Camilla Lackberg - The Girl in the Woods

‘How did it go at the crime scene?’ Gösta asked. ‘Did they find anything useful?’

Patrik gave a start as he tried to shake off the visions of Nea on the autopsy table.

‘They collected a lot of material, but we don’t know yet how significant it will be.’

‘What sort of things did they find?’ Martin wanted to know.

‘Footprints, though they might be from the three men who found her or the previous search parties. Everyone who took part in the search has been asked to provide footprints. Did any of you search that particular area? If so, we need footprints from you too.’

‘No, none of us was in the area where the girl was found,’ said Gösta, helping himself to a cup of coffee.

‘Okay, footprints. What else?’ asked Paula.

‘I’m not sure. The techs were putting a lot of things in plastic bags, but I won’t know the details until Torbjörn’s report comes in. He doesn’t like to give out any information until he’s had a chance to take a close look at all the collected material.’

Mellberg stood up and went over to the window.

‘Damn, it’s hot in here.’

He tugged at his shirt collar as if he couldn’t breathe. There were big patches of sweat under his arms, and his comb-over had slid down over one ear. He opened the window. The traffic noise was a little intrusive, but no one objected to having fresh air sweep through the stuffy room. Ernst, the station’s dog, had been lying at Mellberg’s feet, panting. Now he got up and padded over to the window to sniff at the air.

‘So Torbjörn didn’t tell you anything?’ asked Paula.

Patrik shook his head. ‘No, we’ll have to wait for his preliminary report. And I need to find out from Pedersen when we can expect the results of the post-mortem. I’m afraid there are other cases ahead of this one, but I’ll talk to him and see what he can do.’

‘You were there at the scene. Did you notice anything?’ Paula persisted. ‘Anything on her body or—’

Martin grimaced.

‘No. And it’s not worth speculating until Pedersen has time to examine her.’

‘Are there any obvious suspects?’ asked Martin, tapping his pen on the table. ‘What do we know about the parents? It wouldn’t be the first time parents killed their own child and then tried to make it look like someone else had done it.’

‘I have a hard time believing that, in this case,’ said Gösta, setting down his cup so hard the coffee sloshed over the side.

Patrik held up his hand.

‘At this point there’s no reason to believe Nea’s parents are in any way involved. But Martin’s right – we can’t rule out the possibility. We need to talk to them as soon as we can, partly to find out whether they have an alibi, and partly to find out whether they have any information that might help us move forward with the investigation. But I’m inclined to agree with Gösta. At this stage, nothing points towards them.’

‘Since the girl was naked, maybe we ought to look into whether any paedophiles have been seen in the area of the farm,’ Paula suggested.

Silence settled over the room. Nobody wanted to think about what this suggestion implied.

‘I’m afraid you’re right,’ Mellberg said after a moment. ‘But how do we go about that?’

He was still sweating buckets and panting as heavily as Ernst.

‘There are thousands of tourists here right now,’ he went on. ‘How can we tell whether there are any sex offenders or paedophiles among all those people?’

‘We can’t. But we can dig out the reports of suspected sex offenders who may have turned up here this summer. Wasn’t there a woman who came in this week to report a guy who was secretly taking pictures of kids at the beach?’

‘Yeah,’ said Patrik with a nod. ‘I took the report. Glad you thought of that, Annika. Could you go through all the reports we’ve taken since May? Pull out anything of interest. Better to cast a broad net, and later we can narrow it down.’

‘I’m on it,’ she said, writing a note to herself.

‘So we need to talk about the elephant in the room,’ said Paula, refilling her cup from the Thermos.

A hissing sound issued from the Thermos pump, indicating it was almost empty. Annika got up to refill it. Coffee was the fuel they all needed at the moment.

‘I know what you’re talking about,’ said Patrik, looking a little uncomfortable. ‘The Stella case. Helen and Marie.’

‘Yes,’ said Gösta. ‘I was working here at the station thirty years ago. Unfortunately, I don’t remember all the details. It was a long time ago, and Leif turned over all the routine stuff to me while he handled the investigation and interviews. But I do recall what a shock it was to the whole town when Helen and Marie, having admitted to killing Stella, later retracted their confessions. To my mind, it’s no coincidence that Nea disappeared from the same farm and was found in the same place. Or the fact that this should happen right when Marie comes back here after a thirty-year absence.’

‘I agree,’ said Mellberg. ‘We need to talk to both of them. Even though I wasn’t here for that investigation, I heard a lot of talk about the case. And I’ve always thought it was especially horrifying that such young girls would kill a child.’

‘Both of them have maintained their innocence all these years,’ Paula pointed out.

Mellberg snorted. ‘In that case, why did they confess in the first place? Personally, I’ve never doubted those two girls killed Stella. And it doesn’t take an Einstein to put two and two together when the same thing happens again, now they’re back together for the first time in thirty years.’

‘We need to be careful not to rush to judgement,’ said Patrik. ‘But I agree we need to talk to both of them.’

‘I think it’s crystal clear,’ Mellberg went on. ‘Marie comes back, she and Helen are united, another murder occurs.’

Annika came back into the room, bringing the Thermos filled with coffee.

‘Did I miss anything?’

‘We were only saying that we need to consider possible similarities with the 1985 case. And we’ll have to interview Helen and Marie.’ Patrik looked at the whiteboard. ‘Annika, could you try to find the interview files and the rest of the case notes and evidence? I know it won’t be easy, considering what a mess it is in the archives, but give it a try.’

Annika nodded and made another note on her pad.

For a moment Patrik sat in silence, pondering whether what he was about to say had been properly thought through. But if he said nothing, it would undoubtedly come up in some other context, and then he’d be criticized for not mentioning it to his colleagues.

‘Regarding the Stella case …’ he said, pausing before going on. Then he tried again. ‘Well, the thing is, Erica has started work on her next book. And … she has decided to write about that particular case.’

Mellberg sat up straight. ‘She’s going to have to put that on hold for a while,’ he said. ‘We have enough to worry about without your wife running around and getting in the way. This is police business, not a matter for civilians who have neither the training nor the experience of the police force.’

Patrik had to stop himself from pointing out that Erica had been of far more help than Mellberg in solving their last few big cases. He knew it would do no good to insult Mellberg. His boss had the greatest faith in his own talents, albeit he was alone in that regard. Patrik had learned to work around him instead of with him. He also knew from experience that it would serve no purpose to tell Erica not to research the Stella case. Once she started poking around, she wouldn’t rest until all her questions were answered. But that wasn’t something he needed to tell his colleagues. He surmised that everyone other than Mellberg was well aware of this.