The Fire Witness

149

The judge, who is looking tired, turns to Vicky Bennet and Johannes Grünewald and asks them formally if they have any objections to the case presented by the prosecutor. Vicky stares at the judge with a frightened expression. She shakes her head. Johannes, however, holds back a smile as he says he would like to go through the confession again to make sure that the court has not missed anything.

“I knew when I saw you that this wouldn’t be easy,” the judge says calmly.

In his objections, Johannes does not raise any of the technical evidence or even question Vicky’s guilt. He lists Vicky’s positive qualities, which the prosecutor had just mentioned, and emphasizes the young age of the suspect.

Then Johannes says, “Even if Vicky Bennet and her previous lawyer signed the interrogation, the prosecutor should not have done so.”

“The prosecutor shouldn’t have?” The judge looks surprised.

Johannes goes up to him and points out Vicky’s response in the transcript. The prosecutor has highlighted the words “I killed Miranda” in yellow.

“Could you read her entire answer?” Johannes asks.

“‘I killed Miranda,’” the judge reads.

“Not just the highlighted words, please.”

“‘I killed Miranda, didn’t I?’”

“Would you consider that a confession?” asks Johannes.

“No,” the judge says.

Susanne Öst stands up. “But her next response,” she says. “Her next confession-”

“Quiet,” says the judge.

“Would Your Honor be so kind as to ask the prosecutor to read it aloud?” Johannes suggests.

The judge nods. Susanne’s voice trembles as she says, “‘I smashed her skull in. That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it?’”

“This sounds like a confession,” the judge says, turning to Johannes.

“Please look carefully at the entire transcript, Your Honor,” Johannes says. He points.

“‘This interrogation is concluded,’” the judge reads.

“Who says that the interrogation is concluded?”

The judge runs his hand down the page and looks at the prosecutor.

“I did,” she says quietly.

“And this means?” the judge asks.

“That the interrogation was concluded,” Susanne says. “But I just wanted-”

“You should be ashamed.” The judge stops her sharply.

“To use this confession in an arrest consideration is against Swedish law, Article 40 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Council of Europe agreement,” Johannes says.