Knutas could have bitten his tongue. He ought to tread more carefully with a new widow. The words had just come out before he could think about what he was saying. But Monika Wallin didn’t seem upset.
‘We both felt that things were fine as they were. The gallery took up almost all of our time; he devoted himself to art and his business trips, while I took care of the administrative work. We lived side by side but rarely crossed paths. The fact is, I think he’d found someone else.’
She stretched, and Knutas realized that he was actually beginning to think she was rather elegant. Upon closer inspection, her hair wasn’t mousy at all; it had a soft, ash-coloured sheen in the light coming through the window. Her complexion was smooth and clear. Her colourlessness was in fact quite beautiful.
‘Why do you think so?’
‘We no longer had any sex life. In the past Egon always had great needs in that area.’
She cleared her throat.
‘There were other signs, too. He seemed unusually happy and pleased after his trips to Stockholm. He began taking more interest in his appearance, and he stayed up late at night, sitting in front of his computer. He said that he was working, but I could tell he was chatting online with someone.’
‘But you never confronted him about this?’
‘No. Why should I do that? It wouldn’t have made any difference any more. Our relationship was no longer what it had once been.’ ‘So you have no idea who it might have been?’
‘No clue at all.’
19
The murder of the art dealer Egon Wallin in Visby had grabbed the attention of the whole country. Pia Lilja was the only one who had captured photos of the victim as he hung from the gate in the ring wall, and every Swedish newspaper had wanted copies. Max Grenfors, who was the head of Regional News, had been overjoyed when he rang Johan’s mobile on Monday morning, and he offered high praise for the previous day’s reporting.
‘Terrific! Great job. And amazing photos. Pia is unbeatable!’ ‘But shouldn’t you-’
‘Yes, yes, I’ve already called to congratulate her,’ Grenfors interrupted, as if he knew what Johan was going to say. ‘Have you seen the morning papers? All of Sweden is talking about the murder. And everybody is going to wish they had your job today,’ he continued effusively. ‘Just so you know, you’re going to have to send in a report by lunchtime and another one for the afternoon broadcast.’
Sometimes Johan got tired of his boss’s cynicism. Pia’s photo of the body hanging from the gate had been splashed across the front page of the evening papers. Since every Swede at some time in his life visited Gotland on summer holiday, the picture had stirred strong emotions. That morning, Johan had already seen the story top the morning news on TV. Max Grenfors had wanted to show footage filmed at the scene, but he was stopped by the powers-that-be at the national news bureau who thought that would be going too far.
Johan drove into the car park outside the TV and Radio building on Ostra Hansegatan and pulled into the spot reserved for Regional News.
The editorial office used to be housed in a small building inside the ring wall, but it had now been moved here, to the former premises of the decommissioned A7 military regiment. The building had previously been used as a stable for the military’s horses, and the architect had wanted to preserve vestiges of its history in the renovation. This was especially evident in the doors, columns, and wide panels of the walls. The colour scheme was mostly brown and white. Everything had been nicely done, and most of the occupants seemed happy with the move, even though the location was not as central as before. Regional News had been assigned two new rooms on the second floor with a view of the park. Pia was sitting in front of the computers, and she glanced up at once when Johan came in.
‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Anything new going on?’
‘No, but check this out.’ She waved him over to the chair next to her. ‘Every damned newspaper has my photo. Have you seen this?’
She clicked on the websites of various papers. Poor Egon Wallin was on the front page of every one of them.
‘Shit,’ said Johan in disgust. ‘Whatever happened to ethics? Even Grenfors was hesitant about using it, for once.’
‘Yes, but at the same time it’s a fucking good picture,’ muttered Pia without taking her eyes off the screen.
‘But think about his family. How do you think his children will feel when they see every paper in the country using that picture of their father on their placards? And why do you carry a still camera around when you’re supposed to be filming for TV?’
Pia heaved a deep sigh and looked up at Johan.
‘Remember I’m a freelance. I always take a still camera with me. And I happened to get an opportunity to take a picture from an angle that no one else could get. Good Lord, it’s fine to be nice and considerate if you’ve got a monthly salary. I’ve got bills to pay. I’m going to be living off this photo for months. And by the way, of course I realize this must be rough for his family. But we’re in the news business, and we can’t be super-considerate about everybody involved in what goes on in the world at the cost of filing our reports. I think the photo is OK, because it only shows the body from a distance and not his face. And besides, his children are adults. And no one would be able to recognize him.’
‘No one outside the family, maybe,’ said Johan drily. ‘So have you heard from Grenfors?’
He wanted to change the subject to avoid further discussion. Johan was very fond of Pia, but when it came to ethics, they had widely different views. Trying to persuade her to adopt his own, more cautious take on the matter was like pounding his head against a brick wall. The worst part was that the editors, with Grenfors in the lead, usually agreed with Pia. People who ended up caught in the middle were generally given little consideration, in Johan’s opinion; he thought it was possible to report the news without trampling on others. Besides, in his position as reporter, he was responsible for the content, and it was his name that appeared on the TV screen.
