‘What’s this?’ Brains put the newspaper down but picked it up again. On his way to afternoon tea at Martha’s he had caught sight of the evening paper and had taken it in with him. Now he wished that he hadn’t seen it. With a creased brow, he skimmed through the article.
‘“Big security van robbery. No leads”,’ he read out loud. ‘Martha, my dear, I’d been thinking that we’d have a bit of peace and quiet, but—’
‘What’s the matter?’
‘The Yugoslavs –’
‘What is it? Tell me calmly and clearly.’ She got out her knitting. Judging by the look on Brains’s face, he had a lot to talk about. The cardigan was not quite finished; she always found it hard to fit the arms and the back piece together, but now was the perfect opportunity to settle down to her knitting.
Brains cleared his throat.
‘You know that bank robbery that Juro was planning? We talked a bit about it at Asptuna. Instead of shooting with machine guns, I suggested a security van robbery where they would anaesthetize the people in the van. And look at this!’ Brains pointed at the article. ‘They’ve done just like I said. They got hold of twenty million. Twenty million! It must be Juro!’
‘Well, I never. Juro?’ Martha put her knitting aside, got up and started to make some coffee. When the water had boiled, she poured it into the coffee pot, put out some cups and filled a little bowl with chocolate wafers. She served Brains. Then she sat down on the sofa again and if Brains hadn’t snatched away her knitting needles at the last second, she would certainly have sat on them. She put the yarn over her finger and started knitting again. ‘But Brains, what’s worrying you? You can’t be convicted for your good ideas, can you?’
‘No, it’s not that. Juro said he would hide the mailbags in Djursholm and then lie low a while until the heat was off. But the bags won’t be there for ever. If we’re going to strike, we must do so now.’
‘Hmm, so it’s time again?’ Martha mused, munching an entire wafer all at once.
‘For the ultimate crime, yes, and for that we need the money under the mattress. We must invest.’
When Martha had complained that the bed in her room was too hard, Brains had come up with the idea that she could hide Dolores’s money in there. He had loosened a plank, and between the springs and the base of the bed he had put duvet covers, diapers and pillowcases stuffed full of banknotes. Then he had nailed the plank back in place and, strangely enough, the bed had become more comfortable. But now they needed some cash. Brains clasped his hands together on his tummy.
‘To get the Yugoslavs’ money we need a car to transport the loot in.’
‘Why not a taxi? Nobody would suspect an ordinary taxi.’
‘Better still, I vote for a van. One of those with room for eight or nine people, where you can stand up inside—which would be good for Anna-Greta, who finds it hard to bend down. They have a wheelchair ramp too. We can walk straight in with the walkers and load up what we want.’
‘I’m beginning to get the picture. Twenty million, you said? That would be a lot of mailbags.’
‘On the Internet you can buy vans. A Toyota or a Ford Transit, for example. There’s plenty of room in them.’
‘So we’ve got to invest to be able to commit new crimes? I’m not sure about that; we aren’t businessmen. It was simpler with paintings,’ said Martha.
‘Perhaps, but this feels more substantial,’ Brains said.
‘We would avoid the cultural responsibility with this type of heist, of course.’ Martha put her cup aside and picked up her knitting again. ‘You know what? It’s high time we called in the others.’
Brains beamed.
‘That’s what is so nice about you. You always understand,’ he said.
After dinner, the League of Pensioners gathered together for a hastily summoned meeting in Martha’s room. When they had all got their cloudberry liqueur, Martha started speaking:
‘It’s about a robbery. The first question is whether we want to risk our place in Diamond House. If we do this, we’ll probably have to stay abroad for several years.’
‘That doesn’t sound very pleasant,’ said Anna-Greta and immediately thought about Gunnar.
‘Unless we can arrange false identities, of course. Nowadays you can buy a new name and a national identity number, did you know that?’ Christina said, having read a crime novel that was called Not You—the Stolen Identity.
‘Oh, can you indeed? Then I’m on board,’ said Anna-Greta, and Rake nodded in agreement.
‘The bank and others who are affected will be compensated,’ Martha went on.
‘The bank? Is that necessary?’ protested Rake. ‘I don’t want to give to those who steal from others.’
‘But unless everybody is satisfied, it wouldn’t be the perfect crime, would it?’ said Martha.
‘The ultimate crime,’ Anna-Greta corrected her. ‘So we are going to do a robbery that won’t hurt the bank. Have I understood this correctly?’
‘Not really. We aren’t the people who will do the robbery. It has already been done. We shall simply fetch the money,’ Brains clarified.
‘You always make it sound so easy,’ Anna-Greta said with a sigh.
‘Of course there’ll be risks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?’ put in Rake, fiddling with the new cravat around his neck. This time he had one in silk.
There followed a several-hour-long discussion about the future, and after two bottles of liqueur and when everybody had had their say, each and every one of them had acquired very rosy cheeks.
‘To think that finally we are going to steal again,’ said Christina. ‘Delightful. And I was so scared that the rest of my life would be boring. Now they should see me in Jönköping. Incidentally, do you think they’ll write a book about us in the future?’
‘Absolutely,’ Rake reassured her. ‘People love reading about real events.’
They all smiled and, despite it being so late in the evening, they had to sing a few songs. They were thoroughly enjoying themselves when suddenly the door was wrenched open.
There stood Nurse Barbara.
‘What on earth do you think you are doing! You’ll wake up the whole house. You ought to have turned off your lights long ago.’
The five of them stared at one another. Nurse Barbara?
‘But where is Katia?’ Martha stuttered.
‘She has been moved. Diamond House is now entirely my responsibility.’