She was expecting a girl full of darkness and hate, sometimes expressed through silence and sometimes through impulsive outbursts, governed by an innate destructiveness. If that had been the case, Sofia would have had something to grab hold of.
But instead she is confronted with something very different.
Linnea Lundstr?m answers her questions shyly, her body language is defensive and her eye contact non-existent. She’s sitting half turned away, fiddling with a Bratz doll on a key ring. Sofia is surprised that the senior consultant at Danderyd managed to persuade Linnea to agree to the meeting.
Just as she’s about to ask Linnea what she’s expecting from their session, the girl asks a question that takes Sofia by surprise.
‘What did Dad actually tell you?’
Linnea’s voice is surprisingly clear and strong, but her eyes are still fixed on her key ring. Sofia wasn’t expecting such a direct question and hesitates. She mustn’t answer in a way that will make the girl withdraw completely.
‘He made a lot of confessions,’ Sofia begins. ‘A lot of them turned out not to be true, and others more or less true.’
She pauses to gauge Linnea’s reaction. The girl hasn’t moved a muscle.
‘But what did he say about me?’ she says a few moments later.
Sofia thinks about the three drawings Annette showed her during her visit to the villa in Danderyd. Three scenes that Linnea drew as a child, and which in all likelihood are depictions of abuse.
‘Annette said that you understand … understood Dad. He said so to Annette. That you understand him. Do you?’
Another direct question. ‘If you think you’d feel better if you understood him, maybe we can help each other out. Would you like that?’
Linnea doesn’t answer immediately. She fidgets for a while, and Sofia can see her hesitating. ‘Can you help me?’ she finally says, putting the key ring in her pocket.
‘I think so. I’ve got a lot of experience with men like your dad. But I need your help as well. Can you help me to help you?’
‘Maybe,’ the girl says. ‘That depends.’
Linnea’s back disappears from view as the lift doors close, and even if the girl clammed up the moment the nurse appeared, at least Sofia saw her open up. Their conversation, in spite of the reserve, exceeded her expectations, and she’s optimistic about being able to get closer to the young woman – assuming that she met the real Linnea and not just a shell. From her own experience, she knows that some things can never be completely repaired.
Something will always be in the way.
Kronoberg – Police Headquarters
JEANETTE KIHLBERG HAS just had a long conversation with Dennis Billing, who after some serious persuasion has agreed to let her have two officers to protect Charlotte Silfverberg.
When they hang up she goes back to reading the Danish investigation into Per-Ola Silfverberg.
The person who reported him was Per-Ola and Charlotte’s foster-daughter. She had been with the Silfverberg family since birth, living in a Copenhagen suburb. There’s no indication of why she was placed in foster care.
Because the file is in the public domain, the name of the injured party has been redacted with thick black lines, but Jeanette knows she can easily find out the girl’s name.
But right now she’s mainly interested in discovering who Per-Ola Silfverberg is. Or was.
A pattern is starting to emerge.
Jeanette sees mistakes, things that have been neglected, not investigated, as well as manipulation. Police officers and prosecutors who didn’t do their job, influential people lying and distorting the facts.
In what she’s reading there’s a pronounced lack of energy, an unwillingness and an inability to get to the bottom of the accusations against Per-Ola Silfverberg. The power not to investigate has been exercised with peculiar consistency.
The more she reads, the more depressed she feels about it. She works in the Violent Crime unit, but it feels as if she’s completely surrounded by sex offenders.
Violence and sex, she thinks. Two things that shouldn’t belong together, yet that are combined far too often.
By the time she’s finished she feels drained, but knows she has to go and brief Hurtig about the new facts that have come to light. Jens Hurtig is sitting immersed in a bundle of case notes much like the one she’s just been reading.
‘What’s that?’ Jeanette points in surprise at the documents in his hand.
‘The Danes sent over some more material, and I thought it might make sense for me to read it, then we can put together what we know.’ Hurtig smiles at her and goes on. ‘Do you want to start, or shall I?’
‘I will,’ Jeanette replies, and sits down. ‘So, thirteen years ago Per-Ola Silfverberg was suspected of having abused his foster-daughter.’
‘She’d just turned seven,’ Hurtig adds.
Jeanette looks down at her notes. ‘And the daughter gave detailed descriptions of, and I quote, “Per-Ola’s physical methods of child rearing, using beatings and other violence against her, but she has had difficulty talking about sexual abuse.”’
Hurtig shakes his head. ‘Bastard …’ He falls silent, and Jeanette continues.
‘The girl keeps coming back to descriptions of P-O’s physical abuse, as well as the full-on kisses he demanded from her, and his very thorough washing of her genitals.’
‘Please …’ Hurtig sounds almost pleading, but Jeanette feels that she wants to get this out of the way, and continues remorselessly.
‘The girl gave specific details and described in depth her emotional reaction to the occasions when Per-Ola came into her room at night. The description the girl has given of his behaviour in her bed suggests that he has had anal and vaginal intercourse with her.’ She pauses. ‘That’s the short version.’
Hurtig stands up. ‘Do you mind if I open the window? I need some air,’ he says, looking out at the park. ‘Intercourse? If it’s with a child, surely it has to be called rape, for fuck’s sake?’
Jeanette hasn’t got the energy to respond. The fresh air makes the papers flutter and the sound of children playing in the park outside merges with the background noise of clattering keyboards and the hum of the air conditioning.
‘So why did they drop the case?’ Hurtig turns back towards Jeanette.
She sighs and reads, ‘“Because it was not possible to examine the girl, it cannot be ruled out that this is not the case.”’
‘What? “Cannot be ruled out that this is not the case”?’ Hurtig slams his hand down on the desk. ‘What kind of pansy shit is that?’
Jeanette laughs. ‘Yes, they simply didn’t believe the girl. And when P-O’s defence lawyer pointed out that the interviewer had posed what might be deemed to be leading questions to the girl during the preliminary interview with her, and might have directed her answers, well …’ She sighs. ‘Offence not proven. Case dropped.’