‘Not really... I suppose Alex Fraser. Yes, they seemed to get on well.’ Nordlund and Westermark exchanged glances.
‘Do you know if she was dating anyone?’
‘Oh, no.’
‘That sounds very definite.’ Westermark immediately latched on to Holm’s quick reply.
Holm became flustered. ‘Well... that’s what I heard anyway.’
‘Did you know where she lived?’
‘No. Yes. I remember her telling me. It was close to the school.’
‘Did you stalk her?’
Holm was forced to look at Westermark’s craning head. ‘No!’ He spoke so vehemently that he set Helena off crying. It took a couple of minutes to settle her down.
‘Where were you on the night of September 28th?’ Nordlund asked. ‘It was a Friday.’
Holm made a great play of thinking back. ‘Greta didn’t turn up on the Monday, so it was the Friday before. I worked late that night.’
‘Late on a Friday?’ Westermark asked incredulously.
‘I had lots of marking.’
‘Then what did you do?’
‘Went home. And that’s it.’
‘Can your wife vouch for you?’
Holm blinked nervously. ‘Not exactly.’
‘What do you mean by that? Either she can or she can’t.’
‘We’ve a weekend place. Nybrostrand. Outside Ystad. Next to the beach.’
‘I know it,’ confirmed Nordlund.
‘Lamija took the girls there on Friday afternoon.’
‘Lamija?’ Westermark queried.
‘She was born in Bosnia.’
Westermark didn’t hide his contempt. ‘So you were by yourself on Friday night?’
‘I went across first thing Saturday morning for the rest of the weekend. Our last trip of the summer.’
‘And your wife drove over?’ asked Nordlund.
‘Erm... no, she didn’t. Took the train. I had the car at work.’
‘So, you have no alibi,’ Westermark said, pointing out the obvious.
Holm looked unhappy.
‘This car?’ Nordlund asked.
Holm nodded.
‘We’ll drive you home. Then Inspector Westermark will drive it back to headquarters.’
‘Why?’ Holm protested.
‘Because we’ll need to strip it down to see if Greta Jansson was in it the night she died.’
CHAPTER 33
Anita woke up late. The sun was peeking through the curtains and cast a beam of light through the glass of water by her bedside. She had spent the night at Jennifer Todd’s. Anita had insisted, despite the late hour, that they call into Jennifer’s to give her an update. Ash, tired after two long drives in the day, just wanted to go home. After a cup of tea, he had gone and Jennifer was adamant that Anita stay the night. Anita realised that Jennifer wanted some company. She could see that Jennifer needed to keep connected to reality, and helping to find out who was responsible for her husband’s murder was her way of doing that. Until Graeme’s body was finally released and returned to Britain, there would be no chance of closure and moving on. However, the news from Worcester was encouraging, even if it did do little to stem the emotional pain that haunted her every waking moment.
There was a light knock on the door. Anita managed a sleepy, ‘Yes?’
Jennifer came in with a mug of tea. ‘Thought you’d probably need this. I’ll have breakfast for you when you’re ready.’
As Anita sipped her tea, she started to marshal her thoughts. The visit to Worcester had given the investigation a kick start. There was now a plausible reason for Graeme Todd to find Carol Pew other than the paltry inheritance she might get if the claim on Doris Little’s estate was accepted. But Anita had to admit that that was based purely on the assumption that Carol had got hold of the stolen diamonds. What they now needed to know was what happened to Carol after her husband’s diamond robbery ended in murder. Ash was going to make some calls this morning, probably followed by a trip across to the North East. It was a journey that Todd himself had made after his visit to Vanessa Ridley. But who had he gone to see? They would need detailed background on the whole Nicky Pew case, and one person knew it more intimately than anyone. If that meant Ash having to see Deputy Chief Constable Royce Weatherley, so be it. He would have to put his personal animosity aside for the sake of the investigation. She had sympathy for his predicament, but she wouldn’t let it get in the way of discovering the truth and catching the killer. And from where she was standing, that person might be Carol Pew, or someone acting on her behalf. She didn’t even know what she looked like. Vanessa Ridley didn’t possess a photo of her. Ash was going to see what Northumbria Police had on file. As Pew’s wife, she must have come under the spotlight at some stage.
