Martinsson bounded into the house, calling, "Kurt, I need your signature on these receipts for Dr. Vogel, then we can…"
He stopped when he found them in the kitchen; Kurt was setting the table and Kelly was stirring something on the stove. The domesticity of the scene amused him: "And… it's just like coming home from school and finding your parents preparing dinner for you."
Kurt and Kelly turned to face him. "Parents?" Kurt raised an eyebrow. Am I that old?
Kelly was wiping her hand on a dishtowel. "Exactly how old do you think I am, Detective Martinsson?"
Martinsson did not know how to answer that, and he glanced between Kelly's bemused face and the warning in Kurt's eye for a clue. "Ah… please, call me Magnus, Dr. Vogel."
She folded the towel neatly and laid it over her shoulder. "And I'd be happy for you to call me Kelly, Magnus. Is politeness your usual stall tactic with older women?"
Kurt actually chuckled at that; Magnus knew he wasn't going to get any help from his colleague. "It's not that… it's just that everything's so homey and comfortable in here," he stammered.
"Good answer, Magnus. Now, if your homework is finished, you can toss the salad. You've got a smart boy there, Kurt." Kelly flicked the towel in Martinsson's direction before turning back to the stove.
Dinner was pleasant. Kurt let Kelly and Magnus carry on most of the conversation; he threw in a comment here and there, but mostly he just enjoyed listening to them. Magnus was trying to impress Kelly by telling her exciting police stories, and she was alternately impressed and bemused. He liked watching her; how she would sometimes duck behind her long dark hair and smile to herself; how she made sure that they had enough to eat; how she called all the vegetables by their Latin names. At one point, he finally broke into the conversation: "I have a question: Why do you always wear your hair up when you leave the house? You seem so much more comfortable like this."
Kelly looked at him for a moment. "There are 20, maybe 25 faculty in my department, right? It's a pretty big program. Do you know how many of them are women?"
Kurt and Magnus shook their heads, and Karen held up her hand to show five fingers. Kurt raised his eyebrows; even as a policeman, he could hardly imagine such an imbalanced workplace. Kelly continued. "We have about 12 graduate faculty—people who work advise graduate students, oversee dissertations, teach the more prestigious classes – and I am the only woman among them. If I wear my hair down, that draws attention to my femininity, and that marks me as different and threatening. If I cut my hair short, I'm trying to be a man, and that's threatening too. If I were young and pretty, they could feel paternalistic about me; if I were married with children, they could accept my academic career as secondary to my womanly duties. But I'm middle-aged and unmarried, so it's possible that I take my career as seriously as they take theirs, and that's unladylike." She saw that her lecture had stunned them a bit, so she tried to lighten the mood. "It's silly, really. Hair down," and she tossed her hair, "I'm a temptress; hair up," and she twisted it into a quick bun, poking a pen into it to hold in place, "and I'm a respectable colleague." The pen slipped in her hair, and a few locks fell loose.
Magnus pointed them out. "The loose bun is also very sexy."
Kurt glared at him; Kelly froze momentarily, then collected herself. "Why, thank you. I'll keep that in mind."
Magnus noticed Kurt's glare, and decided not to back off. "Kurt, wouldn't you agree?"
Kurt continued to glare at Magnus, sparing a glance for Kelly, whose eyes were on the table now. "I'm not really in a position to say."
Magnus prodded, "It's not a difficult question."
Kurt sighed heavily. "All right. I'm not saying Magnus is wrong, but I like your hair better when you wear it down. It seems more natural. OK, Magnus?"
Kelly smiled gratefully at him and pulled out the pen so that her hair fell around her face. "You both are just proving my point, by the way." She gathered a few empty plates and stood up. "Coffee?"
Kurt stirred himself to help clear the table, and she patted his shoulder to indicate that he should sit. He settled back down; at that moment, Martinsson's phone rang. He stepped out of the room to take it. Kelly spoke quietly. "Don't be too hard on him, Kurt. He's just a pup."
Kurt smiled, and patted her hand on his shoulder, wondering if he could find a way to send Magnus back to Ystad alone.
Martinsson leaned in the doorway and wiggled his phone. "Kurt?"
Kurt stood and looked at Kelly. All he could do was sigh and shake his head.
Martinsson caught the look between them; he tried to catch Kurt's eye a few minutes later in the car. "That was nice, wasn't it?"
Kurt nodded, then closed down the conversation. "So, where are we going now?"
