He Who Kills the Dragon

52.

On Friday afternoon Detective Superintendent Jan Lewin from the National Murder Squad returned from a murder case in Östergötland. He had gone straight home to his partner Anna Holt, and when he put the key in her door she was standing there waiting for him. She reached out her hand to his.

‘Good to have you home again, Jan,’ Holt said.

Partner and police chief, Jan Lewin thought, as he sat on the sofa and leafed through all the documents she had given him. Murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, the murder of one of the suspects, then the murder of an old alcoholic, and, just for good measure, the murder of the paperboy who found him. And what does this really have to do with Anna and me? he thought.

‘What do you think, Jan?’ Holt said, moving closer to him.

‘What does Toivonen say?’ Lewin asked.

‘That he hasn’t got a clue,’ Anna Holt said with a giggle.

‘He’s probably right, then.’ Lewin smiled at her. ‘I haven’t got a clue either.’

‘You don’t seem particularly interested,’ Holt said, taking the papers from him and putting them down on the coffee table.

‘My mind’s on other things,’ Jan Lewin said.

‘Your mind’s on other things?’

‘Well, I’ve been at home with the most beautiful woman in the world for almost half an hour now,’ Lewin said, glancing at his watch to make sure. ‘I’ve had a kiss and a hug and a big pile of papers handed to me. We’re sitting on the same sofa. I’m reading. She’s watching me. Obviously my mind’s on other things.’ Lewin nodded to Holt.

‘So what are you thinking, then?’

‘That I want to unbutton your blouse,’ Jan Lewin said.