‘What was he doing there?’
‘Presumably, you knew Pernilla Glad when she worked here?’
‘Of course. She was very good. It was under unfortunate circumstances that she had to leave.’
‘You know what they were?’
‘Yes, I was aware of the personal nature of... shall we say a conflict of interest with the present fru Offesson.’
‘That’s a delicate way of putting it. Well, Christer was still seeing her.’
‘Oh dear.’
‘He was taken after meeting her at an attic apartment he owned in Östra Förstadsgatan.’ Månsson’s features registered disappointment that his boss had been so foolhardy. ‘Was it known here that he was still seeing Pernilla Glad?’
‘I certainly didn’t know,’ he said with exaggerated emphasis. ‘That doesn’t mean...’ His voice tailed off.
‘We’re just trying to find out where the gang got their information from. Of course, they may have simply been following him and established his routine. Christer and Pernilla met regularly. But the main reason I’m here is to find out a bit more about the business.’
‘What, in particular?’
‘South America.’ Immediately, she could see Månsson was on his guard. ‘Specifically, Brazil. We understand that Trellogistics, or rather their Brazilian subsidiary, moved the coffee beans from your plantations to the port at São Paulo.’
‘Correct,’ he replied cautiously. ‘We’ve had a long relationship with the company.’
‘I believe that operation has been shut down, albeit not necessarily permanently.’
‘Yes. It’s caused huge disruption for us. We’re trying to organize alternative arrangements, which, unfortunately, make everything more costly. Christer’s absence at this difficult time didn’t help, of course. We couldn’t understand why we couldn’t get hold of him over the weekend; now we know.’
‘So, Trellogística Brasil shutting down is damaging your business?’
‘Of course it is. If we’ve got beans sitting in the plantations, they’re of no use unless we can get them transported. Every non-delivery costs us money. And if the beans don’t arrive, then the cost of our coffee will go up and our sales will go down because we can’t meet orders. It’s already affecting our share price.’
‘And have Trellogística given you an official explanation for the shutdown?’
‘Not a satisfactory one. They blame it on local officialdom. That’s one of the reasons Christer was going out to São Paulo.’
‘You mentioned your share price. If that goes down, will it open you up to a potential takeover, hostile or otherwise?’
‘I would hope we could fight off any unwanted interest.’ Månsson’s fingers stopped their nervous tapping as an unpleasant thought occurred to him. ‘Without Christer, there’s a vacuum in the management here. The board usually rubber-stamps his decisions. Without him... I don’t know. Unless Anders can step back in. We’ve already got...’ Månsson stopped himself abruptly.
‘What?’ Anita pressed.
‘Nothing.’
‘Anything you can tell me might help.’
It was too late. She got the impression that he’d said too much already.
Anita met up with Kevin in a small Italian café on a side street off Stortorget. Despite its proximity to the Offesson HQ, it served an Italian brand of coffee. She’d let Kevin prattle on for a few minutes about how much he liked the views of Helsingør and his excitement at being able to see the famous castle. She vetoed his suggestion that they jump on a ferry and have a quick look round Hamlet’s home. They had to get back, but she promised that they would make a special trip before he left. Kevin looked sceptical.
She wanted his thoughts as a policeman not a history buff at that moment. She went through her conversation with Månsson.
‘What if Trellogística Brasil hasn’t been shut down at all and it’s just a ploy by Uhlig to put pressure on Offesson’s? Cutting off or cutting down their supplies. Then, on top of all that, the king-pin of the company is conveniently got out of the way – permanently as it happens – and the share price is pushed down. And then, hey presto! Trellogistics buys up Offesson’s. Or more likely buys up the plantations. That’s probably why Christer was flying out to Brazil to try and save the situation. His trip might have prompted the timing of the kidnap. That would mean Uhlig could hold Offesson’s to ransom by controlling all their South American supply of beans. That makes sense, doesn’t it?’
‘I know sod all about business. However, there’s a logic in what you say.’
Anita tucked into her cake with relish. She was going to have to cut back on these treats as they weren’t helping her waistline.
‘How does Christer Offesson’s death impact on your scenario?’ Kevin asked.
