“Unless of course the murderer bought a house where the former owner had left some rat poison behind. Like Pieter Graaf, for example,” said Margit with a certain amount of skepticism. She wasn’t completely convinced by Thomas’s theory.
“Philip Fahlén fits the age profile,” Thomas said, “and he’s been spending summers on Sandhamn for over thirty years.”
“But right now he’s in the hospital, possibly because he’s also been poisoned.”
“True,” Thomas said. “But at the moment we don’t actually know what caused his brain hemorrhage.”
“He could have had a stroke due entirely to natural causes.”
“We can’t take anything for granted at this stage, but it’s still an avenue worth exploring.” He stretched, his joints creaking. “By the way, what happened with those teenagers from the ferry to Finland? You were going to talk to them.”
“The girl isn’t answering her cell phone, and there’s no reply on the landline. I’ll try to get a number for someone else in the family. Her boyfriend didn’t know where she could be contacted. He thought she was visiting some relatives in northern Norway this week.”
“And what did he have to say?”
“He said he didn’t know anything. It was his girlfriend who saw the body fall. By the time she shouted out, it was too late. But he wasn’t completely convinced anything had actually happened. It sounded as if he thought she might have been imagining things. They’d also had a fair amount to drink during the course of the evening, which was why she’d insisted he go with her to report the incident the following day. I’ve made a few notes if you want to have a look.”
Thomas noticed that Margit was trying to conceal a yawn. He knew she’d sat up half the night going through material in order to compensate for the fact that she was leaving this afternoon.
“What time’s your train?” he asked.
“In an hour. I’ll be there around six. I’ll take all my notes with me and go through them again on the train.”
“Give me a call if you find anything.”
“Of course. Same goes for you. What are you doing this afternoon?”
“I was thinking of going back to Krister Berggren’s apartment, just to make sure we haven’t missed anything, even though forensics has been there.”
“Sounds like a good idea. You could take Carina with you; sometimes it’s useful to have a second pair of eyes. She’s worked hard over the last few weeks. She’ll be a great police officer if she can just get into the academy.”
Thomas agreed. Carina had been a real asset in the investigation, and he had no objections to Margit’s suggestion.
“After that I’ll probably go back to Harö. I need to think about something else for a few hours, if that’s possible.”
CHAPTER 67
Restaurant J was packed with suntanned customers in light summer clothes. Boats of all types and sizes were moored at its long guest jetty. The restaurant was popular both with those who worked nearby and those who wanted to show off their flashy boats.
Out toward the edge of the jetty the owner of a large Princess yacht was attempting to maneuver his vessel into a space that was far too small between two motorboats. The man was bellowing order after order to his stressed-out wife, who was scuttling back and forth with a boat hook to prevent collisions. The diners were watching the drama with ill-concealed delight.
The waitresses were dashing between tables, rushing to keep everyone happy. Carina put on her sunglasses and looked at Thomas. “I wonder if we’ll be able to get a table. It looks full.”
“Don’t worry. I can see one over there in the corner. Follow me.”
They sat down under a striped parasol, which offered some shade. At the table next to them was a family with a two-year-old in a high chair and a little girl who looked a few years older. She was clutching a big ice cream cone and running around on the jetty in spite of her mother’s warnings and her father’s reprimands.
“Sweet kids,” Carina said.
Thomas’s smile faltered. A shadow passed across his face, and he simply nodded.
Carina could have bitten her tongue. How could she say such a thing? She quickly started talking about something less personal. “I’ve spoken to the registration authority, and they’ve promised to run a check on the property register as soon as possible. If they don’t have time today, they’ll do it right after the weekend. I stressed how important it was.”
Thomas brightened up. “Excellent. The way things are at the moment, we need to follow up on every lead.” Thomas gazed out across the water, where an enormous cruise ship was passing by. “Particularly now, when there doesn’t seem to be anyone else in the picture except Fahlén.”
“The guy I spoke to promised to send the results across as soon as they come through. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything in the passenger lists from the ferry company, but we might have better luck with the property register.” Carina fell silent and started fiddling with her knife and fork. She was desperately trying to come up with a topic of conversation that wasn’t too personal but would involve more than a work-related discussion of the case. She settled on Thomas’s house on Harö. She knew that he went there as often as he could; his face lit up whenever he talked about the archipelago. “Tell me about your summer place. It must be really beautiful.”
As Thomas described the house and life on Harö, Carina watched him from behind her dark sunglasses.
Thomas was pleasant and easy to get along with in every way, but he shut down as soon as anyone started talking about his private life. She couldn’t remember any occasion on which he had volunteered information about himself since they had become colleagues. He could tirelessly discuss a case down to the last detail, but as soon as someone asked something personal, he clammed up. But the atmosphere between them was relaxed, and he had opened up much more this July than she could ever recall him doing in the past. He also seemed much happier, even though the investigation was taking its toll.
“Can you come with me?”
The question brought Carina back to the moment. She looked at him, surprised. What had she missed? She gave up and smiled at him. Busted. “Sorry, I was thinking about something.”
Thomas laughed. “I said I was thinking of going back to Krister Berggren’s apartment this afternoon. See if there’s something we might have missed when we were there last time. I’d appreciate it if you could come along. Two pairs of eyes are better than one. If you’re going to be able to concentrate, that is.” He wagged a finger at her, teasing.
“Of course I’ll come,” Carina said. She was more than happy to spend a whole afternoon alone with Thomas.
She started on her salad, trying to spear several prawns on her fork. She was excited to be helping out with real police work; it was exactly what she needed before she put in her application to the training academy.
“When are we going?”
“Right after lunch.”
CHAPTER 68