AUTUMN KILLING

by KALLENTOFT MONS

  He’s arrived empty-handed, and she wonders if he’s not going to have anything, but at that moment her mobile rings. Sven’s name on the screen. He sounds anxious: ‘Malin, we’ve had a call from someone who says he’s Petersson’s lawyer. Says he wants to meet one of us. Sounded like he’s got something to tell us.’

  Zeke’s face opposite her, watchful now.

  ‘So the lawyer has a lawyer?’ Malin says.

  ‘Had, Malin. They all have.’

  ‘And where is he?’

  ‘A Max Persson, office at number 12 Hamngatan, close to Trädgårdstorget.’

  ‘So he’s there on Sunday morning?’

  ‘He is.’

  ‘What about talking to Fredrik Fågelsjö?’

  ‘I’ll deal with that myself. Without his lawyer. Just a polite conversation in his cell.’

  ‘OK, we’ll talk to Petersson’s lawyer. We’re at the Filbyter café having breakfast. We can skip the morning meeting.’

  ‘Yes, not much has happened since yesterday,’ Sven says.

  ‘Anything else at all?’ Malin asks.

  ‘Nothing,’ Sven says. ‘And no tip-offs either.’

  ‘Let’s see what secrets the lawyer’s got for us,’ Malin says.

  ‘Fingers crossed.’

  ‘Our secrets are what make us human,’ Malin says. ‘Isn’t that what you usually say, Sven?’

  Sven laughs as he hangs up.

  Max Persson’s office is on the top floor of a yellow brick building from the fifties. Outside the room is a terrace where a couple of abandoned wooden chairs are fighting a losing battle against the wind and rain, and Malin can almost see the varnish disintegrating in the autumn weather.

  Malin and Zeke are each sitting in a red armchair. Max Persson is sitting in majesty on an office chair on the other side of a gigantic glass-topped desk.

  A pink Oriental rug on the floor.

  Garishly coloured paintings on the walls, silhouettes made with what looks like spray-paint. The man behind the desk is a similar age to Jerry Petersson when he died. He’s wearing a shiny grey suit, the cheapness of which is accentuated by a pink tie on a pale blue shirt.

  Max Persson seems to think a lot of himself, Malin thinks.

  A clown of a lawyer.

  But very good-looking.

  Clearly defined features, prominent cheekbones.

  ‘We understand that you were Jerry Petersson’s lawyer?’ Zeke says.

  ‘Well, that’s not quite right. But I did help Jerry with the purchase of Skogså, with drawing up the contract. It gets quite complicated when you’re dealing with such a large, special property.’

  ‘So you weren’t his lawyer?’

  ‘Absolutely not,’ Persson says.

  And Malin suddenly realises that Persson wants to tell them something confidential, and that he doesn’t want Jerry Petersson to look like his former client, because then he could be accused of breaching his code of confidentiality as a lawyer.

  ‘Jerry,’ Malin says. ‘Were you friends?’

  ‘Well, not friends as such. We studied together down in Lund, and I ended up here in Linköping, which was his home city of course.’

  ‘So you go way back?’ Zeke wonders.

  Persson nods.

  ‘And there’s something you want to tell us?’ Malin says.

  Persson nods again.

  Then he starts talking.

  ‘Like I said, I helped Jerry when he was buying Skogså. I met Axel Fågelsjö and his children when I was out inspecting the property, and I have to say that they seemed extremely bitter about the sale. Not that they said anything specific, but the whole time I got the impression that they didn’t want to sell. Don’t ask me why.’

  ‘Had you heard anything about financial difficulties?’ Malin asks. ‘Did the Fågelsjös say anything?’

  ‘No, but, like I said, I got the impression they were forced to sell up, and that they didn’t really want to. And that impression was reinforced by what happened last week.’

  Persson, evidently taking great delight in everyday drama, lets what he is about to say hang in the air.

  ‘Well?’ Malin prompts.

  ‘Well, at the beginning of last week Axel Fågelsjö approached me. He wanted to buy back the castle and estate. He was prepared to pay twenty million more than they got for it. He was adamant. I took the offer to Jerry, but he just shook his head, had a good laugh, and told me to turn down the old man’s offer.’