As Anita showered, her mind was still whirring. She must ring Lasse to see how he was coping with Björn. She still couldn’t bring herself to think that her ex-husband was a killer. It was bad enough for her to contemplate – it would be shattering for Lasse. With Björn in mind, she should also phone Nordlund and find out what the latest was on the Greta Jansson investigation. And she needed to report to Moberg. At least she had something to tell him now. Then there was Ewan. He’d just have to wait until she got back. But then her priority was to discover what he had wanted to tell her. Instead of feeling refreshed after her shower, she just felt stressed. Why was life so damned complicated?
Björn Sundström hadn’t slept well. He stared into the mirror above the basin as he brushed his teeth. Neat stubble was turning into a beard. He couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it. He had too much on his mind. The grotty bed and breakfast he had moved into wasn’t the kind of accommodation he was used to on his many conference and colloquium jaunts around the world. But it was in an area of the city where he could keep a low profile. He had returned to Anita’s apartment to find that the press were still camped on the doorstep. Who the hell had tipped them off he didn’t know, other than it must have come from inside the police. He had a left-winger’s natural distrust of authority, and the police in particular. Anita had been an aberration. He had never taken to any of her colleagues and had gradually made a point of avoiding them. Basically, he didn’t trust them, and the last few days had only heightened that feeling. Anita had been different. She was almost too honest for her own good, and had a refreshingly liberal attitude to everything from politics to immigration. She didn’t have that fear of a changing society that troubled so many Swedes.
He stopped brushing and dropped the toothbrush into the horrid plastic mug next to the mirror. Maybe it was the mess he was now in that made him view his former marriage in a brighter light. They had been so happy at one time. The sex had been terrific. He may have been her teacher, but she had been a willing and inventive pupil. Strangely, he had no inkling of her subsequent love life. Lasse had never been very forthcoming. On the other hand, his own had been an open book. Lasse’s visits to Uppsala had usually coincided with a new woman. Had any of the details got back to Anita? Suddenly it mattered what she thought of him.
He rinsed out his mouth. More importantly, he knew he was in a bad position. The police wanted to take in his car. He had handed over his spare set of keys. That obnoxious younger detective was going to Uppsala to pick the car up today. Why had he driven down that weekend when he could have got the train or flown? He hadn’t thought it through. He had just wanted to find Greta. And now the university had got wind of his involvement with the murder. He had been told that when he had called a colleague from a pay phone to cancel his lectures and tutorials. They weren’t happy, and he was sure to have received a lot of irate calls on his mobile, which was still at the polishus. He tore himself away from the mirror. He hadn’t liked what he had seen.
‘You shouldn’t have.’ She meant it. Anita surveyed with some dismay the huge English cooked breakfast that Jennifer Todd had laid out before her. This was definitely one of the 5 indulgent days. She took a sip of coffee and tried not t
o pull a face. Through the window she could see the main part of the village and the market cross. An elderly couple were standing next to the bus stop waiting to go to Keswick, the only service available from Fellbeck. And Wednesday was the only day the bus ran.
‘What time will Kevin Ash be here?’
Jennifer Todd had joined Anita at the breakfast table. She, too, had a coffee in her hand. Her breakfast had been eaten very early. She found sleep difficult since Graeme had first disappeared.
‘Not sure. He had a few calls to make. We’re also after a photo of Carol. We don’t actually know what she looks like.’
Jennifer put her cup down thoughtfully while Anita tentatively cut herself a small slice of Cumberland sausage.
‘I’ve just remembered something.’ Anita watched Jennifer intently as she ate her sausage, which was far spicier than she had expected; it was rather tasty. ‘Graeme was always closeted in his office and when I went in one night, he was trawling through a foreign website. He told me it was Swedish. Anyway, he became very animated. “I’ve found her!” That’s what he said.’
‘Found who?’
‘I kind of ignored it at the time. He was always finding people – that was his job. So I just forgot about it. But now we know there’s a Swedish connection with Carol Pew, I think it must have been her.’
