Part 10 (1/2)

'Evening,' he said, and gave a start when he saw Joel. 'How are you?'

'Not too bad,' said Joel, running a hand over his face. 'Did you bring some of your...kit?'

'Sure. Left it downstairs. I see what you mean.'

'The building's listing?'

'Yes. I mean, there's nothing to worry about. But it does seem quite p.r.o.nounced. Shall we have a look at it straightaway?'

They went down in the lift and Joel felt as if he was moving through a sloping shaft. La.s.se took up virtually no room. He wasn't a rough builder with hairy armpits, but the small sinewy type. He said, 'As I mentioned before, it's nothing unusual, but I thought you said it was listing towards the east. It just seemed to me to be more... well, bowed.'

'It was listing yesterday.'

La.s.se looked at him and grinned. 'Maybe tomorrow it will have turned around.'

Joel didn't crack a smile. 'Yesterday it was listing, and today it's bowed.'

'Yes, yes,' said La.s.se in a tone of voice that suggested Joel's judgment might not be entirely reliable.

They went outside and La.s.se mounted a theodolite on a stand; it was calibrated by turning small wheels.

'We've got digital versions nowadays, but I prefer these.' He patted the theodolite and looked through the lens. Joel kept his eyes fixed on the facade of the apartment block. Windows in darkness, windows with the lights on. They were trying to tell him something, but he couldn't grasp it. Anita's apartment was still in darkness.

La.s.se puffed and turned the wheels. He took a step away from the theodolite, stood beside Joel and looked at the apartment block.

'Well,' he said. 'That's quite something. It's like a bow. Incredible. As I said before: the building isn't about to fall down, it's a long way from that, but I think you should be prepared to move out quite soon. This will have to be sorted out, and I wouldn't be surprised if they have to knock the whole lot down. I've never seen anything like it.'

Windows in darkness, windows with the lights on. What does it mean?

Joel turned his attention back to La.s.se and asked, 'How could this have happened?'

La.s.se scratched his head.

'To be honest, I don't know. The thing is, it's just as if something is...pulling at the building from below. But that level of strength, that torsion...no, I don't know. Maybe they cut some corners when they were building the middle section.'

'It was listing yesterday.'

'Well, in that case I have no idea what's going on. That means the power has s.h.i.+fted, you see. Yesterday it was on the left-hand side, today it's on the right. But that pressure...no. If you could imagine an invisible s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p the same size as the building, sitting up on the roof altering its position, then yes. By the way, they didn't have the film I was talking about, so I got Armageddon instead-is that OK?'

'Yes, sure.'

'Shall we go back inside?'

'You go. I'll be there in a minute.'

La.s.se folded up the stand and took it inside with him. Joel stayed where he was, gazing up at the windows and squinting as if he were trying to make out blurred handwriting. Suddenly he saw it. Just as if two pictures had been placed on top of one another, he saw it: the pattern of dark and illuminated windows was exactly the same as the previous evening.

Did that necessarily mean anything? People have their routines, after all. His own lights had been on at this time yesterday, and they were on now. Besides, there was one difference: the bathroom light was on in the apartment below his. It hadn't been on yesterday.

He suddenly felt very frightened. He hurried back inside and unlocked Anita's door without hesitation. He switched on the hall light and saw junk mail and bills strewn across the floor. He pulled a face as he recognised the rent demand from the company that owned the building.

They shouldn't be asking for money. They should be paying.

He placed the post on the hall stand and stood hesitating for a moment; he was waiting for something, but he didn't know what it was. Of course-Anita's cat, Trisse. He was waiting for Trisse to come rubbing round his legs as usual. He peered into the cat basket in the hall where Trisse usually lay relaxing. It was empty.

'h.e.l.lo? Anita?'

There's nothing intrinsically unpleasant about an empty apartment. But shouting for someone you know ought to be there is unpleasant. Because that means the person is lying dead somewhere, and you don't know where. That's just the way it is. Joel clenched his fists and steeled himself. The outdoor clothes and shoes Anita usually wore were in the hallway. Her keys were hanging on the hook just inside the door. She was here.

Anita, Anita...

His eyes were p.r.i.c.king and his heart contracted. He didn't want Anita to be dead. In fact, if he thought about it, he would rather be dead himself. He put his hands to his mouth, staring at the cat basket, and tears blurred his vision. He hadn't realised how important she was to him. Now he knew. He would rather be dead himself, if he had the choice. That's how important she was.

But Trisse wasn't here. If Anita was lying dead, a hungry Trisse should have come running to meet him. It was only two days since Joel was last here-the cat couldn't have starved to death in that time.

But the coat, the shoes, the keys...

He took a tentative step forward. In an attempt to suppress the fear threatening to take over his body, he started to sing quietly: 'The water is wide...'

The living room. He switched on the light. On the coffee table there was a pile of magazines that Anita got from a colleague at the hospital, because she enjoyed doing the crosswords. One lay open next to a half-full ashtray. It was the same crossword that had been lying there two days ago. She had asked him a question: 'Mooring, seven letters, starts with C and ends with N', and he had answered, 'Capstan'. No new words had been filled in since he last saw the crossword.

'I cannot get over...'

His legs didn't want to move. He forced them to walk to the kitchen, poised to close his eyes if it was horrible. The dirty dishes were in the sink, just as before. There was one additional item. A half-full coffee cup on the kitchen table. The coffee machine was switched on. The jug crackled as he picked it up and looked at the hot, burnt crust in the bottom.

'And neither have I wings to fly...'

He knew her morning routine. She put the coffee on as soon as she got up. Then she read the paper until the coffee was ready. The paper lay open on the table. When she had drunk half a cup of coffee and smoked her first cigarette of the day, she needed a pee and went to the bathroom.

'Build me a boat that will carry two...'

He actually started to feel ill as he left the kitchen and headed for the bathroom, raising his voice.

'And both shall row...'

Whatever had taken place, it had happened in the morning after he left her at about seven-thirty, and before she went to work at nine. The bathroom door was closed but not locked. His heart was pounding in his head and he felt as he if was about to faint as he placed his hand on the door handle and sang as loud as he could, 'MY LOVE AND I...'

He yanked open the door. The bathroom was empty. In the light from the living room he could see something glinting on the floor. The pressure in his head eased, he started breathing again and sang quietly, 'There is a s.h.i.+p that sails the sea...'

He switched on the bathroom light. Whatever it was must have happened in the morning, because all the lights were off. In the mornings the daylight was enough in the apartment. He went over to the object on the floor and picked it up. Anita's gla.s.ses. She never went anywhere without her reading gla.s.ses. When she wasn't using them she pushed them up on top of her head, her hair holding them in place. He looked around the bathroom.

'It's loaded deep-'

His jaws stiffened, stuck fast. The lid of the toilet was open. The inside of the bowl was streaked with red, as if someone had been p.i.s.sing blood. Down at the bottom was a dark red, gooey mess moving slowly up and down, up and down. Like breathing. Rising and falling, rising and falling.

He backed out of the bathroom, still clutching Anita's gla.s.ses in his hand. When he reached the living room they snapped in half. He raised his hand, gazed at the two monocles and hurled them away.