by Maj Sjowall
'Do I? 'I'm in the Missing Persons Bureau and worked on the case for a while."
'We know who did it and we know that he's here in the city. I've examined him. He admits that he was on the boat when it happened and that he had met her, but says he doesn't even know about the murder."
'Isn't that a rather improbable statement? I mean there was so much about it in the papers."
'He says that he doesn't read newspapers. We couldn't get anything out of him. He acted totally forthright and seemed to answer all our questions honestly. We couldn't hold him and we have stopped tailing him. Our only chance is that he will do it again and that's where you come in. If you are willing, and think you can handle it, of course, you shall be his next victim."
'How nice," said Sonja Hansson and reached for a cigarette from her purse.
'You are rather like Roseanna and we want you to act as a decoy. It would be like this: he works as an office manager for a moving company on Smĺland Street. You go there and say that you want to have something moved, flirt with him and see that he gets your address and telephone number. You must get him interested in you. Then, we have to wait and hope."
'You say that you've already examined him? Won't he be on his guard?"
'We have leaked some information that ought to have quieted him."
'Am I also supposed to vamp him? How the devil will that be? And if I succeed?"
'You don't need to be afraid. We will always be in the vicinity. But you have to learn everything about the case first. Read all the material we have. You must be Roseanna McGraw. Be like her, I mean."
'Of course I acted in school plays but mostly as angels or mushrooms."
'Well, then. You'll manage."
Martin Beck sat,quietly for a few seconds. Then he said:
'This is our only chance. He only needs an impulse and we must provide it for him."
'Okay, I'll try. I hope I can handle it It isn't going to be easy."
'You'd better start going through everything, reports, films, the examination reports, letters, photographs. After that we can talk about it again."
'Now?"
'Yes, today. Commissioner Hammar will arrange for you to be relieved of your other work until this is settled. And one more thing. We have to go to your apartment and see what it looks like. We have to arrange for duplicate keys as well. We'll get to the rest later."
Ten minutes later he left her in the room next to Koll-berg's and Melander's office. She sat with her elbows on the table reading the first report.
Ahlberg arrived that afternoon. He had hardly sat down when Kollberg stormed in and thumped him on the back so hard that he almost fell out of the visitor's chair.
'Gunnar's going home tomorrow," said Martin Beck. "He ought to get a look at Bengtsson before he goes."
'It had better be a pretty careful look," said Kollberg. "But then we had better get going immediately. Every person in town plus half the population in general is running around buying Christmas presents."
Ahlberg snapped his fingers and struck his forehead with the palm of his hand.
'Christmas presents. I had completely forgotten."
'Me too," said Martin Beck. "That is to say I think of it from time to time but that's all that ever gets done about it."
The traffic was terrible. Two minutes before five they dropped Ahlberg at Norrmalms Square and watched him disappear into the crowds.
Kollberg and Martin Beck sat in the car and waited. After twenty-five minutes Ahlberg returned and climbed into the back seat. He said:
'It sure is the guy on the film. He took the number 56 bus."
'To St. Erik's square. Then he'll buy milk, bread and butter and go home. Eat, look at the boob tube, go to bed and fall asleep," said Kollberg. "Where shall I drop you?"
'Here. Now we have our big chance to go Christmas shopping," Martin Beck said.
One hour later in the toy department, Ahlberg said: "Koll-berg was wrong. The other half of the population is here too."
It took them nearly three hours to finish their shopping and another hour to get to Martin Beck's home.
The next day Ahlberg saw the woman who was to be their decoy for the first time. She had still only managed to get through a small part of the case material.
That evening Ahlberg went home to Motala for Christmas. They had agreed to start the plan working right after the new year.
27
It was a gray Christmas. The man called Folke Bengtsson spent it quietly at his mother's house in Södertälje. Martin Beck thought unendingly about him, even during the Christmas service in church and in a bath of perspiration under his Santa Claus mask. Kollberg ate too much and had to spend three days in the hospital.
Ahlberg called the day after Christmas and was not sober.
The newspapers contained several differing and unengaging articles which pointed to the fact that the Canal Murder was almost cleared up and that the Swedish police no longer had any reason to bother with the case.
There was the traditional new year's murder in Gothenburg which was solved within twenty-four hours. Kafka sent a tremendously large repulsive postcard, which was lilac colored and portrayed a deer against a sunset.
January 7 arrived and looked like January 7. The streets were full of gray, frozen people without money. The sales had begun but even so, the stores were nearly empty. In addition, the weather was hazy and freezing cold.
January 7 was D-Day.
In the morning Hammar inspected the troops. Then he said:
'How long are we going to cany on with this experiment?"
'Until it succeeds," said Ahlberg.
'So you say."
Hammar thought about all the situations which might possibly arise. Martin Beck and Kollberg would be needed for other tasks. Melander and Stenström should, at least part of the time, be working on other cases. Soon, the Third District would begin to complain because the borrowed girl never came back.
'Good luck, children," he said.
