The Jealousy Man and Other Stories
- Автор: Несбё Ю
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: Alfred A. Knopf
- ISBN: 978-0-593-32100-3
- Переводчик: Robert Ferguson
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «The Jealousy Man and Other Stories». Краткое содержание книги:
A detective with a nose for jealousy is on the trail of a man suspected of murdering his twin; a bereaved father must decide whether vengeance has a place in the new world order after a pandemic brings about the collapse of society; a garbage man fresh off a bender tries to piece together what happened the night before; a hired assassin matches wits against his greatest adversary in a dangerous game for survival; and an instantly electric connection between passengers on a flight to London may spell romance, or something more sinister.
With Nesbø’s characteristic gift for outstanding atmosphere and gut-wrenching revelations, The Jealousy Man confirms that he is at the peak of his abilities.
He forced himself in between her thighs. I saw his naked buttocks tense and relax, but from the anxious swearing and the jerky movements I realised he wasn’t able to manage it. Either she’d jinxed his erection or else he just couldn’t handle the situation. Or else — and this struck me as a third possibility — he really did love the girl.
‘Shit!’ he yelled and jumped off the bed. Pulled up his trousers and buttoned them as he walked towards the wardrobe and took something from inside. It took me a moment to realise it was a golf club. He held it with both hands above his shoulder as he walked towards Amy.
I put my hand on the doorknob and turned it. Or did I? Maybe I didn’t have time, maybe the door was locked on the inside. Maybe I changed my mind. Because one way or the other, what could I have done about it? There was a dull thud, like the sound of a meat-hammer hitting a steak as the head of the club buried itself in her upper body. And a crackling, crunching sound — like when you’re frying an egg for breakfast — when the next blow hit her on the forehead. She collapsed silently across the bed.
Brad turned and walked straight towards me. I was just a few metres away down the corridor by the time the door opened, but I managed to turn to make it look as though I was walking towards his bedroom and not away from it by the time he burst out.
‘There you are!’ he said. ‘Get someone to help you carry her down into the basement. Use one of the rooms with thick walls and a decent lock.’
‘But...’
‘Now!’
He carried on past me and down the stairs.
VI
It was now three days since Amy had been kidnapped. Having tried in vain to get hold of Colin by phone, mail and through intermediaries I made my way down to the harbour. The sex clubs there were still open as though nothing had happened, or perhaps because they had. Finally I met in one of them a slightly drunk fisherman who was willing to take me out to Rat Island and asked a ridiculously high price for such a short trip. The stripper onstage gave me a dirty look as I walked off with a third of her audience.
As we neared the island a boat of the same type used by the coastguards approached us. On reflection it probably was a coastguard boat. A machine gun had been mounted on the foredeck. The boat came alongside us. I shouted across to a guy in uniform the purpose of my visit; he called it in on the radio and a couple of minutes later he waved us in. Colin was standing on the jetty smiling broadly as we lay to.
‘This is a pleasant surprise,’ he said as he embraced me.
‘I’ve been trying to get in touch with you.’
‘Oh, really? The signal out here is even more unreliable than it is in the city. Come on!’
He strode on ahead of me in the direction of the huge building in the centre of the island.
‘So?’ he said. ‘You and the family well?’
I swallowed. ‘No.’
‘No?’ He tried to adopt a quizzical look.
‘I’ll get to it,’ I said. ‘So this is your home now?’
‘Well, for the time being. Liza hates the place and thinks I should have bought some lovely big island instead of this barren lump of stone. She doesn’t understand that the overview is more important than the appearance right now.’
We stopped in front of the building. I put my head back and looked up at the tall, weather-worn concrete wall.
‘You feel safe in your home?’
‘Here, yes,’ said Colin, hitting with concrete with his fist. ‘These walls could’ve stopped the French Revolution. And my snipers can pick off anything that approaches, even at night.’
High above I saw the line of narrow, arrow-slit windows that commanded unbroken views in all directions. The sea glistened and glinted invitingly around us, as though this were just a normal day. But there wasn’t a sailing boat in sight. Just the thick smoke drifting across the surface of the water from the city fires. On the other hand, maybe the sea didn’t find this day any more special than one with happy yachts and surfers sailing about. Yep, just any old day with the human race wandering about the surface of planet Earth.
‘Let’s eat. I asked the kitchen to make some—’
‘No,’ I said, watching as a brown rat scampered across a sloping rock. ‘Let me tell you why I’m here. Brad attacked us in our house.’
‘What did you say?’
‘He took Amy.’
‘What?’ He tried to sound as if he was shocked.
‘And the police won’t — or can’t — do anything about it.’
‘When...?’
‘Three days ago.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me before? Right, problems with the net.’
Colin has many talents but acting isn’t one of them. He made a show of shaking his head as I told him about the nightmare night, in as much detail as Heidi had been willing to share with me. And after that he didn’t have to pretend to be horrified any more.
‘We told the same story to the police,’ I said. ‘But once they realised that the man we were talking about was Colin Lowe’s son they stopped taking notes.’ I took a deep breath. ‘It looks to me as though you already know all this, so I’m assuming they contacted you immediately afterwards.’
‘The police contacted me?’
‘Come on, Colin. I know you too well. And as your lawyer I know all about your connections in the police.’
Colin studied me for a few moments. And, as usual, his assessment was correct.
‘What you’ve got to understand, Will, is that you are my friend, but Brad is my son.’
‘I know that and you’re forgiven, but he has to let Amy go. And you must get them to arrest Brad.’
‘Hang on,’ said Colin. ‘There’s more. The police told me the only evidence they have that it was Brad is that in the course of the evening someone apparently mentioned his name. But that you yourselves did not recognise him. Not recognise a boy who practically grew up with you? Not recognise the body language, the eyes, the voice?’
‘What are you saying, Colin?’
‘I’m saying that when your daughter gets kidnapped you’re desperate. You look and you search until you find something, anything at all. And what you found was the sound of one of the most common names in the city, briefly and in passing. Because it gave you something to hang on to. But I know Brad. God knows he’s no angel, but he didn’t do this, Will.’
‘Then find him. Talk to him!’
‘No one knows where he is, no one has any contact with him. Listen, I’m as worried about Brad as you are for—’
‘Then let the police send out an alert for him,’ I interrupted before he could finish the meaningless sentence.
‘But there’s no proof, not even a suspicion. And they’re the ones saying it, not me. None of us can force them to use resources on a case they don’t believe exists.’
‘Yes, you can!’
‘I can’t, my dear Will. Not even if I wanted to.’
‘Yes. But you don’t want to. You’re afraid Brad’s guilty.’
‘He isn’t guilty.’
‘Then you’re afraid he’ll be found guilty.’
‘Maybe that has something to do with it, yes.’
I punched the concrete wall in despair. ‘The courts are still up and running, Colin. And on my life I swear Brad will get a fair trial. Yes, even if he’s killed her. You hear me?’
‘And I swear on my life that my son is neither a kidnapper nor a murderer, Will. On my life. You hear me?’