The Locked Room by Maj Sjowall

Author:Maj Sjowall [Sjöwall, Maj]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-77283-1
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2013-04-03T16:00:00+00:00

22

Kollberg and Gunvald Larsson were sitting facing each other at the latter’s desk. Both looked thoughtful.

It was still Thursday and they had left Bulldozer Olsson alone with his dreams of the impending day of happiness when he’d be able to put Werner Roos behind bars.

“What the devil’s up with Bulldozer?” Gunvald Larsson said. “Is he really thinking of letting Mauritzon go, just like that?”

Kollberg shrugged. “That’s the way it would seem,” he said.

“But not even having him shadowed, that’s what I don’t understand,” Gunvald Larsson went on. “There’s every prospect of it yielding high dividends. Or do you think Bulldozer’s got his sights on something even more brilliant?”

Kollberg shook his head thoughtfully and said: “No, it’s like this, I guess: Bulldozer’d sooner sacrifice what he might gain by shadowing Mauritzon than lose something else he values more.”

Gunvald Larsson frowned. “And what might that be?” he asked. “Surely no one’s more eager to get his mitts on this gang than Bulldozer.”

“No, that’s for sure,” Kollberg said. “But has it occurred to you that hardly any of us has such first-class sources of information as Bulldozer? He knows any number of informers and crooks, and they really trust him because he never cheats them and always keeps his word. They rely on him and know he never promises something he can’t perform. Bulldozer’s stool pigeons are his chief asset.”

“What you mean to say is, if it gets around that he tails his stool pigeons when they’ve been here giving him some tips, that’ll be the end of their confidence in him and all those nice tips too?”

“Precisely,” Kollberg said.

“Anyway I think it’s goddam stupid to let this opportunity slip,” Gunvald Larsson said. “Suppose we keep a quiet check on where Mauritzon goes and what he gets up to next. That needn’t trouble Bulldozer, need it?” He threw Kollberg a questioning glance.

“Okay,” Kollberg said. “I too am pretty curious as to what Mr. Faithful Mauritzon has in mind. By the way, is Faithful a Christian name or a surname?”

“It’s a dog’s name,” said Gunvald Larsson. “Maybe he sometimes disguises himself as a dog. But we’ll have to get started, because I imagine he’s being let out any moment now. Who starts?”

Kollberg looked at his new wristwatch, which was of the same make and model as the one that had gone through the washing machine. He hadn’t eaten for a couple of hours and had begun to feel ravenous. Anyone who’s trying to get his weight down, he’d read somewhere, should eat a little, but often; the latter part of this advice he had accepted with pleasure.

“I suggest you do,” he said. “I’ll stick around the phone here, so you just call me if you need any help or want me to relieve you. Take my car. It’s not such an eyesore as yours.” He took out his keys and handed them to Gunvald Larsson.

“Good,” said Gunvald Larsson. He got up and buttoned his jacket. In the doorway he turned and said: “If Bulldozer asks after me, think of something.

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