In Bad Company (Sandhamn Murders)

by Viveca Sten

  Blanka unbuttoned her coat. “You need to think about the children.”

  “I can’t talk to Zlatko. I’ve already tried. You know what he’s like.”

  Bright red patches had appeared on Blanka’s cheeks. “You can’t stay here! Please come!”

  “I know we ought to . . .” Selma’s voice gave way; she couldn’t go on.

  Blanka rested her forehead against Selma’s, blinking back her own tears. “I’m not trying to scare you, Selma. I’m just so worried about what will happen to you and the boys after we’ve gone.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then got out her cigarettes. It took her three attempts to light one; the hand holding the match was shaking too much. She couldn’t suppress a sob. “Please come,” she said again. “Don’t say anything to Zlatko.”

  Selma glanced at Andreis; he seemed to be fully absorbed in his cars. Emir was staring in fascination at the toys as Andreis moved them back and forth.

  “Otherwise you’re all going to die,” Blanka continued. “It’s only a matter of time until the Serbs get here.”

  CHAPTER 89

  The winding road that began at the jetty in Styrsvik was a familiar sight by now. Nora’s feet found their own way to Freya’s Haven. How many times had she followed this route over the past week? Considerably more than she could have imagined when she came back to work after the Easter break.

  Anna-Maria opened the door when Nora and Leila rang the bell, but her usual energy was missing.

  “How are you?” Nora asked as they took off their coats. The manager had dark circles under her eyes, and a few strands of hair had escaped from her ponytail.

  “I’m just a little tired.” Anna-Maria rubbed her forehead with her right hand. “I had Lukas last night so that Mina could get some sleep. She was completely exhausted, poor soul.”

  Nora took a closer look at her. The lines between her nose and mouth had deepened, even though it was only twenty-four hours since Nora had seen her. She seemed to be carrying bigger problems than a baby who needed a bottle in the middle of the night.

  Leila’s phone rang. She excused herself and moved away.

  “Is that all?” Nora said. “You look pretty worried, if you don’t mind my saying so.”

  “We’ve got problems with the local authority,” Anna-Maria admitted, adjusting the cloth on the little table in front of the mirror; it had been perfectly straight to begin with. “They need to save money, they’re on us all the time. Someone called just now with bad news.”

  All the local authorities were trying to economize. Where did the money go?

  Swedish taxes were high, and yet whenever you opened a newspaper, it seemed as if most public services were on their knees. There was a shortage of resources in health care, education, and, not least, the police, as Thomas often pointed out. Everything was operating on a deficit.

  Anna-Maria was clearly so upset that Nora didn’t feel she could let it go. Leila was still on the phone, so Nora pointed to the sofa in the empty living room. “Let’s sit down for a moment.”

  Anna-Maria reluctantly complied, perching on the very edge of the seat.

  “Tell me about the phone call.”

  Anna-Maria flushed. “I shouldn’t have said anything. You don’t have time for this kind of thing; that’s not why you’re here.”

  “Don’t you worry about that.” Nora was happy to help if she could. “Tell me. I’m an attorney, after all—maybe there’s something I can do?”

  “Do you know anything about public-sector tenders?” Anna-Maria uttered the words as if they were in a foreign language.

  “Not much,” Nora admitted.

  “The local authority is putting women’s shelters out to tender.” Anna-Maria sighed. “I’m sure the intention is good, but the way they’ve chosen to do it will mean the end for us. We’re a charitable foundation, but we’re totally dependent on the authority’s contribution to make ends meet.”

  “And why would the tender process have such serious consequences for you?” Nora asked.

  “It seems as if the criteria are going to be so narrowly defined that we won’t be able to fulfill them. Which means we won’t be given an allocation, and that in turn means no financial support.” Anna-Maria rubbed her hand up and down her thigh. “We’ve run this place for twenty years with excellent results, but that appears to be irrelevant. It’s all about what it’s going to cost in the future—nothing else matters.” She was speaking more and more quickly, and Nora was finding it difficult to process the information.

  “Take a deep breath and explain it to me slowly,” she said. “What exactly has the local authority said?”

  A skinny, fair-haired teenage girl stuck her head around the living room door. When she saw Anna-Maria and Nora, she quickly withdrew. Anna-Maria didn’t even notice her.

  “They’re going to weight the tender so that previous experience dealing with traumatized women and children doesn’t count,” Anna-Maria said.

  “What do you mean by ‘weight the tender’?”

  “In the public sector–tendering process, there’s a points system to clarify the extent to which a provider fulfills the various criteria. Whoever has the most points wins the contract.”

  “Go on.”

  “If you give high points for ‘competitive prices’ and low points for ‘expertise and experience,’ then what do you think is going to happen?”

  The penny dropped. Nora silently forgave herself; this was an area of the law she’d never worked in. “It’s all about offering the lowest price,” she said.

  “Exactly. We don’t stand a chance. We can’t compete with the other bidders. They’re huge care providers who see this as purely a business opportunity. They can even put in a tender that will run at a loss, just to get the contract. As far as we’re concerned, the writing’s on the wall.” Anna-Maria had tears in her eyes. “Now do you understand? Our knowledge is regarded as unimportant, despite the fact that it’s vital. This is a complex operation. The women who come here are frightened and broken. They need help from qualified therapists and proven support mechanisms.”

