Peder clutched the pistol. ‘There will be no deal.’
‘But you haven’t heard my suggestion yet. To be honest, I don’t think you give a damn about the other people you mentioned just now, the young girl and the lawyer. Am I right? But your brother, that’s different. So, this is my suggestion. I’ll tell you where your brother is, and you allow me the time I need to leave Storholmen and to remove myself from Sweden and the situation in which I now find myself on a permanent basis, so to speak.’
Peder blinked.
A deal?
Suddenly, Peder was transported back in time to an entirely different case two years ago, when another perpetrator had suggested a deal. On that occasion it had ended in disaster.
‘Is he alive? Is Jimmy still alive?’
Morgan Axberger looked furious.
‘What kind of man do you think I am? Of course he’s still alive. Unfortunately, he happened to overhear a conversation between Thea and myself, which meant that I had no option but to get him out of the way – temporarily. I’m sure you’ve found yourself in a similar situation?’
Peder hadn’t. He had never had secrets of the magnitude of Morgan Axberger’s crimes.
‘Where is he?’
‘Hang on a minute. First of all you need to put down that gun.’
‘No chance. If you tell me where he is, I’ll give you three hours. Three hours. That’s the best I can do.’
Morgan Axberger thought for a moment. ‘OK, it’s a deal.’
A gust of wind passed through the garden, and Peder couldn’t help shivering. He was frozen.
‘Where is he?’
‘He’s in my private summer cottage in Norrtälje.’
The answer was simple and delivered in matter-of-fact tone of voice. Jimmy was alive. He was in a summer cottage in Norrtälje. Relief washed over Peder.
‘Bloody hell,’ he whispered, feeling the tears pricking at his eyes. ‘I thought… I really thought…’
Morgan Axberger looked sympathetic.
‘As I said, I’m very sorry your brother got in the way, but I hope things turn out well for both of you.’
The sound of someone cycling past along the road drifted across the garden, and Peder realised he had more questions.
‘How do I know you’re not bluffing?’
‘How do I know you’re not bluffing?’
Axberger’s eyes narrowed until they were no more than slits.
‘Let’s be honest, you could call your colleagues the minute I walk out of here. You’re the one with the upper hand, not me.’
Peder swallowed. Axberger’s argument was logical, and yet it wasn’t.
I have to know.
‘By the way, on an entirely different matter,’ Axberger said.
Peder was listening.
‘Yes?’
‘You mentioned the girl you found in the grave. I wasn’t the only one who put her there.’
Peder stared at him.
‘Who else was involved?’ he said stupidly.
That smile was back.
‘I think we both know the answer to that.’
Peder didn’t understand.
‘Håkan Nilsson?’
‘Who?’ Axberger looked blank, then annoyed. ‘You can do better than that,’ he said. ‘How do you think I even found out that there was a girl at the university writing her dissertation on Thea Aldrin?’
Peder’s mouth went dry; his head was spinning.
I haven’t a bloody clue.
He changed tack.
‘What about the lawyer, then?’
‘That was me. Elias Hjort had some particularly sensitive information about me which couldn’t be allowed to get out under any circumstances.’
Peder processed this, trying to understand how everything fitted together.
‘About those books?’
‘The books were Manfred’s work. But it was my idea to make a film of selected extracts. In this fantastic summerhouse, in fact.’
He pointed.
‘Who was the girl who died?’
‘Some insignificant tart I found on the street. Nobody reported her missing, so the loss to the world must be regarded as negligible.’
‘But what was it that Elias Hjort knew? Was he involved in making the film?’
Morgan Axberger pursed his lips.
‘Hardly. But Thea found out that I had made a film featuring her precious boyfriend as the killer, and unfortunately she told Elias. When there was all that fuss about the books later on, and it became known that he was the intermediary between the publisher and the author, he tried to blackmail me. He promised to leave the country if I gave him enough, said he would never set foot in Sweden again if I paid him what he was asking.’
‘But you killed him?’
‘It was best for all concerned. Once the film ended up in the hands of the police, the situation became untenable. Elias had to go.’
Peder wondered how someone could think that way, believing they had power over life and death like God Himself. Pointing the finger, you shall live and you shall die.
He could feel his mobile against his leg through the thin fabric of his trouser pocket. Hesitantly he took it out.
‘Excuse me, what are you doing?’ Morgan Axberger’s voice was deep and affronted.
‘I’m calling my boss to tell him I’ve had a tip-off about where Jimmy is,’ Peder said. ‘He doesn’t know what I know. That you were the one who took Jimmy. I went to see Thea on my own. If I call him, the police will be on their way at the same time as I let you go.’
Axberger looked unsure, but silently accepted what Peder had said.
Alex answered almost immediately. ‘Where the hell are you?’
Hearing Alex’s voice in his ear made Peder relax; he suddenly realised how exhausted he was.
‘I’ve been looking for Jimmy. I think I know where he is.’
Alex didn’t speak for a moment, then he said: ‘Peder, let’s not do this over the phone. Come back to HQ, please. Fredrika and I are waiting for you. Ylva is here too.’
Ylva?
‘Ylva? What’s Ylva doing there?’
‘She’s just arrived. Nobody has heard from you for hours, so of course we were worried.’
He was missing something. Peder pressed the phone close to his ear.
‘What did you say?’
‘I said nobody had heard from you for…’
‘Before that.’
‘I said let’s not do this over the phone. Can’t you tell me where you are? We’ll come and pick you up.’
‘What do you mean, let’s not do this? What is it you don’t want to talk about over the phone? I know where Jimmy is.’
He heard Alex sigh, then speak quietly to someone sitting beside him.
‘Peder, I’m so very sorry you’ve had to work this out on your own. If only I could have got hold of you, things would have been different.’
Morgan Axberger began to edge slowly away from Peder, who was rooted to the spot.
‘Alex, I don’t understand.’
‘Can’t you come back to HQ?’
‘I know where he is.’
His voice was thin. Weak. Like a child’s.
‘So do I,’ Alex said gently. ‘We opened up the grave and found Jimmy. Come back, Peder.’
No.
No no.
No no no.
Peder heard someone yelling, and saw Morgan Axberger break into a run. He realised that he was the one bellowing, loud enough to frighten the life out of all the birds that had been perched quietly in the trees. They rose in a panic, flapping furiously into the sky.
Peder dropped the phone as if it had burned his fingers. Alex disappeared, and so did Morgan Axberger.
‘Stop!’
Axberger stopped as he heard Peder’s pounding footsteps behind him.
‘Is it true?’
He couldn’t stop yelling, repeating the same phrase over and over again.
‘Is it true? Is it true? Is he dead?’
And there it was at last. Axberger’s weary expression.