Linda, As in the Linda Murder

53 Stockholm, Monday 11 August

By seven o’clock on Monday morning, Lars Martin Johansson had already arrived at his new workplace. His desk was covered with piles of neat documents. One of them had a Post-it note from his secretary with the words Immediate action?

On the top of the pile was a memo from the Chancellor of Justice, CJ, then one from the Judicial Ombudsman, JO. Their contents were almost identical, and they were addressed to the county police commissioner of Kronoberg County Police Authority, with copies to the Head of National Crime for information and eventual comment. They had been prompted by the contents of the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Thursday 7 August, and concerned the methods which were reported as having been used in the preliminary investigation into the murder of Linda Wallin, and, in particular, the use of so-called voluntary DNA samples. But last but by no means least, the memos from CJ and JO were both policy initiatives. In light of their origins, this was the second worst thing that could happen, and a fairly good omen of the worst.

Why are these on my desk? Why didn’t they send them straight to Ulleråker? Johansson thought crossly, as he wrote on the Post-it note that he wanted to meet whichever one of all his lawyers was responsible for this matter immediately. But otherwise everything seemed exactly the way it had been for years in his elevated existence. Papers, papers, papers, and yet more papers, he thought.