‘On a particular internet site?’
‘I didn’t really see it properly, but I think it was probably a newspaper.’
‘Was it an article or a picture?’
‘I think it was a photo. But I can’t remember what it was of.’
Anita put down her fork. ‘Jennifer, please think very, very carefully. Try and imagine that you’re back in the office with Graeme. There’s the computer screen. On it is a photograph. Try and think.’
Todd shook her head slowly. ‘No.’
Disappointed, Anita returned to her breakfast.
‘I do remember Graeme saying something about jazz.’
Anita’s head jerked up. ‘Well, Nicky Pew was a jazz fanatic. Could it have been a jazz group? A concert? Some event?’
‘Could have been a concert. I’ve got a feeling there may have been a number of people in the photo. Yes, now I think about it, there were. I suppose the woman Graeme was getting so excited about must have been in there somewhere.’
Moberg was eating a large bun. Nordlund didn’t want to hazard a guess at what it contained. He assumed that it was the chief inspector’s second breakfast.
‘I’ve just had a call from Anita Sundström. She’s starting to get somewhere. I’ll fill you in later. But I’m more concerned about Greta Jansson at the moment. Where are we with the various cars?’
‘We’ve got Holm’s and Fraser’s cars in. Eva Thulin’s forensic team will be giving them the once over. Westermark flew up to Stockholm first thing this morning and he’ll bring Professor Sundström’s car down from Uppsala. We should know Thulin’s findings in the next couple of days.’
‘Well, that should turn up something.’
‘That’s if the killer got her to the harbour by car. It’s walkable from the apartment.’
Moberg huffed impatiently, ‘Don’t throw in any negatives, Henrik. We’ve only got these three suspects. So, the sooner we get evidence on one of them, the better. My money’s on the professor. What do you think?’
Nordlund had had plenty of time to ponder the question. ‘On the face of it, Professor Sundström certainly seems to have the best motive if Greta rejected him. It’s a hard thing for a man to take. Rapes her, then realizes what he’s done. And he has the most to lose if the rape comes out. He’s the one with the high-profile career.’
‘Exactly my thoughts.’
‘Westermark thinks both of Greta’s colleagues had a thing for her. I’ve sent Hakim off to the school to talk to other members of staff to see if we can actually establish that. If Fraser’s and Holm’s interest was unhealthy, and she spurned any advances then...’ Nordlund shrugged. ‘Whoever did rape her was let into her apartment. So we can assume that she knew her attacker.’
Moberg happily finished the last of his bun. ‘I don’t think this will take long to clear up.’ Then he looked at Nordlund and his faced dropped. ‘OK, Henrik, I sense a “but”.’
‘You may be right. But the killer was smart enough and, I suppose, brave enough to go back to the apartment and try and get rid of any traces of his being there. Rape might have been the result of an emotional, overheated reaction to a situation. But cleaning up the apartment was done with cool deliberateness. Do any of our suspects fit that dual personality?’
‘Oh, yes. Professor Sundström smacks of being just such a guy.’
CHAPTER 34
Though they didn’t leave Penrith until the afternoon, the day stayed fine throughout their drive to Newcastle. They took the motorway up to Carlisle before turning onto the A69 and heading east. At Greenhead, Ash decided to take the scenic route along the old Military Road, to avoid the convoy of lorries they were stuck behind. To her left, Anita could see the outline of some of the remains of Hadrian’s Wall. Now a World Heritage Site, it had been built by Emperor Hadrian as a way of defining the edge of his empire. Everything south of the wall, stretching as far as Africa, was civilized Roman territory; beyond was nothing but barbarians. Ash had some colleagues who still thought the same.
As the road crested a ridge outside Once Brewed, Ash pointed out a lone sycamore tree in a deep dip in a crag along which the Wall was straddled. It was an image discordant with a bleak landscape dominated by rough grass, bracken and bogs. ‘That’s where they filmed Robin Hood. The one with Kevin Costner. A fugitive kid climbs that tree and Robin Hood saves him from the Sheriff of Nottingham’s nasty henchmen.’
Anita nodded in recognition. Though she was no film lover, Lasse had made her watch it.
