Patrik Hedstrom 01 - The Ice Princess

by Camilla Lackberg

  He sat in the car with his eyes closed, leaning against the headrest. Twilight was falling and he should be starting the drive home, but he felt weak and apathetic. Not even the thought that Erica was waiting for him could induce him to drive home. His ingrained positive attitude to life had been shaken to its core. For the first time, he felt doubtful that the good in human beings was really greater than the evil.

  On another level he also felt a bit guilty. The shocking story had touched him deeply, but at the same time he had felt a professional satisfaction when the pieces of the puzzle one by one fell into place. So many questions had been answered this afternoon. Yet he now felt an even greater frustration than before. He had found the explanation to so much, but he was still fumbling in the dark when it came to who had murdered Alex and Anders. Perhaps the motive lay hidden in the past, perhaps it had nothing to do with the past at all, although he found that hard to believe. In spite of everything, this was the only connection he had found between Alex and Anders.

  But why would someone want to murder them because of abuse that had taken place more than twenty-five years ago? If that were the reason, why do nothing until now? What had set in motion something that had lain dormant for so many years and then resulted in two murders in the space of a couple of weeks? The most frustrating thing was that Patrik had no idea what direction to take now.

  The afternoon had meant a big breakthrough in the investigation, but at the same time it had led into a blind alley. Patrik went over in his head what he had done and heard that day, and it struck him that he had one very concrete lead with him in the car. Something he had forgotten in the aftershocks of the visit with the Carlgrens and the tumult that followed Karl-Erik’s dramatic heart attack. Once again, Patrik felt the same enthusiasm he had experienced that morning. He realized that he had a unique opportunity to follow up this lead more closely. All he needed was a little luck.

  He turned on his mobile phone, ignoring the three messages on his voicemail, and rang Information to get the number of Sahlgrenska Hospital. He got the switchboard and asked to be connected.

  ‘Sahlgrenska Hospital.’

  ‘Yes, hello, my name is Patrik Hedström. I wonder whether you have a Robert Ek working in the forensic medicine division.’

  ‘One moment, I’ll check.’

  Patrik held his breath. Robert was an old classmate from the Police Academy who had gone on to study to be a forensic technician. They had hung out together during the course but then lost contact. Patrik thought he’d heard through the grapevine that Robert was now working at Sahlgrenska, and he crossed his fingers that this was true.

  ‘Let’s see. Yes, we do have a Robert Ek working there. Would you like me to connect you?’

  Patrik silently cheered. ‘Yes, please.’

  There were a couple of rings and then he heard Robert’s familiar voice.

  ‘Forensic medicine, Robert Ek.’

  ‘Hi, Robban, can you tell who this is?’

  There was silence for a couple of seconds. Patrik never thought that Robert would recognize his voice, and was just about to help him out. But then he heard a howl from the phone.

  ‘Patrik Hedström, you old dog! What the hell, it’s sure been a long time! How come you’re calling? Not exactly an everyday event, I mean.’

  Robert was teasing him, and Patrik felt a little ashamed. He knew he was terrible at keeping in touch with people. Robert had been a lot better at it but had given up after a while when Patrik never called back. He felt even more ashamed because now that he was finally calling, it was because he needed a favour. But he could hardly back out now.

  ‘No, I know, I’m so damned bad at staying in touch. But right now I’m actually sitting in the car park outside Sahlgrenska, and I remembered hearing somewhere that you were working here. I thought I’d check to see if you were in so I could pop in and say hello.’

  ‘Sure, damn it. Come on in, no problem.’

  ‘How do I find you? Where’s your office?’

  ‘We’re in the cellar. Go in through the front entrance, take the lift down, turn right and go all the way to the end of the hall. There’s a door at the end, and that’s where we are. Just ring the bell and I’ll let you in. It’ll be cool to see you again.’

  ‘Same here. So I’ll see you in a couple of minutes.’

