”What are you saying? You don’t mean that Barbro would go behind the back of her husband?”
”Yes, that’s it.” Nikki turned around and looked out of the window. Outside the cafe’ some Cypriot old men were sitting, in their starched trousers with straight folds and vests, smoking.
”I have a hard time believing that.” Kerstin’s tone of voice was very firm.
”There is proof and I have just been there to face her. Barbro even admitted it.” Nikki closed her eyes and felt how relaxed her body felt when the sun was warming her face.
Kerstin was surprised. ”I’ll be damned. In the deepest waters...”
”I just thought of something. Could you please check up on Olof Stenvall in our files at home?” Nikki wanted as many facts as possible about Olof so they possibly could exclude him from the investigation. But something told her he wasn’t as innocent as Barbro imagined and Nikki was usually right when it came to intuition.
”Of course. What does your gut tell you, what are you looking for?”
”He’s a sneaky bastard. I just want to check on him extra carefully since he seems to be a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
”Do you have his passport number or his personal number?”
”I think Daphne took all his information when we had him in for interrogation last Monday. I’ll send a message to you shortly. Come back to me asap please.”
Nikki slowly opened her eyes and wondered what she was actually doing here. She should be at the hospital with Linn and Patrik but at the same time she knew that the investigation had to go on. Quickly she found Daphne who was on all fours on the tiled floor with different piles of papers.
”Didn’t you get Olof Stenvall’s personal number before the interrogation last Monday?” Nikki squatted next to Daphne and looked in amazement at all the documents she had sorted into different piles.
Daphne stopped and sat down on her behind. ”Why are you asking?”
”I thought of checking him out and see if he’s in the Swedish criminal records.”
”Ah, you are really clever, aren’t you?. I’ll call Katerina immediately she has his information.”
Four hours later Sam gave Nikki the go ahead to leave for the hospital. Nikki was almost fainting from tiredness and longed to sleep without interruption for 24 hours. She almost stumbled down the stairs and when she came outside it was like stepping into a green-house. She forced her legs to walk the last few steps down to the car and when she stopped at the bottom of the stairs she saw a cat stretching over the warm hood in the sun.
Nikki smiled tiredly but when she came close to the car the cat got scared and jumped down to hide among all the bushy rosemary shrubs. A revving engine made Nikki turn around. A bad feeling went through her body when she saw him and she wondered how long this stalking would continue. Nikki couldn’t stop thinking of the motorcycle guy dressed in black as she drove toward the hospital. She wondered what he wanted since he never showed any interest in making contact. Did he just want to scare her? Or did he have something else in mind? Nikki couldn’t make him out.
At the red light she noticed that the motorcycle was two cars behind her. She drove round the roundabouts, passed Debenham’s and the closed bowling hall by the Alpha Mega all the while feeling watched. It was an eerie feeling. Once by the General Hospital she took Linn’s leopard-coloured suitcase and once again went in through the main entrance, for the second time that day. Curiously she looked behind and saw the motorcycle guy driving around the cars by the entrance for the ambulances. He looked her way and she tried not getting too scared.
So far he hadn’t tried to approach her so why would he suddenly change his routines? Nikki passed by the shop on the ground floor and came out with a bag filled with nuts, water, a couple of fresh peaches and two tuna-fish salads. She hoped Linn would be awake and that she had recovered a bit from the shock but first she wanted to see Patrik. Nikki found the stairs and slowly walked up to the fifth floor. Without warning her chest felt heavy, she closed her eyes and let the wave of sorrow pass over her.
She sat down on one of the steps and cried. Even though crying was alien to her it made her feel better. Nikki was never known for crying. That pleasure she had learned to control early on since her ex had loved to see her weak, but the last few days she had lost her protective wall completely. She dried her face with a wet wipe, took a deep breath and got up. The door to the long, narrow corridor opened and the smell of alcohol and disinfectant hit her.
A nurse with a friendly smile kindly showed Nikki the way to Patrik’s room. Serious she stopped outside the door, gathered herself mentally before opening the door and going in. Her eyes immediately overflowed when she saw Patrik’s lifeless body lying there connected to different machines. There was beeping and humming from the machines and Nikki could follow his heartbeat on one of the screens. His head was wrapped with bandages as was his jaw and he had drips from several different containers. Nikki was happily surprised to see Linn sitting on a chair next to Patrik’s hospital bed holding her husband’s hand and she went up to give her a hug.
”Hello sweetie, how are you?”
Linn’s face looked as though it was carved out of stone. All her joy was gone. She had tense lines around her mouth and her hair was limp.
”Thank you. I am ok”, Linn replied anxiously and arranged her hand even deeper in Patrik’s.
