"Sun and Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Edwardson Åke)

9

When Winter arrived at the intensive care ward, he found his father’s bed empty. His mother wasn’t there either.

“What the hell has happened?” he asked a male nurse who came over to him.

“Your father is operating,” the man said.

That was a pretty rapid recovery, Winter thought. His father was back on his feet and working as a surgeon.

“Where’s the doctor?” asked Winter. “A… dónde está? Dr. Alcorta?”

“He is operating.”

“My father? Is he operating on my father?”

The man nodded. Somebody came in through the door. Winter turned around.

“I tried to phone you but I couldn’t get through,” his mother said.

“I was stuck behind a damned crane truck for miles. It was impossible to hear a thing.”

“He took a sudden turn for the worse. Again.”

“Oh God. What is it this time?”

“I don’t know. Oh, Erik,” she said and burst into tears. He went over to her and gave her a hug.

“I’ve brought your things.” He didn’t know what else to say. “In the bag here.”

“Dr. Alcorta will come and talk to us when he’s finished.”

“When will that be?”

“I’ve no idea, Erik. I know no more than you do.”

“Does he know any more? Alcorta?” She looked at him. “I’m sorry. I’m just… frustrated by all this uncertainty.”

“You must be used to waiting, Erik. Being patient. No… I suppose… this business is something quite different.”

He thought about what she’d just said. Did he have the patience to wait, in his job as a detective? That was what it was all about, but he never felt he had the placid temperament to just wait for something to be solved. His impatience always got the upper hand. Sometimes that turned out badly, but most often it had proved to be no bad thing. His impatience had pushed investigations forward. An opening always appeared, but now he wasn’t sure, not this time. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t even arrange a conversation with Dr. Alcorta.

This business is something quite different, his mother had said.

“Shall we go and have a coffee?” he suggested. “Downstairs.”

“Maybe that’s a good idea.” She said something in Spanish to a male nurse, and nodded at his brief reply. “They’ll call us immediately if anything happens. But we’ll only be gone for ten minutes, in any case.”