She thought about it for a minute. ‘Probably helps, actually. If Månsson is correct, the board are rudderless without Christer. They may be open to commercial pressure for a takeover. Månsson was a worried man and there was something he wasn’t telling me. Perhaps the takeover’s already started? The longer Christer’s out of the picture, the more time Uhlig has to exploit the situation. Even if Anders comes back in, the damage may already have been done.’
‘If that’s the case, it begs the question: was Uhlig intending to kill Offesson all along?’
CHAPTER 50
It was Tuesday morning and the arrival of Eva Thulin was eagerly awaited. What had forensics come up with? Anita was hoping for some answers. She’d already spoken to Alice Zetterberg on her return from Helsingborg the day before. After Zetterberg had finished ranting at her and accusing her of ‘maverick behaviour’ (a description that she took exception to), Anita had managed to convey that what she had gleaned from Månsson fitted in with what they now suspected: Peter Uhlig was behind the last three kidnaps (including his own), and the Mats Möller abduction was carried out by a separate gang operating throughout Europe. This latter assumption was given further credence later in the day by the discovery of yet another similar kidnapping carried out in October last year in Turin. On the downside, the surveillance of Peter Uhlig hadn’t highlighted any unusual behaviour. On Monday, he’d gone to the office at his normal time and returned home for his evening meal. Today, he’d left for work at the same time. Yesterday, there’d been a board meeting, which he’d attended. Were they discussing the takeover of Offesson’s? If their theory was correct, Wallen speculated that as the final target was now dead, there was no longer any need for the kidnapping gang. They may well have been paid off by now. If that were the case, it was going to be even harder to prove Uhlig’s involvement.
At that moment, Eva Thulin breezed into the meeting room. The only member of the team missing was Erlandsson, who, with another officer drafted in to help, was sitting outside the Trellogistics headquarters in Trelleborg.
‘Morning all,’ Thulin said cheerily.
‘What have you got?’ Zetterberg wasn’t in the mood for banter. She was under too much pressure.
‘Well, I can confirm that Christer Offesson was shot. The two bullets—’
‘Killed him. Yes, we know that. Is there anything we can use?’
Thulin gave Anita a thinly suppressed look of exasperation.
‘OK. What is interesting is the weapon used. This handgun.’ She held up a photograph of the weapon. ‘I’ve spoken to a ballistics expert and the pistol is a...’ She glanced down at her notes. ‘Its full title is a Taurus PT-111 Millennium G2.’
‘I haven’t heard of that.’
‘Neither had I. It’s where it’s from that’s curious. It’s of Brazilian manufacture.’
Everyone one in the room immediately grasped the significance.
‘Apparently, it’s used by the Brazilian police, and many of these weapons find their way into the favelas in Rio. According to my expert, forty percent of all guns seized by the authorities in the state of Rio de Janeiro are made by Taurus. Gangsters love them, especially this model. Light but solid. C
ompact. The trigger is smooth and its recoil comfortable, thanks to its grip. And as we’ve seen, it’s highly effective.’
‘How far away was the victim?’ Anita asked.
‘That’s a good question. You speculated at the scene whether Offesson could have been escaping. Well, I thought that might be a possibility. But after examining him, I don’t think so. A professional shot would only be sure of a kill at a maximum of seven metres. An amateur, considerably less. The angle of the bullets and the impacts, indicate to me that the victim was no more than two metres away from his killer.’
‘Are you saying that you think it’s been made to look like he was trying to escape?’
‘Yes, Anita, I believe it was done to make us think exactly that, and may well have been an execution of sorts.’
This produced silence in the room. It certainly fitted in with Kevin’s speculation in the café yesterday.
‘Thank you, Eva. Just leave your report and I’ll go through it thoroughly.’ Zetterberg was dismissing Thulin.
‘Just one other thing,’ said Thulin, handing her file over to Zetterberg. ‘Offesson’s mouth. There was a tiny piece of vegetation and some earth under his top lip as though, when he was shot, he fell forward onto grass or something like that. And there was also some evidence of vegetation in his hair and on his clothing.’
