Wallander’s slap of Eva Persson is a disputed act whose aftermath reaches beyond the immediate encounter. Wallander insists that he struck Eva to protect her mother and has told the same account from the beginning; Eva and her mother give a different version. Their disagreement becomes a formal complaint and an internal investigation, while uncertainty about whom to trust unsettles Wallander’s relationships with his colleagues and threatens his position at the police station. The available account establishes his claim and its consequences, but does not independently settle what happened during the slap itself.

The incident and competing accounts

The slap is first recalled at the end of a night spent investigating Jonas Landahl’s death aboard the ferry. Martinsson remarks on the danger of losing control and lashing out at people. Wallander immediately understands the comment as referring to Eva Persson. He says that he slapped her to protect her mother, treating that explanation as decisive. Martinsson acknowledges that account but remains uneasy, a reservation Wallander reads as disbelief.

The exchange reveals how the incident has become a test of trust as well as a question of conduct. After Martinsson leaves, Wallander sits in his car without starting the engine and concludes that perhaps none of his closest colleagues believes him. The thought shocks him. For the second time in a week, he feels hurt and bitter, and briefly resolves to resign rather than continue the investigation. By morning he has decided not to resign or confront Martinsson immediately, but the hurt persists beneath his return to work.

The complaint and the investigation

Lisa Holgersson later tells Wallander that an investigation into allegations made by Eva and her mother is under way. A respected officer from Hässleholm is in charge. Eva’s lawyer, Klas Harrysson, has also reported Wallander and Holgersson to the Justice Department ombudsman. Holgersson explains that she is included because she is responsible for the conduct of her officers; Wallander asks whether she struck Eva too, but the complaint against her concerns that responsibility, not an allegation that she slapped Eva.

Wallander says his account has not changed and that he does not flinch when questioned about details. He argues that the women have a reason to lie and demands that Holgersson believe him. She counters that he, too, would have a reason to lie if he had hit Eva without provocation. Their disagreement is not resolved by the conversation: Wallander takes her doubt as a gross insult, while Holgersson points to the incompatible accounts and the need to act on the seriousness of the allegations.

Suspension threatened, then deferred

Holgersson tells Wallander that the situation is serious enough for her to consider suspending him while the investigation proceeds. He objects not only to the proposed action but to what he sees as its timing and meaning. He recalls that colleagues Svedberg and Hansson were suspended in earlier cases and believes suspension would amount to taking sides before the inquiry had begun. He also argues that the step is not required by regulations and suspects that someone higher up wants an example made of him because of a newspaper photograph.

Wallander threatens to resign immediately if suspended and says he will not return after the investigation proves, as he expects, that Eva and her mother lied. Holgersson calls this a threat and asks him to cooperate. He presses for a decision rather than waiting for the end of their meeting. In the end, she says he is not suspended, at least for now. The immediate danger is postponed, not settled: Wallander leaves furious and drenched in sweat, wanting to resign and clear out his office.

Colleagues, pressure, and continuing consequences

Ann-Britt Höglund later tells Wallander that Martinsson has privately complained to Holgersson about his leadership and priorities. According to Höglund, Martinsson considers the slap no coincidence and had advocated suspending Wallander. This is Höglund’s account of Martinsson’s position, not an independently confirmed finding. It sharpens Wallander’s sense of betrayal because Martinsson is both a close investigative colleague and someone whose support he had taken for granted. Höglund urges him not to confront Martinsson rashly, warning that an angry confrontation could reinforce claims that he is unbalanced.

The complaint also shadows Wallander’s dealings with prosecutor Viktorsson. When Viktorsson raises the assault charge and the report to the ombudsman, Wallander again says the newspaper picture tells a lie and that he was protecting Eva’s mother. Viktorsson gives no assurance that he believes him. The exchange reinforces the question that has been haunting Wallander since the ferry: whether anyone accepts his account.

Significance and unresolved status

The slap’s consequences are shown through repeated acts of reporting, doubt, and institutional response rather than through a settled account of the original encounter. Wallander’s certainty about his motive does not secure the confidence of Martinsson, Holgersson, or Viktorsson. At the same time, the investigation has not yet produced a verdict: Holgersson defers suspension, and Wallander continues working. The incident therefore remains both a contested allegation and a pressure point in his professional life, forcing him to navigate a criminal investigation while his own conduct is under scrutiny.