Camilla Lackberg Crime Thrillers 4-6: The Stranger, The Hidden Child, The Drowning. Camilla Lackberg

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      Patrik went on, ‘Börje’s case was classified as an accident; they believed he had simply drunk himself to death. Elsa Forsell’s death, however, was investigated as a homicide by our colleagues in Nyköping, but they never found a perpetrator.’

      ‘Did they have any suspects?’ asked Hanna. She looked resolute and focused, but a bit pale. Patrik was worried that she might be getting sick. He couldn’t afford to lose any resources in this situation.

      ‘No, there were no suspects. She only associated with the members of her church, and no one seemed to bear any grudge against her. She was also killed in her own flat’ – he pointed to the photo taken at the crime scene – ‘and stuck inside a Bible next to her they found this.’ He moved his finger to point at the page from Hansel and Gretel.

      ‘What kind of sick devil is this person?’ said Gösta incredulously. ‘What does this fairy tale have to do with anything?’

      ‘I have no idea, but something tells me it’s the key to the whole investigation.’

      ‘We have to hope that the media doesn’t get wind of this,’ Gösta muttered. ‘Then it’ll turn into the “Hansel and Gretel killer”, considering how much they like to give murderers nicknames.’

      ‘Well, I hardly need to stress the importance of not leaking any of this to the press,’ said Patrik, carefully avoiding looking at Mellberg. Although he was the chief, he was something of a loose cannon. But even Mellberg seemed to have had his fill of press attention in recent weeks, because he nodded in agreement.

      ‘Did you get any feeling for what the tangential points between the murders might be?’ said Hanna.

      Patrik looked at Martin, who said, ‘No, unfortunately we’re back at square one. Börje was definitely no teetotaller, and Elsa seemed to have had a normal attitude towards alcohol, neither abstinence nor overconsumption.’

      ‘So we have no idea as to how the murders are related?’ Hanna said, looking concerned.

      Patrik sighed and turned round to let his eyes sweep over the material pinned up on the walls. ‘No,’ he said. ‘All we know is that it was most probably the same person who committed all the murders; otherwise there is not a single tangential point among them. There is nothing to indicate that Elsa and Börje were connected in any way to Marit or Rasmus, or to the places where they lived. But naturally we’ll have to go back and talk to Marit’s and Rasmus’s relatives again to see whether they recognize either Börje’s or Elsa’s name, or if they know whether Marit or Rasmus had ever lived in Lund or Nyköping. At the moment we’re groping in the dark, but there must be a connection. There has to be!’ said Patrik in frustration.

      ‘Could you mark the locations on the map?’ said Gösta, pointing at the map of Sweden that was mounted at the end of the room.

      ‘Of course, that’s a good idea,’ said Patrik, taking out some coloured pins from a box in his desk drawer. He carefully stuck the four pins into the map: one in Tanumshede, one in Borås, one in Lund and one in Nyköping.

      ‘The murderer is at least staying in the southern half of Sweden. That limits the search area somewhat,’ said Gösta sourly.

      ‘Yes, be grateful for small favours,’ said Mellberg with a chuckle, but retreated again when no one else seemed to find his remark funny.

      ‘So, we have a lot to do now,’ said Patrik seriously. ‘And we can’t lose focus on the Persson investigation either. Gösta, did you get anywhere with the list of dog owners?’

      ‘It’s ready. I was able to locate one hundred and sixty owners. There are most likely some that aren’t included on any official lists. But that’s as close as we could get.’

      ‘Keep going with those you have, correlate them with the list of addresses, and see if any can be connected to this region.’

      ‘Certainly,’ said Gösta.

      ‘I thought I’d see whether it’s possible to get any more information from the book pages,’ said Patrik. ‘Martin and Hanna, could you talk to Ola and Kerstin again and see if they recognize either Börje’s or Elsa’s name? And have a word with Eva, Rasmus Olsson’s mother. But do it by phone, because I need you here.’

      Gösta hesitantly raised his hand. ‘Shouldn’t I drive over and talk to Ola Kaspersen again? Hanna and I paid him a visit last Friday, and I got the feeling he wasn’t telling us everything.’

      Hanna looked at Gösta. ‘I didn’t notice that,’ she said, her tone implying that Gösta was imagining things.

      ‘But you must have noticed when …’ Gösta turned to Hanna to argue, but Patrik interrupted him.

      ‘Both of you go over to Fjällbacka and see Ola; Annika can take care of the list of dog owners. I’d like to see that list, so put it on my desk when it’s ready.’

      Annika nodded and made a note.

      ‘Martin, you check through the videotape from the night Barbie died. We may have missed something there, so go through the footage frame by frame.’

      ‘Will do,’ said Martin.

      ‘So, let’s get moving,’ said Patrik, putting his hands on his hips. They all got up and trooped out. Alone in the room, Patrik took down the four torn-out book pages from the wall and felt his brain go completely blank. How was he going to get any additional information out of these pages?

      An idea occurred to him. Patrik put on his jacket, carefully put the pages in a folder and hurried out of the station.

      Martin propped his feet up on the table with the remote in his hand. He was starting to feel sick and tired of the whole business. It had been too intense, too demanding, too much tension in the past weeks. Above all there had been too little rest and too little time with Pia and ‘the tiny soul’, which was the name of the work in progress.

      He pressed ‘play’ and let the tape begin to roll in slow motion. He had seen the video before and questioned the usefulness of looking at it again. How did they know that the murderer or any lead had been caught on tape? Apparently Lillemor had met her death after she ran off from the community centre. But Martin was used to doing as he was told and wasn’t prepared to argue with Patrik.

      He could feel himself getting sleepy from leaning back and watching the TV screen. The slow tempo added to his fatigue, and he had to force his eyelids to stay open. Nothing new appeared on the screen. First came the argument between Uffe and Lillemor. He switched to normal speed so he could hear the sound as Uffe accused Lillemor of talking shit about him, of telling the others he was stupid, dull, a Neanderthal. And Lillemor defended herself with tears, claiming she hadn’t said any such thing to anyone, that it was all a lie, that somebody was screwing with her. Uffe seemed not to believe her, and the altercation became more physical. Then Martin saw himself and Hanna enter the picture and break up the fight. The camera occasionally zoomed in on their faces, and he could see that they looked just as determined as they had felt at the time.

      Then came almost forty-five minutes of tape time when nothing happened. Martin tried to pay attention as best he could, tried to spot things he had missed, maybe something that was said, something about other people. But there was nothing new. And sleep constantly СКАЧАТЬ