1990. He said he'd only just heard of Owen Carlsson's death. He claims that Lars and Helen Carlsson were murdered and that Owen's death must have something to do with it.'
Horton threw a quick glance at Uckfield.
'Doesn't mean to say you were right,' Uckfield sniffed. 'This Bohman could be nuts.'
'He didn't sound it,' Marsden said defensively.
Barely containing his excitement, Horton said, 'What makes him believe they were murdered?'
'Because Lars knew something was going to happen.'
'Not bloody psychic, is he?' Uckfield scoffed.
Horton stiffened as Cantelli shot him a glance.
'Don't think so, sir,' Marsden replied. 'But Helen Carlsson might have been. Bohman says the British police never believed him when he told them Lars and Helen's death was no accident. Lars called Bohman two days before he was killed to say that Helen had had a premonition of danger.'
Uckfield rolled his eyes. Horton kept schtum. But Marsden's words made him recall the book by
Thea's bed on the lost ghosts of the Isle of Wight that Helen had inscribed. Danesbrook and other events had pushed it from his mind. And he also remembered what Jonathan Anmore had said about Scanaford House being haunted and cursed. Here was a link between the three cases, five if you counted Helen and Lars Carlssons' deaths — which was now looking more like murder — but Uckfield would have him sectioned if he told him this case was about ghosts. And Horton knew that no ghost had killed these people — that demanded a more earthly presence.
What did Helen say was going to happen?' he asked Marsden. 'Bohman said that it might have been a presentiment about the accident or perhaps the break-in, but-'
'Hold on. What break-in?' Horton asked, suddenly very alert.
Marsden looked confused then crestfallen as he realized he'd overlooked a critical piece of new information. 'Apparently the day after Lars called Bohman to tell him about Helen's premonition, there was a break-in at the house they were renting in Yarmouth. Lars called Bohman again to tell him.'
Horton turned to Uckfield. 'The break-in's not on the file.' But then why should it be? The file contained a road traffic incident, nothing more. And what was one burglary amongst many others, and so long ago? Nevertheless, Horton was getting an uncomfortable feeling about this.
Trueman said, 'I'll track down the crime report.'
Horton wanted to talk to Bohman himself. Scraping back his chair, he said, 'I'll call him.'
Marsden looked disappointed but said nothing as they returned to the station.
In the temporary incident suite, Horton called Bohman, introduced himself and apologized for the lateness of the call. He started by asking if there were any living relatives of the Carlssons, wondering if Thea might have been in touch with one of them, or even managed to get out of the country and was with them now. But Bohman disappointed him.
'No. Helga, Lars's sister, is now dead. And, as far as I'm aware, Helen never had any relatives. At least none came to her funeral in Sweden.'
'Have you heard from Owen or Thea recently?' Horton asked casually though his body was tense with anticipation.
'Owen visited me the Christmas before last and told me about a project he was hoping to work on that would take him to the Isle of Wight-'
Horton interjected, 'Did Owen mention his parents' death there? Or did he seem worried or curious about it?'
'No. Owen was much like his father. He said it was the past, best to forget it. Owen was always focussed on the present.'
'And Thea?'
Bohman remained silent for a moment. Was he gathering his thoughts, wondered Horton, or was he steeling himself to say something Horton didn't think he was going to like?
'Thea is more like her mother, though much more sensitive than Helen was,' Bohman finally answered. 'That could be because she had no mother to bring her up, only Helga. Helga did her best but she was not very patient with children, having none herself. When Helen died, Thea needed love and understanding. Helga left her at boarding school. It was wrong.'
Bohman's words brought Emma to mind, about to be abandoned in that damn boarding school. Horton guessed that with Helga it was out of sight, out of mind. He reckoned Catherine was thinking along the same lines. And Horton couldn't help feeling Thea's pain when he related it to his own abandonment.
Bohman said, 'I didn't know anything was wrong until Helga called me to say Thea was in hospital.'
Horton started. Had Thea tried to kill herself? Did that mean she'd tried again and recently? Would they find her body swinging from a tree in the woods? God, he hoped not.
'Anorexia,' Bohman said, 'brought on by the psychological pain of losing her parents and being left alone to cope with it. Helga wasn't the guilty type but she should have been. I blamed myself too. I should have done more to help Thea.'
So not a quick suicide but something that could nevertheless be fatal and a slow way of killing oneself. And how had Owen felt about his sister's illness, Horton wondered with a stab of anger. What had he done to help her?
He said, 'Did she get on with her brother?'
'Oh yes. They were very close.'
But not close enough for Owen to see how his sister was suffering. But then Horton told himself that Thea had been at school in Sweden and Owen at university in England. They couldn't have seen a lot of each other, and he knew that anorexia sufferers were very accomplished at hiding their illness.
He said, 'Why do you think Lars and Helen were killed?'
'I've thought about that over the years. All I can say is that it must have something to do with Helen's work.'
'Not Lars's?' Horton asked, surprised.
'Lars was an architect, like me. Who would want to kill him?'
Horton thought he might have wanted to kill the sod of an architect who had designed the impersonal, bleak, urine-smelling, vandal-inhabited council tower block where he had once lived. Not that he remembered it like that when a boy. It had just been home. He was thinking more about the times he'd been called there as a police officer, and to other soullessly designed buildings that stripped the heart out of the community.
'Why do you think their deaths were because of Helen's work as a photographer?' Horton recalled what Trueman had said about Helen photographing the troubled spots of the world and the obituary he'd read on them.
'Because her camera was smashed. The next day she and Lars were dead.'
Horton knew this was significant by the edgy sensation crawling up his spine. He scrambled to connect this with the present murders. What had Helen photographed and where? Perhaps someone thought, or knew, that Owen Carlsson had these photographs and was threatening to show them, or tell someone about them. But why kill him now after all these years? Had Owen's keenness to get this environmental project on the Isle of Wight given him the chance to investigate his parents' death, despite what he'd led Peter Bohman to believe? Had he wittingly, or unwittingly, opened up the past, which had led to his and Anmore's deaths? Had Arina been silenced as a warning to Owen to stop his investigations?
'Go on,' he said eagerly.
'There isn't anything more to tell, Inspector. The police said that Lars lost concentration and skidded off the road. But now with Owen's death on the same island, there must be a reason.'
Oh, there was, and that wasn't the only death. Horton didn't know how Bohman was going to react to the news of Arina Sutton being killed in the same place as the Carlssons but he was about to find out.
Once he'd told the story, there was a silence that lasted for so long Horton was beginning to think they'd been cut off. Then Bohman said with a hard edge to his voice, 'That proves it. They were murdered. Now perhaps the police will find their killer.'
And that killer, thought Horton, couldn't be Danesbrook. He began to thank Bohman for his call when Bohman interrupted him. 'There's something else. Thea telephoned me.'