  Again Patrik felt ashamed that he was about to exploit an old friend. On the other hand, Robert owed him big-time. At the academy Robert had been his roommate. He was engaged to a girl named Susanne, but at the same time he was carrying on a hot affair with one of their female classmates, Marie, who was also engaged. This had gone on for almost two years, and Patrik couldn’t even count the number of times he’d saved Robert’s skin. He had provided numerous alibis, demonstrating his rich imagination when Susanne called and asked if he knew where Robert was.

  After the fact he didn’t think it seemed very honourable behaviour, either for him or for Robert. But they were so young and immature back then. To be honest, Patrik had also thought it was rather cool—he had even been a bit envious of Robert, shagging two girls at once. Of course, eventually the bubble burst, and it ended with Robert having neither a flat nor a girlfriend. But being a born charmer, Robert hadn’t needed to sleep on Patrik’s sofa for too many weeks before he found a new girl and moved in with her.

  At the same time Patrik had learned that Robert was working at Sahlgrenska, he also heard that he was now married with kids, which he had a very hard time imagining. Patrik intended to find out whether that was true or not.

  He made his way down the seemingly endless hospital corridors. Even though it had sounded simple when Robert gave him directions, Patrik managed to get lost twice before he finally stood before the correct door. He rang the bell and waited. The door flew open.

  ‘Hey-y-y-y!’

  They embraced heartily and then took a step back to see how time had fared for each of them. Patrik saw that the years had been kind to Robert; he hoped that Robert thought the same about him. For safety’s sake he sucked in his stomach and puffed out his chest a bit more.

  ‘Come in, come in.’

  Robert led the way to his office, which was tiny with barely enough space for one person, let alone two. Patrik studied Robert more closely as he sat down on a chair facing him in front of his desk. His blond hair was just as well-combed as when they were younger, and under the white lab coat his clothes were just as well-ironed. Patrik had always thought that Robert’s need for neatness functioned as a counterbalance to the chaos he always tended to create in his personal life. His eyes were drawn to a photograph on a shelf behind the desk.

  ‘Is that your family?’ He was not entirely successful in concealing the astonishment in his voice.

  Robert smiled proudly and took down the photo from the shelf.

  ‘Yep, this is my wife Carina and my two kids, Oscar and Maja.’

  ‘How old are they?’

  ‘Oscar is two and Maja is six months.’

  ‘That’s great. How long have you been married?’

  ‘Three years now. I’ll bet you never would have believed that anyone could make a father out of me.’

  Patrik laughed. ‘No, I have to admit, you would have had to give me high odds on that one.’

  ‘Well, you know, when the devil gets old, he gets religious. What about you? You probably have a whole flock by now.’

  ‘No, it didn’t really turn out that way. I’m divorced, actually. No kids, which is probably lucky under the circumstances.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘It’s not that bad. I’ve got something going right now that seems very promising, so we’ll see.’

  ‘So, how come you’re popping up like a jack-in-the-box after all these years?’

  Patrik squirmed a little. He was once again reminded of how embarrassed he felt at not being in touch for so long, and then coming here to ask a favour.

  ‘I’ve come down on police business and heard you were wor
king here in forensics. I have a case I’d like some help with, and I simply don’t have time to run it through the usual channels. It would take weeks before I got an answer, and I just don’t have the time or the patience.’

  Robert looked as if his curiosity had been aroused. He put his fingertips together and waited for Patrik to go on.

  Patrik leaned down and took from his bag a piece of paper wrapped in plastic. He handed it to Robert, who held it under the bright desk lamp to see more closely what it was.

  ‘I took the paper from a pad at the home of a murder victim. I can see that there are impressions from something that was written on the sheet above it, but they’re too faint for me to make out more than fragments. You probably have the equipment here to enhance this sort of impressions, don’t you?’

  ‘Ye-e-es, we do indeed.’

