Buried Angels

Chapter Ten

Gösta’s car pulled into the driveway, and Erica sighed with relief. There had been a risk that Patrik might see him as he left for work.

She opened the door before Gösta could ring the bell. Behind her the children were making so much noise that he probably felt like he was stepping into a wall of sound.

‘Sorry about all the commotion. This place is going to be condemned as a workplace any day now.’ She turned around to stop Noel from chasing a sobbing Anton.

‘Don’t worry. I’m used to Mellberg shouting at us,’ said Gösta, squatting down. ‘Hi, you guys. You certainly look like a couple of rascals.’

Anton and Noel stopped in their tracks, suddenly turning shy, but Maja stepped forward boldly.

‘Hi, old man. My name is Maja.’

‘Maja! We don’t say things like that,’ Erica told her daughter, giving her a stern look.

‘It’s okay.’ Gösta laughed loudly and stood up. ‘Out of the mouths of babes and idiots – that’s how we hear the truth. And I’m definitely an old man. What do you think, Maja?’

She nodded, then glared at her mother triumphantly before heading off. The twins still didn’t dare come forward. Instead, they slowly backed away towards the living room without taking their eyes off Gösta.

‘Those two don’t exactly warm to strangers, do they?’ he said as he followed Erica into the kitchen.

‘Anton has always been shy. Noel, on the other hand, is usually quite outgoing, but he seems to be in a phase where he’s scared of anyone he doesn’t know.’

‘Not a bad attitude to have, in my opinion,’ said Gösta as he sat down on a kitchen chair, glancing around nervously. ‘Are you certain Patrik won’t be coming back for anything?’

‘He left for work half an hour ago, so he’s probably already over at the station.’

‘I’m not sure this is such a good idea.’ He traced his finger over the pattern on the tablecloth.

‘I think it’s a great idea,’ said Erica. ‘There’s no need to get Patrik involved. He doesn’t always appreciate my help.’

‘And with good reason. Sometimes you have a tendency to get yourself mixed up in things.’

‘But everything turns out well in the end.’

Erica refused to be deterred. She thought the idea she’d had last night was a stroke of genius, and she’d quickly slipped away to ring Gösta. And now here he was, although it had taken some persuasion to get him to come over without mentioning it to Patrik.

‘We share a common interest, you and I,’ she said, sitting down across from him. ‘We’re both desperate to find out what happened out on Valö during that Easter holiday.’

‘Yes, but now the police are working on the case.’

‘And that’s good. But you know how investigations can get bogged down by all the rules and procedures police officers have to follow. I, on the other hand, am at liberty to pursue alternative methods.’

Gösta was still sceptical. ‘That’s as may be, but Patrik won’t be pleased if he finds out about this, and I’m not sure that I want to-’

‘That’s precisely why Patrik is not going to find out,’ Erica interrupted him. ‘All you have to do is see to it that I get to study the case files in secret, and I’ll let you in on anything that I manage to dig up. As soon as I find something, I’ll pass it on to you. You present it to Patrik, and you’ll be the hero of the day. After the case is closed, I use the information in one of my books. Everybody wins, especially Patrik. He wants to solve this case and catch the arsonist. He’s not going to ask awkward questions. He’ll just be grateful for whatever information is offered. Besides, you’re short-staffed at the station, what with Martin out sick and Paula on holiday. So it won’t hurt if you have an extra person working on the case.’

‘I suppose.’ Gösta’s expression relaxed, and Erica surmised that he liked the idea of being the hero of the day. ‘And you really don’t think that Patrik will get suspicious?’

‘Not at all. He knows how involved you are in this case; trust me, he won’t suspect a thing.’

It sounded as if a riot had started up in the living room, so Erica got up and dashed out to see what was going on. After directing a few words of warning to Noel to leave Anton alone, and then switching on a Pippi Longstocking movie, things calmed down and Erica was able to return to the kitchen.