‘And is Weatherley your Sheriff of Nottingham?’
Ash snorted. ‘Not exactly. Just as slimy, but there’s no denying he must be a good policeman. His record speaks for itself.’
‘And where are we meeting him?’
‘He’s going to some official dinner, so that’s why we’re going directly to his home and not to police headquarters in Ponteland. He lives in Gosforth. That’s posh to you and me. Success has its rewards.’
Earlier, they’d picked up her things from the Carrock Guest House. It was unlikely that the investigation would take Anita back to Cumbria. She and Ash would seek answers in Newcastle, and then she would return to Sweden and start the search for Carol Pew. She had told Ash about the jazz photograph that Graeme Todd had found. One of their priorities would be to find a likeness of Carol, though it was likely to be nearly twenty years out of date. Once they had something to go on, she would get Hakim to trawl the internet and through the local Skåne newspapers and find a jazz event. If they could match the two, then they were going in the right direction.
They headed down a steep road and found themselves stopped at the traffic lights at an old single-file bridge over the North Tyne at Chollerford, next to the George Hotel. Ash gave a sidelong look. He smacked his lips. ‘Could do with a quick pint.’
‘No,’ said Anita firmly. She could sense that he was nervous. She could see this meeting with Weatherley was going to be difficult for him. ‘Why don’t we stop for a smoke?’
Ash managed to coax his car up the bank on the other side of the bridge. He was reduced to second gear to reach the first bit of level ground. He pulled into a lay-by. Beyond was a small church perched on the hill top.
‘Why don’t we go over there?’ Anita suggested.
They wandered over a field full of grazing sheep, and entered the churchyard. Round the back of the church the view was unbroken. The late- afternoon sunlight cast a rich yellow glow on the rough-hewn terrain that rose and fell all the way to the horizon. Leaning against the dry-stone church wall, Ash lit two cigarettes and passed one to Anita.
‘I love this countryside. Essex is beautiful, but it’s too ordered. Too fla
t. This is untamed,’ he said, with a flourish of his hand. ‘The main drawback is that it’s too bloody cold.’
‘If you think this is cold, try a winter in northern Sweden.’
Ash laughed. ‘Fair enough. Shouldn’t complain. My girls think I’m a sissy because I’m always complaining about the weather. They were brought up here, so don’t know any different. But the young don’t seem to feel the cold. You should see them in Newcastle on a Friday night wearing next to nothing.’
‘You’re joking!’
‘No. Even in the middle of winter.’ He shook his head in disbelief.
‘Why?’ Anita couldn’t conceive of going out in the cold without wrapping up, even on a night out with friends.
‘Don’t ask me. My sister says it’s getting like that in Essex, too. Some of the sights are not for the faint-hearted either. It’s worse when you’ve got daughters that age and you wonder what the hell they’re getting up to. Safer for me to live in ignorance in Cumbria, I think.’
‘My son is the same. He met this awful girl who then dumped him, and he changed completely. He was very level-headed, but now I don’t know what to do with him.’ She’d managed to track Lasse down earlier and he’d reported, with what sounded like relief, that his father had left the apartment and was staying somewhere else in town. The press had disappeared too. He had been his now-usual monosyllabic self and couldn’t speak for long, as he was going out to meet somebody. Anita hadn’t managed to worm out of him who it was before he’d ended the conversation with, ‘Sorry, Mamma, I’ve got to go.’
‘Bloody kids!’ she agreed with Ash.
To take her mind off Lasse and the sense of loss she was feeling as a mother, she changed the subject back to the case in hand.
‘What’s the itinerary?’
‘Roller first. Whatever he has to tell us will probably dictate our next move. But afterwards, I thought we might visit the scene of the crime.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Pew’s diamond heist. See where this all began. It’s near where I’ve booked us in. A Premier Inn in North Shields. Then tomorrow, I’ll go to the North Shields nick and get all they have on Pew and the robbery. Then it should be easy enough for your lot to find Carol Pew in Sweden.’
Missing in Malmö: The third Inspector Anita Sundström mystery (Inspector Anita Sundström mysteries) Page 19