The killer's art

7

Johan frowned as he put down the phone. It was incredibly frustrating not being able to determine whether he should go over to Gotland. He was also acutely aware of how late he’d be in reporting the story if it did turn out to be murder. His Gotland colleagues would obviously have a big head start.

For several years he’d been fighting to establish a permanent reporting team on Gotland, but so far he’d had no success. He thought it was unbelievable that his bosses couldn’t see that a permanent team was needed over there. The island encompassed a relatively large area. And there were almost sixty thousand residents. At the same time, life on the island was changing; the college there was flourishing, as were its cultural life and art community. Gotland was no longer just a place that came alive in the summertime when it was invaded by hundreds of thousands of tourists.

A few minutes later a news bulletin from the TT news service appeared on his screen. TT (Stockholm) A man was found dead just before seven o’clock Sunday morning on Gotland. The man was found hanging from Dalman Gate in the Visby ring wall. His identity has not yet been established. The police are not ruling out foul play.

Just to be on the safe side, Johan booked a seat on the next flight to Visby. Time was of the essence. If it was confirmed that this was a homicide, he needed to get there quickly. The fatigue he had felt was gone and the adrenaline was flowing, as it always did when there was something major happening. If this was murder, he was convinced it would be a big story on all the Swedish TV news programmes. A corpse found hanging from the historic ring wall in idyllic Visby. Bloody hell.

He couldn’t help thinking that if he did end up flying to Gotland, he’d be able to see Emma and Elin sooner than expected. And he found himself in the absurd situation of hoping that the man at the gate had been murdered.

It didn’t take long before the national news editor came rushing into the office to ask them what Regional News was planning to do about the story.

Johan didn’t get a chance to answer before his phone rang again. It was Pia Lilja.

‘I’m almost certain it’s a homicide, Johan. I think you’d better come over here.’

‘What makes you think it’s murder?’

‘My God, I’ve been at the scene! He’s hanging from a noose attached to the portcullis above the gate — and Dalman Gate is really high. The opening itself is over fifteen feet. It would have been impossible to get up there on his own. Plus the police have cordoned off a big area. Why would they do that if there was no crime involved?’

‘OK,’ he said excitedly. ‘Did you get any material? Have you interviewed anyone?’

‘No. The police aren’t saying a word. Not to anybody, if that’s any consolation. But I did get some good footage. I managed to make my way round to the other side of the wall before they put up the police tape, so I got some fucking great angles of the body itself before they took it down. Talk about a macabre sight! I think we’re the only ones on the story at the moment.’

‘Yes, I haven’t seen any other talk about it. See you soon.’