hard to believe. In spite of everything, this was the only connection he had found between Alex and Anders.
But why would someone want to murder them because of abuse that had taken place more than twenty-five years ago? If that were the reason, why do nothing until now? What had set in motion something that had lain dormant for so many years and then resulted in two murders in the space of a couple of weeks? The most frustrating thing was that Patrik had no idea what direction to take now.
The afternoon had meant a big breakthrough in the investigation, but at the same time it had led into a blind alley. Patrik went over in his head what he had done and heard that day, and it struck him that he had one very concrete lead with him in the car. Something he had forgotten in the aftershocks of the visit with the Carlgrens and the tumult that followed Karl-Erik’s dramatic heart attack. Once again, Patrik felt the same enthusiasm he had experienced that morning. He realized that he had a unique opportunity to follow up this lead more closely. All he needed was a little luck.
He turned on his mobile phone, ignoring the three messages on his voicemail, and rang Information to get the number of Sahlgrenska Hospital. He got the switchboard and asked to be connected.
‘Sahlgrenska Hospital.’
‘Yes, hello, my name is Patrik Hedstrom. I wonder whether you have a Robert Ek working in the forensic medicine division.’
‘One moment, I’ll check.’
Patrik held his breath. Robert was an old classmate from the Police Academy who had gone on to study to be a forensic technician. They had hung out together during the course but then lost contact. Patrik thought he’d heard through the grapevine that Robert was now working at Sahlgrenska, and he crossed his fingers that this was true.
‘Let’s see. Yes, we do have a Robert Ek working there. Would you like me to connect you?’
Patrik silently cheered. ‘Yes, please.’
There were a couple of rings and then he heard Robert’s familiar voice.
‘Forensic medicine, Robert Ek.’
‘Hi, Robban, can you tell who this is?’
There was silence for a couple of seconds. Patrik never thought that Robert would recognize his voice, and was just about to help him out. But then he heard a howl from the phone.
‘Patrik Hedstrom, you old dog! What the hell, it’s sure been a long time! How come you’re calling? Not exactly an everyday event, I mean.’
Robert was teasing him, and Patrik felt a little ashamed. He knew he was terrible at keeping in touch with people. Robert had been a lot better at it but had given up after a while when Patrik never called back. He felt even more ashamed because now that he was finally calling, it was because he needed a favour. But he could hardly back out now.
‘No, I know, I’m so damned bad at staying in touch. But right now I’m actually sitting in the car park outside Sahlgrenska, and I remembered hearing somewhere that you were working here. I thought I’d check to see if you were in so I could pop in and say hello.’
‘Sure, damn it. Come on in, no problem.’
‘How do I find you? Where’s your office?’
‘We’re in the cellar. Go in through the front entrance, take the lift down, turn right and go all the way to the end of the hall. There’s a door at the end, and that’s where we are. Just ring the bell and I’ll let you in. It’ll be cool to see you again.’
‘Same here. So I’ll see you in a couple of minutes.’
Again Patrik felt ashamed that he was about to exploit an old friend. On the other hand, Robert owed him big- time. At the academy Robert had been his roommate. He was engaged to a girl named Susanne, but at the same time he was carrying on a hot affair with one of their female classmates, Marie, who was also engaged. This had gone on for almost two years, and Patrik couldn’t even count the number of times he’d saved Robert’s skin. He had provided numerous alibis, demonstrating his rich imagination when Susanne called and asked if he knew where Robert was.
After the fact he didn’t think it seemed very honourable behaviour, either for him or for Robert. But they were so young and immature back then. To be honest, Patrik had also thought it was rather cool-he had even been a bit envious of Robert, shagging two girls at once. Of course, eventually the bubble burst, and it ended with Robert having neither a flat nor a girlfriend. But being a born charmer, Robert hadn’t needed to sleep on Patrik’s sofa for too many weeks before he found a new girl and moved in with her.
At the same time Patrik had learned that Robert was working at Sahlgrenska, he also heard that he was now married with kids, which he had a very hard time imagining. Patrik intended to find out whether that was true or not.
He made his way down the seemingly endless hospital corridors. Even though it had sounded simple when Robert gave him directions, Patrik managed to get lost twice before he finally stood before the correct door. He rang the bell and waited. The door flew open.
‘Hey-y-y-y!’
They embraced heartily and then took a step back to see how time had fared for each of them. Patrik saw that the years had been kind to Robert; he hoped that Robert thought the same about him. For safety’s sake he sucked in his stomach and puffed out his chest a bit more.
‘Come in, come in.’
Robert led the way to his office, which was tiny with barely enough space for one person, let alone two. Patrik studied Robert more closely as he sat down on a chair facing him in front of his desk. His blond hair was just as well-combed as when they were younger, and under the white lab coat his clothes were just as well-ironed. Patrik had always thought that Robert’s need for neatness functioned as a counterbalance to the chaos he always tended to create in his personal life. His eyes were drawn to a photograph on a shelf behind the desk.
‘Is that your family?’ He was not entirely successful in concealing the astonishment in his voice.
Robert smiled proudly and took down the photo from the shelf.
‘Yep, this is my wife Carina and my two kids, Oscar and Maja.’
‘How old are they?’
‘Oscar is two and Maja is six months.’
‘That’s great. How long have you been married?’
‘Three years now. I’ll bet you never would have believed that anyone could make a father out of me.’
Patrik laughed. ‘No, I have to admit, you would have had to give me high odds on that one.’
‘Well, you know, when the devil gets old, he gets religious. What about you? You probably have a whole flock by now.’
‘No, it didn’t really turn out that way. I’m divorced, actually. No kids, which is probably lucky under the circumstances.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘It’s not that bad. I’ve got something going right now that seems very promising, so we’ll see.’
‘So, how come you’re popping up like a jack-in-the-box after all these years?’
Patrik squirmed a little. He was once again reminded of how embarrassed he felt at not being in touch for so long, and then coming here to ask a favour.
‘I’ve come down on police business and heard you were working here in forensics. I have a case I’d like some help with, and I simply don’t have time to run it through the usual channels. It would take weeks before I got an answer, and I just don’t have the time or the patience.’
Robert looked as if his curiosity had been aroused. He put his fingertips together and waited for Patrik to go on.
Patrik leaned down and took from his bag a piece of paper wrapped in plastic. He handed it to Robert, who held it under the bright desk lamp to see more closely what it was.
‘I took the paper from a pad at the home of a murder victim. I can see that there are impressions from something that was written on the sheet above it, but they’re too faint for me to make out more than fragments. You probably have the equipment here to enhance this sort of impressions, don’t you?’
‘Ye-e-es, we do indeed.’
Robert’s reply was a bit hesitant as he continued to study the piece of paper under his lamp. ‘But as you say,