‘So now the question is: Where do we start? Have you heard any more about the blood?’

Gösta shook his head. ‘No, not yet. But Torbjörn and his team are still out there working, trying to see if they can find anything else. And sometime later today he’s hoping to receive a report that will tell us whether we’re dealing with human blood. All we have at the moment is a preliminary report about the fire, which Patrik received before I left the office yesterday.’

‘Have you started interviewing people?’ Erica was so eager that she could hardly sit still. She didn’t intend to give up until she’d done everything she could to help solve the mystery. The fact that it might provide material for an amazing book was an added bonus.

‘Yesterday I compiled a list, prioritizing which individuals I think we should talk to first, and then I started trying to find contact information for them. But it’s not exactly an easy task, given the amount of time that’s passed. It can be difficult to track people down, and what they remember could be pretty vague by now. We can only wait to see what emerges from the interviews.’

‘Do you think the boys might have been involved?’

He understood at once which boys she was referring to. ‘Naturally, the thought has occurred to me, but I just don’t know. We interviewed them on a number of occasions, and their stories always matched up. And we didn’t find any physical evidence to indicate that-’

‘Did you find any physical evidence at all?’ asked Erica.

‘No, there wasn’t much to go on. After my colleague Henry and I found Ebba alone in the house, we went back down to the dock. That’s where we met the boys, as they arrived in the other boat, and it did look as though they’d been out fishing.’

‘Did you search the boat? It’s conceivable that the bodies could have been dumped at sea.’

‘The boat was searched very carefully, but there were no traces of blood or anything like that, which there would have been if they’d loaded five bodies into the boat. And I wonder whether they would have been capable of lugging the bodies that far. They were quite slender lads. And besides, bodies usually float to the surface. Some of the family members should have washed up sooner or later, unless the boys made sure to weigh down the corpses – and that would require heavy objects that might not be so easy to come by on the spur of the moment.’

‘Did you talk to other pupils at the school?’

‘Yes, but some of the parents were reluctant to allow us access to their sons. I suppose they regarded themselves as too upper-class, and they didn’t want to risk a scandal.’

‘So did you find out anything interesting?’

Gösta snorted. ‘No, just a bunch of nonsense about how awful the parents thought it was. They told us their sons had nothing to say about life at the school. Everything was excellent. Rune was excellent, the teachers were excellent, and there were no conflicts or quarrels. And the pupils simply repeated what their parents had told us.’

‘What about the teachers?’

‘Of course we interviewed both of them. And at first we had our suspicions about Ove Linder. But later it turned out that he did have an alibi.’ Gösta fell silent for a moment. ‘We had no suspects. We couldn’t even prove that a crime had been committed. But…’

Erica placed her arms on the table and leaned forward. ‘But what?’

He hesitated. ‘I don’t know. Your husband is always talking about his gut feelings, and we usually tease him, but I have to admit that back then my gut feeling was that we were missing something. We did our best, but it got us nowhere.’

‘So we’re going to try again. A lot has changed since 1974.’

‘My experience is that some things never change. Those upper-crust types will always look out for themselves.’

‘We’ll try again,’ said Erica patiently. ‘Finish making the list of names of all the pupils and teachers. Then let me have a copy, so we can work on two fronts at once.’

‘Just don’t tell-’

‘Patrik is not going to know about this. And I’ll keep you up to date on everything I find out. That was our agreement, right?’

‘Yes.’ A worried expression appeared on Gösta’s lean face.

‘By the way, I went out to have a talk with Ebba and her husband yesterday.’

Gösta stared at her. ‘How’s she doing? Is she upset about what happened? How…?’

Erica laughed. ‘Take it easy. One question at a time.’ Then she turned serious. ‘I’d say she was subdued but composed. They claim that they don’t know anything more about who might have set the fire, but I can’t tell whether they’re lying or not.’

‘I think they should stay somewhere else.’ It was obvious that Gösta was extremely concerned. ‘At least until we work everything out. It’s not a safe place for them, and it was pure luck that they got out of the house in time.’