After Thulin left, there was an outbreak of chatter around the room. Zetterberg had to shout to get the group’s attention.
‘Right, this changes a few things. Firstly, it appears our kidnap gang is likely to be from Brazil, not Russia.’
‘That makes sense now,’ said Wallen. ‘I’ve had a couple of holidays in the Algarve, and Portuguese definitely has Russian-sounding inflections. In fact, the first time I turned on the television in the hotel, I thought it was a Russian programme. The snatches of conversation that Kristina Ekman heard were probably Brazilian Portuguese – must be fairly similar. And remember, it was Peter Uhlig who steered us in the Russian direction.’
‘Secondly, Offesson’s killing now appears deliberate. Was it planned all along? From what you found out in Helsingborg, Anita, taking Offesson out of the picture would make the company easy pickings for a predatory rival. And thirdly, the grass-stroke-vegetation. There can’t be many container yards with grass in them.’
‘Unless they took him somewhere else to be executed,’ suggested Hakim.
Zetterberg scanned the forensics report. ‘Thulin estimates Offesson’s time of death at around twenty-four to thirty hours before he was found. Maybe they didn’t even bother to put him in a container.’
‘If they had planned to kill him straightaway, why put in the ransom call to his wife? And why put the body in the cemetery afterwards?’ Anita was pleased that Brodd was actually paying attention.
‘To make everyone think that this was connected with the other kidnaps,’ said Wallen, ‘when, in fact, it’s all to do with commerce.’
‘The return of the body could be a message to the rest of the Offesson board that if they stand in the way of a takeover, they might suffer a similar fate,’ said Anita. ‘But one thing I still can’t get my head around is why Peter Uhlig would go to all this trouble. There’s something very personal going on here that we’re missing.’
‘Look, we could go on speculating forever and get nowhere. I think we’ve got to bring Uhlig in and start questioning him.’ Zetterberg was being decisive.
‘Will Commissioner Dahlbeck and Prosecutor Blom give you the green light?’ Wallen queried.
‘Just use the pretext that he’s being re-interviewed in light of the latest kidnapping,’ suggested Anita. ‘Say we need his help. Not even a nervous commissioner can object to that.’
That evening, Anita and Kevin were sitting in the corner of The Pickwick close to the unlit fire. The leather-backed chair squeaked as Kevin sat down with two pints. He was grinning. He’d just been joking with Matt behind the bar.
‘Cheers. I expect you need this,’ he said before sipping his own drink.
‘Yeah.’ She drank gratefully.
‘Have you brought Uhlig in?’
‘He’s coming in first thing tomorrow. Voluntarily. Of course, he doesn’t suspect that we reckon he’s behind the kidnappings and responsible for Christer Offesson’s murder. What I can’t figure out is where he had Offesson taken and where he had him killed. We don’t think he did it himself. Sadly, he’s not that stupid.’
‘Has he got a place in the country? All you Swedes seem to have somewhere rural to escape to.’
‘Except me,’ she said ruefully. ‘And we checked that out. He doesn’t have anywhere out of town. His daughters jointly own a holiday home near Karlshamn.’
‘What about that?’
‘It’s possible. Zetterberg’s sending me there tomorrow. She wants me out of the way when she talks to Uhlig.’
They sank into silence.
‘Given that Uhlig was probably lying to you, is there anything in your interview with him that gives you any clues? Inconsistencies in his story?’
‘No, not really. It fits in with Mats Möller’s experience. Thanks to Bernt Hägg going to the press in the first place, and then bloody Pontus filling in the gaps, all the details came out, except the ransom amount and what he ate while in captivity. The last two things are where his story falls down. Except that’s not enough to convict him.’
Anita returned to her fast-disappearing pint. Kevin was going to have to order a refill pretty soon.
‘There was one odd thing he came out with,’ she said, holding her glass in mid air. ‘The dog.’
‘What dog?’
‘Said he heard a dog growling.’
‘Why is that odd?’
‘Round a container yard? Incredibly unlikely. Stray dogs aren’t a problem in Sweden.’
‘A guard dog?’
‘Wouldn’t it bark when anything passed? Kristina Ekman didn’t report any sounds of dogs. I don’t know why Uhlig would mention it.’
