Dedicated to my sister.
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II
6.30 am
HER alarm clock rings.
No one turns it off.
8.30 am
WALLANDER snaps his phone shut. He's irritated. Someone's been tampering with some papers on his desk, it's Martinsson's day off, and Linda won't answer his damned calls.
8.40 am
AT 8.40 am he's sick of coffee and he's had enough, and at the office it feels just like the blasted calm before the storm, he can sniff it and, he be damned, doesn't like it one bit.
Maybe he could blame his being restless on the whisky he's been cutting on since he's not going out for a run in the mornings anymore, (old heart: thanks for nothing); but he won't because he's stubborn just like that, and just like that so bothered.
And because he'll always rather ease off his annoyance with a drive, and because he'll always rather go and wake up Linda.
9.03 am
SILENT, Wallander steps into his daughter's small house, soon enough noticing her phone on the coffee table.
Irresponsible little thing.
The living room is trashed in a way he recognizes but not from her precisely, and when he sees a bottle of spirits peeking (empty) between the cushions, he thinks he shouldn't have had his hopes that high.
Three knocks on her bedroom door and he's inside, shaking his head as he watches her sleep. He must remind himself he isn't entitled to disappointment.
It's been a rough week, but they're the police- they either cope or quit; and he's drunk himself to sleep too many times to dare feel aggravation. He settles for a sigh and a sad afterthought about parenting skills.
"Good morning, Linda, wake up," he says, tapping her shoulder with hesitance, "I hope your explanation for this is decent…"
She groans.
"Go away, dad. I was having a nice dream…"
9.15 am
WHEN she comes into the kitchen, she's fully dressed and he's helped himself to some coffee. He hurries the last of it and puts the cup in the sink.
Then he drives them down to the station.
9.27 am
YAWNING, she gets off the car. She's lucky she's a bit like her father, because even after he goes into the building before she does, she's not said a word at all.
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A/N:
This is an insane way to go for a Wallander story, and normally I wouldn't go the way of the weird-and-unexplainable.
I have, however, been watching Doctor Who.
The actual plot (or is it?) is around the corner.
Also, since the chapters are short for now, I thought I'd update another one.