FREDRIKA GRüNEWALD WAS killed by someone she knew, Jeanette Kihlberg thinks. At least that’s the hypothesis we need to work from.
The woman’s body hadn’t shown any indication at all that she had tried to defend herself, and her meagre home had been as tidy as could be expected. The murder hadn’t been preceded by a fight, and Fredrika Grünewald must therefore have let her murderer in, and then been overpowered. Grünewald was also in poor physical shape. Even if she had only been forty years old, the last ten years on the streets had left their mark.
According to Ivo Andri?, her liver was in such a poor condition that she probably had no more than two years left to live, so the killer had gone to a lot of trouble for nothing.
But if Hurtig was right, and the act was motivated by revenge, then the primary aim hadn’t been to murder her, but to humiliate and torment her. And in that respect the perpetrator had been one hundred per cent successful.
The preliminary results suggested that she had taken between thirty and sixty minutes to die. In the end the piano wire had cut so deeply into her throat that her head was only connected to her body by her vertebrae and a few sinews.
They had also found traces of glue around her mouth, and Ivo Andri? guessed they were from ordinary duct tape. That would explain why no one heard any screaming or shouting.
The pathologist had also made a number of interesting observations concerning the procedure. Ivo Andri? believed there was an anomaly in the way the murder had been carried out.
Jeanette pulls out the post-mortem report and reads:
If there was one murderer, they were physically strong or acting under the influence of adrenalin, and they are also skilled enough to be able to use both hands simultaneously.
Madeleine Silfverberg, Jeanette thinks, but was she strong enough, and why would she attack Fredrika Grünewald?
The woman was probably suffocated by having dog excrement pushed down her throat.
Her mouth and the airways in her nose, as well as between her throat and ears, contain not only excrement, but also traces of vomited shrimp and white wine.
There might have been two perpetrators, which perhaps seems more likely. One strangles the victim and the other holds her head still and feeds her excrement.
Two people?
Jeanette Kihlberg leafs through the witness statements she’s been sent. The interviews with the people in the cavern beneath St Johannes Church hadn’t been particularly easy to conduct. There weren’t many who wanted to talk, and – out of those who were willing – most had to be regarded as less than credible because of drug and alcohol abuse or mental illness.
The only thing Jeanette thinks is worth following up is the fact that several witnesses claimed to have seen a man named B?rje come down into the cavern with an unknown woman. There was an alert out for B?rje, but there were no results yet.
As far as the woman was concerned, the witnesses were very vague. One said she was wearing some sort of covering over her head, while others mentioned both fair and dark hair. According to the combined statements, her age was somewhere between twenty and forty-five, and the same variation applied to height and build.
A woman? Jeanette thinks. That seems unlikely. She’s never come across a woman who carried out this sort of premeditated, brutal murder before.
Two killers? A woman with a man helping her?
Jeanette regards that as a much better explanation. But she’s convinced that this B?rje wasn’t involved. He has been a well-known resident of the crypt for several years, and isn’t a violent man, according to the witnesses.
As Jeanette walks along the corridor to Hurtig’s office she asks herself a rhetorical question.
Are we dealing with the same murderer as in the case of the dismembered financier, Silfverberg?
Not impossible, she concludes, and goes in without knocking.
Hurtig is standing by the window, looking thoughtful. He turns round, walks behind the desk and sits down heavily in his chair.
‘I forgot to say thanks for your help with that game,’ she says, smiling at him. ‘Johan’s delighted.’
They look at each other in silence.
‘What did Denmark have to say?’ she finally asks. ‘About Madeleine Silfverberg, I mean.’
‘My Danish isn’t great.’ He smiles. ‘I spoke to a doctor at the treatment home she was placed in, and throughout all the years she was being treated she maintained that P-O Silfverberg had sexually assaulted her. She also claimed there were other men involved, and that it all happened with her mother Charlotte’s blessing.’
‘But no one believed her?’
‘No, she was thought to be psychotic and severely delusional, and was under heavy medication.’
‘Is she still there?’
‘No, she was discharged two years ago and, according to their records, moved to France.’ He looks through his papers. ‘To a place called Blaron. I’ve put Schwarz and ?hlund on it, but I think we can forget her.’
‘Maybe, but I still think we ought to check her out.’
‘Especially if she’s ambidextrous.’
‘Yes, what was all that about? Why haven’t you ever mentioned it before?’
Hurtig grins. ‘I was born left-handed, and I was the only one in the school. The other kids teased me and said I was handicapped. So I learned to use my right hand instead, and as a result I can use both.’
Jeanette thinks about all the unguarded things she’s ever said, unaware of what consequences they may have had. She nods. ‘But, to go back to Madeleine Silfverberg, did you ask the doctor if he thought she could be violent?’
‘Of course, but he said the only person she ever harmed at the hospital was herself.’
‘Yes, they usually do that.’ Jeanette sighs, thinking of Ulrika Wendin and Linnea Lundstr?m.
‘God, I’m starting to get sick of all the fucking shit we have to dig through.’
They look at each other across the desk, and Jeanette recognises Hurtig’s sudden helplessness all too well.
‘We can’t give up, Jens,’ she says, trying to sound consoling, but hearing how trite it sounds.
He straightens and attempts a smile.
‘Let’s sum up what we’ve got,’ Jeanette says. ‘Two people have been killed. P-O Silfverberg and Fredrika Grünewald. Their murders are unusually brutal. Charlotte Silfverberg was in the same class as Grünewald, and the world is small enough for us to assume that we’re dealing with a double murderer. Possibly in both senses.’
Hurtig looks doubtful. ‘You say “possibly”. How confident are you that we’re dealing with two killers? Do you mean we should assume that?’
‘No, but we should bear it in mind as we work. You remember what Charlotte Silfverberg said about the humiliation ritual at boarding school?’