”It’s bloody awful seeing your husband like this. Whoever did this must be insane”, she continued with anguish in her throat.
Nikki got a chair and sat down.
”Tell me, what are the doctors saying?”
”Well, what are they saying. Nothing really since they can’t even say if Patrik will survive the day or not. And if he does wake up from the coma they don’t know if he’ll be permanently damaged. The operation seems to have been very complicated.”
”The operation? I thought he was too weak for that.” Nikki pushed the hair away from her face and grabbed Patrik’s hand. It felt foreign.
”There was evidently an emergency so I gave them my permission. What the hell should I do? He seems to have been badly beaten, even tortured according to the doctors. And his throat is…” Linn caught her breath while picking at her cuticles. Her chin was shaking and she tried not to cry. ”He has several holes in his throat…and just that could be fatal.” She opened her closed fist and dried her eyes with a wrinkled paper handkerchief. Nikki felt her stomach contracting. She knew that Patrik was badly injured and to see her best friend like this was more than she could bear.
”His jaw and several ribs are also broken. In addition one of his lungs is punctured and he has lots of inner bleeding due to kicks and hits and from some bloody fish hooks.” Linn sniffed and pulled her arm under her nose, she could hardly speak anymore. The tears had taken over.
Nikki hugged her broken friend. She knew that Patrik was badly injured but found it hard to grasp just how serious his condition was. A chorus of inner voices immediately started shouting that he wouldn’t survive. Nikki made a face and told them to go to hell. She tried pulling herself together for the sake of Linn. She had to seem strong now.
”I don’t even want to think about what he’s been through”, Nikki whispered. She anxiously moved and looked Linn in the eyes. ”I promise you that I will find whoever did this and I think that we actually already have him arrested.” Nikki tried sounding firm in an attempt to comfort Linn but it didn’t do much good. She opened the bag hanging over the chair, took out some plastic cutlery and a box of fresh tuna salad which she gave to Linn. ”I thought we’d eat dinner together before I have to go back to the station.”
”Thanks, that’s sweet of you. Just so you know, I’ll stay here until he wakes up.” Linn dried her tears and sat up straight on the chair.
”Of course”, Nikki said. ”I brought your stuff so you can stay here as long as you want.” Nikki cut a tomato in half.
”Thank you”, Linn whispered touched.
Friday June 14th
Five little kittens ran to hide under some pink flowery bushes when Nikki parked the car in the shade of the fig tree. Before entering the station she had a look in the mirror. Her eyes were swollen and dark from lack of sleep and her face looked strained. Where had the attractive woman gone? She knew the answer of course and wished nobody to experience what she was going through right now. Out in the parking lot Nikki tried calling the kittens but they were too shy. They rolled up like little bundles of wool and stared at her with big eyes. When her mobile rang loudly they ran out of sight immediately and hid.
”Hi, did you find something about Olof Stenvall?”
”Nope, there is nobody with that personal number.” Kerstin kept quiet and Nikki stopped by the reception where Katerina was sitting playing with her mobile.
”What do you mean? You must have messed the figures.” Nikki asked Katerina to give her the copy of Olof Stenvall’s driver’s license. She repeated the numbers to her boss while walking into the conference room where Daphne was sitting.
”I have these numbers too and can tell you miss that this license must be a fake.”
”What the hell are you saying?” Nikki looked at Daphne indicating that something was wrong.
”I’m sorry but I can’t find any Olof Stenvall with this information in our systems.”
Nikki thought and started biting a nail. ”But what if he has made an exit and has moved out of Sweden?”
”I would have found him anyway. Do you have anything else on him?” Kerstin sounded impatient and Nikki knew that she was stressed.
”Hang on, I’ll ask Daphne.” Nikki turned to her colleague and asked:” Didn’t we take DNA on Olof Stenvall?”
”Maria did”, Daphne replied. Nikki made a thumbs up while putting the phone to her ear again.
”Listen Kerstin, we have DNA of this mysterious man.”
”Fantastic. Could you make sure I get a copy as soon as possible, please.” Nikki hung up and sat down with a bang on the edge of the table. Her thoughts were spinning around her head but she couldn’t make any sense of them at all. What was wrong with Olof Stenvall? Why had he lied about his personal number? Nikki put both hands in front of her face and looked up to the ceiling. She was awfully tired. Sam who just came in through the door gave her a strange look.
”Is everything alright?” He sat down next to her on the edge of the table and she noticed that his stubble was unusually long.