  Lies.

  A family estate that no one wanted to sell. Trying to run from the police. Dealing in stock options. ‘It was time.’ Not a chance. This had nothing to do with a way of life that had become outdated.

  The thoughts are flying through Malin’s head and she thinks about Axel Fågelsjö, his powerful figure and his magnificent apartment.

  Maybe they ought to concentrate more on Axel than Fredrik? Who knows what the old man might be capable of?

  ‘How did Fågelsjö take Petersson’s reply?’

  ‘He was furious on the phone. Utterly furious. I almost thought he was going to have a heart attack. It sounded like he was throwing things.’

  Malin looks at Zeke, who nods back at her.

  ‘Do you know anything else about Jerry Petersson that you think we should know?’

  ‘We didn’t have a great deal of contact,’ Persson says. ‘Not even after he moved back here. Jerry was a lone wolf. He always was, even back in Lund. Quite brilliant, he got away with doing maybe a fifth of the studying the rest of us had to do, but he still finished top. He didn’t need other people the way us mere mortals do. He never seemed to be searching for someone to love, he was looking for people who could be useful to him. People like me.’

  ‘We’ve been having trouble finding friends and acquaintances,’ Malin says.

  ‘You won’t find any,’ Max Persson says. ‘Friendship wasn’t Jerry’s thing.’

  They’re standing in the doorway of the building housing Max Persson’s office. It’s pouring with rain now, the drops drumming the ground like a plague of locusts ready to destroy everything in their path.

  Not a soul in sight.

  The city paralysed by the season.

  ‘So, a frustrated Count Axel Fågelsjö,’ Zeke says.

  ‘Who loves that land,’ Malin says.

  ‘And who wanted it back, but he couldn’t have it.’

  ‘Because Jerry Petersson refused to sell.’

  ‘As if he owned the man’s soul,’ Zeke said.

  ‘And Fredrik Fågelsjö who gambled the castle away,’ Malin says. ‘Maybe he wanted to put everything right? And if Petersson was out of the game, the family could buy back the castle. But where have they suddenly got the money from, the money behind Axel Fågelsjö’s offer for Skogså? I’ll call Sven, maybe he hasn’t got around to talking to Fredrik Fågelsjö yet.’

  The door to the cell opens.

  Fredrik Fågelsjö is sitting on his bunk with a cup of coffee in his hand, reading a copy of Svenska Dagbladet.

  ‘Can I come in for a few minutes?’ Sven Sjöman asks. He looks at Fredrik, at the way his shoulders seem to be weighed down by an invisible force, and the skin around his eyes seems to have become dried out during his time in the cell. His eyes seem to be pleading for alcohol, the way that Malin’s do sometimes. I’ll let you have what we know in tiny portions, Sven thinks.

  ‘Ehrenstierna isn’t here.’

  ‘I just want to ask a couple of questions,’ Sven says. ‘If that’s OK?’

  ‘OK.’

  Fågelsjö seems tired, as if he’s already given up on something, Sven thinks, or as if he’s in the process of giving up on something.

  He sits down beside him on the bunk’s mattress, detecting the smell of urine from the shiny, stainless-steel toilet.

  ‘A lot of people here at the station have problems with alcohol as well,’ Sven says. ‘There’s no shame in it.’

  ‘I haven’t got a problem,’ Fågelsjö replies.

&nb
sp; ‘No, but no one here would look down on you if that were the case.’

  ‘Good to know.’

  ‘We know about your dealings in stock options,’ Sven goes on.

  Fågelsjö doesn’t reply.

  Sven looks around the cell, at how bare it is.

  ‘You’ve got children, young children. And a wife. Do you miss them?’

  ‘Yes. I do. But you’re not letting me have any visitors.’

  ‘Not us. The prosecutor. Is everything OK with your family?’

  ‘Everything’s fine.’

  ‘That’s good. My wife and I have been married thirty-five years, and we still enjoy each other’s company.’

  ‘I got scared. I panicked,’ Fågelsjö says. ‘I didn’t want to spend time in Skänninge. Missing such a large chunk of the children’s lives. Can you understand that?’

