Linda, As in the Linda Murder

42

Even though trainee police officer Löfgren was a changed person, almost accommodating, and even though he seemed to be telling the truth in all important respects, Lewin still thought he had shown his better side the first time he had met him, when he mostly sat there and messed them about.

Now that Erik ‘Ronaldo’ Löfgren had been eliminated from the murder investigation, his gentlemanly reservations about discussing his sexual relationship with Linda seemed to have vanished. The first time had been in the middle of May, at Linda’s father’s house out in the country. The plan had been to watch a football match on television together. But rather more than that had actually happened, and they had carried on for more than a month, until the end of term at police college when everything had come to an end. They had met on their own on four or five occasions, all of them with the exception of the first in Löfgren’s lodgings in Växjö. On one occasion they had gone to the cinema, and on another they went to a coffee shop, but mostly they had sat and watched television and DVDs, just relaxing or having sex with each other.

‘So which one of you ended it?’ Lewin asked.

That wasn’t entirely clear, according to young Löfgren. It was probably coming to an end of its own accord anyway, but if someone had taken the initiative, then it was probably him.

‘Things weren’t really going anywhere,’ Löfgren said with a shrug. ‘Linda was a great girl, lovely, and really quite pretty, and there was nothing exactly wrong with the sex either, but it wasn’t brilliant. It wasn’t like I was moping about at home when she wasn’t there or anything. So I suggested we could maybe rewind a bit and just be ordinary friends again. Not even fuck-buddies, in fact.’

What sort of sex had they had? What sort of sex did Linda prefer? And who had taken the initiative and made the decisions, if there was anything like that in their relationship?

Ordinary sex, normal sex, not too much, and not too little, in Löfgren’s estimation, and the one responsible for anything happening was him.

‘She was in good shape and all that. And she used to come, as long as I worked at her. I was in the driving seat and she used to ride along, if I can put it like that. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t brilliant. I know I shouldn’t talk about her like this now she’s dead, but seeing as it seems to be so important for you... Maybe a six, six and a half maybe, out of ten, but some of that’s because she was pretty good-looking. She wasn’t very experienced, and... and I know this sounds harsh... she didn’t have that glint in her eye.’

‘I understand that you’re an experienced man when it comes to women, and that’s why I’m going to ask this question.’ Lewin nodded thoughtfully towards Löfgren, though really he felt like picking up his chair and smashing him over the head with it. ‘You never got the impression that Linda was really after slightly harder sex? If you really wanted to get her going, I mean?’

‘No,’ Löfgren said in surprise. ‘I would have noticed if she had been. I mean, if that was the case, then she would have got it. I’m absolutely sure she just wanted to go through the basic programme, so that’s what she got.’

Linda’s previous boyfriends, her relationship with her parents, friends of either gender?

They hadn’t really talked much about that sort of thing. Although she mentioned her ex-boyfriend. A complete disaster in bed, according to what Linda had told Löfgren. As far as friends were concerned, they had mostly talked about her female friends. Which wasn’t so odd, in Löfgren’s opinion, seeing as he knew a lot of them and had even slept with a couple.

‘Did Linda know that?’ Lewin asked.

‘No. Are you mad, Lewin? No one knew about it. That’s the first rule. Never tell girls that sort of thing. Only girls are allowed to tell other girls that sort of stuff. It’s a typical girl thing. I mean, if I slept with the girlfriend of one of my friends, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to tell him. You’d find yourself looking for new kneecaps.’

‘So Linda might well have known that you’d slept with two of her friends?’ Lewin summarized.

‘If she did, she never mentioned it,’ Löfgren said sourly. ‘But sure.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Girls talk a fuck of a lot, after all.’

According to Löfgren, there was one person who seemed to have meant more to Linda than everyone else put together. Her dad.

‘Talk about a daddy’s girl,’ Löfgren said. ‘Everything seemed to revolve about her damn father. It looked like she got everything she ever wanted, without even having to ask. It was pure Beverly Hills. I don’t know if you’ve met him, but they’re... or rather, they were... pretty damn similar. If they’d been the same age, you would have thought they were twins. He used to call her all the time as well. One evening when she was round mine, he called her mobile three times. And they used to talk constantly, even though they didn’t really have anything to say. Hello darling, hello Daddy, I forgot to say, darling. All that sort of thing, if you get what I mean.’ Löfgren pretended to hold a phone to his ear.

‘You didn’t like Linda’s father?’

‘I don’t think I had a problem,’ Löfgren snorted. ‘It was more like he did.’

‘I thought you only met him once?’ Lewin said.

‘Once was more than enough,’ Löfgren said. ‘I could tell right away what he thought of me. About people like me, I mean.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Black men,’ Löfgren said. ‘In his world, nothing else mattered. Someone like me was fucked from the start. It was probably no coincidence that he lived in the US for years. Linda’s dad was a real racist.’

‘But Linda wasn’t like that?’ ‘No, her thing seemed to be that you should like people like me. I’m sure she really did as well. Really liked people like me precisely because that was who we were. And how great do you think that makes you feel?’

‘Did you and Linda ever talk about that?’ Lewin asked. Can’t have been very nice if it’s true, he thought.

Once, according to Löfgren. He had actually said what he thought of her father, that he thought he was racist.

‘She got furious,’ Löfgren said. ‘Mind you, she agreed with me, but all she kept saying was that it wasn’t the old man’s fault. Some sort of generational thing, and that he was really the kindest man in the world, and for him it was all about individuals, all that bullshit.’

‘What about her mother, then?’ Lewin wondered. ‘What did she think of her mum?’

‘Not much, if you ask me,’ Löfgren said with a crooked smile. ‘They used to argue like crazy all the time. I heard them going at it over the phone once. Complete cat-fight.’

‘I thought Linda used to live at her mother’s quite a lot?’

‘When she was in town, yes, and when she knew her mum wasn’t at home. Otherwise she used to go back to her dad’s. Sometimes she’d even get a taxi from town to take her out there, even though it must have cost — what? — five hundred kronor or so?’ Löfgren shook his head.

‘So why was she so angry with her mum, then?’

‘I think it was all to do with her dad, because he was pretty much god,’ Löfgren said. ‘She used to go on about her mum leaving her dad, that she’d only been interested in his money and all that. That her mum had betrayed her dad, and that it was her mum’s fault he had a heart attack, all that sort of thing.’

‘Did you ever meet Linda’s mother?’ Lewin asked.

‘Once,’ Löfgren said with a smile. ‘I met her when Linda and I and a group of other friends were out in town one evening. Back in the spring. Before we got together. I only said hello. To her mum, I mean.’

‘What sort of impression did you get of her?’

‘She seemed really okay, actually. She’s a teacher, apparently.’

‘Anything else that struck you?’ Lewin asked. You’re holding something back, he thought.

‘Okay,’ Löfgren said with a grin. ‘I thought she looked bloody good. I mean, she must be at least forty, but, well...’

‘So explain it to an old man,’ Lewin said.

‘Talk about having a glint in her eye!’ Löfgren said. ‘If you ask me, Linda’s mum was a clear ten. If you get what I mean. I wouldn’t have said no if she’d asked.’

‘I think I understand what you mean,’ Lewin said.

‘That’s what was so weird,’ Roland said. ‘With Linda and her mum, I mean. They weren’t at all alike. Linda was a lovely, sweet girl, a good friend. But her mum... Talk about a really cool woman! The sort of woman who could take you places you’d never been before.’

‘Really?’ Lewin said, nodding thoughtfully. Really? he thought.