  Robert’s reply was a bit hesitant as he continued to study the piece of paper under his lamp. ‘But as you say, there are rather strict rules about how requests should be handled and in what order. We have lots of stuff piled up waiting.’

  ‘Sure, I know. But I thought this wouldn’t take long and it would be easy to check. I thought that if I asked you as a favour to take a quick look and tell me whether anything can be got from it, then maybe…’

  Robert frowned as he thought over what Patrik had said. Then he gave him a sly smile and got up from his chair.

  ‘All right, I suppose I shouldn’t be so bureaucratic. It’ll only take a few minutes. Come on.’

  He led Patrik from the crowded office and through the door opposite his own. The room they entered was big and bright and filled with all sorts of strange-looking equipment. It was squeaky clean and had a clinical look that came from the white walls and all the workbenches and cabinets in gleaming chrome. The apparatus that Robert needed was at the far side of the room. With the greatest of care he removed the paper from the plastic and placed it on a glass plate. He pressed a button and a bluish light came on. The words on the paper immediately stood out in all desired clarity.

  ‘Have a look. Was this what you were hoping for?’

  Patrik quickly read through the text. ‘This is exactly what I was hoping for. Could you leave it there a minute while I write it down?’

  Robert smiled. ‘I can do better than that. With this machine I can take a picture of the text and you can take it with you.’

  A broad smile spread across Patrik’s face. ‘Excellent! That would be perfect. Thank you!’

  Half an hour later Patrik left the hospital with a photocopy of the sheet of paper from Anders’s notepad. He had made a solemn promise to get in touch with Robert more often, and he hoped that he’d be able to keep that promise. Unfortunately he knew himself all too well.

  He did a lot of thinking on the drive home. He loved driving in the dark. The silence as he was enveloped by the velvet-black night, broken only by the lights of occasional oncoming cars, made him think more clearly. Bit by bit, he added what he already knew to what he had now read on the piece of paper. When he pulled into the driveway of his building in Tanumshede he was quite sure that he had solved at least one of the riddles that were plaguing him.

  It felt strange to go to bed without Erica. Odd how quickly one got accustomed to something, as long as it was something pleasant. He found that he now had a hard time sleeping alone. It had surprised him how deeply disappointed he was when Erica rang his mobile on his way home to tell him that her sister had come to visit unexpectedly. She thought it would be better if he slept at his own place. He’d wanted to ask more but heard from Erica’s voice that she couldn’t explain, so he made do with saying that he’d call her tomorrow and that he missed her.

  Now his sleep was filled with images of Erica as well as thoughts about what he would have to do in the morning. For Patrik it was a very long night.

  When the kids were asleep for the night they finally had a chance to talk. Erica had quickly thawed out some frozen dinners since Anna looked like she needed to get something in her stomach. Erica had forgotten to eat as well and now her stomach was growling.

  Anna mostly poked at her food with her fork. Erica felt a familiar sense of anxiety about her younger sister. Just like when they were little. She wanted to take Anna in her arms, rock her and tell her that everything would be all right, kiss the hurt and make it go away. But they were grown-up now, and Anna’s problems far exceeded the pain of a skinned knee. Confronted by this problem, Erica felt powerless and helpless. For the first time in her life her little sister seemed like a stranger, and she found herself awkward and unsure of how to talk to her. So she sat in silence, waiting for Anna to point the way. After a long wait she finally did.

  ‘I don’t know what to do, Erica. What’s going to happen to me and the children? Where are we going to go? How will I support us? I’ve been a stay-at-home mum for so long that I don’t know how to do anything else.’

  Erica saw Anna’s knuckles turn white as she gripped the table, as if in a physical attempt to keep a grip on the situation.

  ‘Shhh, don’t think about that now. It’s all going to work out. You just need to take one day at a time, and you can stay here with the kids as long as you like. The house is yours too, remember?’

  She permitted herself a crooked smile and saw to her joy that Anna responded in kind. Anna wiped her nose with the back of her hand and picked absentmindedly at the tablecloth.