  Anna-Maria’s shoulders slumped. “I sat up late last night going over the figures. It’s impossible to put in a competitive bid while maintaining the quality of what we do here. It simply can’t be done. We’re going to have to close.”

  “Surely it can’t be that bad?”

  “I’m afraid it is. There’s no money for anything, even though these women are so vulnerable. I just don’t know what we’re going to do.”

  Leila ended her call and came over to join them, slipping her phone into her pocket. “Sorry—I had to take that.”

  Anna-Maria quickly got to her feet. “Listen to me, babbling on!”

  “It’s fine.” Nora gently placed a hand on her arm. “I wish I could do something to help.”

  Anna-Maria managed a wan smile. “It was good of you to listen, but you’re not here to solve my problems. I’ll take you to Mina’s room. She’s probably feeding Lukas.”

  CHAPTER 90

  The day had started badly, and it was getting worse.

  Ulrika Grönstedt had already smoked two more cigarettes this afternoon, even though she’d promised herself she’d stop. Or at least stick to one a day.

  It couldn’t be helped. To be honest, she hadn’t expected things to move so fast when Herman Wibom informed her that Mina was intending to testify against her husband, and that as her representative he would be applying for a no-contact order. She hadn’t thought the old fool would be prepared to go so far.

  Clearly she’d been wrong. Nothing was going according to plan. One of her contacts had informed her that the police were out looking for Kovač in connection with a new investigation. She had to get a hold of her client.

  This time he answered right away.

  “Yes?”

  That told her everything she needed to know about his mood. “Apparently the police are looking for you.”

  “So?”


  He was in his car. She could hear the hum of the engine in the background, and the automated voice of the GPS telling him to take the next right. Presumably he was on the way to conduct yet more illegal business. Ulrika was under no illusions. “Why are they looking for you?”

  “How the fuck should I know?”

  “It must be because of the assault on your wife,” Ulrika speculated. “Now she’s decided to testify against you.”

  “For fuck’s sake . . .”

  He had only himself to blame. “Tell me what happened yesterday, when she went to your house,” Ulrika said.

  “Later.”

  “When?”

  “Later, I said!”

  “I can’t prepare your defense if I don’t have access to all the facts. Things seem to have taken a fresh turn over the past twenty-four hours.”

  The automated voice instructed Kovač to take the next left, then turn left again.

  “Maybe it’s about your visit to Mina’s parents,” Ulrika went on. “We need to talk about that, too.”

  “No, we don’t.”

  “I spoke to your father-in-law a little while ago. He gave me a detailed account of what happened on Saturday night. His wife is in a coma at the Southern District Hospital, and he holds you responsible for her condition.”

  The memory of her conversation with Stefan Talevski was painful. There were limits to how far she was prepared to go for her client.

  “You can’t do that kind of thing if you want me to defend you. This is getting worse and worse. I have to be able to do my job as your lawyer if we’re to have any chance of getting you acquitted.”

  “Fuck that.”

  Ulrika almost ended the call there and then. “Anyway, the police are looking for you,” she said with a sharp edge to her voice.

  “I don’t have time for this. Am I wanted as a suspect?”

  Ulrika was suddenly unsure, and Kovač picked up on that immediately. “Am I a suspect or not?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “There you go then.”

  Ulrika wasn’t used to being spoken to like this.

  “Have you found out where Mina is yet?” Kovač snapped.

  “No—I’ve already told you, that’s not how it works.”

  “I need to speak to her.”

  Did she have to tell him yet again that Mina was in a shelter? The most sensible thing he could do would be to stay away from his wife. Every time they were in contact, he made his own situation worse.

  Ulrika stood up. “You can’t,” she said with more patience than he deserved. “It’s out of the question. Any communication has to go via me and her counsel.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  “Those are the rules.” Ulrika’s jaws ached with the effort of holding back. “Her legal representative is in the process of requesting a no-contact order against you. That means that all contact between you and your wife is banned. It wouldn’t surprise me if the order comes into effect tomorrow. Just so you know.” She had no idea if that was true, but she didn’t care anymore. If she’d been representing Mina, she’d have had a no-contact order in place long ago.

  “What did you say his name was?”

  “Mina’s counsel? Herman Wibom.”

  “In that case I’ll speak to him directly, if you can’t manage it.”

  “Andreis, please don’t do anything stupid.”

  Silence. Her client had already gone.

  CHAPTER 91

  When Nora and Leila knocked on the door, Mina was standing in the middle of the room, rocking Lukas in his stroller. It looked brand new, and was, without doubt, the most expensive stroller Nora had ever seen.

  She hadn’t really noticed it yesterday, in the midst of all the chaos. Was that why Mina had gone home and risked her life? For the sake of a stroller?

  It seemed incomprehensible, but maybe something else was going on here. Maybe this was about Mina’s right to visit her own home, to collect items that meant a great deal to her. An attempt to preserve an ounce of normality.