”Besides Patrik hovering between life and death, that Linn is feeling bad and that we have three murder victims as well as a crazy Chief and that Olof Stenvall is lying about his personal number...” Nikki shrugged and gave him an impatient look. ”I don’t know. One moment it feels as though we’re close to solving the cases but now it just feels pitch black. Ah, sorry. I’m just tired and have lost focus for a while. By the way, I need Olof Stenvall’s DNA profile immediately. How do I go about getting it ?”
Sam looked inquiringly at Nikki. ”Why do you need that?”
”Listen to this, Olof must have shown a false driver’s license when he was here for interrogation last Monday.”
Sam whistled. ”I’ll be damned.”
”Give me your boss’ mail address and I’ll ask Maria to send over the DNA analysis immediately. This could become exciting. Then Olof might not be the Olof we know?” Daphne said wrinkling her nose.
Nikki wrote down Kerstin’s email and handed the note to Daphne. ”My gut tells me he’s hiding something but I can’t understand why.” Nikki held the table and stretched out her bare legs. Even her legs were heavy and tired.
”What do you say girls, its five o’clock, shall we roll over Petros one last time before closing for the day?” Sam asked and stroked his chin.
”This time you have to be in charge of the interview”, Daphne said and stood up. ”I’ll call his horrible lawyer meanwhile and make sure that Maria sends Olof’s information to Sweden.”
Half an hour later the accountant was brought up from jail by Sam and his legal advisor. His back was bent under his dirty shirt and Petros almost looked ill. Sam started up the old tape recorder, stated the date and time then sat down on the wooden chair opposite the accused man and his lawyer.
”To tell you the truth we found quite a few things at your office today.” Sam looked hard at Petros and waited for his reaction. The accountant scratched his stubble and looked up through half-closed red eyes. He didn’t seem interested at all. It almost seemed as though he had given up.
”Among other things we found yours and Patrik Kroona’s signatures on a bloody complicated sales contract which says that you own 70% of his company. Then we found another interesting document which seems to prove that you’ve had an extra board meeting.” Sam paused a bit before continuing.
”And all of Patrik’s companies would give 3 600 000 euros as an extra dividend. The document was signed by you but not by Patrik Kroona. Is that the reason why he is hovering between life and death today?” Sam got a tired look back from Petros while the lawyer looked surprised at his client.
”Explain, because I don’t get it. Why do you own 70% of Patrik Kroona’s companies and why should he agree to empty his companies of so much money?”
Petros remained silent. He scratched his arms and looked blank. Sam encouraged him to answer and the lawyer nodded in agreement.
”I don’t know.” His voice was thin and weak. You could hardly hear it. Petros nervously started twisting his hands and his gaze was scanning the bare room.
”You don’t know.” Sam’s voice was hard. ”Would you have signed a similar agreement if the roles had been reversed?” He got up, walked around the room and showed a calm exterior even though he was in turmoil inside. ”So Patrik refused signing the document when he came to see you on Saturday afternoon. You disagreed and started fighting. Somehow he was brought to your boat and there the heavy abuse and torture started. You threatened him with what? Death?” Petros clenched his jaws and looked down at the table. He was hand-cuffed and was sweating profusely.
”Could I have a glass of water?” Petros asked quietly.
”Water? How much water did you really give Patrik? Not a bloody drop for six days. And then you come here asking us to give you water. Damn it.”
Petros was tense and stared into space.
”According to the doctors he was found in the nick of time, otherwise he would have been dead today. But you know the worst? That he’s still between life and death because of you and your bloody methods.” Sam was interrupted by a hard knock on the door. Carlos came in, gave him a hand-written note and then left the interrogation room. Sam sat down again, read the note carefully and looked inquiringly at Petros.
”Forensics just called.” Sam leaned over the table so he was face to face with the accountant. ”Something unusual has occurred…” He prolonged the sentence and stared into the accountant’s dark eyes. ”Your DNA-profile matches one of the dead in our investigation. Do you know what this means? That you somehow were related…” Sam let the message sink in with Petros and the lawyer before continuing:
”Besides we found the same DNA on your boat. Sam went across the room and stopped by Daphne who was standing by the wall. He gave her the hand-written note.
Petros leaned his head in his hands and sighed deeply. ”I don’t know what you are talking about.”
”You know very well and soon we’ll know more too when we get all the information from Forensics.
Her eyelids were as heavy as lead and Nikki longed for her own bed with newly washed soft bed-sheet. She also wondered what Gustav and Axel were doing, her chest ached with longing for them. Of course it was OK to work here, but everything was run down and Carlos was a real tyrant of a boss. Nikki shivered just thinking about him and really felt sorry for the rest at the station. Fortunately the co-operation from Daphne and Sam was working well at least.