  ‘I just can’t forgive myself for letting it go so far. He hurt Emma. How could I let him hurt Emma?’

  The snot began running again, and she used a tissue instead of her hand.

  ‘Why did I let him hurt Emma? Didn’t I know deep inside that it was going to happen someday? Did I choose to shut my eyes for the sake of my own comfort?’

  ‘Anna, if there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure about, it’s that you would never consciously let anyone hurt your kids.’

  Erica reached across the table and took Anna’s hand in hers. It was shockingly thin. Her bones felt like a bird’s, as if they would break if she squeezed too hard.

  ‘What I still can’t understand is that in spite of what he did, there’s still a part of me that loves him. I’ve loved Lucas for so long that the love has become ingrained in me, it’s a part of who I am. No matter what he did, I can’t get rid of that part. I wish I could take a knife and physically cut it out of me. I feel disgusting and dirty.’

  With a shaking hand she touched her chest as if to show where the evil was.

  ‘That’s not unusual, Anna. You don’t have to be ashamed. The only thing you have to do now is concentrate on feeling well again.’ She paused. ‘But you do have to report Lucas to the police.’

  ‘No, Erica, no, I can’t.’

  The tears ran down her cheeks and a few drops hung from her chin before they fell and made wet marks on the tablecloth.

  ‘Yes, Anna, you have to. You can’t let him get away with this. Don’t tell me you can live with yourself if you let him almost break your daughter’s arm without having to pay the consequences!’

  ‘No, yes, I don’t know, Erica. I can’t think straight, it’s like my whole head is full of cotton. I can’t think about this right now, maybe later.’

  ‘No, Anna. Not later. Later it’ll be too late. You have to do it now! I’ll go down to the police station with you tomorrow, but you have to do it, not only for the children’s sake but also for your own.’

  ‘I’m just not sure I have the strength for it.’

  ‘I know you do. Unlike you and me, Emma and Adrian have a mother who loves them, a mother who is ready to do anything for them.’

  She couldn’t prevent the bitterness from seeping into her voice.

  Anna sighed. ‘You have to drop that, Erica. I accepted a long time ago that Pappa was the only parent we really had. I also stopped worrying about why that was. How do I know? Maybe Mamma never wanted to have kids. Maybe we weren’t the kids she wanted to have. We’ll never find out now, and it doesn’t do any good to dwell on it.
Although, of the two of us, I was probably the one who was luckier. Because I also had you. Maybe I never told you this, but I know how much you did for me. I know what you meant to me when we were growing up. You had nobody, Erica, nobody to take care of you except Mamma. But you mustn’t be bitter, promise me that. Don’t you think I’ve seen how you withdraw as soon as you meet somebody and it looks like it might get serious? You withdraw before you risk getting hurt. You have to learn to let go of the past, Erica. It seems like you have something really good going right now. You mustn’t retreat this time too. I do want to be an aunt someday.’

  They both started laughing through their tears, and it was Erica’s turn to wipe her nose with a paper napkin. All the emotion in the room made the air feel supersaturated, but at the same time it felt as if they were doing some spring cleaning of the soul. There was so much that had gone unspoken, so much dust in the corners, and they both could feel that it was time to take out the dust mop.

  They talked all night, until the winter darkness began to be replaced by a grey morning mist. The children slept longer than usual, and when Adrian finally announced that he was awake with a piercing shriek, Erica offered to take care of the kids and let Anna sleep for a couple of hours.

  She felt in lighter spirits than she could ever remember feeling. Naturally she was still furious about what had happened to Emma, but she and Anna had said a lot during the night that should have been said long ago. Some truths had been unpleasant but necessary to hear, and it surprised her how easily her sister could see right through her. Erica had to admit to herself that she had probably underestimated Anna. She may even have been a bit patronizing and only seen her as a big, irresponsible child. She was much more than that, and Erica was glad that she had finally managed to see the real Anna.