Page 67 of Sixty Meters Under

“No one saw anything after all?” Anna added as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Three men entered the restroom, but they all claimed that they didn’t see anything suspicious. They saw Scarlett and Ryosuke together, but nothing unusual about it.” Lennart cut his food and proceeded, “We were searching for clues in Dover’s room and in the men’s restroom, and we still have to compare fingerprints we found in both places. We also found the object that Scarlett was hit with.”

“Really?” Anna looked up from her coffee, optimistic. “What was it?”

“Liquid soap dispenser.”

Anna’s eyes widened. She remembered that they had robust metal dispensers in all public restrooms. It seemed like a good idea to have them. They held a lot of soap, were stable and of good quality, but in a situation like this… Anna shook her head and added, “Doesn’t that mean you have it almost solved?”

Lennart shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll see.”

Anna frowned.

“Scarlett had drunk quite a lot that night, and we can’t rule out that it was an accident,” Lennart explained.

“But you found the object she was apparently hit with, no?

Lennart nodded. “Yes. But what if she was hit in self-defense?”

“What?” Anna looked at him in disbelief. “She was in the men’s restroom. It would make more sense if she was the one who has to defend herself. Not that it had to be this way, and no other way around, but still…”

“I know, but we cannot exclude the reverse scenario.”

Anna released a heavy sigh, realizing this new possibility. “You’re probably right.”

They both fell silent and continued to eat their food. After a brief pause Lennart spoke up again, “Are the gifts for the kids ready for tomorrow?”

“Oh, yes.” Anna looked up at him with a small smile. “Already wrapped, and during the night, they will be placed under the Christmas tree.”

“At least the children will have some joy in these dark times.”

“Indeed.” Anna nodded and added, “We’re going to have a few specialties for dinner and some cookies too.”

“By the way, what’s on the menu? I forgot to check.”

“We’ll have julbord, but residents who expressed a desire for alternative food will have their own portions.”

“I totally forgot!” Lennart laughed and grabbed his mug with herbal tea. “Now I remember when you mentioned that we would probably have a julbord if the majority agrees.”

“Well, since most of us are locals, there was no doubt what people would choose.”

Lennart smiled, and wondered,Is Ryosuke among them?Since he knew Ryosuke was Japanese, the young man was the first one that came to his mind. He sipped his tea, but the smile remained on his lips. His mother’s voice became only a noise inthe background, that is until she touched his hand and brought him back to reality.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked, smiling as well. “You stopped listening to me all of a sudden.”

Lennart stilled and shifted in his chair. “Nothing concrete.” He looked at her and laughed. “My mind went back to the case I guess, sorry. What were you saying?”

“I started talking about desserts.”

“Okay. I am listening now. I swear!”

?

Ryosuke finished reading the chapter and closed the book with a soft thud. His long fingers grazed the hard cover for the last time as he put it away in the drawer. In two days, he would find out what happens next; this book would stay in the library, since it helped him pass the time during his work hours.

He raised his hand to check his wristwatch. There were still five minutes left until closing, just enough time to check the rows. Ryosuke was almost sure that no one had entered the library in the last half hour, but he knew it was still necessary to check. He got up from his chair and went to make a circle around the bookshelves. He had to fix some books, but he was keeping the place in order so it wasn’t necessary to do everything at the very end. As he bent down to place some books back on the bottom shelf, he heard footsteps approaching.

Ryosuke sighed and spoke even before he turned to see who was approaching: “We’re already closing, so please–” he looked up and froze. He saw too late that this wasn’t just some random resident barging into the library at an inappropriate hour. Lennart was only a few steps away from him, and Ryosuke had to hold onto the shelves to keep himself from losing his balance.