Linda, As in the Linda Murder

62

On Saturday morning, taking Eva Svanström with him, Lewin got on the train and went to Copenhagen. A little surprise that he had been planning in secret, and it made her as excited as a young child.

‘Why haven’t you said anything?’ she asked.

‘Because then it wouldn’t have been a surprise,’ Lewin replied.

‘This is going to be so exciting. I’ve never actually been to Copenhagen,’ Eva said.

First they visited the Tivoli Gardens, where they went on the roller coaster and the roundabout. Then they took a gentle stroll down Strøget. They found a nice bar in Nyhavn and ate a proper Danish breakfast, with herring, pastries and all the usual trimmings. The sun was shining just as it was in Småland, but here it seemed quite bearable, and Lewin felt better than he had for ages. In fact he felt so much better that he finally felt able to mention what had been preoccupying him so much recently.

‘Maybe we ought to do something serious with our lives, Eva,’ he said, squeezing her hand.

‘I’m fine,’ Eva said. ‘I’ve never been as happy as I am right now.’

‘Let’s think about it,’ Lewin said, and then the moment passed, but perhaps that was just as well. Even if he never plucked up the courage to ask again.

‘So what do you think about our new boss?’ Eva said, preferring simply to change the subject than to make a big song and dance. ‘That Lars Martin Johansson.’

‘I’ve actually met him,’ Lewin said. ‘We were on a case together back when he was just an ordinary officer. Must be almost thirty years ago now. Before your time. The Maria murder. A woman was found strangled and raped in her flat out in Enskede.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Eva said, lacing her fingers between his. ‘What’s he like? Johansson, I mean.’

‘As a police officer he wasn’t bad,’ Lewin said. ‘His colleagues used to joke that he could see round corners. He had an unnerving ability to work out what was going on.’

‘The policeman who could see round corners,’ Eva repeated delightedly. ‘Sounds a bit like one of those cop shows on telly. So what was he like as a person, then?’

‘What was he like as a person? He was the sort who could pretty much step over a body without even worrying where he was putting his feet.’

‘Ugh. That really doesn’t sound very nice.’

‘I might be wrong. We don’t have much in common, him and me. Maybe I just didn’t understand him.’

‘Sounds like a complicated character, anyway.’

‘Maybe the combination of being able to see things yet still be untroubled by the consequences frightened me,’ Lewin said. ‘Isn’t that what they’re supposed to be like, those supercops? Seeing everything, being able to work everything out, yet not sparing a thought for what happens to the people that it’s ultimately all about?’

‘Well, if the worst comes to the worst, we can always move,’ Eva said. ‘Apply somewhere else. I know the Stockholm force needs people. My old boss has even been in touch and asked me.’

‘It’s worth bearing in mind,’ Lewin said, and for some reason he leaned over and smelled her hair, nuzzling gently between her right earlobe and cheek. That would be the worst that could happen, and things could never be any better than they are right now, he thought.