  Sven nods, moves a bit closer to him.

  ‘What about your father? He must have been pretty mad about your financial affairs?’

  ‘He’s always been a bit mad,’ Fågelsjö says with a smile. ‘He was angry.’

  ‘And yet you all told us that it was time to sell?’

  ‘If you come from a family like ours, you do anything you can to protect the family name.’

  ‘Perhaps that was what you were doing?’ Sven says. ‘Going out to Skogså that morning to get your revenge on Jerry Petersson for taking the castle away from you? I promise you, it will feel better if you tell us.’

  ‘I’m not even going to dignify that with a denial,’ Fågelsjö says. Then he adjusts the newspaper in his lap with an exaggerated gesture. ‘If you’ll excuse me?’

  ‘Then last week you tried to buy back the castle.’

  Fågelsjö raises his eyes from the paper with a look of surprise.

  So you know about that? he seems to be thinking.

  Sven nods.

  ‘We know. Where did you get the money from? As I understand it, you gambled away the family fortune, and plenty more besides.’

  ‘We got some money,’ Fågelsjö says. ‘But it isn’t my place to explain how.’

  ‘Not if you don’t want to,’ Sven says. ‘And Petersson just laughed at your father. Did you want to show your father how strong you were, Fredrik? Did you just want to put everything right, I can imagine it must be difficult having a father like that, and now you just wanted to put everything right, so you went out there that morning and killed Jerry Petersson. Is that how it was? And you lost control? It will feel better if you . . .’

  Fågelsjö leaps up from the bunk. Throws the paper at the wall, shouting: ‘I didn’t do anything! I didn’t do anything!’

  27

  Rented flats.

  The logo of Stångå Council on the noticeboard by the front door.

  Malin didn’t notice the housing association sign the first time they were here, took it for granted that a man like Axel Fågelsjö would own his own apartment.

  What sort of contacts would you need to get a rented flat on Drottninggatan with a view of the Horticultural Society Park? Either way, I live in a rented flat, Axel Fågelsjö lives in a rented flat.

  The building’s lift is broken so Malin and Zeke have to take the stairs up to the apartment on the fourth floor.

  Malin is out of breath.

  Feeling sick, but if you feel sick as often as I do, she thinks, then feeling sick becomes a natural state. She knows why her body is protesting, alcohol functions just like any other drug, when your body wants more it lets you know, protesting noisily that the pleasure-fuel had stopped flowing. Her body is taking last night’s abstinence as an insult.

  Taking flight in drink.

  Breathing, deep, breathless breaths, and she loses count of the number of steps, and she tries to concentrate on the Fågelsjö family instead.

  They were forced to sell.

  It wasn’t time.

  Maintain the façade.

  And they wanted to buy back the castle.

  But where did the money come from? Sven has just called. Didn’t manage to get it out of Fredrik Fågelsjö, who had lost vast amounts. And Petersson had merely laughed at Axel Fågelsjö’s proposal.

  How to proceed?

  Get your son to kill Petersson so you can buy back the castle and land from the dead man’s estate, at whatever cost? Or kill him yourself in a fit of rage?

  Malin looks at Zeke, can see he’s thoughtful as they pant their way upstairs in their dripping raincoats, knows he’s thinking the same thing as she is, he’s not stupid, and through the windows of the stairwell they can see the rain hammering down, large drops, small drops, all about to be smashed on the tarmac below.

  But are the Fågelsjös, father and son, murderers? Malin feels uncertainty wrench at her stomach, an uncertainty bordering on disbelief.

  They are standing outside Axel Fågelsjö’s apartment.

  Zeke nods to her, says: ‘Let’s see what he’s got to say.’

  Malin rings the bell, and they hear it ring on the other side of the heavy, brown-painted wooden door, then footsteps, and they glimpse an eye peering through the peephole before the footsteps go away again,

  Malin rings again.

  Twice, three times. Five minutes, ten.

  ‘He’s not going to open up,’ Zeke says, and turns away.

  Axel Fågelsjö has sat down in his leather armchair, looking into the fire crackling in the hearth, feeling its heat against his feet.

