The killer's art

19

The murder of the art dealer Egon Wallin in Visby had grabbed the attention of the whole country. Pia Lilja was the only one who had captured photos of the victim as he hung from the gate in the ring wall, and every Swedish newspaper had wanted copies. Max Grenfors, who was the head of Regional News, had been overjoyed when he rang Johan’s mobile on Monday morning, and he offered high praise for the previous day’s reporting.

‘Terrific! Great job. And amazing photos. Pia is unbeatable!’ ‘But shouldn’t you-’

‘Yes, yes, I’ve already called to congratulate her,’ Grenfors interrupted, as if he knew what Johan was going to say. ‘Have you seen the morning papers? All of Sweden is talking about the murder. And everybody is going to wish they had your job today,’ he continued effusively. ‘Just so you know, you’re going to have to send in a report by lunchtime and another one for the afternoon broadcast.’

Sometimes Johan got tired of his boss’s cynicism. Pia’s photo of the body hanging from the gate had been splashed across the front page of the evening papers. Since every Swede at some time in his life visited Gotland on summer holiday, the picture had stirred strong emotions. That morning, Johan had already seen the story top the morning news on TV. Max Grenfors had wanted to show footage filmed at the scene, but he was stopped by the powers-that-be at the national news bureau who thought that would be going too far.

Johan drove into the car park outside the TV and Radio building on Ostra Hansegatan and pulled into the spot reserved for Regional News.

The editorial office used to be housed in a small building inside the ring wall, but it had now been moved here, to the former premises of the decommissioned A7 military regiment. The building had previously been used as a stable for the military’s horses, and the architect had wanted to preserve vestiges of its history in the renovation. This was especially evident in the doors, columns, and wide panels of the walls. The colour scheme was mostly brown and white. Everything had been nicely done, and most of the occupants seemed happy with the move, even though the location was not as central as before. Regional News had been assigned two new rooms on the second floor with a view of the park. Pia was sitting in front of the computers, and she glanced up at once when Johan came in.

‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Anything new going on?’

‘No, but check this out.’ She waved him over to the chair next to her. ‘Every damned newspaper has my photo. Have you seen this?’

She clicked on the websites of various papers. Poor Egon Wallin was on the front page of every one of them.

‘Shit,’ said Johan in disgust. ‘Whatever happened to ethics? Even Grenfors was hesitant about using it, for once.’

‘Yes, but at the same time it’s a fucking good picture,’ muttered Pia without taking her eyes off the screen.

‘But think about his family. How do you think his children will feel when they see every paper in the country using that picture of their father on their placards? And why do you carry a still camera around when you’re supposed to be filming for TV?’

Pia heaved a deep sigh and looked up at Johan.

‘Remember I’m a freelance. I always take a still camera with me. And I happened to get an opportunity to take a picture from an angle that no one else could get. Good Lord, it’s fine to be nice and considerate if you’ve got a monthly salary. I’ve got bills to pay. I’m going to be living off this photo for months. And by the way, of course I realize this must be rough for his family. But we’re in the news business, and we can’t be super-considerate about everybody involved in what goes on in the world at the cost of filing our reports. I think the photo is OK, because it only shows the body from a distance and not his face. And besides, his children are adults. And no one would be able to recognize him.’

‘No one outside the family, maybe,’ said Johan drily. ‘So have you heard from Grenfors?’

He wanted to change the subject to avoid further discussion. Johan was very fond of Pia, but when it came to ethics, they had widely different views. Trying to persuade her to adopt his own, more cautious take on the matter was like pounding his head against a brick wall. The worst part was that the editors, with Grenfors in the lead, usually agreed with Pia. People who ended up caught in the middle were generally given little consideration, in Johan’s opinion; he thought it was possible to report the news without trampling on others. Besides, in his position as reporter, he was responsible for the content, and it was his name that appeared on the TV screen.

Whenever the discussions were at their most heated, Grenfors would shout at Johan that he was a damned bleeding-heart reporter, meaning that he always thought too much about the consequences of his reporting.

There was a school of journalism that advocated remaining neutral when it came to consequences; Grenfors belonged to that school, but Johan did not. He thought that journalists had a responsibility that extended beyond the publication of an interview. And this was especially true of crime reporting, when both the victim and family members became part of the story. This responsibility particularly came into play with TV because of its enormous and widespread impact.

He was tired of this discussion, which was constantly coming up. Every day there were new positions to be taken, which always promoted new disputes. He and Pia had spent half of Sunday evening bickering about the photo of Egon Wallin. Johan had been against publication, but both Pia and the editorial management disagreed with him. In the end he was forced to go along with a brief shot from a distance showing the body hanging from the gate. By then only a few minutes remained before the broadcast, and they risked having the entire spot dropped if no decision was reached.