Waiting for Wednesday

threats have been made
against him.’
    ‘By me?’
    ‘By people close to you.’
    Frieda remembered Reuben and Josef at that
dreadful meal, Reuben’s revenge fantasies and the look of hatred on his face, and
her heart sank. ‘They wouldn’t,’ she said firmly.
    ‘It gets worse, Frieda. He’s
spoken to the press. He hasn’t gone as far as naming names but it doesn’t
take a genius to put two and two together.’
    ‘I see.’
    ‘They’re inside, waiting for
you.’ Briefly, he laid a hand on her arm. ‘But I’ll be there as well.
You’re not on your own.’
    The commissioner – a stocky man with
beetling brows and a pink scalp showing through his thinning hair – was a deep shade of
red. His uniform looked far too hot for the day. Bradshaw was in jeans and a T-shirt and
hadn’t shaved. When Frieda entered the room, he stared at her, then slowly shook
his head from side to side, as if he was too full of pity and anger to trust himself to
speak.
    ‘I’m very sorry indeed about
what happened,’ said Frieda.
    ‘Sit down,’ said the
commissioner, pointing to a small chair.
    ‘I’d prefer to stand.’
    ‘Suit yourself. I’ve been
hearing your story from Dr Bradshaw. I’m bewildered, absolutely bewildered, as to
why we ever had professional dealings with you.’ Here he turned towards Karlsson.
‘I must say I’m disappointed in you, Mal,turning a blind
eye to your friend letting a possible psychopath loose.’
    ‘But he wasn’t a
psychopath,’ said Karlsson, mildly. ‘It was a set-up.’
    The commissioner ignored him.
    ‘Punching a colleague. Attacking a
young woman she’d never met before and forcing her to the floor, just because she
stood up for her boyfriend. Stalking poor Hal here. Not to mention killing this
schizophrenic young woman, of course.’
    ‘In justified self-defence,’
said Karlsson. ‘Be careful what you say.’
    Crawford looked at Frieda. ‘What have
you got to say in your defence?’
    ‘What am I defending myself against?
Arson?’
    ‘Frieda, Frieda,’ murmured
Bradshaw. ‘I think you need some professional help. I really do.’
    ‘I had nothing to do with
it.’
    ‘My wife was in that house,’
said Bradshaw. ‘And my daughter.’
    ‘Which makes it even worse,’
said Frieda.
    ‘Where were you?’ said
Crawford.
    ‘I was in Birmingham. And I can put
you in touch with someone who can confirm that.’
    ‘What about your friends?’ asked
Bradshaw.
    ‘What about them?’
    ‘They’ve taken your side against
me.’
    ‘It is true that I have several
friends who think you acted unprofessionally and unethically –’
    ‘That’s rich,’ said the
commissioner.
    ‘– but they wouldn’t do anything
like this.’
    Karlsson coughed loudly. ‘I think this
is getting us nowhere,’ he said. ‘Frieda has an alibi. There’s not a
shred ofevidence, just Dr Bradshaw’s claims, which some might
believe to be motivated by malice. In the meantime, I have an interview to conduct with
Mr Lennox, who is being charged with the murder of Zach Greene.’
    Bradshaw rose and came close to Frieda.
‘You won’t get away with this,’ he said, in a low voice.
    ‘Leave her alone,’ said
Karlsson.
    Frieda walked back home. She tried not to
think, just put one foot in front of the other, moving steadily through the thickening
crowds, feeling the warmth of the day on her. She needed to steady herself before she
was with the Lennox family again. Soon they would have neither mother nor father to turn
to.



FIFTY-ONE
    ‘Are you ready?’ said Karlsson.
Yvette nodded. ‘We’ve let him stew long enough and it looks cast-iron to me.
You won’t have to do much. Just keep an eye on me and make sure I don’t do
anything stupid. Even I couldn’t fuck up this one, though.’
    He nodded at her and they walked into the
interview room. Russell Lennox was sitting at a table and next to him was his solicitor,
a middle-aged woman in a dark suit. She was called Anne Beste. Karlsson didn’t
know her but he didn’t give her much consideration. What could she do? Yvette
started the recording machine, then stepped away from the table and stood to one side,
leaning back against the wall. Karlsson reminded Lennox that he was still under caution,
then opened the file and carefully went through the forensic evidence from Zach
Greene’s flat. As he talked, he glanced from time to time at Lennox and Anne Beste
to see the effect he was having. Lennox’s wearily impassive expression