Linda, As in the Linda Murder

30

Adolfsson and Von Essen were waiting in Bäckström’s office when he got back to the police station. Adolfsson flew up from his chair when Bäckström walked in. His partner made do with a polite twist of his head and torso to indicate a generally benevolent attitude.

‘I hope you don’t mind, but we let ourselves in and sat down, boss,’ Adolfsson said. ‘We didn’t want to stand in the corridor where anyone could see us.’

‘Sit down, Adolf, it’s okay,’ Bäckström said cheerily, sitting down himself and putting his feet up on the desk. This lad’s going to go very far indeed, he thought.

Erik Roland Löfgren had been questioned on Friday evening, the day Linda was murdered. The interview had been conducted over the phone, and the officer who had called him on his mobile was Anna Sandberg. According to the report, the interview lasted twenty minutes. It had focused upon three related questions, and the summary of what was said covered just two pages.

‘Löfgren says he and Linda were in the same class at police college here in Växjö, but they didn’t see each other privately. If they did meet outside college, it was in conjunction with various social events linked to the college, apart from a few occasions when they bumped into each other at restaurants and in other social settings in Växjö.

‘He goes on to say that he didn’t know Linda very well, but he thought her a nice, cheerful girl, interested in sport and well regarded by everyone on the course. As far as he knows, she never had a relationship with anyone from the college or with anyone he knew. According to Löfgren, she seemed to spend most of her time with girlfriends.

‘About the night in question Löfgren says he arrived at the club at ten o’clock on Thursday evening in the company of two friends from police college, and left at approximately quarter to four on Friday morning. He walked straight home and went to bed, because he had promised to visit his parents at their summer house on Öland that weekend and he needed to get some sleep before the drive. While he was at the Town Hotel he noticed that Linda was there, but they only said hello very briefly as he was with a group of his friends. There were a lot of people in the club and Löfgren doesn’t remember seeing anything of interest during the evening. He also says that he is extremely shocked at what has happened to his classmate. And that’s the summary of what he had to say,’ von Essen finished, nodding to Bäckström.

‘There’s also an appendix to the report,’ Adolfsson said.

‘I’m getting to that,’ von Essen said calmly, ‘I’m getting to that. The interviewer, officer Sandberg, added an appendix to the report. She writes the following, and I quote: “The undersigned was also at the nightclub of the Town Hotel on the evening in question... I informed the head of the preliminary investigation, Detective Superintendent Bengt Olsson, of this fact at 1500 hours today... I can confirm that Löfgren approached me and my party during the evening, and that he said goodbye just before four o’clock in the morning, when he said he was going to go home and sleep because he intended to visit his parents at their summer house that weekend. I have also met Löfgren previously, when I gave a lecture on domestic violence at the police college as part of my duties. Signed, Anna Sandberg.” ’

‘So what do we think about this, then?’ Bäckström asked them.

‘Well, the bit about him hardly knowing her isn’t true, sadly,’ Adolfsson said.

‘Never mind,’ von Essen said, patting him lightly on the arm. ‘You can’t win them all, and if you do lose one there are a thousand more fish in the sea. Adolf here was rather keen on our victim,’ he explained. ‘He used to flirt with her when she was in reception.’

Bäckström chuckled. ‘Maybe we should get a sample of your DNA as well, Adolf?’

‘I’ve already dealt with that with Enoksson,’ Adolfsson said, sounding rather abrupt for once.

‘What for?’ Bäckström asked curiously. What for? he thought.

‘Because I was the one who found her. I was at the crime scene, in various rooms. Not that I was standing there drooling over her, but I did touch her to check if she was dead,’ Adolfsson said. ‘So I suggested to Enoksson that he take a sample. Voluntarily.’

‘And he did as you said?’

‘Yes.’

‘Wise man,’ Bäckström said. ‘But to get back to the subject. How well did our little Ronaldo know the victim, then?’

‘According to what he told a couple of his friends, he’d slept with her,’ Adolfsson said. ‘I’m afraid it’s probably true. Do you want the details, boss?’

‘Well,’ Bäckström said, ‘never mind the details. All women are crazy. Actually, while we’re on the subject of women, our colleague, Sandberg. What’s she like?’

‘She’s not one of my favourites,’ Adolfsson said. ‘And I don’t regard her as my colleague either, seeing as you’re asking, boss. She’s married to another officer, and I’d prefer not to say what I think of him. He works in the neighbourhood team in Kalmar, which probably says it all.’

‘The fact that we’re both a touch reserved about our colleague Sandberg is possibly because she reported us both for using excessive force in the course of our duties,’ von Essen explained. ‘She said we’d assaulted one of her little charges during an arrest. Some time back in the spring.’

‘So what had he done?’ Bäckström asked.

‘Not him, her,’ Adolfsson said. ‘She tried to bite the baron in the neck when we were trying to get her in the car, and considering that she was HIV-positive, I thought it best to gag her.’

‘I didn’t know you kept gags in the car,’ Bäckström said. ‘Sounds practical.’

‘I took my jacket off and tied it round her head,’ Adolfsson said. ‘Even the traitors in police complaints didn’t have any objections.’

‘Okay, this is what we’re going to do, and not a word to anyone outside this room,’ Bäckström said. He took his feet off the desk and leaned forward.