tomorrow. It was after five o’clock.
IT WAS almost eight o’clock when they met that night in the conference room to eat their ordered-in pizzas. Superintendent Andersson, Tommy, Irene, Birgitta, and Jonny sat around the table. Irene wondered how Andersson had reached Jonny. The last one to enter the room was Hannu.
The superintendent started with a recapitulation of the afternoon’s events. In conclusion, he turned toward Jonny and said, “Since you’re already initiated into the video film world, your assignment is to go through Sebastian Martinsson’s film collection.”
Despite Jonny’s loud protests, he was assigned to this job. Then Andersson turned to Hannu and asked, “Have you found anything?”
Hannu nodded and looked down at his papers.
“Sebastian Martinsson was born in Trollhattan twenty-nine years ago. His father was a teacher. The parents divorced shortly after the son was born. His father died of cancer when Sebastian was thirteen. The mother still lives in Trollhattan. She’s apparently an artist.”
“Have you gotten in touch with her?” Andersson asked.
“No. No one answers at that telephone number.”
Andersson looked displeased but cheered up after a little while. “We’ll have to contact our colleagues in Trollhattan so that they can go and get her. Or at least find out where she is.”
Trollhattan was located barely twenty kilometers from Vanersborg. Irene felt a pang when she thought about Vanersborg, and Monika Lind. She decided to call and see how Monika was doing. Maybe Irene could hint that they were hot on the murderer’s trail. It would, perhaps, be some comfort.
MONIKA LIND sounded a bit surprised at first when she heard Irene’s voice on the telephone. She was pleased when she understood that Irene was worried about how the family was doing.
“It feels like I’m living in a black hole. Thank God, the semester is over now, but maybe it isn’t good to have time to think. I blame myself for what happened to Bell. Why did I let her go to Copenhagen? But I could hardly stop her. I never understood that she. . How could I be so naive!” she said.
“How’s it going with the rest of the family?” Irene asked.
“Janne has taken it with composure. I think too much composure, at times. But he has been an amazing support for me and Elin. She’s young enough that she doesn’t mourn her big sister very deeply. But she has started asking for a dog. Janne would also really like to have one. Maybe it would distract us from the thoughts. . what do you think? You’ve always had a dog. Is Elin too little?”
“Not if you and Janne realize that all the responsibility for the dog is yours. But a dog would certainly distract them, and the family would have a common interest. A little puppy demands a lot of care and it needs to be looked after and go to obedience school and. .”
Irene stopped herself and thought. Then she said, “The fact is that Sammie has become a father. We have one of his puppies at our home. He’s almost ten weeks old and terribly cute. But we’ve realized that having a puppy right now isn’t going to work. Sammie is too old and doesn’t accept having a competitor. The dog sitter is almost seventy and we don’t know how much longer she’ll have the energy to keep going. As a whole, our family is hardly at home. We’re working and going to school and have a lot of extracurricular activities, you know how it is. He’s a mixed breed of black poodle and an Irish soft-coated wheaten terrier. If you want, you can have him. He’s very cute and sweet.”
Monika considered before she said, “Yes, it would work out well with respect to the fact that I’m off work all summer. How much would he cost?”
“Elin can have him as a gift. You’ll be doing us a big favor, just knowing that he’ll be getting a good home.”
“But it’s far too much! What’s his name?”
Irene was close to telling the truth, but she managed to stop herself. “Tinkler” didn’t inspire much confidence. That’s why she just said, “We haven’t been able to decide yet. For the most part, we just say Little Guy.”
“I’ll talk it over with Janne. We’ll be in touch tomorrow.”
Irene thought that Monika Lind’s voice sounded happier when she hung up. She hoped that the Lind family would take Tinkler.
Now the worst part remained-convincing her own family of the truth behind her actions.
Chapter 19
IT WAS A HARD to convince the family as Irene had expected. After long discussions back and forth, the other three had to admit that it was difficult to merge their time schedules with young Tinkler’s needs. The deciding factor was Sammie’s obvious dislike of the whole situation. He was used to peace and quiet, long walks, and eating his food in peace. His son had sabotaged this comfortable existence. Sammie roamed around with his tail hanging, looking unhappy.
“It’s possible that I may go to Trollhattan tomorrow. If the Linds want him, I’ll take Tinkler with me and drive by Vanersborg,” Irene said decisively.
Her family nodded gloomily. Jenny had tears in her eyes when she pulled the tousled charmer into her lap. Tinkler was ecstatic that she wanted to cuddle with him, and his little pink tongue went in and out during his energetic attempt to lick her face.
Sammie lay under Irene’s chair and sighed deeply.
MONIKA LIND called just before Irene was about to drive to the station.
“We would love to take Little Guy!” she said, sounding really happy.
It took a few seconds before Irene’s tired brain remembered that it was the way she herself had described the puppy the day before. She pulled herself together quickly and mentioned her possible trip to Trollhattan during the day. If it didn’t happen, the Lind family would drive down and pick up the puppy the next day.
“SEBASTIAN MARTINSSON’S mother has been found. Her name is Sabine Martinsson and she was born in 1950. She’s being released from the hospital today where she has been treated for acute delirium. Apparently she’s a serious alcoholic,” Birgitta started.
Andersson nodded and interrupted her. “I’ve spoken with our colleagues in Trollhattan. We’d better drive up there and talk with her ourselves. Hannu and Irene can leave now. Here’s the address.”
He handed the note to Hannu. Irene felt satisfied. Now Tinkler would ride in a car for the first time in his life and he would meet his new family.
The superintendent continued, “Svante Malm didn’t have time to come himself this morning but he called me just a little while ago. Apparently, they can do some DNA test on the hair strands that were found in the hairbrush in the bathroom cabinet at Martinsson’s apartment. He said that there were hair follicles left on some of them. They’re going to compare them with the DNA profile from the semen stains that have been found at the crime scenes. He also asked me to tell you, Irene, that after a quick look at the handwriting on the postcard you received, he thinks there is a lot in common with Martinsson’s handwriting. He’s written quite a bit in his sketchbooks.”
“Did he say anything about having found Marcus’s laptop computer?” Birgitta asked.
“No. There’re just clothes and sun lotion and stuff that people take with them when they’re going on vacation. Strangely enough, they haven’t found a suitcase,” said Andersson.
Birgitta looked disappointed. Marcus’s laptop would have filled in several blanks.
“Irene, before you leave, I want you to call Copenhagen and inform our colleagues there. You’re the only one who understands Danish. Tell them everything we know about Martinsson and that we think he’s going to some art school in Copenhagen,” said Andersson.
The last was a possibility that Irene had introduced during the previous evening’s pizza dinner. Her hypothesis was that Sebastian worked in Goteborg and studied painting in Copenhagen. When Andersson doubtfully
