It was obvious that he was now poking at a festering wound, but he had to keep going and probe even deeper.
‘I spoke with Alex’s parents, who made certain claims about Nils Lorentz. Claims that also affected Anders.’
‘I see.’ She was obviously not going to make it easy for him.
‘According to them, Nils Lorentz sexually assaulted Alex, and they claimed that Anders was also abused.’
Vera sat ramrod stiff on the edge of the kitchen chair, and she didn’t reply to Patrik’s statement, which he had intended as a question. He decided to wait her out, and after a moment of internal struggle she slowly closed the photo album and got up from her chair.
‘I don’t want to talk about ancient history. I want you to go now. If you want to charge me for what I did when I found Anders, then you know where to find me. But I don’t intend to help you root about in things that would best be left buried.’
‘Just one question: did you ever talk to Alexandra about this? From what I understood she had decided to deal with what happened, and it would have been natural for her to speak with you as well.’
‘Yes, she did. I sat there in her house about a week before she died, listening to her naive ideas about coming to terms with the past, taking all the old skeletons out of the closet, and so on and so forth. Modern drivel in my opinion. Today, everyone seems obsessed with washing their dirty linen in public, claiming it’s so healthy to reveal all their secrets and sins. But some things should remain private. I told her that as well. I don’t know whether she listened to me, but I hope so. Otherwise, I only had a stubborn bladder inflammation to show for the trouble of sitting there in her freezing house.’
And with that Vera signalled that the discussion was over and walked towards the front door. She opened it for Patrik and said a very guarded farewell.
When he found himself standing out in the cold again with his cap pulled down over his ears and his mittens on, he literally didn’t know which foot to stand on. He hopped a few times to warm himself up and then headed briskly for his car.
Vera was a complicated woman, he had gathered that much from their conversation. She belonged to a completely different generation, but in many ways she was in conflict with that generation’s values. During her son’s childhood she had supported him by her own labour, and even after he reached adulthood and should have taken care of himself, she continued to keep him under her wing. In her way, she was a liberated woman who over all those years had got along without a man. At the same time, she was bound by the rules that existed for women, and men for that matter, from her generation. He couldn’t help feeling a certain reluctant admiration for her. She was a strong woman. A complex woman, who had endured more than any person should have to endure in a lifetime.
He didn’t know what the consequences might be for Vera when it came out that she had interfered to make Anders’s suicide look like a murder. He would definitely need to turn in that information to the police station, but he had no idea what would happen after that. If it were his decision, he would choose to look through his fingers, but he couldn’t promise that’s what would occur. From a purely legal point of view it was possible to charge her with obstructing an investigation, for example, but he sincerely hoped that wouldn’t happen. He liked Vera, he couldn’t get away from that. She was a fighter, and there weren’t many like her.
When he got into his car and flipped open his mobile, he discovered a message waiting for him. It was from Erica. She reported that there were three ladies and a very, very small gentleman who hoped he would have dinner with them this evening. Patrik glanced at the clock. It was already five, so he decided without great internal debate that it was probably already too late to go to the station. And what did he have at home to do? Before he started the car he rang Annika at the station and gave her a brief report on what he’d accomplished, but he left out the details since he wanted to report on the whole situation when he had Mellberg face to face. He wanted at all costs to prevent the situation from being misinterpreted, and to prevent Mellberg from mobilizing some enormous operation simply for his own amusement.
As Patrik drove back to Erica’s house, the thoughts of Alex’s murder kept returning. It frustrated him that he had run into yet another blind alley. Two murders meant twice the chance that the killer had made a mistake. Now he was back at the beginning once more, and for the first time he thought he might never find the person who had murdered Alex. That made him strangely sad. It felt somehow that he knew Alex better than anyone else did. What he’d found out about her childhood and life after the assaults had moved him deeply. He wanted to find her killer more than he’d ever wanted anything in his whole life.
But he had to accept the situation. He had now reached another blind alley, and he didn’t know where he should go from here, or where to look. Patrik forced himself to let it go for the time being. Right now he was going over to see Erica, her sister, and especially the kids, and that was exactly what he needed this evening. All this misery had made him feel frayed inside.
Mellberg drummed impatiently with his fingers on the desktop. Where the hell was that young whippersnapper? Did he think this was some sort of damned day-care? That he could come and go as he liked? Of course it was Sunday, but anyone who thought he could take a day off before this was all over was seriously mistaken. Well, he would soon disabuse him of that notion. At his station, it was strict regulations and clear discipline that counted. Good honest leadership. It was the watchword of the times, and if anyone had ever been born with leadership qualities, then he was the one. His mother had always said that he would make something great out of himself. Even if he had to admit that it may have been taking a bit longer than either of them had expected, he had never doubted that his excellent qualifications would pay off sooner or later.
That’s why it was so frustrating that they seemed to be stuck in these investigations. Mellberg felt that his big chance was so close that he could taste it. But if his miserable team didn’t start delivering results soon, he might as well give up any hope of a promotion and a move back to Goteborg. Slackers, that’s what they were, village cops who could hardly find their own arse with both hands and a pocket torch. He’d had some hope for young Hedstrom, but it seemed as if he, too, would disappoint him. Patrik still hadn’t reported the results of his trip to Goteborg, so it might turn out to be nothing more than an entry on the expense side of the books. It was ten past nine and he still hadn’t seen any trace of him.
‘Annika!’ He yelled in the direction of the open door and felt his irritation rise even higher when it took a good minute before she deigned to respond to his call.
‘Yes, what is it?’
‘Have you heard anything from Hedstrom? Is he still asleep in his warm bed, or what?’
‘I should hardly think so. He rang and said that he had a little trouble getting his car started this morning but that he was on the way.’ She looked at the clock. ‘He should be here in fifteen minutes or so.’
‘What the hell, he could walk here if he wanted to.’
Annika hesitated and to his astonishment he saw a little smile play over the corners of her mouth.
‘Well, I don’t think he was at home.’
‘Where the hell was he then?’
‘You’ll have to ask Patrik that,’ said Annika, turning to go back to her room.
The fact that Patrik seemed to have a good excuse for being late annoyed Mellberg even more, for some reason. Couldn’t he plan ahead and allow for some extra time in the morning in case he had car trouble?
Fifteen minutes later, Patrik knocked discreetly on the open door and came in. He looked out of breath and red-cheeked and seemed unabashedly happy and brisk even though he’d made his boss wait for almost half an hour.
‘Do you think this is a part-time job here, or what? And where the hell were you yesterday? Wasn’t it two days ago that you drove to Goteborg?’
Patrik sat down in the visitor’s chair across the desk and calmly answered Mellberg’s barrage of questions.
‘I apologize for being late. The car wouldn’t start this morning, and it took over half an hour to get it going. Yes, it was the day before yesterday that I went to Goteborg, and I thought I’d report on that first, before I tell you what I did yesterday.’
Mellberg grunted in reluctant agreement. Patrik told him what he’d found out about Alex’s childhood. He included all the disgusting details. At the news that Julia was Alex’s daughter, Mellberg felt his jaw drop in the direction of his chest. He’d never heard anything like it before. Patrik continued to tell him about Karl-Erik’s emergency trip to the hospital and how he’d had a piece of paper from Anders’s flat analyzed on the spot. He