The suspicion which had started germinating with Nikki was rushing through her head and she didn’t want to go home and go to bed at all until some pieces of the puzzle were in place. Slowly she turned around on the office chair and looked at the picture she had taken from Petros’ office. The two boys were dressed in nothing more than some torn shorts and their hair was bleached by the sun. She guessed they must have been around eight and 10. They looked skinny and scared. Nikki let her thoughts wander around freely while studying the picture carefully.
”Don’t I know these guys?” she asked the Panther and stroked his back. A few minutes later she had an idea, got out her mobile and called David via Skype.
”Cute cat. I didn’t know you kept cats in the police stations in Cyprus.”
Nikki laughed and put her face in the black fur. ”The useless Chief is absolutely crazy about cats and I don’t mind.” David joined in the laughter. ”You look tired.”
Nikki made a face and told him about the night’s events while David looked really worried.”
”There’s somebody here I think ought to be checked out a bit more. Could you maybe send him one of those spy messages that you sent to Olof and Petros?”
”Does he belong to the Mafia?” Now David looked even more worried.
”But of course not, don’t you think I’ve learned anything?” Nikki winked and smiled.
”OK then give me the number and I’ll send a message immediately.”
Nikki told him the Cypriot mobile number before continuing:
”Has the person with the burner phone opened the message yet?” She looked out through the window and saw the sun low in the sky. Soon it’ll be time for yet another magic sunset.
”Nope, no activity there. It might be a smart person, who knows?”
”Yes, who knows. Thanks for all your help David.” Nikki blew him a fly kiss before smilingly hanging up. She pulled the lever on the side of the office chair, leaned backwards and closed her eyes. After 20 minutes she suddenly woke up and the Panther who had been lying on her stomach got a fright and jumped down on the floor. It was the sound of the mobile phone which had woken her up and on the display she could see her boss’ face.
”Did you get any mail from Maria at Forensics?” Nikki’s voice was coarse and she yawned widely while pulling the lever so the chair went back to its original position.
”Oh yes, listen to this”, Kerstin said with renewed energy. ”Olof Stenvall’s real name is Bertil Hagg and he has a completely different personal number. Arrest him as soon as possible because he’s a suspect in an attempted murder of his business partner seven years ago.”
”What the hell are you saying?” Nikki said and at once was wide awake.
”I’m sitting by the computer and his partner Jon Soderstrom was badly beaten by Olof or in actual fact Bertil. He used a golf club so you can imagine the injuries. Jon had to spend four months in hospital and apparently still has some physical damage. Olof or Bertil also emptied their shared company of 10 million before fleeing the country.”
Nikki gasped for breath and slid off the office chair.
”I’ll be damned. I had a feeling Olof was a mean bastard. Could you please mail me his papers asap and don’t forget the extradition papers.”
”Of course, it will be there immediately. How nice to clear up some old cases”, Hogstrom said happily. ”How are Patrik and Linn by the way?”
”The shock has almost abated but Linn is not well at all. Patrik is still in a coma. Apparently he went through a complicated operation this morning so we’ll have to pray and hope that he wakes up soon.”
”Poor soul. And so you can’t question him of course...damn, otherwise you would probably have found out who the perpetrator is.” She kept quiet and Nikki could hear her boss typing away. Probably she answered a mail quickly, she liked multi-tasking. ”And how are you?” Hogstrom asked curiously.
”Ah, you know how it works. It will catch up with me later but then that’s it.” Nikki bent down and picked up the Panther on her lap again. He settled down and started purring immediately when she started scratching him. ”Of course I would like to interview Patrik but now it’s not possible…” She sighed deeply and twisted a lock of hair around one of her fingers. ”You know the accountant, Petros, he shuts up in every interrogation and shrugs at all our questions. He isn’t one to talk unnecessarily at all.”
”It’s really sad what happened to Patrik and you’ll just have to let go for a while. The interview will take place when he is much stronger and that might take time. What do you think of Olof, or Bertil which is his real name, is he guilty of Karl Hofvenskold and Sten Arvidsson’s deaths?”
”Well, he’s also one of our main suspects and now he has this baggage too so I think he could be capable of anything. Do you think he would get rid of Karl Hofvenskold to get Barbro for himself?” Nikki rubbed her eyes and put up her feet on the conference table.
”Unfortunately, jealousy has created a lot of murder victims. Get in touch when you’ve picked up Olof or Bertil. What do you think we should call him?”
”We’ll stick to Olof as a work name since we’ve been calling him that up until now”, Nikki said and finished the conversation after a while.
The sensation of having figured out something important was intoxicating. Nikki looked astounded all the way to the kitchen where Sam was just putting coffee in the filter.
”You look both tired and mysterious”, Sam said and stroked his muscular arm.