Andreas shook his head again.
“You were in Copenhagen, and we have checked your alibi. Do you know where Niklas was that night?”
“Niklas? I assume he was home sleeping. He’s the head of his department, and he has to get up early every morning.”
Irene decided to finish up. Andreas looked as if he couldn’t slump any further into his chair.
They made their good-byes, and Irene reassured him that she would contact him the minute anything turned up. Andreas Svard slipped his elegant coat back on and stepped into the hallway. Quietly, Irene shut the door behind him.
SHE SAT FOR a long time staring at the worn veneer of her office door. Her tired thoughts revolved around all the information she’d received, but nothing useful turned up. She suddenly had the urge to go home, although she knew there’d be no decent meal on the table and no one would be home to greet her. Krister worked until midnight every Thursday, and the twins were up in Varmland province enjoying their winter vacation. It would be just Sammie tonight.
Sammie! She’d forgotten no one was around to pick him up from doggie day care. She leaped from her chair and snatched the phone.
The voice of her doggie day care’s mama was tired, but once Irene promised to pay double overtime, she agreed to keep Sammie until seven that evening. Not one minute longer, though, since she and a neighbor were going to bingo. Irene promised to be there on time.
Just as she placed the receiver back in the cradle, a hard knock sounded on her door and Niklas Alexandersson’s tanned face appeared in the doorframe.
“Hi, I’m here early.”
His smile was blinding white. He surveyed her with his amber eyes.
“Come on in and sit down.” Irene gestured at the visitor’s chair.
Niklas slid smoothly into it. He was wearing a honey-colored heavy cotton shirt and nougat-brown chinos. His body seemed bathed in golden light, as if the entire man were gilded. No one could expect mourning for Marianne from Niklas. He watched Irene quietly and waited for her first question.
“Yesterday when I talked to you at the hospital, I gathered you found Marianne somewhat irritating.”
Niklas replied by rolling his eyes heavenward.
Irene said sharply, “Did I misunderstand you?”
Niklas stopped his theatrics and said shortly, “Yes.”
“Well?”
“You’re wrong. I did not find her somewhat irritating. I found her totally irritating.”
“How so?”
“Everything about her was an irritation. She hovered over Andreas and even his relatives in Kungalv. ‘Patient, understanding little Marianne.’ ”
“What do you mean when you say ‘hovered over’?”
“She didn’t accept that their marriage was finished. She got both her parents and Andreas’s parents on her side. They’ve never accepted our relationship. She wanted him back.”
“What about Andreas himself?”
Niklas drew out his answer. “He wanted to live with me. I knew that our relationship was something special,” he said triumphantly.
Just how Andreas had described his relationship with Marianne not more than one hour before. Irene decided this was nothing to share with Niklas.
“You did not know that Andreas and Marianne were meeting as often as they did.”
His face clouded over immediately. “No.”
“What did you think about it once you knew?”
“I found out about it only yesterday. And now it doesn’t matter.” He smiled an evil smile.
For a second he reminded Irene of Belker. This was how the cat must have looked just before he’d dug his claws into the soft skin of her face. Niklas’s smile disappeared quickly. He leaned over her desk and stared her in the eye.
“I know what you think. You believe that I killed Marianne so Andreas would never go back to her. But I can assure you that I did not kill her. Of course, I’m not a hypocrite. I’m not grieving her death. But how she died … no. There was no reason for me to kill her.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Andreas will never leave me.”
“Where were you at midnight between the tenth and eleventh?”
Niklas grinned again as he answered. “Believe it or not, I do have an alibi. I was at a pub with three friends all night long. And I’m going to hand you their names and addresses right now.” He pulled out a folded piece of paper, obviously ripped from a notebook, and set it in front of Irene.
She did not glance down but kept her gaze steady on Niklas. “Let’s hear your entire alibi.”
Niklas leaned back and looked at her through half-shut eyes. Finally he said, “I do hope that Andreas will not learn of this. He doesn’t know anything about it.”
“What doesn’t he know?”
“That I met these old pals. We’ve been friends for a long time, and they’re not people he knows.”
“What time did you meet them and at which pub? Remember, we will be checking up.”
“Of course. I have a set time at the gym every night. I went straight to the gym after work on Monday. That’s the address furthest down on the list. Then I went in the sauna and spent some time in the tanning bed. Probably left around seven-thirty. Then I went straight to Johan’s place. His address is there, too. We waited for the other two, had a good dinner together, and then we went out.”
“When did you leave Johan’s apartment?”
“Around eleven P.M. We went to the Gomorrah Club and were there for the rest of the evening.”
“When did you return home?”
“Three A.M. Alone. I had to get up early to go to work the next morning. That morning was hard, but I made it. I hardly go clubbing anymore. People get older and more stable.” He smiled derisively.
“So you were with your pals the whole time.”
“The whole time.”
His self-assurance gleamed over his head like a halo. Of course all this had to be checked out carefully, but Irene felt he was telling the truth.
“And you would prefer that Andreas did not find out.”
“Preferably not.”
There was only a touch of worry in his voice.
“MORNING. BEFORE WE get started, let’s welcome an old friend,” Superintendent Andersson said as he started the “morning prayer.” “Hannu Rauhala from General Investigations has worked with us before.”
Inspector Hannu Rauhala nodded and raised his hand in greeting. Most of the people working in the Criminal Investigation Division knew him, since he’d worked with them on a dicey case a few years earlier.
The superintendent continued. “As many of you have noticed, Jonny isn’t here this morning. His entire family has the stomach flu. I went over to General earlier this morning and talked their superintendent into letting us borrow Hannu for a while as a substitute. Since Jonny isn’t here, could you fill us in, Birgitta, on Linda’s former partner, Pontus?”
Hans Borg took a deep breath, which made Irene look at him. She was surprised at his expression. His eyes were wide and frightened. The strangest thing of all was that Borg was staring at Birgitta Moberg. Birgitta noticed it