‘They don’t seem like the kind of people to give up easily.’

‘She’s a stubborn sort,’ said Gösta with obvious pride.

Erica looked at him in surprise but didn’t ask any questions. She knew from experience how personally involved she could get in the lives of the people that she wrote about. It was probably the same for police officers. Over the course of their careers they became entangled in the fates of so many individuals.

‘When I met Ebba there was one thing that I wondered about and thought a bit strange.’

‘What’s that?’ said Gösta, but a scream made Erica jump up to rush into the living room to see who was hurt. It took a few minutes before she returned to the kitchen to take up the thread of their conversation.

‘Where were we? Oh, right. I thought it was strange that Ebba didn’t have any of the belongings that her family left behind. The house wasn’t just a boarding school, it was their home, so there ought to have been loads of personal possessions. I took it for granted that they’d been given to Ebba, but she had no idea what had happened to all those things.’

‘Good point.’ Gösta rubbed his chin. ‘I need to check whether an inventory was carried out. I can’t remember seeing any lists.’

‘I thought it might be worth it to take a look at their things with fresh eyes.’

‘Not a bad idea. I’ll see what I can find.’ He glanced at his watch and then jumped to his feet. ‘Jesus, the time has flown by. Hedström must be wondering where I am.’

Erica put her hand on his arm to reassure him.

‘You’ll think up a good excuse. Say you overslept or something like that. He won’t suspect a thing, I swear.’

‘Easy for you to say,’ replied Gösta, heading out to the hall to put on his shoes.

‘Don’t forget what we’ve agreed. I need contact details for everyone involved, and you’re going to find out where the Elvanders’ belongings got to.’

Erica leaned forward and impulsively gave Gösta a hug. He awkwardly hugged her back.

‘Okay, let me go. I promise to get to work on everything as soon as I can.’

‘You’re a rock,’ said Erica, winking.

‘Right. Well, best see to your kids now. I’ll be in touch when I have something.’

Erica closed the door after him and did exactly as he’d said. She sat down on the sofa and as all three children climbed up to claim the best place on her lap, she absentmindedly watched the adventures of Pippi Longstocking unfolding on the TV.

It was nice and quiet at the station. For a change, Mellberg had come out of his office to sit in the kitchen. Ernst, who was never more than a metre away from his master, had settled under the table, hoping that sooner or later it would be time for a snack.

‘What a bloody idiot!’ snarled Mellberg, pointing to the latest issue of Bohusläningen on the table in front of him. The newspaper had printed the interview with John Holm as its feature article.

‘I don’t understand how people can elect guys like him to the Riksdag. That’s the flip-side of democracy, if you ask me.’ Patrik sat down across from Mellberg. ‘By the way, we need to have a talk with him. Holm was apparently one of the boys who was out on Valö that Easter.’

‘In that case we’d better hurry. It says he’s only staying here a week before heading back to Stockholm.’

‘Yes, I saw that. I’m planning on seeing him this morning. I was thinking of taking Gösta with me.’ He turned to peer over his shoulder at the hallway. ‘But where is he? Annika – have you heard anything from Gösta?’

‘Not a word. Maybe he overslept,’ replied Annika from the reception area.

‘I could go with you instead,’ said Mellberg, closing the newspaper.

‘Oh, that’s not necessary. I’ll wait for Gösta. He should be here any minute. I’m sure you have more important things to do.’ Patrik could feel panic rising. Taking Mellberg along to an interview always spelled disaster.

Mellberg snapped his fingers a few times, and Patrik tried feverishly to come up with an argument to dissuade him from going.

‘Maybe we should phone ahead to make an appointment.’

Mellberg snorted. ‘It pays to catch a guy like that… what’s the expression?…’ He snapped his fingers again. ‘En garde.’

‘Off guard,’ Patrik corrected him. ‘You mean off guard.’

