'Have you finished talking to the psychologists?' Kollberg asked sourly.
'Yes,' Melander replied without looking up. 'The compendium is being typed out'
A new face was to be seen at investigation headquarters. One third of the promised reinforcements had arrived. Mansson from Malmo.
Mansson was almost as big as Gunvald Larsson but he showed a much more peaceable front to the world. He had driven up from Skane during the night in his own car. Not in order to be able to collect the paltry mileage allowance for petrol, but because he correctly considered it might be an advantage to have at his disposal a car with an M licence plate from the Malmo area.
He was standing now by the window, gazing out and chewing at a toothpick.
'Is there anything I can do?' he asked.
'Yes. There are one or two we haven't had time to interrogate yet. Here, for instance. Mrs Ester Kallstrom. She is the widow of one of the victims.'
'Johan Kallstrom, the foreman?' 'Precisely. Karlbergsvagen 89.' 'Where's Karlbergsvagen?'
'There's a map on the wall over there,' Kollberg said wearily.
Mansson laid the chewed toothpick in Melander's ashtray, took a new one out of his breast pocket and looked at it apathetically. He studied the map for a while, then put on his overcoat In the doorway he turned and looked at Kollberg.
'By the way...'
'Yes, what is it?'
'Do you know of any shop where'you can buy flavoured toothpicks?'
'No, I really don't'
'Oh,' Mansson said dejectedly.
Then he added informatively, 'I'm told they do exist I'm trying to give up smoking.'
When the door had closed behind him Kollberg looked at Melander and said, 'I've only met that guy once before. In Malmo in the summer of last year. And he said exactly the same thing then.'
'About the toothpicks?' 'Yes.'
'Extraordinary.' 'What?'
'Not being able to find out about them after more than a year.' 'Oh, you're hopeless,' Kollberg exclaimed. 'Are you in a bad mood?' 'What the hell do you expect?' Kollberg snapped. 'There's no point in losing your temper. It only makes things worse.'
'I like that coming from you. You haven't any temper to lose.' Melander didn't reply to this, and the conversation came to an end.
* * *
Despite all statements to the contrary, the Great Detective the General Public was hard at work during the afternoon.
Several hundred people called up or looked in personally to say they thought they had ridden on that very bus.
All these statements had to be ground through the investigation mill and for once this tedious work turned out to be not entirely wasted.
A man who had boarded a doubledecker bus at Djurgardsbron at about ten o'clock on Monday evening said he was willing to swear that he had seen Stenstrom. He said this on the telephone and he was passed along to Melander, who immediately asked him to come up.
The man was about fifty. He seemed quite sure. 'So you saw Detective Inspector Stenstrom?' 'Yes.' 'Where?'
'When I got on at Djurgardsbron. He was sitting on the left near the stairs behind the driver.'
Melander nodded to himself. No details had as yet leaked out to the press about where the victims had been sitting in relation to each other.
'Are you sure it was Stenstrom?'
‘Yes.'
'How do you know?'
'I recognized him. I've been a night watchman.'
'Yes,' Melander said. 'A couple of years ago you sat in the vestibule of the old police headquarters on Agnegatan. I remember you.'
'Why, so I did,' the man said in astonishment. 'But I don't recognize you.'
'I only saw you twice,' Melander replied. 'And we didn't speak to each other.'
'But I remember Stenstrom very well, because ...' He hesitated.
'Yes?' Melander prompted in a friendly tone. 'Because ... ?'
'Well, he looked so young, and he was wearing jeans and a sportshirt, so I thought he didn't belong there. I asked him to prove his identity. And ...'
‘Yes?'
'About a week later I made the same mistake. Very annoying.' 'Oh, well, it easily happens. When you saw him the night before last, did he recognize you?' 'No, definitely not' 'Was anyone sitting beside him?'
'No, the seat was empty. I remember particularly, because I thought I'd say hello to him and sit there. But then I felt sort of awkward.'
'Pity,' Melander said 'And you got off at Sergels torg?' 'Yes, I changed to the underground.' 'Was Stenstrom still there?'
'I think so. I hadn't seen him get off at any rate. Though of course I was sitting upstairs.'
'Would you like a cup of coffee?'
'Well, I don't mind if I do,' the man said.
'Would you be good enough to look at some pictures?' Melander asked. 'But I'm afraid they're not very pleasant.'
'No, I suppose not,' the man mumbled.
He looked through the pictures, turning pale and swallowing once or twice. But the only person he recognized was Stenstrom.
Not long afterwards Martin Beck, Gunvald Larsson and Ronn arrived practically at the same time.
'What?' said Kollberg. 'Has Schwerin ... ?'
'Yes,' Ronn said. 'He's dead.'
'And?'
'He said something.' 'What?'
'Don't know,' Ronn replied, placing the tape recorder on the desk. ‘ ‘ ‘
They stood around the desk listening.
'Jesus Christ,' Gunvald Larsson exclaimed. 'The very sound of that voice makes me want to throw up. He once reported me for breach of duty.'
'What had you done?' Ronn asked.
'Said 'cunt' in the guardroom at Klara police station. A couple of the boys came in dragging a naked whore. She was loaded to the gills and was howling and had torn all her clothes off in the car. I tried to make them see that they should at least cover up her - well, wrap a blanket around her or something before carting her off to headquarters. Ullholm made out that I had caused mental injury to a girl who was not yet of age by using coarse and offensive language. He was the officer on duty. Then he applied for a transfer to Solna, to get closer to nature.'
'Nature?'
'Yes, his wife, I presume.' Martin Beck played back the tape.
