The Fire Witness

140

Afterward, Joona remembers how he and Saga leaped between Vicky and the two women. They tried to calm her. IV liquid ran down the wall. Vicky was panting and looking at them with wild eyes. She’d hurt herself and blood dribbled from one of her eyebrows. The policemen on guard outside and the two nursing assistants rushed in and forced Vicky to the ground. Four people in all. Vicky fought, screaming and kicking to get free. She managed to kick over the patient cart.

Vicky was forced onto her stomach and injected with a tranquilizer. She screamed hoarsely for a while longer and then went quiet.

A few minutes later, they were able to lift her into bed. She started crying and tried to speak, but her speech was slurred. The nursing assistants tied her hands and feet to the bed rails and then her legs and, finally, they fastened a large star-shaped belt over her chest. Vicky’s blood had stained the sheets as well as their white clothes. There was liquid and food all over the floor.

Half an hour later, Vicky lay completely still, her eyes shut. Her face was gray and closed off, and the cracks in her lips had widened. Her eyebrow had been stitched and a new IV was in place. The two police officers were back in position outside the door and a cleaning woman had just finished mopping the floor.

Joona knows that the prosecutor, Susanne Öst, is suspicious of him and that he is not supposed to get involved, but he doesn’t like what is going on. Susanne has decided that there will be no more interrogations before the hearing. It would have been better to wait until all questioning had been concluded and all test results had been returned from the lab before starting the legal process, but Susanne intends to take the girl into custody tomorrow.

He’s certain that if Saga Bauer had been given just a bit more time, Vicky would have told her everything. Now they had a confession that could be considered forced.

As long as the technical evidence holds up, it won’t matter anyway, Joona thinks as he leaves the room once the girl is fast asleep.

He walks along the hallway, only subconsciously aware of the strong odor of disinfectant escaping from an open door.

There’s something bothering him about this case. If he ignores the rock, the course of events is fairly clear. It would hold up but it’s not fixed. It’s like a pulsing shadow world-it’s still changeable.

He wants to look through all the evidence: the autopsy report, the technical reports, and the lab reports. But he’s not allowed access.

Why were Miranda’s hands over her eyes?

He remembers how the bloodied room looked, but he needs to read the reports from the crime scene to go deeper into the course of events.

Susanne is standing at the elevator, holding the door for him. They nod. The prosecutor seems untroubled.

“Everybody hates me because I was too tough,” she says as they get into the elevator. She presses the button. “Still, a confession is hard to ignore, even if the defense wants to protest it.”

“How does the technical evidence look?” asks Joona.

“It’s pretty good. I’m going with the highest level of suspicion.”

The elevator stops at the ground floor.

“Will I see the reports?” Joona asks.

Susanne Öst looks surprised. She hesitates a moment before she says, “It’s not really necessary.”

“Good,” Joona says, and starts to walk away.

“Do you think there’s a hole in my case?” the prosecutor asks. She trots to keep up with his pace.

“No,” Joona says brusquely.

“I have the reports right here,” she says, and stops to open her briefcase.

Joona keeps walking to the exit. He can hear her behind him, shuffling through her papers, then she runs to catch up to him. He’s already reached his car when she gets to him.

“It would be fantastic if you could look at these today,” she says breathlessly. She’s holding out a thick folder. “It’s the preliminary results from the National Forensic Lab as well as the cause of death from the autopsy reports.”

Joona looks her in the eye, nods, and throws the folder onto the passenger seat before he gets in his car.