A little later, only Sonja Hansson was there. She had a cold and sat in the visitor's chair and sniffled. Martin Beck looked at her. She was dressed in boots, a gray dress and long black tights.
'Do you plan to look like that?" he said sourly.
'No, I'll go home and change first. But I want to point out one thing. On July 3 last year, it was summertime and now it's winter. It might look a bit odd if I ran into a moving company office just now in sunglasses and a thin dress and asked if they could move a bureau for me."
'Do the best you can. The important thing is that you understand the main point."
He sat quietly for a while.
'If, indeed,'' have understood it," he said.
The woman looked thoughtfully at him.
'I think I understand," she said, finally. "I have read every word that has been written about her, over and over again. I've seen the film at least twenty times. I have chosen clothing that would seem to fit and I have practiced in front of the mirror for hours. But I'm not starting off with much. My personality and hers are completely different. Her habits were different too. I haven't lived as she did and I'm not going to either. But I'll do the best I can."
'That's fine," said Martin Beck.
She seemed unapproachable and it wasn't easy to get through to her. The only thing he knew about her private life was that she had a daughter who was five years old and lived in the country with her grandparents. It seemed that she had never been married. But in spite of the fact that he didn't know her very well, he thought a great deal of her. She was shrewd, and down to earth, and dedicated to her job. That was a lot to say about someone.
It was four o'clock in the afternoon before he heard from her again.
'I've just been there. I went directly home afterwards."
'Well, he isn't going to come and break down the door right away. How did it go?"
'I think it went well. As well as one could wish. The bureau will be delivered tomorrow."
'What
did he think of you?"
'I don't know. I got the feeling that he lit up a little bit It's hard to say when I don't really know how he acts."
'Was it difficult?"
'To be honest, it wasn't very hard. I thought he seemed rather nice. He's attractive, too, in some way. Are you sure that he's the right guy? That's not to say that I have had a great deal of experience with murderers, but I find it difficult to think of him as the man who murdered Roseanna McGraw."
'Yes, I'm sure. What did he say? Did he get your telephone number?"
'Yes, he wrote the address and telephone number down on a loose sheet of paper. And I told him that I have a house phone but that I don't answer it if I am not expecting someone so that it's best to telephone ahead. In general, he didn't say very much."
'Were you alone in the room with him?"
'Yes. There was a fat, old lady on the other side of the glass partition but she couldn't hear us. She was talking on the telephone and I couldn't hear her."
'Did you get a chance to talk with him about anything other than the bureau?"
'Yes, I said that the weather was miserable and he said, it certainly was. Then I said that I was glad Christmas was over and then he said that he was too. I added that when one was alone as I was, Christmas could be sad."
'What did he say then?"
'That he, too, was alone and thought that it was rather dismal at Christmas, even though he usually spent it with his mother."
'That sounds fine," said Martin Beck. "Did you talk about anything else?"
'No, I don't think so."
It was silent on the other end of the telephone for a while. Then she added: "Yes, I asked him to write down the address and telephone number of the company for me so that I wouldn't have to look it up in the telephone book. He gave me a printed business card."
'And then you left?"
'Yes, I couldn't stand around and chatter any longer but I took my time leaving. I had opened my coat and so forth. To show my tight sweater. Yes, by the way, I said that if they didn't get there with the bureau during the day, it didn't make any difference to me since I was almost always home at night waiting for someone to call. But he thought that the bureau would get there during the morning."
'That's fine. Listen, we thought we'd have a rehearsal this evening. We are going to be at the Klara Police Station. Stenström will play Bengtsson and telephone you. You an swer, call me at Klara, and we'll come to your house and wait for Stenström. Do you follow me?"
'Yes, I understand. I'll telephone you as soon as Stenström has called. About what time?"
'I'm not going to tell you. You won't know what time Bengtsson will call."
'No, you are right. And, Martin."
'Yes."
'He was actually charming in some way. Not at all unpleasant or snappy. Although it's certain that Roseanna McGraw must have thought so too."
The day room in the Fourth District Station House at Regering Street was neat and proper although it offered very few possibilities for entertainment.
It was a quarter past eight and Martin Beck had read the evening paper twice, just about everything except the sport pages and the classified advertisements. For the past two hours Ahlberg and Kollberg had been playing chess, which obviously took away any desire they might have had to talk. Stenström was sleeping in a chair near the door with his mouth open. He could be excused because he had been working on another case the night before. Anyway, he was there to play the villain and didn't need to be on the alert.
At twenty minutes past eight Martin Beck went over to Stenström and poked him.
'Let's start now."
Stenström got up, went over to the telephone, and dialed a number.
'Hi," he said. "Can I come over? Yes? Fine."
Then he went back to his chair and fell asleep.
Martin Beck looked at the clock. Fifty seconds later the telephone rang. It was tied into a direct line and reserved for their use. No one else could use it
'This is Beck."
'It's Sonja, hi He just called. He's coming in a half an hour."
'I got it."
He put down the phone.
'Now let's get started, boys."
'You can just as well give up," said Ahlberg across the chess board.
'Okay," said Kollberg. "One to nothing, in your favor."