  “Hi, Mina,” she said, holding out her hand. “How are you feeling today?”

  “A little better, thank you.” Mina pushed the stroller into the corner by the tiled stove. Lukas was fast asleep, with a cuddly toy beside him. “I slept right through the night, thanks to Anna-Maria.”

  “We really appreciate the fact that you have changed your mind and are ready to talk to us,” Leila said. “We realize it’s not easy.”

  “Anna-Maria helped. She made me think.” Mina was pale, but radiated an inner strength compared with yesterday. Her hair was clean and brushed, tucked neatly behind her ears. “I want to show you something,” she said, sitting down on the sofa. She took out her phone and entered her password. “Here,” she said with no hesitation, turning the screen toward Nora and Leila.

  Nora inhaled sharply.

  She was looking at a close-up of a faceless woman in her bra and pants. From the navel upward the skin was badly discolored, covered in large purple contusions. There was an ugly red mark around the neck.

  “Is this you?” Nora had to ask.

  “Yes. That was just over a year ago.”

  “What’s this?” Nora said, pointing to the mark on the neck. “Did he try to strangle you?”

  “Not on that occasion. It must have been a kick, but I don’t really remember what happened toward the end. I was completely out of it.”

  Mina swiped left; the next picture showed her face. Her lower lip was swollen and split, and her right eye was closed. There were scratches all over one cheek, and her chin and throat were streaked with blood.

  Nora wanted to look away. She could still see the traces of Kovač’s latest attack on his wife, even though the bruises were fading and her lip had almost healed. She couldn’t understand how a couple could make up after such violence. How could they even speak to each other again?

  “You must tell us if this gets too difficult,” Leila said gently. “We’ll understand.”

  “There’s more,” Mina said. She must have been living in a minefield, where one false step could trigger an explosion. What kind of marriage was that? It was almost impossible to imagine existing in constant fear of your own partner. Was it possible to heal from something like that?

  Nora blinked back the tears.

  Mina moved on to a third picture, where a lump the size of a one-krona piece had appeared above her eye in shades of blue and purple.

  Nora thought about figures in Greek mythology with grotesque horns on their foreheads. Once again, Mina’s face was badly scratched.

  “He usually struck me on the body where it didn’t show so much,” Mina said. “But sometimes he’d lose control and go for my face. This happened just before I became pregnant with Lukas.” She pointed to the lump. “He hit me so hard that I fell against the edge of the kitchen counter. I passed out on the floor.”

  “Why didn’t you leave him?”

  Nora regretted the words as soon as she’d spoken. She ought to know better than to ask a question like that. There were many reasons why abused women stayed with violent men, when the violence gradually broke their spirit and destroyed their self-esteem. The sick behavior became normalized over time until even the abused partner accepted the perpetrator’s view of reality.

  Comments that could make the victim feel guilty were no help at all.

  “Sorry,” Nora said immediately. “That was a really stupid question.”

  “I don’t know why I didn’t leave him,” Mina said, bringing up another picture of bruised flesh. “I never thought this could happen to me.” She looked over at Lukas, then up at the ceiling. “When it did, I was so ashamed.”

  “None of it was your fault,” Leila said quickly.

  “I know that now. I wish I could explain why I stayed with Andreis, at least before Lukas was born. After he came along it was impossible to leave.”

  Nora hardly dared ask the next question. “Were you able to talk to your parents
about what was going on?”

  “No. Absolutely not.”

  Mina put the phone down on the coffee table. She pushed her hair back from her forehead; the sun shining in through the window by the stove left half her face in shadow.

  “Mom and Dad never liked him. They were worried because he was five years older than me, and they had concerns about his background. I think they suspected pretty early on that he didn’t have a proper job, that he did . . . other things . . .”

  “So they knew nothing about the abuse?”

  “At first I didn’t want to admit to them that they’d been right, that he wasn’t good for me. I couldn’t do it—it was too hard. When things got really bad, I didn’t dare. My dad would have confronted Andreis, and I was terrified about how Andreis would react.”

  Lukas whimpered. Mina went over to give him his pacifier.

  “I really thought everything would be all right when I got pregnant,” she continued. “Things did improve for a while; Andreis was almost like the man I fell in love with. He was wonderful when we first got together. I guess it’s hard for you to believe it, but he really was. I’d never been so much in love with anyone else. The first few years were so good—until he became stressed by his business affairs and started drinking too much and taking too many drugs.” Mina’s voice was thick with unshed tears.

  “Thank you for showing us the pictures,” Leila said gently. “You’re very brave.”

  “Those pictures will be used as evidence,” Nora explained. “It’s important that you understand. Other people will need to see them.”

  “I do understand.” Mina sat down again.

  “I hope you realize how important it is that you saved those images,” Nora added. “We’ll use them against your husband. You won’t need to worry about him for many years.”

  Mina turned her head toward Lukas. “I’m doing it for his sake,” she said.

  CHAPTER 92

  The air-conditioning was humming quietly in Thomas’s office, a monotonous sound in the background that he never usually noticed. For some reason it was disturbing him today. He was finding it very difficult to concentrate, and he really needed to gather his thoughts before the briefing Margit had called in half an hour.