Linda, As in the Linda Murder

66

In police headquarters on Kungsholmen in Stockholm, four hundred kilometres north of Växjö, the Head of National Crime was feeling his blood pressure rise. The main reason for this, in purely objective terms, was the least important of all the cases that had accumulated on his desk. When the Bäckström circus rolled into Växjö, Lars Martin Johansson thought.

He was talking to a nice young woman from the finance department who had spent the weekend trying to deal with the red question marks that Johansson had highlighted in the documents she had prepared for him. Without success, unfortunately. There were still a number of peculiar invoices for everything from care of equipment and conference materials to the usual bar and restaurant visits with anonymous informants. All of them verified by Detective Superintendent Bäckström, and totalling almost twenty thousand kronor. There were also a number of unexplained cash withdrawals made by the same Bäckström to a total of almost twelve thousand kronor, plus the usual expenses for excursions of this nature, where the costs, not including wages and national insurance contributions, had now built up to about three hundred thousand kronor.

‘What’s this all about really? Just between you and me,’ Johansson said, nodding to her encouragingly.

‘Someone’s had their hand in the cookie jar, and because this is strictly between us I don’t think it’s the first time. Besides, I also happened to recognize the name of the person verifying these expenses.’

‘You’ve seen worse?’ Johansson said, suddenly feeling brighter than he had in a long time.

‘Much worse,’ the finance woman said, with emphasis and feeling. ‘I’ve seen plenty of peculiar invoices over the years.’

‘What was the most peculiar?’ Johansson asked curiously.

‘During the most recent financial year, that would have to be two tons of hay. That was some time last winter, but it wasn’t actually that expensive. A few thousand, if I remember rightly.’

‘I think I can guess who authorized that invoice,’ Johansson grunted.

‘Apparently the rapid-response unit needed it for an exercise,’ the finance woman said. ‘After all, they do jump off things all the time, and I suppose they wanted something soft to land in. Mind you, Detective Superintendent Bäckström’s laundry bill from Växjö isn’t bad either. I even requested a breakdown of the costs. I’ve got a husband and three kids who are all complete pigs, between the two of us, but compared to Bäckström they’re amateurs.’

‘Tell me,’ Johansson said eagerly.

The same day Detective Superintendent Bäckström arrived in Växjö, one of his colleagues handed in some laundry on his behalf to be washed by the hotel. These items had been returned a few days later. The relevant invoice was authorized by Bäckström and, according to a handwritten note, covered ‘care of equipment occasioned in the course of duty’. According to the breakdown of costs requested by the finance officer — which for some reason had not been attached to the original invoice — this included, in absolute terms, the dry-cleaning of ‘27 pairs of men’s boxer shorts, 2 pairs of men’s long johns, 31 men’s vests, 14 pairs of socks, 9 ties, 4 long-sleeved sweaters, 14 shirts, 3 pairs of trousers, 2 pairs of shorts, 1 jacket and 1 three-piece suit comprising jacket, waistcoat and trousers’.

‘A waistcoat?’ Johansson said, grinning like a small child. ‘Does it really say that? A waistcoat?’

‘A waistcoat,’ the finance woman said, almost as delighted as her boss. ‘I think I might even have seen it. Some sort of pin-striped brown thing, and Bäckström’s not exactly renowned for changing his clothes every day, if you know what I mean.’

‘Phenomenal!’ Johansson said, sounding like he really meant it. ‘Okay, this is what we’re going to do...’

When Johansson met the chief superintendent who was Bäckström’s immediate superior, the northerner was in a brilliant mood. The chief superintendent had no idea why he was there, had had nightmares about Johansson for three nights in a row, and had spent every waking moment since being summoned to it dreading this meeting. For him it was actually a near-death experience.

‘Let’s see, said the blind man,’ Johansson said, leafing through a bundle of papers with a cheery look on his face. ‘I don’t suppose you want a cup of coffee?’ He nodded enquiringly towards his guest.

‘No, thank you, no, I’m fine,’ the chief assured him. The man must be a full-blown sadist, he thought. Is he trying to force some sort of low-budget last meal on me? A cup of coffee and a biscuit?

There were three things Johansson was wondering about. Why had the chief superintendent sent these six officers in particular? Why had he appointed Bäckström to be in charge? And which one or more of them had spent at least one long night in the hotel watching the hotel’s porn channels? Possibly the most basic thing on the long list of absolute no-nos covering all the things you really weren’t supposed to do when you were on duty and your employer, the National Crime Unit, was footing the bill.

According to the chief superintendent, the matter was rather more complicated than that. To begin with, he hadn’t personally sent anyone to Växjö. As he had already explained, with all due respect to his boss, he had been on holiday and the decision had been taken by Johansson’s predecessor, Nylander. Why Nylander had chosen to appoint Bäckström head of the operation was also outside his knowledge, and as far as the porn films were concerned, the matter was still under investigation.

‘I see,’ Johansson interrupted. ‘But surely you’ve given the matter some thought? I see that Jan Lewin is down there. Why isn’t he in charge? Back when I knew him, he was a fully functional police officer.’

‘He doesn’t like being in charge,’ the chief said. ‘As I understand it, Nylander asked his secretary to call Bäckström. Why him in particular remains unclear. Bäckström was given the task, and it was left to him to put together a group of officers who were available at the time. With the exception of Bäckström, who certainly has his idiosyncrasies, there’s really nothing much wrong with any of the others. Lewin, for instance, is both very experienced and very competent. Must be one of the best murder detectives in the country.’

‘Well, maybe,’ Johansson said. I’ve seen better, he thought. ‘That goes for Rogersson as well,’ he went on. ‘As I understand it, the invoice for the porn film was linked to his room.’

‘But he himself was in Stockholm. He left the car he was using in the garage here on Friday evening, and signed it out again at lunchtime on Sunday, so it couldn’t have been him,’ the chief said.

‘Find out which one it was,’ Johansson said.

‘I promise to do all I can,’ the chief said.

‘Just finding out who it was will do,’ Johansson said. ‘So I know who to kick out of this unit and replace.’