A few minutes later they were in the car heading for Fjällbacka. Mellberg was whistling to himself. At first he had insisted on driving, but that was where Patrik drew the line.

‘People like that are so narrow-minded and petty. They have no respect for other cultures or human diversity.’ Mellberg nodded at his own statements.

Patrik was itching to remind his boss how narrow-minded he used to be, throwing out comments that the Friends of Sweden would undoubtedly have approved of. But in Mellberg’s defence, it had to be said that he’d rid himself of his prejudices the moment he fell in love with Rita.

‘That’s the boathouse, right?’ Patrik turned into the small gravel area in front of one of the red boathouses on Hamngatan. They’d agreed to take a chance that Holm would be there, rather than the house in Mörhult.

‘It looks like somebody is sitting on the dock, at any rate.’ Mellberg craned his neck to peer over the fence.

The gravel crunched under their shoes as they approached. Patrik wasn’t sure whether he should knock, but that seemed silly, so he simply pushed open the gate.

He immediately recognized John Holm. The photographer for Bohusläningen had captured his almost stereotypical Swedish features while at the same time managing to make the photos of the broadly smiling man seem disturbingly menacing. He was smiling now, but there was confusion in his blue eyes as he came to greet them.

‘Hi. We’re from the Tanum police,’ said Patrik, introducing himself and Mellberg.

‘Oh?’ Holm’s expression turned wary. ‘Has something happened?’

‘That depends on how you look at it. We’re here to talk to you about something that happened a long time ago, but unfortunately it’s in the spotlight once again.’

‘Valö,’ said Holm. It was no longer possible to decipher his expression.

‘Yes, that’s right,’ said Mellberg, taking an aggressive tone. ‘It’s about Valö.’

Patrik took a couple of deep breaths in order to stay calm.

‘Could we sit down and talk?’ he asked, and Holm nodded.

‘Of course. Have a seat. The sun is quite fierce out here. I enjoy it, but if you think it’s too hot, I can put up the umbrella.’

‘No, it’s fine.’ Patrik waved his hand dismissively. He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible, before Mellberg made a mess of things.

‘I see you’ve been reading Bohusläningen.’ Mellberg gestured towards the newspaper, which lay open on the table.

Holm shrugged. ‘Shoddy journalism is always so tiresome. I was misquoted and misinterpreted. The whole article is filled with insinuations.’

Mellberg tugged at his shirt collar. He had already started turning red in the face. ‘I think it’s well written.’

‘The newspaper has clearly taken sides, but you have to put up with these sorts of attacks when you get into this business.’

‘All the things he’s questioning have featured in propaganda put out by you and your group. For instance, the nonsense about how an immigrant who commits a crime should be deported regardless of whether he has a residence permit. How is that going to work? Should somebody who has lived in Sweden for years and put down roots be sent back to his native country just because he or she stole a bicycle?’ Mellberg had raised his voice, and spittle was spraying from his mouth as he talked.

Patrik sat there as if paralysed. It was like witnessing a car accident that was about to happen. Even though he agreed with what Bertil was saying, this was not the proper occasion to discuss politics.

Unperturbed, Holm told Mellberg, ‘That’s an issue our opponents have chosen to misinterpret completely. I could give you a detailed explanation, but I assume that’s not why you’re here.’

‘No, as I said, we’re here to talk about the events that occurred on Valö in 1974. Right, Bertil?’ Patrik quickly jumped in. He fixed his eyes on Mellberg, who paused for a few seconds before nodding reluctantly.

‘I’ve heard rumours that something happened out there,’ said Holm. ‘Have you found the family?’

‘Not exactly,’ said Patrik evasively. ‘But someone tried to burn down the house. And if they’d succeeded, then the daughter and her husband might have been burned alive.’

Holm sat up straighter in his chair.

‘The daughter?’

‘Yes, Ebba Elvander,’ said Patrik. ‘Or Ebba Stark, as she is called now. She and her husband have taken over the place and are in the process of renovating it.’

