‘I agree. Which is what we’ve suspected all along – that they’re keeping something from us. But we just can’t work out why.’
‘Perhaps through fear?’ Fredrika suggested. ‘Then again, what have they got to be afraid of? The worst has already happened.’
Alex nodded to himself.
‘Mona Samson,’ he said. ‘I mentioned her to you earlier; have you found out whether she’s entered the country?’
‘So far the police haven’t managed to identify her, but they’re still looking.’
‘What the hell does that mean?’ Alex said. ‘The police haven’t managed to identify her? Mona Samson can’t be the most common name in Israel. How many people using false names can there be in one inquiry?’
He could tell that Fredrika was equally frustrated. They had to make progress. Soon. Before it was too late.
‘Saul Goldmann,’ she said. ‘Do we still think he shot his own son?’
‘I’ve seen stranger things over the years,’ Alex replied. ‘But my priority at the moment is that we now have an individual who looks even more suspect since we broke his alibi.’
Efraim Kiel. Who had vanished without a trace.
Alex thought out loud.
‘If Efraim is the Lion, why did he email the boys? Why not just pick them up on the street? That’s what I would have done.’
If I were a killer, which I’m not.
‘Because he knows their parents, realised there was a risk of being recognised,’ Fredrika said.
‘Bollocks. Neither of the boys had ever met him, and even if they’d seen him in a photograph, although their parents insist they don’t have any pictures of Kiel, it would be more than ten years old.’
He could hear the sound of traffic in the background; Fredrika must have gone outside.
‘I don’t know why he emailed them,’ she said. ‘Possibly because it increased his chances of getting them to go with him voluntarily? Otherwise he would have been forced to take them one at a time, which would have been more difficult. Or it would have taken longer, at least.’
So many loose ends. Alex thought bitterly that it felt as if they were chasing an entire pride of lions, not just one.
‘This is an endless nightmare scenario,’ he said.
‘Do you think so? I don’t agree. This starts and ends with the Goldmann and Eisenberg families. Otherwise other children would have been taken.’
Fredrika was right, but they still had to get to the bottom of the murders, with or without the co-operation of the parents.
‘Tomorrow I’m going to visit the kibbutz where Saul and Gideon grew up. Hopefully we’ll know more after that.’
Alex hoped she was right.
Above all he wanted Fredrika to find the most mysterious figure in the whole case so far.
The man known as the Paper Boy.
A man who the murderer, whoever he might be, must have known about.
LONDON
The Paper Boy.
Known to some as an Israeli myth.
Known to significantly fewer people as the name of a secret source in a Palestinian village on the West Bank.
Eden Lundell was trying to digest what she had heard, while struggling with the dilemma that she now faced. Because under no circumstances could she pass this information on to Alex Recht or Fredrika Bergman. Intelligence of the most sensitive nature, which would never be admissible in a Swedish court of law. It could never be shared. She had gone to Fred for personal reasons, but now her private life had collided with her professional background, and she had no choice but to stick to the rules of the game.
Fredrika was in Israel. She wouldn’t get anywhere near the information Eden had been given; the question was whether she and Alex would still be able to solve the case. Eden hoped so, because three people had died, two of them children. Justice must be done.
In one way or another.
She and Fred Banks had parted company a few hours earlier. He had looked very tired when she left his house.
‘It’s funny, but I always had a feeling we’d meet again,’ he had said as she was leaving, a wry smile lighting up his pale face. He had given her far more than she had ever dared hope for, and for that she would be eternally grateful.
‘It was good to see you,’ she said.
Her voice was suddenly thick, the damp air difficult to breathe.
‘When are you going back to Sweden?’
‘Tomorrow morning. First thing.
She hesitated, but had to ask the question.
‘If you know any more about the Paper Boy, or if you think you can find out more… I’d really appreciate it if you could let me know.’
His face had darkened, the smile gone in a second.
‘You’re asking a lot.’
She shook her head.
‘I haven’t told you everything. There has been a series of murders in Stockholm. Three members of a Jewish community, two of them children, and the story of the Paper Boy from Israel has come up in the investigation.’
Fred looked surprised.
‘And how does that end up on your desk? What’s it got to do with Säpo?’
‘It’s not my case; it’s being investigated by a special team of detectives. But we were consulted because an Israeli citizen who is known to us is on the periphery.’
Fred opened his mouth, then closed it again.
‘Not Efraim Kiel?’
‘Yes.’
It was Fred’s turn to shake his head.
‘There’s a big difference between what he did to you and killing children, Eden.’
‘We don’t know if he’s involved. We don’t think so, but there are a number of question marks around his presence in Stockholm, and the fact that it coincides with these murders.’
Once again he reminded her of what he had already said:
‘You are not to pass on what I told you, not under any circumstances whatsoever.’
‘Of course not.’
He thought for a moment.
‘Okay, I’ll see what I can find out, although I don’t know how. I’ll call you if I get anywhere.’
‘It would be particularly helpful to know who else was part of Efraim’s team, the one that was operating on the West Bank.’
Fred let out a bark of laughter.
‘You’re crazy. Why do you want to know that?’
‘Because there are several leads, all pointing back to Israel. And someone is watching Efraim in Stockholm. Someone other than Säpo.’
Fred grew serious.
‘Take care of yourself,’ he said. ‘It sounds as if there’s something major going on over there.’
I know. And it frightens me.
She raised a hand in farewell.
‘I’ll be in touch. And thanks again for your help.’
He waved back, and she turned and walked away. Once upon a time they would have hugged, but those days were long gone.
Maybe in the future, she thought when she was back in her hotel room. Maybe it would be possible to heal the past. Her relationship with MI5 was beyond repair, but she and Fred could fix things; if they tried.
It would make Mikael happy, anyway; he still talked about Fred, said how much he missed him.
He had always been better than Eden at putting his thoughts and feelings into words. She was a permanent meltdown of suppressed needs and reactions, while he was a firework, an explosion of emotions. That was both the strength and the weakness within their relationship.
She called home to say goodnight. Mikael sounded pleased to hear her voice, talked enthusiastically about what he and the girls had been up to. She listened, but told him nothing about what she had done. That was how it always was, and Mikael didn’t mind. Nor did she mention that she had managed to find time to go and buy a violin for Dani; that would be a surprise.
‘See you tomorrow,’ he said.
‘See you.’
For a second she was seized by a bottomless panic.
Dear God, please don’t let me have misjudged Efraim Kiel completely.
Waking nightmares were always worse than those that came when she was asleep. She had just decided to go for an evening stroll to settle her nerves when her boss rang from Stockholm.