Postcard killers

Chapter 52

Jacob was studying a screen where a group of schoolchildren were wandering aimlessly around the room containing Swedish art at 9:26 on Friday morning. He hit the fast-forward button, and the children suddenly started dashing about like mad things, jumping around the room like midget actors in an old silent movie.

"What do you think of Dessie?" Gabriel a asked out of nowhere without turning away from her screen.

Jacob looked over at her in surprise.

She had also sped up her recording, and had reached Thursday 2:23.

"Pretty smart girl, for a journalist. Why? What do you think of Dessie?"

Gabriel a got to the end of her recording and reached for a new disk from the pile. Friday 3:00 started with three old ladies who seemed more interested in one another than in the art around them.

Gabriel a slowed down her recording to look more careful y at a group of Japanese visitors on a guided tour in front of Dardel's painting.

"She's got a lot of integrity, which makes her seem tougher than she is. It was probably a mistake to force her to write that letter," Gabriel a said.

Jacob glanced over at Gabriel a's screen and watched her hit fast-forward again after the Japanese tourists disappeared.

"Stop! Look at that," Jacob suddenly said.

At 3:27 a young couple came into the room and stood in front of The Dying Dandy. Only their backs were visible.

The woman had long hair, dark but not black. It was hard to judge the exact color because of the quality of the film.

Beside her was a tal, wel -built man with fair hair. The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders. She stroked his back and slipped her fingers under the waistband of his jeans.

Together they went right up to the painting, like they were inspecting it thoroughly.

"Do you think that could be them?" Gabriel a wondered.

Jacob didn't answer.

The couple kept standing there, looking at the painting, speaking only occasional y to each other. They paid no attention to any of the other works in the room.

Gabriel a moved the video forward frame by frame so they didn't miss 72 anything, not a single gesture.

Jacob wished he could hear what they were saying to each other.

The young couple stood in front of the canvas for almost fifteen minutes.

They had their arms around each other the whole time.

Then they abruptly turned to leave the room. The woman kept her head lowered, but just as the man reached the doorway, he threw his hair back.

Suddenly his handsome features were caught in razor-sharp precision by the security camera.

Gabriel a caught her breath.

"It's him!" she said. "That's the guy from the police composite."

Jacob leapt forward and paused the image. His voice was hoarse with excitement.

"I've got you now, you bastard. I've got both of you!"