No, Malin thinks, but I had a stiff tequila when I got home.
‘You’re looking a bit tired.’
Zeke crowing, grinning, friendly, almost paternal.
They start their morning meeting before nine.
They don’t bother with the meeting room again, one of the round tables in the staffroom will do, there are hardly any uniforms or civilian staff to disturb them today.
Sven looks more tired than usual, and Malin wonders where his new tiredness comes from, thinking that it must be the heat. She notices the fine sawdust on his hairy lower arms. The dust clings to his skin in little lumps and Malin thinks, Sven, you must have been up early this morning, working away in your basement, and maybe that’s just as well, what with these forest fires and sluggish investigations.
As if he could hear her thoughts, Zeke says: ‘That’s one hell of a blaze in the forests. It’s just getting worse and worse.’
‘Eighty firemen,’ Sven says.
‘And the fire’s heading for Lake Hultsjon,’ Malin adds, and silence falls in the staffroom as the three of them sip coffee from their caffeine-stained porcelain mugs.
‘OK, let’s get going,’ Sven says. ‘We’ve got a recently released rapist in the area whom we ought to check out. A Fredrik Jonasson living in Mjolby, thirty-two years old. Evidently he lives with his mother. Attacked a woman outside her flat. Attempted rape and violent assault.’
‘Mjolby can deal with that,’ Zeke says. ‘Are we going to check other sex offenders as well, or just the ones that have been released recently?’
‘We’ll start with this,’ Sven says. ‘We haven’t got the resources to do more right now, but I’ll make sure we have a list.’
‘What else?’ Malin says. ‘How are we going to deal with Behzad Karami and Ali Shakbari? We need to check Behzad’s alibi. Can we get some uniforms to talk to the people who are supposed to have been at the party? Have we got enough people for that? Or are we going to have to pull in someone from their holiday?’
‘Slow down, Fors,’ Sven says. ‘We’ve got no evidence at all against Shakbari and Karami.’
Karim must have spoken to him, but Sven would never hold back a line of inquiry just because Karim put pressure on him. Or the press.
‘Have we got enough people?’ Malin asks again. ‘Can we bring in anyone from Motala? Mjolby?’
The holidays were sacred, otherwise none of them would ever get any time off.
‘We can spare a couple of uniforms,’ Sven says. ‘They can check his alibi.’
‘Which ones?’
‘Jonfeldt and Bulow.’
Good blokes, Malin thinks. Young, single, but not gym-bunnies, not the riot-squad type. More like future detectives.
‘Do you really think they’re involved in this?’
Zeke sounds dubious.
‘Who knows?’ Malin says.
Thinks: I’ve heard their voices in this case, remembering Sven’s words:
‘No news about Theresa either,’ Malin says. ‘Assuming nothing new came in last night? Unless Peter Skold or Nathalie Falck has volunteered any new information?’
‘Complete silence. On all fronts,’ Sven says. ‘She could have been missing a week now.’
Then Sven changes tack.
‘What about the lesbian angle?’
Zeke no longer hesitant. Malin dubious now, though.
‘Just because we suspect that a dildo might have been used doesn’t mean that we have to track the movements of every lesbian in the city, does it? Because there’s some hint of a lesbian relationship on Facebook?’
‘No one’s suggesting that,’ Zeke says. ‘But it’s a line of inquiry that’s worth following up.’
‘In that case I’d like to talk to Nathalie Falck again,’ Malin says. ‘Alone.’
Zeke nods.
‘Makes sense,’ he says. ‘She didn’t seem to like blokes like me much.’
Sven mutters ‘yes’ before adjusting the belt of his linen trousers and saying: ‘Nothing new from Andersson in Forensics. Presumably he hasn’t found anything else, and he can’t have heard back from Facebook or Yahoo yet.’
Then Sven takes a deep breath before going on.
‘I checked where local lesbians hang out these days. There’s evidently some sort of club in Norrkoping, Deja Vu Delight. According to my sources, they haven’t got a club in Linkoping.’
‘I suppose the market’s too small,’ Zeke says. ‘All the dykes probably run off to Stockholm as soon as they get the chance.’
‘Or even further than that,’ Malin adds.
‘What about the National Federation for Gay and Lesbian Rights? Is it worth contacting them?’ Zeke says.
‘They don’t have an office in the area,’ Sven says. ‘You’ll have to check out that club, Malin. Take a look, see what you can find out.’
‘You mean, go and ask if there’s anyone who uses dildos and has ever exhibited any violent tendencies?’
Sven doesn’t answer.
‘Surely this is taking it too far, considering what we’ve actually got?’ Malin says. ‘Can’t we leave them alone in their own club? I might have a contact I can chase up.’
Sven stays silent.
‘You’re right, Malin. Check your contact,’ he says eventually, then clears his throat and says: ‘So what other theories have we got? Ah yes, whether or not anyone has lost his penis? That sort of thing is confidential, and a bit of a long shot.’
He says this without sentimentality, Malin thinks. As if it were just a nuisance to anyone who’s had this happen to them.
‘I’ll check a few of my contacts anyway,’ Malin says, and she can see a frown develop on Sven’s forehead.
‘Don’t try taking any illegal shortcuts now, Malin.’
She doesn’t answer.
Thinks: would we ever get anywhere if we didn’t take the occasional dodgy shortcut?
And Theresa? Where are you?
