Jana Berzelius stood in the doorway.
“Oh, you gave me a fright,” he said.
“I have been informed that you think I am weak as the investigating prosecutor,” she said.
“I...”
She held up her hand and cut him off.
“It would be more suitable if you made your constructive criticism known to me directly, instead of talking to my boss,” she said.
“Torsten and me, we’re old colleagues.”
“I know. But if it’s about me then you ought to talk with me first. Not with him. So you think I’m doing a bad job as the prosecutor in this investigation?”
“No. You’re not a bad prosecutor. I just consider that you ought to be more active than you are. You seem to be absent and... I don’t know...perhaps not really committed.”
“Thank you for your opinion. Was that all?”
“Yes.”
“In that case I’ll say what I really came for.”
“Which is?”
“I want to check out an island.”
“Why?”
“I have received some information that something is going on there that has to do with the investigation.”
“Such as what?”
“That’s what we will have to find out.”
“What’s the island called?”
“I don’t know exactly. It’s somewhere off Gr?ns? Island.”
“How do you know something’s going on there?”
“I received a tip.”
“Hang on a moment. You got a tip about an island you don’t know the name of. From whom?”
“Anonymous.”
“So you’ve had an anonymous tip about an island?”
“Correct.”
“When did you get it?”
“An hour ago.”
“How?”
Jana swallowed.
“It doesn’t matter, I got a tip,” she said quickly.
“Was that when you got that cut on your forehead?”
“No, that happened when I was out running,” she said, hiding her throbbing index finger behind her back.
“And you’ve no idea where the tip came from?”
“No, it was anonymous like I said.”
Gunnar became silent a moment, and looked at Jana.
“Did it come from a man or a woman?”
“The voice was deep, so presumably a man.”
“And how come this man contacted you and not the police directly? How did he know you were involved and get your number?”
“No idea, all I know is that we ought to check out that island.”
“But I want to know why. And what can we expect out there? Perhaps it’s a trap? A criminal gang that wants to sabotage the investigation? We’re on the track of something enormously nasty here, Jana.”
“Listen,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve received an anonymous tip and I take it very seriously, and you should too.”
He nodded slowly and sighed.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll send Henrik and Mia.”
“I’ll go with them. Then I’ll be a more active prosecutor,” said Jana and went straight out.
CHAPTER
FORTY-EIGHT
Friday, April 27
HENRIK LEVIN, MIA BOLANDER and Jana Berzelius drove out to the archipelago in silence. Jana looked at the barren landscape. The closer they came to the coast, the more the rocky landscape dominated the view outside the car windows. When they arrived and got out of the car she could breathe in the fresh sea air.
Ark?sund was a small coastal locality which attracted tourists who come by car as well as those with boats. There was a service center, a general store, a gas station and several boat-building firms. A hotel had recently opened and there were a couple of pubs and restaurants to choose between. A town bulletin board announced the upcoming First of May celebrations to be held in the village. A bonfire was promised as well as a traditional procession with torches from one of the harbors for visiting boats. A fireworks display and a speech, evidently by a local politician, would end the evening. The bulletin board also had a poster with a picture of a musician and the details of when he would be performing at the local outdoor theatre. The lines from the flagpoles chattered in the wind. Though the boat season wasn’t in full swing yet, already three plastic boats were by the jetty.
Jana looked across the marina and could see a short man walking toward them with one hand on his cap to keep it from blowing away. The man introduced himself as Ove Lundgren and said he was the harbormaster. He was the man who kept an eye on all the moorings and did the regular maintenance work for all four small marinas. He had on rubber boots and a wind jacket. His face was tanned and weather-beaten. He helped the three of them onboard a Nimbus boat he had borrowed for the day. He talked warmly about the archipelago boat lines while he maneuvered the boat between the high waves.
“There are lots of islands out here,” he said. “And I’m not sure but I think that your Gr?ns? Island is a couple of nautical miles off the Kopparholm Islands. For fifty years it was forbidden to visit the islands, it was a restricted area and only the army was there. But we’re going even further out.”
“Are we?” Mia squeaked, and took a firm grip of the railing so as not to slide back and forth on the seat in the choppy sea.
The boat went quite fast and passed several islands, some of them with gigantic summer houses that belonged to various business leaders and people who had inherited property. Ove knew the names of all the owners.
The islands became more spread out and the grand buildings now lay way behind them.
Mia was feeling seasick and doing her best to smother the impulse to retch. Her skin became pale and clammy. She gulped in the sea air and looked straight out over the railing at the horizon.
They passed several islands. Big and small. Some were deserted and barren. Others were inhabited and full of birds.
She felt some dry heaves and tried to squelch her nausea. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and when she opened them, she saw Jana opposite her. Jana wasn’t bloody fucking bothered at all by the rough sea. Mia muttered to herself and turned her head away. She wasn’t going to let Jana see her discomfort. Hell no.
*
After following the charts for a couple of hours they had reached the open sea. Finally they caught sight of a relatively large and tree-covered island that Ove pointed out named Grims?, and he steered in that direction. When they got close to the rocks he slowed down.
Mia lifted her head to see the island better, but because of all the vegetation and especially the fir trees it was impossible to say whether there were any buildings there.
Ove saw a rock jetty and expressed his surprise that anybody had bothered to build one this far out in the archipelago. He maneuvered the boat to the side of the jetty and helped Henrik and then Jana and Mia to climb out.
Mia still had her hand over her mouth and as soon as she got off the boat she vomited.
“Let’s go,” said Henrik. Mia waved in an attempt to say You go ahead.
“You go on, I’ll look after her,” said Ove.
“Shall we?” said Henrik, and Jana nodded in answer. They climbed up the rocks.
“So you got a tip?” he said to her after a while.
“Yes,” said Jana.
“Totally anonymous?”
“Yes.”
“Weird.”
“Mmm.”
“And you’ve no idea who it was?”
“No idea.”
Henrik took the lead along a narrow path and they walked in silence through a grove of trees and thick brushwood. The path opened up a little and then divided into two. They chose the path that looked the most used, and turned to the right.
Henrik had his hand on his holster, looked around several times and listened intently for any sound. The trees thinned out as they went down the path, and when they went round a large rock they caught sight of a house.
Jana stopped and immediately took a step back. She was terrified.
Henrik stopped too with a surprised look on his face. He looked at her, then at the house, then back at her again.
“What’s the matter?” he said.
“It’s okay,” she said and her facial expression immediately became its old self again.