Poking at his ear with a pen he said:
'And what did your four-legged friends think of the case?'
Martin Beck looked at him with disapproval.
'What are we to do with this man Eriksson?' Ronn asked.
'Let him go,' Martin Beck said.
After a few seconds he added:
'But not too far.'
12
ON THE MORNING of Tuesday the thirteenth of June the situation was reviewed; the results of the investigation so far were anything but hopeful. The same could be said of the short statement released to the press. The areas around the scenes of the two crimes had been photographed from a helicopter; about a thousand tips had been received from the public and were now being followed up; all exhibitionists, Peeping Toms and other sexual deviates known to the police were being checked up on; one person had been detained and questioned about his doings at the time of the first crime; this person had now been set free.
Everyone seemed worn out from lack of sleep and overwork, even the journalists and photographers.
After the review Kollberg said to Martin Beck:
'There are two witnesses.'
Martin Beck nodded. They both went into the office where Gunvald Larsson and Melander were working.
'There are two witnesses,' Martin Beck said.
Melander didn't even look up from his papers but Larsson said:
'Hell, you don't say. And who would they be?'
'First, the boy in Tanto Park.'
'Who is three years old?'
'Exactly.'
'The girls in the vice squad have tried to talk to him, you know that as well as I do. He can't even talk. It's just about as clever as when you told me to question the dog.'
Martin Beck ignored both the remark and the astonished look that Kollberg gave him.
'And secondly?' Melander asked, still without looking up.
'The mugger.'
'He's my department,' Gunvald Larsson said.
'Exactly. Get him.'
Gunvald Larsson heaved himself back so that the swivel chair creaked. He stared from Martin Beck to Kollberg and said:
'Look here. What do you think I've been doing for three weeks, I and the protection squads of fifth and ninth? Playing Chinese checkers? Are you insinuating that we haven't tried?'
'You've tried all right. Now the position has changed. Now you must get him.'
'And how the hell are we to do that? Now?'
'The mugger knows his job,' Martin Beck said. 'You said so yourself. Has he at any time attacked anyone who didn't have money?'
'No.'
'Has he at any time gone for anyone who could defend himself?' Kollberg asked.
'No.'
'Have the boys in the protection squad ever been anywhere near?' Martin Beck asked.
'No.'
'And what can be the reason?' Kollberg asked again.
Gunvald Larsson did not answer at once. He poked his ear for a long time with the ball-point pen before saying:
'He knows his job.'
'That's what you said.'
Gunvald Larsson pondered again for a time. Then he asked:
'When you were up here ten days ago you started to say something but changed your mind. Why?'
'Because you interrupted me.'
'What were you going to say?'
'That we ought to study the timetable for the robberies,' Melander said, still without looking up. 'The systematics. We've already done so.'
'One more thing,' Martin Beck said. 'The same as Lennart here implied just now. The mugger is a skilled workman and knows his job, your own conclusion. He's so good at it that he recognizes the men in the protection squads. Perhaps even the cars.'
'So what?' Gunvald Larsson said. 'Do you mean we should change the whole goddam police force just because of this louse?'
'You could have got in men from outside,' Kollberg said. 'Policewomen as well. Other cars.'
'It's too late now anyway,' Larsson said.
'Yes,' Martin Beck agreed. 'It's too late now. On the other hand it's twice as urgent for us to get him.'
'That guy's not even going to look at a park so long as the murderer goes free,' Gunvald Larsson said.
'Exactly. At what time was the last robbery -committed?'
'Between nine and a quarter past.'
'And the murder?'
'Between seven and eight. Look here, why do you stand there asking about things we all know?'
'Sorry. Perhaps I wanted to convince myself.'
'What of?'
'Of the fact that the mugger saw the girl,' Kollberg said. 'And the man who killed her. The mugger wasn't the sort of guy to act haphazardly. Presumably he had to hang about the park for hours every time before he got his chance. Otherwise he had fantastic luck.'
'Such luck doesn't exist,' Melander said. 'Not nine times in succession. Five perhaps. Or six.'
'Get him,' Martin Beck said.
'Appeal to his sense of justice, eh? So that he gives himself up?'
'Even that is possible.'
'Yes,' Melander said, speaking on the phone.
He listened for a moment and said:
'Send a radio patrol.'
'Was it anything?' Kollberg asked.
'No,' Melander said.
'Sense of justice,' Gunvald Larsson said, shaking his head. 'Your naive faith in the underworld is really… humph, words fail me.'
'Just at the moment I don't give a damn what fails you,' Martin Beck said heatedly. 'Get that guy.'
'Use the stoolies,' Kollberg said.
'Do you think I don't…' Gunvald Larsson began, but was himself interrupted for once.
'Wherever he is,' Martin Beck said. 'Whether he's in the Canary Islands or is lying low in a junkie's pad on the south side. Use the stoolies, and do so much more than before. Use every single contact we have in the underworld, use the newspapers and the radio and the television. Threaten, bribe, coax, promise, do anything at all, but get that guy.'
'Do you think I haven't the sense to grasp that myself?'
'You know what I think of your intelligence,' Kollberg said gravely.
'Yes, I know,' Gunvald Larsson said good-naturedly. 'Well, let's clear the decks for action.'
He grabbed the telephone. Martin Beck and Kollberg left the room.
'Maybe it'll work,' Martin Beck said.
'Maybe,' Kollberg replied.
'Gunvald is not as dumb as he looks.'
'Isn't he?'