‘I’m sure it needs it. From what I’ve heard, it’s practically derelict.’ Holm turned to gaze towards Valö, which was right across the gleaming water from where they were sitting.

‘But you haven’t been out there in a long time?’

‘Not since the boarding school was closed down.’

‘Why not?’

Holm threw out his hands. ‘There simply wasn’t any reason for me to go out there.’

‘What’s your view of what happened to the family?’

‘I suppose my guess is as good as anyone’s, but I really have no idea.’

‘But you do have a little more insight than most people,’ Patrik persisted. ‘You lived with the family, and you were there when they disappeared.’

‘That’s not strictly true. Some of the other pupils and I were out fishing. We were shocked when we came ashore and found two police officers there. Leon was furious. He thought that strangers were abducting Ebba.’

‘So you don’t have any theories? You must have thought about it over the years.’ Mellberg sounded sceptical.

John Holm paid no attention to him. Instead he turned to Patrik and said, ‘Just to clarify: we didn’t actually live with the family. We went to school there, but there were strict boundaries between the pupils and the Elvander family. For instance, we were not invited to their Easter lunch. Rune was very careful to keep us at a distance, and he ran that school like a military operation. That was why our parents loved him as much as we hated him.’

‘Did the students stick together, or were there conflicts among you?’

‘There were plenty of arguments. It would have been strange if there weren’t, in a school full of teenage boys. But nothing serious.’

‘What about the teachers? What did they think of the headmaster?’

‘Those wimps were so scared of him that they probably didn’t dare have an opinion. At least we never heard them say anything about him.’

‘Rune’s children were roughly the same age as you back then. Did you spend any time with them?’

Holm shook his head. ‘Rune wouldn’t have stood for that. Although we did see quite a lot of his oldest son because he was a kind of assistant at the school. A real shithead.’

‘It sounds as if you had rather strong feelings about some of the family members.’

‘I detested them. All the boys at the school did. But not enough to kill them, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s part of being a teenager to rebel against authority.’

‘What about the other Elvander children?’

‘They mostly kept to themselves, else they’d have been in trouble. Same for Inez. She was in charge of all the cleaning, laundry, and cooking. Rune’s daughter, Annelie, also helped out a lot. But as I said, we weren’t allowed to interact with them, and there may have been a reason for that. Lots of the boys were real jerks, pampered and spoiled all their lives. I assume that’s why they ended up at that school. Their parents finally realized that they’d raised lazy, useless individuals, so they tried to rectify the situation by sending their sons to Rune.’

‘Your own parents weren’t exactly destitute.’

‘They had money,’ said Holm, with emphasis on the word ‘had’. Then he fell silent to show that he had no intention of discussing this subject. Patrik let it go, but he made a note to follow up with a check on Holm’s family background.

‘How is she?’ Holm asked suddenly.

It took a second for Patrik to understand who he meant. ‘Ebba? She seems fine. As I said, she’s fixing up the house.’

Again Holm gazed out at Valö. Patrik wished he could read the man’s thoughts.

‘Well, thank you for your time,’ Patrik said, standing up. Clearly Holm had told them all he was going to for the time being, but that had been enough to make Patrik more curious than ever about what had gone on at the boarding school.

‘Yes, thanks. I realize that you’re a very busy man,’ said Mellberg. ‘And by the way, I wanted to say hello on behalf of the woman I live with. She’s from Chile. Emigrated here in the seventies.’

Patrik tugged at Mellberg’s arm to get him to leave. With a strained smile, Holm closed the gate after them.

Gösta was planning to slip unnoticed into the station, but he didn’t get far.

‘Did you oversleep? That’s not like you,’ said Annika.

‘The alarm didn’t go off,’ he said, not daring to meet her eye. Annika could see right through lies, and he wasn’t comfortable keeping secrets from her. ‘Where is everybody?’

