“What kind of symbol?” Fredrik Stridh interrupted to ask.
“A star inside a circle. Svante says that it might be a magical sign, the kind that witches and Satanists use during their rituals. He has come across similar ones in past investigations of church fires and the like. The technicians are still working out there.”
“Satanists! What a bunch of shit!” Jonny Blom snorted.
Irene shrugged and nodded at Hannu Rauhala, who had raised his hand.
“Why was the victim living in a summer cottage?” he asked.
“According to the principal of the school where he worked, he had recently been divorced and moved back to Göteborg after spending a few years up north. It’s hard to find housing, so he borrowed his parents’ cottage, which is winterized. He’s lived there all fall and winter. The last time he was seen was yesterday afternoon when he left work at around four thirty. Some damp gym clothes were in a bag, so he may have worked out at a gym. We found a membership card to a gym in his wallet and will check with them to see if he went there after work. He had bought food at Hemköp on Mölndalsvägen, and we’re also going to check there to find out if someone remembers him. His school was somewhere near Heden. His parents don’t live far from the cottage but, as I said, we haven’t been able to reach them yet. The father is rector of the church in a small community called Kullahult. We’re thinking about how to tell the parents that their son has been murdered. I mean, after all, normally we take a pastor with us when we deliver the news. But what do you do when the recipient of such news is a pastor?”
Irene stopped her report and looked at her colleagues around the conference table. It was just after five in the afternoon. As usual, Jonny Blom was half asleep in his chair. When his head nodded, Irene noticed that his bald spot had become larger. The careful comb-over and fix with hair gel from that morning had lost its hold. The unit’s youngest man was sitting next to him and looked alert-as well as thick-haired: Fredrik Stridh was becoming as skillful as he was energetic, and Irene had begun to appreciate him. Hannu Rauhala sat quietly on Irene’s right, but she knew that he was registering everything. His wife, Birgitta, was the unit’s other female inspector. She was on maternity leave and wouldn’t be back for a few more months. When she started working again, Hannu was planning on taking paternity leave to care for their son. This information had been leaked a few days earlier, and Superintendent Andersson’s mood had darkened considerably. Amid his furious mumbling, some phrases like “babies need their mothers” and “men shouldn’t be nannies” could be discerned. Tommy Persson was also absent but might show up at any moment. He had devoted a large part of the day to questioning a suspect in the murder of a drug peddler, Ronny “Speedy” Olofsson. Speedy had embezzled some money from his connection. Since the sum was large, his punishment had been execution.
Speedy had been shot in the head early one Saturday morning. The only witnesses were some ornithologists in a car. Two of the birdwatchers had seen the murderer’s face. He had had a large scar, running from the bridge of his nose down his right cheek. With this description, the investigators knew right away who they should look for. The suspect, Asko Pihlainen, had already served several sentences for aggravated assault as well as narcotics violations, threatening witnesses, and grand theft auto. It was, however, the first time he had been connected to a murder. According to Asko, he wasn’t connected to it; he’d never set foot at the scene of the murder. And, incidentally, he had witnesses to state that he had been at a neighbor’s playing poker at the time of the murder.
That’s where the problem was: The neighbor, and two women, stated that Asko had been playing cards with them at five o’clock on Saturday morning. They stuck to their statements, and the investigation had come to a halt.
Irene didn’t envy Tommy’s task. Asko Pihlainen was notorious for always proclaiming his innocence. Those who testified against him almost always recanted. Asko hadn’t discovered the birdwatchers’ identities yet but it was only a matter of time. Irene sighed, but she had to concentrate on her own case.
She repeated her question. “Do you think that we should take another pastor along to Jacob Schyttelius’s parents’?”
“Aaah. If he’s a pastor, he can manage on his own,” said Jonny Blom.
Hannu asked permission to speak. “It’s one thing to provide assistance professionally. But when it comes to yourself, it’s something completely different.”
Fredrik Stridh nodded in agreement. “Exactly! And as he’s a pastor, one has to assume he’s religious.” He stopped when the others started laughing, but quickly continued his line of thinking: “I mean that a religious person may have a greater need than others to speak with a pastor.”
“Fredrik has a point there. I agree that we should take a pastor with us to the Schytteliuses’,” said Irene.
Superintendent Andersson spoke for the first time. “His name is Sten. Sten Schyttelius. I don’t remember what her name is.”
Fredrik Stridh arched his eyebrows. “Do you know them?”
“Not really. Friends of friends.” His tone of voice said that this subject was closed. Fredrik got the message and didn’t ask any more questions. He gave his boss a long contemplative look.
Andersson cleared his throat and said, “Irene, you’ll have to find a pastor and drive out to the Schytteliuses’. Take someone else with you.”
Fredrik volunteered. With a teasing look in Hannu’s direction, he said, “It’s right to help out a friend, and Hannu is going for training tonight. Guess in what.”
He looked so mischievous that Irene became curious. Certainly, the white-blond Finn with ice-blue eyes was slender and in good shape, but she had never thought about what sport he trained in. His colleagues suggested strength training, weight-lifting, hardening for the Finnish championships in sauna, the last-man-standing Koskenkorva championship, but no one was right.
“Baby swimming!” Fredrik announced.
A faint blush could be detected on Hannu’s cheeks, but there was no emotion in his voice when he asked, “How did you know?”
“We’re detectives, aren’t we? Seriously though, Birgitta called a while ago. You weren’t in, so she asked me to remind you that you were going to baby swimming tonight. I must admit that I had forgotten about it, but now I can give you her message: Don’t forget baby swimming!” Fredrik laughed.
The superintendent said, “Okay. Get the address and drive out to Schyttelius’s parents’. I’ll stay at the station. The press will probably be in touch soon.”
IRENE WAS lucky: The pastor of the neighboring parish was home. His name was Jonas Burman, and he had a friendly voice. When he understood what it was about, he offered to accompany them and provide support when they delivered this news of the death of a son. He gave them detailed directions to his home. He would direct them from there to the rectory in Kullahult, where Rector Schyttelius lived.
They found Burman’s house in Slättared without any problems. A tall figure bent against the biting breeze stood outside the gate. The wind had picked up during the last few hours and brought with it a great deal of whirling snow, though the flakes melted as soon as they touched wet ground. Irene pulled in and put the transmission in park. Both she and Fredrik got out to greet Burman.