38
Karlsson had a small, narrow, neglected garden behind his house. They took their mugs of coffee and stepped out into it. There was a hint of imminent rain and it was cold and nearly dark.
‘You don’t need to be polite about it,’ said Karlsson.
‘I wasn’t going to be.’
‘Some time soon I’ll go to a garden centre and get some plants.’
‘It could do with a bit of colour,’ said Frieda.
‘But not too many. Mikey and his friends need to play football here. I want to get a little toy goal for them. Or un gol as they probably call it now. Did I tell you that I’m learning Spanish? I’m going to a class.’
‘That sounds good.’
‘So I can talk to my children. Someone in the office said that Spanish was a really easy language to learn. I’m glad I’m not doing a difficult one.’
‘You just need to keep at it.’
‘Is that what they taught you in the Girl Guides?’
‘I was expelled from the Girl Guides.’
‘You’ll have to tell me about that some time.’
‘But if we could stick to this case for the moment? What do you think?’
‘Do you want the good news or the bad?’
‘The good news, I suppose.’
‘There isn’t any. I’m sorry, Frieda. I know this is …’ He stopped. ‘Let me go through it as I understand it. Stop me if I get something wrong. There’s no active police investigation into any of the Braxton crimes.’
‘That’s right.’
‘There was crucial evidence at the scene of the staged suicide but you removed it – committing a criminal offence in the process.’
‘Ewan had put it there to frame Max. I had to take it away.’
‘You don’t have much confidence in the police, do you? Anyway, you had this evidence independently tested. Which meant that it would be inadmissible in any court proceedings. But, from what you told me, the said item had no trace evidence of any kind, except for the fibres from the toilet paper in which you stored it. Can I warn you that the next time you steal evidence from a crime scene you should wrap it in a clean plastic bag?’
‘The toy squirrel was taken from Becky’s room but it had no trace of her or any fibres at all. It had been cleaned in a washing machine. Doesn’t that strike you as revealing?’
‘It could be, but it’s of no use in a criminal investigation. You say that you’ve met the alleged rapist and murderer and that he confessed to you.’
‘Not confessed but confirmed.’
‘But you have no evidence of this?’
‘Unfortunately I don’t wear a wire twenty-four hours a day.’
‘You could have used your phone.’
‘He checked my phone. Not that he needed to.’
‘There are no witnesses. This boy who survived didn’t see anything.’
‘He was given GHB in a drink.’
‘Is this based on the tox report?’
‘The test wasn’t carried out in time. Ewan told me.’
‘Didn’t Max remember being given it?’
‘He thought it was one of his friends, but he was already very drunk.’
‘So you have nothing.’
‘Those were Ewan’s exact words.’
‘Why did he come and see you?’
‘Partly to warn me off. But more than that, he was getting off on it. It was like he was doing it to me again, reliving it.’
‘Frieda, there are two things I could do. I could go down to Braxton and try to get something going. But if it was me down there, I think I’d tell myself to f*ck off. Or I could haul him in myself. It’s not strictly legal but …’
‘No,’ said Frieda. ‘You’d be risking your career. You’re never going to do that again. And it wouldn’t work anyway. I know him.’
‘Which means that you need to let it go.’
‘No,’ said Frieda. ‘Never. If I stop, he’ll do it to someone else.’
‘You may have scared him into giving up.’
‘Or the opposite. I may have reminded him what it’s like to have power over someone. I’ll have to do something.’
Karlsson rapped against his mug with his knuckles so that it gave a little ring.
‘Frieda, this is me. I don’t know what you might possibly have in mind but, whatever it is, think very carefully before doing it.’
Frieda turned to him. ‘What would you do?’
‘Nothing.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Please don’t be foolish.’
She met Josef in a small, crowded pub up the road from her house – and not so far from where he was working. Her head was ringing with tiredness and she wanted to be at home but he had sounded so eager. She drank spicy tomato juice and ate a bag of crisps; he drank a double vodka, in a few gulps.
‘Eva is fine?’ he asked.
Frieda thought of Eva’s angry, defeated face when she discovered that Josef wasn’t with her. ‘Fine,’ she confirmed.
‘Nice woman.’
‘Yes.’
‘And you?’ he said.
‘What?’
‘Do you know who is the man?’
‘Yes. I know.’
He nodded. ‘As soon as I saw your face, I was sure you had found him.’
‘Were you?’
‘I have the sense.’ He tapped the skin under his eye in a mysterious fashion. ‘Did I meet him?’
‘Yes.’
‘Wait. I will guess.’ As if it were twenty questions. ‘I meet many friends at Eva’s but it is the man with two daughters.’
‘Yes.’
‘Ewan.’
‘Yes.’
‘From first I did not like this man.’
‘Why?’
‘I see the way he look at you.’
‘How did he look at me?’
‘He looked at you with big, big smile and cold eyes.’
‘And you saw that at once?’
‘Because I know many men like this man.’
Frieda put down her glass and considered him. ‘Many men, you say.’
‘Not liking women. Pretending, but underneath is this bad feeling.’
‘Go on.’
‘Scared and hating.’
‘Scared and hating,’ repeated Frieda. She leaned across and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Thanks, Josef.’
‘For what?’
‘Just thank you.’
‘Is he now in the lock-up?’
‘Ewan? No. There’s no evidence.’
‘He goes free?’
‘For the moment.’
‘Frieda,’ said Josef, solemnly. ‘This is terrible.’
‘I know.’
‘What can I do?’
‘You can do nothing at all.’