Not a sound could be heard from the corridor, and Annika seemed to be all alone at the station. Only Ernst emerged from the hall when he heard Gösta’s voice.

‘Patrik and Mellberg went out to have a talk with John Holm, so Ernst and I are holding down the fort. Aren’t we, old fellow?’ she said, scratching the big dog behind the ear. ‘Patrik was wondering where you were. So you’d better practise that story about the alarm clock a little more before he gets back.’

She gave him a long look. ‘Maybe if you tell me what you’ve been up to, I can help so you won’t get caught.’

‘I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about,’ said Gösta, but he knew he was defeated. ‘Well, okay, but first I need a cup of coffee.’

He headed for the kitchen, and Annika followed.

‘All right, tell me,’ said Annika once they were both sitting down.

Reluctantly Gösta told her about his agreement with Erica. Annika laughed.

‘You’ve certainly got yourself into a mess this time. You know what Erica’s like – give her an inch and she’ll take a mile! Patrik is going to be furious when he finds out.’

‘I know,’ said Gösta, squirming. He knew she was right, but at the same time, this was important to him. And he was smart enough to understand why. It was for her sake that he was doing it – the girl that he and Maj-Britt had failed.

Annika had stopped laughing and was studying him with a serious expression.

‘This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?’

‘Yes, it does. And Erica can help. She has a mind like a steel trap. I know that Patrik won’t approve of me getting her mixed up in the case, but it’s her job to dig out facts from the past, and that’s exactly the skill that we need right now.’

Annika didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she took a deep breath.

‘Okay. I won’t tell Patrik. On one condition.’

‘What’s that?’

‘You keep me informed about what the two of you come up with, and I get to help where I can. I’m not bad at digging for facts myself.’

Gösta looked at her in surprise. This was not at all what he’d expected.

‘Agreed. But as you said, there’ll be hell to pay if Patrik finds out.’

‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. So how far have you got? What can I do?’

Relieved, Gösta told her about his conversation with Erica that morning.

‘We need contact details for all of the pupils and teachers at the school. I’ve got an old list, but by now a lot of it is out of date. We can use it as a starting point though. And some of the individuals had unusual surnames, so it’s possible somebody at their old address will know where to find them.’

Annika raised her eyebrows.

‘You mean you don’t have their state identity numbers?’

He stared at her, feeling like a complete idiot for not having thought of it himself.

‘Am I to understand from your expression that you do have their ID numbers? All right then. I can have an updated list ready for you by this afternoon, or tomorrow morning at the latest. Is that soon enough?’

She smiled, and Gösta said, ‘That would be great. For my part, I was thinking of going with Patrik to have a talk with Leon Kreutz.’

‘Why start with him?’

‘No particular reason, but he was one of the boys I remember best. I had the impression that he was the leader of the group. Besides, I’ve heard that he and his wife just bought that big house up on the hill. In Fjällbacka, you know.’

‘The white mansion? The asking price was ten million kronor!’ said Annika.

The prices of houses with a sea view was a source of constant fascination to the locals, who kept a keen eye on asking prices and what the properties actually sold for. But ten million was enough to make the most blasé observer sit up and take notice.

‘From what I understand, they can afford it.’ Gösta thought of the boy with the dark eyes and handsome face. Even back then he had radiated wealth and something else that Gösta couldn’t define. A sort of innate self-confidence was the closest he could come to describing it.

‘All right, let’s get to work,’ said Annika. She put her coffee cup in the dishwasher and after giving Gösta a look, he followed suit. ‘By the way, I forgot that you had an appointment with the dentist this morning.’

‘A dental appointment? But I didn’t…’ Gösta stopped abruptly and smiled. ‘Oh, right. I told you yesterday that I had to go to the dentist. See: no cavities.’ He pointed to his mouth and winked.

‘Don’t complicate a good lie by adding too many details,’ said Annika, wagging her finger reproachfully before heading for her computer.