“Yes, and he was shot at an upward angle from the front.”
“So somebody knelt or lay down and then shot up at him from the front? It hardly makes sense,” said Mia. “I mean, it’s really weird that somebody would be sitting on the floor in front of him and then kill him. Wouldn’t he have had time to react?”
“Perhaps he did. Or else he knew the murderer,” said Henrik.
“Or it was a bloody dwarf or something,” said Mia and laughed out loud.
Henrik sighed at her.
“You can discuss that among yourselves. According to my calculations, that, at any rate, is how Hans Juhlén died. My findings are summarized here.” Bj?rn held out copies of the autopsy report. Henrik and Jana each took one.
“He died sometime between 18:00 and 19:00 on Sunday. It’s in the notes.”
Jana thumbed through the report which at first sight seemed to be as comprehensive and detailed as Ahlmann was known to be.
“Thanks for the summary,” she said to Bj?rn as she fished up her phone from her pocket to listen to the voice message.
It was Gunnar ?hrn who had left a single short sentence in a resolute tone. “Interview with Kerstin Juhlén, 15:30,” he’d said, and nothing more. Not even his name.
Jana put the phone back into her pocket.
“Interview at half past three,” she said quietly to Henrik.
“What?” said Mia.
“Interview half past three,” said Henrik loud and clear to Mia who was about to say something when Jana interrupted.
“Well, then,” she said.
The medical examiner adjusted his glasses. “Are you satisfied?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He slowly pulled the sheet back over the naked body. Mia opened the door and backed out to avoid brushing against Jana as she approached the doorway.
“We’ll get back to you with any questions,” said Henrik to Ahlmann as they left the autopsy room.
He strode in the lead toward the elevator.
“Do that,” answered Bj?rn behind them. “You know where I am,” he added, but his voice was drowned out by the drumming noise from the ventilation pipes in the ceiling.
*
The Public Prosecution Office in Norrk?ping consisted of twelve full-time employees with Chief Public Prosecutor Torsten Granath in charge. Fifteen years earlier, when Torsten Granath took over as head of the office, the office went through a radical change. Under his leadership, a policy was instituted of replacing staff members who were no longer pulling their weight with a few new hires who had highly productive track records. He had thanked several longtime employees for their service while at the same time encouraging them to retire, fired lazy administrators and helped underutilized specialists to find new challenges in other areas of their profession.
When Jana Berzelius was hired, Torsten Granath had already trimmed down the organization considerably; only four members were left on staff. That same year, the office was charged with a larger geographical area, and they also had to deal with crimes in the adjacent municipalities of Finsp?ng, S?derk?ping and Valdemarsvik. The recently increasing trade in narcotics also called for more employees. For those reasons, Torsten Granath had recruited new staff and now they were twelve in all.
As a result of Torsten’s policy, the office could now proudly display its competence. Torsten Granath at sixty-two ironically had slowed down a little himself and now occasionally found his thoughts wandering off to the well-kept greens on the golf courses. But his heart still belonged to his profession. Leading the work here was his mission in life and he would keep on with it until he reached pensionable age.
His office was of the homely type, with curtains draped in the window, gilded frames with photos of grandchildren on his desk and a green woolly rug on the floor. He always paced back and forth on that rug when he talked on the telephone. That was what he was doing when Jana Berzelius entered the department. She said a quick hello to the administrator, Yvonne Jansson.
Yvonne stopped Jana as she walked by.
“Hang on a sec!”
She handed over a yellow Post-it note with a familiar name written on it.
“Mats Nylinder at Norrk?pings Tidningar wants a comment on the murder of Hans Juhlén. They’ve evidently found out that you’re in charge of the preliminary investigation. Mats said that you owed him a few words since you sneaked out of court this morning. He had wanted a statement about the judgment and waited more than an hour for you.”
Jana didn’t answer, so Yvonne went on.
“Unfortunately he isn’t the only one who’s rung. This murder has every paper in Sweden interested. They all want something to put in their headlines tomorrow.”
“And I’m not going to give them anything. You’ll have to refer them to the police press officer. There will be no comment from me.”
“Okay, no comment it is.”
“And you can tell Mats Nylinder that too,” said Jana and headed toward her office.The sound of her heels echoed as she entered the room with its parquet floor.
The furnishings were Spartan, but had a touch of elegance. The desk was of teak and so were the functional bookshelves that were filled with bound case files. On the right side of the desk was a silver letter tray with three levels. On the left side there was a laptop, a 17-inch HP. On the windowsill stood two white orchids in high pots.
Jana closed the door behind her and hung her jacket over the back of her leather-upholstered chair. While her computer started up, she studied the flowers in the window. She liked her office. It was spacious and airy. She had chosen to position the desk so that she sat with her back to the window; through the glass wall she then had full view of the corridor outside.
Jana put a tall stack of summonses to be adjudicated next to her computer.
Then she quickly glanced at her watch. Only one and a half hours before the interview with Kerstin Juhlén.
She suddenly felt tired, leaned her head forward and started to rub the back of her neck. Her fingertips slowly massaged the uneven skin there and traced over its bumps. Then she neatened her long hair to make sure it covered the back of her neck and flowed down her back.
After looking through a few of the summonses, she got up to fetch a cup of coffee. When she came back, she left the rest of the paperwork untouched.
CHAPTER
FIVE
THE SMALLISH INTERVIEW room was bare except for a table and four chairs, with a fifth chair in a corner. One wall had a window with bars; on the oppositve wall was a mirror. Jana sat next to Henrik with her pen and notepad in her hand as he started the tape recorder. She let him handle the questioning. Mia Bolander had pulled up the extra chair behind them. Loudly and clearly, Henrik recited Kerstin Juhlén’s full name, then her personal identity number, before going on.
“Monday, the sixteenth of April, 15:30 hours. This interview is being conducted by DCI Henrik Levin who is being assisted by DI Mia Bolander. Also present are Public Prosecutor Jana Berzelius and Solicitor Peter Ramstedt.”
Kerstin Juhlén had been detained as a possible person of interest, but so far had not been charged with any crime. She sat next to Peter Ramstedt, her lawyer, and placed her clasped hands on the table. Her face was pale and she wore no makeup. Her hair was uncombed, her earrings removed.
“Do you know who killed my husband?” Kerstin Juhlén asked in a whisper.
“No, it’s still too early in our investigation to say,” answered Henrik and looked gravely at the woman in front of him.
“You think I’ve done it, don’t you? You think that I was the one who shot him...”
“We don’t think anything.”
“But I didn’t do it! I wasn’t home. It wasn’t me!”
“As I said, we don’t think anything yet, but we must investigate the circumstances surrounding his murder and determine how it all happened. That’s why I want you to tell me about Sunday night when you came home to the house.”
Kerstin took two deep breaths. She unclenched her hands, put them on her lap and straightened up in the chair.
“I came home...from a walk.”