Stenström opened one eye.
'Which way shall I come from?"
'Any way you want to."
They went down to the car which was parked in the police station's driveway. It was Kollberg's own car and he drove. When he swung out onto Regering Street he said: "Can I be the one to stand in the closet?"
'Oh, no. That's Ahlberg's job."
'Why?"
'Because he's the only one who can go into the house without the risk of being recognized."
Sonja Hansson lived on Runeberg Street, three flights up in the house on the corner facing Eriksberg Square.
Kollberg parked between the Little Theater and Tegnér Street. They separated. Martin Beck crossed the street, went into the shrubbery and hid himself in the shadow of Karl Staaff's statue. From there he had a fine view of her house and also of Eriksberg Square as well as of the most important parts of the surrounding streets. He saw Kollberg walk casually down the south side of Runeberg Street with exquisite nonchalance. Ahlberg determinedly held his course toward the front door, opened it, and went in, as if he were a tenant on his way home. Forty-five seconds from now Ahlberg would be in the apartment and Kollberg in his place in the arch under Eriksberg Street. Martin Beck pushed his stop watch and looked at the time. It had been exactly five minutes and ten seconds since he had hung up the telephone after his conversation with Sonja Hansson.
It was raw and he turned up his coat collar and mumbled threateningly at a drunk who tried to bum a cigarette from him.
Stenström had really done his best.
He arrived twelve minutes early and from a completely unexpected direction. He sneaked around the corner from the Eriksberg Park stairs and walked with a group of moviegoers. Martin Beck didn't see him until he slunk into the house.
Kollberg had also functioned satisfactorily because he and Martin Beck met in front of the door.
They went in together, unlocked the inner glass doors, and neither of them said anything.
Kollberg took the stairs. He was supposed to stand a half a flight below the apartment and not advance before he received the signal. Martin Beck tried to get the elevator down by pressing the button but it didn't come. He ran up the stairs and passed the surprised Kollberg on the second floor. The elevator was up on the third floor. Stenström had put it out of commission by not closing the inside door. Thus he had succeeded in ruining that part of the plan which had Martin Beck taking the elevator to the floor above the apartment and arriving at it from above.
It was still quiet in the apartment but Stenström must have depended upon speed, because after only thirty seconds they heard a muffled shriek and some noise. Martin Beck had his key ready and ten seconds later he was in Sonja Hansson's bedroom.
The girl sat on the bed. Stenström stood in the middle of the floor and yawned while Ahlberg held his right arm loosely against his back.
Martin Beck whistled and Kollberg thundered into the apartment like an express train. In his haste he knocked over the table in the hall. He hadn't had any doors to open.
Martin Beck rubbed his nose and looked at the girl.
'Good," he said.
She had chosen the realistic style he had hoped for. She was barefoot and bare-legged and had on a thin, short-sleeved cotton robe which stopped just above her knees. He was sure that she didn't have anything on underneath.
'I'll put something else on and make some coffee," she said.
They went into the other room. She came in almost immediately, dressed in sandals, jeans and a brown sweater. Ten minutes later the coffee was ready.
'My door key sticks," said Ahlberg. "I have to wiggle
it like the devil."
'That doesn't matter so much," said Martin Beck. "You won't ever be in as much of a hurry as we are."
'I heard you on the stairs," said Stenström. "Just as she opened the door."
'Rubber soles," said Kollberg.
'Open it faster," said Martin Beck.
'The key hole in the closet is great," said Ahlberg. "I saw you almost the entire time."
'Take the key out next time," said Stenström. "I really wanted to lock you in."
The telephone rang. They all stiffened.
The girl picked up the receiver.
'Yes, hello… hi… no, not tonight… well, I'm going to be busy for a while… have I met a man?… yes, you could say that."
She hung up and met their glances.
'That was nothing," she said.
28
Sonja Hansson stood in the bathroom rinsing out her washing. When she turned off the water she heard the telephone ringing in the living room. She ran in and picked up the receiver without even taking time to dry her hands.
It was Bengtsson.
'Your bureau is on the way," he said. "The truck ought to be there in about fifteen minutes."
'Thanks. It was nice of you to call. Otherwise, I wouldn't open the door, as I told you. I didn't think you would get it here so early. Shall I come down to your office and pay the bill or…"
'You can pay the driver. He has the invoice with him."
'Fine. I'll do that, Mr…?"
'The name's Bengtsson. I hope you'll be satisfied with our service. The truck will be there in fifteen minutes, as I said."
'Thank you. Goodbye."
When she hung up she dialed Martin Beck's number.
'The bureau will be here in fifteen minutes. He just telephoned. I almost missed the call. It was just luck that I heard the phone. I didn't think of it before, but when the water's running in the bathtub I can't hear the phone."
'You had better not bathe for a while," Martin Beck replied. "Seriously, though, you have to be near the telephone all the time. You can't go up to the attic or down to the laundry or anything like that."
'No. I know. Shall I go down to his office as soon as the bureau has come?"
'Yes, I think so. Then call me."