‘Maybe he did stay in a container. He would be out of sight and would look bedraggled when he was found. The same with the marks on his wrists you mentioned. Make the whole thing look realistic. He might have heard something. Could it have been anything else? Do wolves growl? I’ve read you have wolves wandering about Sweden. Don’t they have official culls now?’
‘Wolves are fairly rare in Skåne, though sheep have been attacked. But in a dock area? Highly improbable.’
‘I can’t think of anything else that growls except foxes. We have a real problem with them coming into towns in Britain. My sister’s cat was killed by an urban fox.’
They finished their drinks.
‘Another?’ asked Kevin.
‘Yes, please.’
He stood up and picked up the glasses with the ease and grace of an experienced waiter. He stepped towards the bar and then stopped abruptly. He returned to the table and put the glasses down with a clunk.
‘There is something else that growls.’
He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He busily clicked away until he found what he was looking for. He held the phone out to Anita so she could see the screen. ‘Listen to this.’
CHAPTER 51
Anita hardly slept that night and came into work early. She and Kevin hadn’t had a second pint. On the way home, Anita had rung Bea Erlandsson and asked her to do some checking for her. When she and Kevin had got back to the Roskildevägen apartment, they’d opened a bottle of red and carried on talking; batting ideas around. Eventually, Kevin went into the kitchen to make some sandwiches while Anita’s mind whirled as she tried to form a coherent plan. Whatever she did, it would be without Zetterberg’s knowledge at this stage. That would only spell trouble.
At ten o’clock on Wednesday morning, Brodd knocked on Zetterberg’s door and entered.
‘Peter Uhlig’s downstairs.’
‘Good.’
Brodd coughed nervously. ‘I saw Anita talking to him. Showing him something on her phone
.’
‘What the fuck is she doing? I’ve had enough of this. When she gets back, I’ll have her hauled up before the commissioner. At least I’ve got her out of the way this morning; she’s off to the Uhlig daughters’ holiday place over at Karlshamn today.’
‘Oh, I just overheard her talking to Hakim on the way out. She’s not going there.’
Anita parked Kevin’s hire car at the side of the deserted road. Little traffic passed this way except to and from the big house. The only sound was the wind tugging at the trees, making the leaves rustle. She climbed over the mesh perimeter fence next to the road. Of course, Kevin had wanted to come with her. He thought it might be dangerous. She’d persuaded him that it was only a scouting mission, nothing more. What she hoped to find out, she would take back to the polishus and then they could formally move in.
She made her way carefully through the trees, twigs occasionally snapping under her feet. Each one gave her a fright. Maybe she should have let Kevin come – or Hakim. He’d advised against it but was up for being an accessory after the fact. She’d been grateful but had declined his offer – if she got this horribly wrong, he would be in the firing line along with her. As she crept stealthily on, she realized that she was coming to the edge of the wood. Through the gaps in the trees, the sweeping lawns that led up to the main house came into view. She didn’t venture into the open. There was no activity that she could see, though there were a couple of large cars parked near the front door of the building.
Suddenly, there was a sound behind her. As she swung round, she whipped out her pistol and held it at arm’s length, her hands trembling. There it was: the source of the noise that Uhlig had heard – a huge wild boar, snuffling aggressively, was giving her a malevolent stare. Anita didn’t move. After what seemed like minutes, but could only have been seconds, the boar lost interest and slowly moved into the trees. This was where Kevin had wandered when she’d come to talk to Lothar von Goessling. He’d come across a boar and it had growled at him. That’s what he’d remembered in the pub, and there it was: a video of the animal on his mobile phone. Through the metal wall of a container, to a disorientated man the sound could easily be mistaken for a dog. She’d played it to Peter Uhlig this morning and he’d confirmed that it was the sound he’d heard. And that had set off a train of thought that had brought her out to Illstorp, the home of Kristina Ekman. That day when Kevin had seen the boar, Goessling had been furious with him for wandering off – unreasonably so, she’d thought at the time. But she’d just reckoned he was being precious about his girlfriend’s estate. Now she thought it was something else entirely. That’s what she was here to find.
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