The killer's art

69

On Friday morning Jacobsson knocked on Knutas’s office door as soon as he turned up at police headquarters. Her eyes were shining with eagerness.

‘Listen to this — I’ve uncovered some damned interesting stuff. I tried to ring you last night, but nobody answered.’

‘Come on in.’

‘I checked out Hugo Malmberg’s background. You’ve got to hear this.’ She sat down on the sofa in Knutas’s office. ‘He lived alone in a gorgeous flat on John Ericssonsgatan in Kungsholmen, and for years he was part owner of that gallery on Osterlanggatan. He was openly gay, and I had the impression that he always had been, but that turned out not to be true. He was once married to a woman named Yvonne Malmberg, but she died a long time ago, back in 1962. So that’s over forty years ago. And guess how she died.’

Knutas shook his head without saying anything.

‘She died in childbirth. To be more precise, in the maternity ward at Danderyd Hospital.’

‘What about the child?’

‘It was a boy. He survived and was given away for adoption when he was only a few days old.’

Knutas whistled.

‘And that’s not all.’

‘No?’

‘Do you know who rented Rolf de Mare’s cottage out at Muramaris several times?’ She went on without waiting for an answer. ‘That valuer at Bukowski’s. Erik Mattson.’