Whenever the discussions were at their most heated, Grenfors would shout at Johan that he was a damned bleeding-heart reporter, meaning that he always thought too much about the consequences of his reporting.
There was a school of journalism that advocated remaining neutral when it came to consequences; Grenfors belonged to that school, but Johan did not. He thought that journalists had a responsibility that extended beyond the publication of an interview. And this was especially true of crime reporting, when both the victim and family members became part of the story. This responsibility particularly came into play with TV because of its enormous and widespread impact.
He was tired of this discussion, which was constantly coming up. Every day there were new positions to be taken, which always promoted new disputes. He and Pia had spent half of Sunday evening bickering about the photo of Egon Wallin. Johan had been against publication, but both Pia and the editorial management disagreed with him. In the end he was forced to go along with a brief shot from a distance showing the body hanging from the gate. By then only a few minutes remained before the broadcast, and they risked having the entire spot dropped if no decision was reached.
20
But today was a new day, and Johan and Pia had agreed to start off with the gallery, provided it was open after the events that had occurred. They at least hoped to find someone working there.
As they drove, Pia peeked at him from under the straggly black fringe that hung into her eyes. ‘You’re not angry, are you?’
‘Of course not. We just happen to disagree.’
‘Good,’ she said, patting his knee.
‘I wonder who that was inside the gallery yesterday,’ said Johan, just to change the subject.
‘Maybe it was an employee who saw us arrive and didn’t feel like talking,’ said Pia. ‘They must have to clean up the place after an opening.’
‘You’re probably right.’
‘And maybe they needed to have a chat about what happened,’ sai
d Pia, swerving to miss a big orange cat that ran across the road.
She expertly steered the car through the narrow cobblestoned streets and parked in the middle of Stora Torget. That was no problem in the wintertime when the open marketplace was empty of all the booths and vendors’ stalls that filled the square in the summer.
Pia set up her equipment on the street and began filming. Just as she turned on the camera, a plump older woman wearing a sheepskin coat and cap came walking over with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.
Johan quickly approached with a microphone. ‘What do you think about the murder?’
The woman looked a bit hesitant at first, but quickly collected herself. ‘It’s dreadful that something like that could happen here, in little Visby. And he was such a nice man, Egon. Always friendly and amiable. It’s hard to believe that this has actually happened.’ ‘Why are you bringing flowers here?’
‘It’s the least I can do to honour Egon. Everybody is terribly shocked.’
‘Does it make you scared?’
‘You do start thinking about the fact that a crazy man might be on the loose. And whether it’s even safe to go out any more.’
The woman had tears in her eyes. She fell silent and waved her hand to indicate that Pia should stop filming. Johan asked whether he could use her in his report. She agreed and clearly spelled her name for him.
A modern sign made of steel was posted between the medieval masonry anchors in the rough stone facade, stating that the name of the gallery was Wallin Art. In the display window was a photograph of Egon Wallin with a lit candle in front of it. When they tried the door, they found that it was locked, but they could see people moving about inside. Johan pounded on the door and managed to catch a woman’s attention. She came over and opened the door for them. A bell rang as they entered. The woman introduced herself as Eva Blom. At a counter stood another woman, printing the words ‘Closed due to death of the proprietor’ on a piece of paper.
‘We’re planning to stay closed today,’ Eva Blom explained, giving them a forced smile. ‘I assume that Monika wouldn’t want us to try to conduct business as usual. Especially considering all the reporters who’ve been ringing, both yesterday and now this morning.’ She cast a glance at Pia, who was already in the process of filming the picture of Egon Wallin in the window.
Eva Blom was evidently fond of red. She wore a black jumper and skirt, with bright-red lipstick that looked good against her milky-white complexion. She looked up at Johan, her blue eyes staring at him from behind red-framed glasses. ‘What do you want?’
He introduced himself and Pia. ‘We’re doing a report on what happened, and we’d like to get your reaction, of course. You worked so closely with Egon Wallin,’ he said, giving Eva Blom a solemn look. She was a short woman, barely reaching up to his shoulders.
‘As long as you don’t take any pictures,’ she said tersely. ‘I don’t want to be on TV.’
‘Unfortunately that’s the only way for us to report on anything, since we work for Swedish television,’ explained Johan. ‘Could we at least take some footage inside the gallery?’
Grenfors wasn’t going to be pleased that they hadn’t got more interviews. And Johan had stubbornly refused to comply with his boss’s request to get an interview with the new widow. There was a limit to what he would stoop to doing just for the sake of a good story.
