‘You sound very sure of all that,’ said Alex.
‘I am,’ Erik Sundelius said deliberately. ‘The question is, how sure are you of your conclusions?’
As he spoke, he turned his head and looked out of the window. Almost as if expecting to see Jakob Ahlbin coming along through the slushy snow.
Winter had chosen to arrive in several bursts. When the first snow came, early in the new year, he had assumed that was that. But it never was, of course.
He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired.
It was a matter of concern that Jakob had not understood the full extent of his problem until it was too late, but it was to some degree typical of him. He had sometimes felt the man had made a positive choice to live his life according to the meaning of his Christian name: Jakob, a controversial name of Hebrew origin, which some claimed to mean ‘may he protect’. It was an irony of fate that when he himself really needed help, nobody came to his rescue.
They had always hoped a solution could be found before the situation got out of hand. They had relied on him acting rationally, but he had not. Jakob was an emotional, impulsive person and once he realised he was onto something, he refused to deviate from his chosen course. As if by the Lord’s blessing they had found out about the threats directed at him by the organisation Sons of the People and had decided to build on that, to scare him off. But Jakob had scented out his quarry and would not be put off.
So then it ended the way it had to, he told himself afterwards. With a disaster that would have been all the greater if Jakob had been allowed to delve more deeply into what had come to his attention, which had initially pleased him so much.
‘This is a turning point. I’ve heard fantastic news!’ he had said, convinced he was talking to a friend.
But the friend was shaken and demanded to know more. Unfortunately Jakob had clammed up, possibly starting to sense that his friend was double-dealing. So the identity of his original source remained unknown to the circle. The only problem still left to deal with.
Then the telephone rang.
‘I’ve got a name,’ said the voice.
‘At last,’ he said, feeling a greater sense of relief than he cared to admit.
The voice at the other end said nothing for a few moments.
‘There’s a man in Skärholmen the police have been to see. He could be the one we’re looking for.’
He made a careful note of the few details the voice was able to supply. Said thank you and hung up.
So the wheels were rolling, most of them. The next day, another daisy would make his payment, and on Monday the main protagonist in the unfolding drama was expected back. Her arrival was warmly anticipated.
He shook his head. Sometimes the very thought of her generated naked fear. What sort of person was she? Someone who was willing to sacrifice so much – and so many – for a single aim needed careful handling. Normal people did not do what she had done. And then the anguish gripped him again, his sense that everything could have been different returned. If only things had not happened so damned quickly. If only everyone had obeyed the rules.
If only they had been able to rely on each other.
Peder Rydh rang Ragnar Vinterman to let him know they were on their way, just as Fredrika rang Alex on his mobile.
‘I’m in the office,’ she said with an eagerness in her voice that Alex had not heard for months.
‘Why, for heaven’s sake?’ was all he could think of saying, concerned as he was for her health.
‘Something occurred to me, so I came in to do some thinking in peace. It’s those threats Jakob received.’
Alex listened attentively to Fredrika’s conclusions about the emails and their content.
‘So you’re convinced it wasn’t Tony Svensson that sent the ones from other computers?’ Alex said doubtfully.
‘Yes, definitely,’ replied Fredrika. ‘On the other hand, I’m not so sure he didn’t know there were other people trying to put pressure on Ahlbin. I think we ought to interview him again, get to the bottom of why he went round to Jakob’s flat, looking for him. He could have been a messenger, willing or unwilling.’
‘Messenger sent by someone who didn’t want to reveal himself, you mean?’
‘Exactly. And that might also explain why Tony Svensson paid his visit to Jakob Ahlbin when Ronny Berg was already in custody. We missed it at the meeting yesterday – Tony Svensson must have been lying about his reason for going round there.’
Alex swallowed. Almost from the outset, Fredrika had proved how swiftly she could switch between theories and draw reliable conclusions. If she had been a trained police officer Alex would have said she had a feeling for the job. But she wasn’t, so he did not really have a term for her, or her gift. Intuition, maybe?
His silence left her the space to go on.
‘So I checked Tony Svensson’s phone lists again to see if anything odd showed up. And found he’d rung Viggo Tuvesson twice.’
‘Uhuh?’ Alex said quizzically, seeing with relief that Peder was finally off his mobile. ‘And who’s he?’
‘A police colleague of ours.’
Alex braked sharply at a red light.
‘And how do we know that? I mean, are you sure?’
‘I’m sure,’ said Fredrika, and Alex could hear that she was smiling. ‘Tony rang his work mobile, you see. I came across the number in our internal phone directory.’
A car honked its horn behind them and Peder gave Alex a startled look.
‘It’s green,’ he said, as if he thought the fact might have passed his superior by.
Alex hastily shifted his foot from the brake to the accelerator. Automatics were a gift to the human race, even if they weren’t good for the environment.
‘Well I’ll be damned,’ he muttered. ‘But there could be a logical reason for the contact, you know. I mean it hasn’t necessarily got anything to do with our case. I’ve never heard of this Viggo Tuvesson.’
Peder raised an eyebrow and followed Alex’s side of the conversation with interest.
‘He’s with the Norrmalm district,’ Fredrika told him. ‘He and another officer were the first on the scene after the Ljungs found the bodies and called emergency services.’
Alex felt his mouth go dry, and he glanced at Peder who looked as though he was dying to know what information Fredrika had just imparted.
‘Okay,’ he said into the phone. ‘We’ll get to work on this first thing on Monday. Before you go home, would you mind writing a summary of all this crap – if you’ll forgive a tired DCI his choice of words – and putting it on my desk?’
In case you’re not in on Monday, he thought of saying.
‘Done,’ said Fredrika. ‘In case I’m not in on Monday.’
He gave a smile.
As they drove on towards Bromma, Alex put Peder in the picture.
‘She’s as sharp as a knife sometimes,’ Peder said spontaneously.
‘She certainly is,’ Alex concurred.
As if he had never called her competence into question, though in fact he had done little else in her first few months with the group.
This time, Ragnar Vinterman was not standing on the front steps to welcome his guests. They had to knock loud and long at the front door of the vicarage before he finally opened up.
They had discussed how they would conduct the interview in the car on the way. Of all the people they had spoken to, Ragnar Vinterman stood out as the only one who still thought it likely that Jakob Ahlbin had killed himself. He was also the one most convinced that Karolina Ahlbin had a drug problem. This was causing them some concern, because he had been too close to Jakob Ahlbin for his impressions and opinions to be ignored.
‘I’m afraid I won’t be able to spare you very long this time,’ he said, the moment he showed his guests into the library where the interview was apparently to take place. ‘I’ve had a call from a parishioner whose husband has been ill for a long time, and he’s just died. She’s expecting me shortly.’