smith, Alexander McCall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Humour, Crime, Adult
ISBN: 9781524748210
Amazon: 1524748218
Goodreads: 40988964
Publisher: Pantheon Books / Knopf Doubleday
Published: 2019-03-07T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

THE SUDDEN URGE TO CRY

At the end of Ulf’s next session with Dr. Svensson, the psychotherapist said to Ulf, “Busy recently?”

“Yes,” replied Ulf. “Moderately. We had a rather unusual matter to deal with, actually, a ridiculous spat between young women. Twenty-year-olds. Friends disagreeing with one another. Under-the-surface rivalry. That sort of thing.”

“At that age, feelings are very intense,” said Dr. Svensson.

“You can say that again,” agreed Ulf. And then, “Could I ask you something, Dr. Svensson?”

“Of course. That’s what I’m here for.”

“Imaginary friends.”

“Yes?”

“Are they at all common?”

Dr. Svensson shrugged. “There’s literature on the topic, you know. They crop up in childhood.” He paused. “Why do you ask?” He grinned. “Do you have one?”

Ulf shared the joke. “Not really. Or not one I’d reveal to you, Dr. Svensson.”

“Because I’d spoil the friendship?”

“Something like that. No, I’m just interested...Well, more than just interested—it’s something to do with this case we had.”

“The two young women?”

“Yes. One of them, you see, created an imaginary boyfriend. She actually got somebody to pose with her in a photograph—a young man she encountered on the street. Then she ‘disappeared’ him, and so the friend thought she’d done him in. She’d made up some ridiculous story about his going off to the North Pole.”

Dr. Svensson’s eyes widened. “The North Pole! That’s very significant, you realise. The symbolism.”

Ulf waited for him to explain further.

“The North Pole is a phallic symbol, Mr. Varg.”

Ulf frowned. “But it exists, doesn’t it? It’s not just a symbol. It has a real, physical existence.”

“No, it doesn’t. The North Pole doesn’t exist. There is no pole, Mr. Varg. It’s an idea.”

Ulf did not wish to labour the point. “All right, there’s no actual pole. But if there’s no pole, then how can it be a phallic symbol?”

“A word can be a symbol,” replied Dr. Svensson. “Semiotics, Mr. Varg!”

“Yes,” said Ulf briskly. “Anyway, this other young woman—a friend of the first young woman—came to us with the photograph and the story of the mysterious disappearance of the boyfriend, whom at that stage we all thought real.”

“I see.”

“Yes. And we then had a visit from the mother—the mother of the first young woman, that is. She came to tell us that her daughter had told us a pack of lies when we asked her about what happened to her boyfriend. The mother explained that the boyfriend was imaginary and that her daughter had had an imaginary friend as a child—with the same name as the boyfriend she created later on.”

“I see.”

“The mother was very apologetic. She told us that the girl’s father, a naval officer, had deserted them and gone to live up north.”

“Ah,” said Dr. Svensson. “North.”

“She asked us to take an understanding view of her daughter’s behaviour. She understood that she could be in trouble for giving false information in a criminal investigation.”

“Even into one concerning a non-existent person?”

“Yes, even then. So we did. She was given a warning.”

“And that was the end of the matter?”

Ulf nodded. “Yes, that was it—as far as we were concerned.

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