21
Detective Inspector Karin Jacobsson was the person that Knutas cared about most at his job. They had worked together for fifteen years. She was an astute and skilled officer, but it was Karin’s personality that had drawn him to her from the very start. She was charming, lively and spirited; she always had an opinion about everything, and he’d never met anybody who was able to get to the point so fast. At least when it came to their work. She was a sweet, petite woman with dark hair and doe-like eyes. She spent much of her free time playing football, as was evident from her muscular physique. Her most remarkable feature was the gap between her front teeth, which was most apparent whenever she smiled or laughed. Karin almost always wore jeans and a shirt. In the summertime she would occasionally appear at work wearing a dress, causing a few raised eyebrows. She was thirty-nine but looked younger, and she was still single, at least as far as Knutas knew. If she was involved in a relationship, she was keeping it to herself, which was practically impossible to do in a small town like Visby. Her parents lived in Tingstade, and she saw them now and then. There was something enigmatic about Karin that Knutas couldn’t work out.
Right now they were having coffee in his office, considering various motives for the murder of Egon Wallin.
‘It does seem strange that the artist and his manager would leave for Stockholm on the very morning of the murder, but there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation,’ said Jacobsson. ‘Maybe it was something they’d planned long before.’
‘Well, I hope we can get hold of them soon so we can hear what they have to say. We can’t dismiss the fact that it’s a damned odd coincidence for them to end up on the same plane as Egon Wallin’s biggest competitor. And a guy who had previously tried to get his mitts on Kalvalis.’
‘I agree. But how many flights to Stockholm are there on a Sunday?’ Jacobsson went on. ‘It may have nothing at all to do with the case. I think that first and foremost we need to ask ourselves why Egon Wallin went out in the middle of the night. What normal person goes home with his wife around eleven after a festive evening and then suddenly decides to take a walk? Besides, it was freezing cold on Saturday night. The only reason I can think of is that he went out to meet someone. A love tryst, to put it bluntly.’
‘I’ve also been thinking along those lines. But who is this lover of his and where can we find her? And why hasn’t she come forward? Egon Wallin didn’t take his car, nor did he ring for a cab; we’ve already checked on that. So he must have left home on foot, and then he either ran into the murderer somewhere outdoors, or he was killed at the home of his mistress.’
‘Others could also be involved,’ Jacobsson interjected. ‘Maybe his mistress had a husband who discovered what was going on, and he killed Egon Wallin during the night.’
‘Unless it was his mistress who did it,’ countered Knutas. ‘Though I have a hard time imagining that a woman would be able to hoist up his body like that. Provided she didn’t have help, of course.’
Knutas stopped to sneeze loudly. He took a few moments to blow his nose before going on.
‘Good Lord, we can keep on speculating for ever, but it won’t really get us anywhere.’
Jacobsson drained the last of her coffee and got up.
‘How are things going, by the way?’ asked Knutas. ‘How are you?’
He regarded her intently. There was something weighing on her; he’d noticed it for several days now. She’s really sweet, he thought as he observed her hesitation.
When she first arrived at Visby police headquarters, he thought for a while that he was falling in love with her, but then he met Lina and forgot all about his budding interest in Karin.
Knutas was not the only one who had a hard time deciphering what Karin thought or felt about personal matters. She had a reserve as thick as armour, which meant that no one dared ask any questions about her private life, at least initially. Unless it had to do with football.
The strange thing was that Knutas himself found it so easy to talk to her, even though she was reticent about confiding in him. He often turned to Karin when he had problems with Lina or the children. She was always sympathetic and willing to listen. But if he later asked her about similar concerns, she was always evasive. Yet he was still very fond of her, and he sometimes worried that she might look for a more challenging job. Although Karin had worked on the Visby police force for sixteen years, he wouldn’t feel secure until her personal life prompted her to settle down permanently. As things now stood, if she met someone over on the mainland, she’d be gone. Or if she was offered a job that she couldn’t refuse.
Some
times he felt like her father, even though there were only thirteen years between them. Knutas had become dependent on having Karin Jacobsson as part of the team, and he certainly didn’t want to lose her.
She paused for a moment before answering his question.
‘I’m fine, thanks.’
‘Sure?’
Her expression was inscrutable as she met his gaze.
‘Of course. I’m fine.’
Even though he could see that something was bothering her, he knew better than to ask any more questions.
22
E mma had been caught completely off guard by Johan’s sudden proposal of marriage. In a sense it was inevitable, as if they would have to come to that decision sooner or later. They had a child together, after all. By the time she had chosen to keep the baby and break up her marriage, she’d already made up her mind. And yet she had kept wavering back and forth. When she thought about how she’d behaved since meeting Johan, it seemed a miracle that he still wanted to be with her. That he hadn’t grown tired of her long ago.
He had left the house for the city and his job a short time ago. He had kissed her before leaving, but had not said any more about the matter or pressed her for an answer. She had watched him walk down the snow-covered path towards his car, studying his dark curly hair, his brown leather jacket that was nicely worn, and his washed-out jeans.
It was really quite simple: she loved him and it was obvious that they should get married. At the same time she was terrified that her relationship with Johan would end the same way as her marriage with Olle had. The dreariness of daily life would come creeping in once the elation of living together had waned. The excitement would fade, gradually but relentlessly leading to the point when they were no longer excited by each other. Their sex life would wither and become mechanical and obligatory because neither of them would have the energy to sustain the passion that once existed.
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