  They’re here again, the police.

  It was bound to happen.

  Do they know about the financial affairs yet? Fredrik’s mess? Maybe even the attempt to buy back the castle? They must do, Axel Fågelsjö thinks. And they’re stupid enough to put two and two together in the most banal way possible.

  But sometimes the truth is banal, often the most banal thing imaginable.

  Like when Fredrik told him, he was sitting in this very chair, albeit out at the castle, and he had felt like ripping the head off his offspring, saw his son lying on his back whimpering like a worthless cockroach, and he had no choice but to get a grip on things himself.

  Bettina, I did what I had to, what I promised you.

  I stared at myself in the mirror, looked at the portraits on the wall, saw the derision in my forefathers’ eyes, the love in yours. I saved our son. But the feeling in that room, impossible to get around: You’re no son of mine. You can’t be.

  They hadn’t spoken to each other for a month. Then he had phoned Fredrik, summoned him, and his son had wept at his feet again, clinging onto the doorframe like a wretched beast.

  Derision and shame.

  Love can encompass those feelings as well. But if we don’t take care of each other, who else is going to?

  I promised your mother that I would love you, look after you, both of you, on her deathbed. Did you hear? Were you eavesdropping outside her sickroom that last night? That’s the only thing that has ever made me weak, Bettina, your illness, your blasted suffering, your terrible torment. And I trusted you, Fredrik. Against my better judgement. And now you’ve been so damn stupid, driving your car while you were drunk and trying to escape the police. Drawing everyone’s attention to us when there was no need. You should have stopped the car, taken your stupid punishment. We can deal with things like that. But sit there in your cell and feel the consequences of your actions. Your children, my grandchildren, I don’t recognise myself in them. But perhaps that’s because of their mother? That woman has never liked me, no matter how I’ve tried.

  Fredrik.

  Maybe it would have been better if you were retarded?

  The police, that strong, intelligent, worn-out woman, and him, that obviously tough man, I didn’t let them in. If I’m going to tell them anything else, they’ll have to force me with all the means at their disposal.

  Fredrik and Katarina.

  You do whatever you like now, don’t you? Don’t they, Bettina?

  Well, let’s see what happens. Even if Fredrik tells them everything, what will thos
e police officers do with the information? Even if they both seem to be made of sterner stuff than you, beloved, derided son.

  Katarina.

  I don’t need to worry about her. She does as I say. Always has done. She’s the accepting sort.

  Axel Fågelsjö gets up. Goes over to the window overlooking the Horticultural Society Park. Is that someone standing under the bare trees in the rain?

  Is someone standing there looking up at me? Or do my eyes deceive me?

  Fredrik Fågelsjö has asked to see Sven Sjöman.

  Has asked him to sit down on the bunk in his cell again, and says in a voice full of resignation: ‘You don’t have to believe me, but I had nothing to do with the murder of Jerry Petersson. I don’t think anyone in the family did. But this is the story, as I see it.’

  Fredrik takes a deep breath before going on: ‘When Father got depressed after Mother’s death, I was given access to the family fortune, to take care of day-to-day expenses. That made sense, because I work at a bank and know about finances.’

  Fredrik falls silent, as though he is having second thoughts.

  ‘What do you do at the bank?’ Sven asks. ‘You’re a financial advisor, aren’t you?’

  ‘I work with business customers. We’re often involved when small businesses around here change ownership. I work with the financing of that.’

  ‘Do you enjoy it?’

  ‘Well, it may not be quite what I used to dream about,’ Fredrik says. ‘But it’s a decent bank job, considering that it’s in Linköping. Anyway. Mum’s death hit Father hard. He gave me power of attorney to look after the finances until he felt better.’

  ‘And you started to get involved in stock options?’

  ‘Yes,’ Fredrik says, leaning back against the wall of the cell, and then he started to explain about the poor condition of the castle, about his father’s relatively poor finances, about his mother’s death, and how he started dabbling in options until everything got out of control once he had access to the family fortune, but he had meant well.

  Fredrik’s voice starts to fade, and Sven wonders whether he’s about to start crying, but he manages to hold back his tears if that was the case.