‘Good idea.’ He pushed the paper across to her, and she took a picture. Then she knelt down on the rug and began tidying up after the children.
‘Do you have any idea what you’re going to do with that?’
‘No, not really. I might start by exploring a few archives, see if I can come up with more information.’
‘So you think it’s more than a phone doodle?’ she said.
‘It could be. In any case, it’s worth checking out.’
‘Keep me posted, and I’ll let you know if I find anything new.’ She began ushering the kids towards the hall.
‘Of course. We’ll keep in touch,’ Kjell said, reaching for the phone.
It was so typical. If Gösta arrived late, there was hell to pay, while Patrik could be gone half the morning and nobody raised an eyebrow. Erica had phoned last night and told Gösta about her visits to Ove Linder and John Holm. Now he was impatiently awaiting Patrik’s arrival so they could go see Leon. Sighing at the unfairness of life, he returned to studying the list on his desk.
A second later the phone rang and he grabbed the receiver.
‘Hello. Flygare here.’
‘Gösta,’ said Annika. ‘Torbjörn’s on the phone. The results of the blood analysis have come in. He’s asking for Patrik, but would you mind taking the call?’
‘Of course.’
Gösta listened carefully as he made detailed notes, even though he knew that Torbjörn would fax over a copy of his report. But the official reports were usually written in such convoluted language, and it was easier to understand the information when Torbjörn explained it.
The moment Gösta put down the phone there was a knock on the open door to his office.
‘Annika said that Torbjörn rang. What did he say?’ Patrik sounded eager to hear the news, although his expression was glum.
‘Is something wrong?’ asked Gösta without answering the question.
Patrik dropped heavily on to a chair. ‘I went to check up on Martin.’
‘How’s he doing?’
‘He’ll be taking a leave of absence for a while. Three weeks, to start with. Then we’ll see.’
‘Why?’ Gösta felt his concern rise. Though he sometimes gave his young colleague a hard time, he liked Martin Molin. Everyone liked Martin.
When Patrik told him what he knew about Pia’s condition, Gösta swallowed hard. The poor guy. And their little girl was only a couple of years old, and now she was going to lose her mother. He swallowed again and turned away, blinking frantically. He couldn’t sit here in his office blubbering.
‘The best thing we can do is to keep working,’ Patrik concluded. ‘What did Torbjörn say?’
Gösta discreetly wiped his eyes and cleared his throat before turning to the notes he’d written down.
‘The crime lab confirmed that it’s human blood. But it’s so old that they were unable to get any DNA results that could be compared with Ebba’s. And it’s not clear whether the blood came from more than one individual.’
‘Okay. That’s pretty much as I expected. What about the bullet?’
‘Torbjörn sent it to a weapons specialist yesterday. They ran a quick analysis, but unfortunately it’s not a match for any bullets used in other crimes.’
‘Well, it was worth a try,’ said Patrik.
‘Sure. Apart from that they could only confirm that it’s a nine millimetre bullet.’
‘Nine millimetres? That doesn’t exactly tell us much about the type of gun that was used.’ Patrik slumped on his chair.
‘No, but Torbjörn said there were clear grooves on the bullet, so his expert is going to examine it more closely to see if he can determine the type of gun used. And if we find the gun, then the bullet can be matched up with it.’
‘But first there’s that small detail of finding the gun.’ He looked at Gösta. ‘How thoroughly did you search the house and surroundings?’
‘You mean in 1974?’
Patrik nodded.
‘We did the best we could,’ said Gösta. ‘We were short-staffed, but we went over the island with a fine-tooth comb. If someone had tossed a gun somewhere, we would have found it.’
‘Most likely it’s at the bottom of the sea,’ said Patrik.
‘You’re probably right. By the way, I’ve started phoning the former pupils from the school, but no results yet. Quite a few didn’t answer the phone, but that’s not too surprising, since it’s the summer holiday.’
‘It’s good that you’ve made a start, at least,’ said Patrik, running a hand through his hair. ‘Make a note if there’s anyone who might warrant further attention, and maybe we can go see them in person.’
‘They’re scattered all over Sweden,’ said Gösta. ‘It’s going to require a hell of a lot of driving if we try to speak to them one on one.’
‘Let’s discuss it again once we know how many people we’re talking about.’ Patrik got up and headed for the door. ‘How about we drop by Leon Kreutz’s house after lunch? We’re lucky that he lives so close.’
‘Sure. Hopefully we’ll learn more than we did from the interview yesterday. Josef was as taciturn as he was back in 1974.’
‘It was like getting blood from a stone. And that Sebastian was a slippery character,’ said Patrik as he left the room.
Gösta’s hand hovered over the phone, preparing to tap in another number. He hated talking on the phone, and if it hadn’t been for Ebba, he would have tried to get out of it. At least he wouldn’t have to do the whole list, since Erica had promised to do some of it.
‘Gösta? Come here a minute.’ Patrick’s voice interrupted him.
Out in the corridor stood Tobias Stark. He had a grim expression on his face, and he was holding a plastic bag containing what appeared to be a postcard.
‘Tobias has something to show us,’ said Patrik.
‘I put it in a bag as soon as I could,’ said Tobias. ‘But I did touch it, so I might have ruined any prints.’
‘You did the right thing,’ Patrik said, wanting to reassure him.
Gösta peered through the plastic at the card. It was a typical card showing a yellow kitten on the front. He opened it and read the brief message.
‘What the hell?’ he exclaimed.
‘Apparently “G” is starting to show his true colours,’ said Patrik. ‘This can only be interpreted as a threat.’
LÅNGBRO HOSPITAL 1925
There must have been some sort of misunderstanding, or else it was the fault of that awful woman. But Dagmar could help him. No matter what had happened, it would all work out as soon as they were together again.
She had left the girl in a pastry shop in town. She’d be fine there. If anyone asked her why she was all alone, she was to say that her mother had gone to the toilet.
Dagmar studied the building. It hadn’t been hard to find. After stopping a few people to ask for directions, she’d finally met a woman who was able to tell her how to get to Långbro Hospital. Now her biggest worry was working out how to slip inside. There were too many staff on duty at the main entrance for her to slip by unnoticed. She had considered introducing herself as Mrs Göring, but if Carin had already been here to visit, they’d see through her ploy, and she wouldn’t get another chance.
Cautiously, so as not to be seen by anyone looking out of the windows, Dagmar crept around to the back of the building. There she found what seemed to be an employee entrance. She watched for a while as women of various ages went in and out, all of them wearing starched uniforms. Some of them stopped by a cart to the right of the door and dropped in dirty laundry. That gave Dagmar an idea. Surreptitiously she approached the laundry cart, keeping one eye on the door in case anyone came out. But the door remained closed, and swiftly she rummaged through the contents of the cart. It was mostly sheets and tablecloths, but at the very bottom was a uniform identical to the ones the nurses had on. She pulled it out and slipped around the corner to put it on.