I took a quick shower before going to bed. The evening's adventures had left me feeling somewhat grimy, and I wanted to make sure I'd washed off all of Åsa's blood.
So far, I had no idea what was going on with this case, and I could tell Jan didn't know either.
When I opened the bathroom door, the lights in the bedroom were out. As I felt my way across the room to the chair where I'd left my pajamas, she said, "I'm asleep already. But you can wake me up if you want to."
"I may do that," I said. "If I do, will you explain this case to me?"
She sighed and turned on the bedside lamp. "No," she said. "Not yet." Her hair was freshly brushed around her thin face. She always looked younger without her large, horn-rimmed glasses.
I got into bed and lay back, stretching. "Do you know what I'm wondering about?" I asked.
She laughed. "Oh, wait," she said, squirming around. "Hang on." She fumbled on the bedside table until she found her pad and pencil. She scribbled for a second, then she said, "Okay. Go ahead." I held out my hand, and she folded the piece of paper and gave it to me.
This was a game that we played from time to time. It was her belief that she knew me well enough to predict what was on my mind in most situations. I believed that she couldn't do any such thing, and in matters like this it was not inconceivable that one of us might cheat a bit. So, she wrote down her prediction and gave it to me, folded up, before I told her what was on my mind.
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