Most of them have the more usual Swedish spelling, Viktoria, but that doesn’t mean they can be automatically dismissed. Spelling is something that can change over time, and Jeanette remembers a classmate at school who swapped her Ss for Zs and at a stroke changed the mundane Susanne into the exotic Zuzanne. A few years later Zuzanne was dead from a heroin overdose.
She expands her search, and brings up the tax returns of people on the list.
Returns from all but one of them.
At number twenty-two on the list is a Victoria Bergman registered in V?rmd?.
Daughter of Bengt Bergman the rapist.
Jeanette alters her search to bring up the tax return for the year before, but it’s the same thing there. Victoria Bergman evidently doesn’t bother declaring information about her income and possible deductions.
She goes back ten years, but there’s nothing.
Not a single piece of information.
Just a name, an ID number including her date of birth and an address out in V?rmd?.
Jeanette gets the bit between her teeth and searches all the registers she has access to, but no matter how hard she looks, all she finds is confirmation of what G?ran Andersson from the V?rmd? police told her.
Victoria Bergman had lived at the same place since she was a child, had never earned a single krona, and never had any known expenditures, no credit rating, no debts with the enforcement office and not a single hospital visit in the past twenty years.
She decides to call the tax authority herself sometime during the day to find out if there might be a mistake.
Then she remembers that she spoke to Hurtig about putting together a perpetrator profile, and comes to think of Sofia.
Maybe it’s time to get that started.
What had originally been a long shot might not actually be such a bad idea. As far as she can tell, Sofia has enough experience to be able to come up with a provisional profile.
But, at the same time, it could be disastrous to rely too heavily on a description and trust a psychological evaluation entirely.
It was almost as common for an investigation to be misdirected by a poorly thought-out perpetrator profile as to be helped by a decent one. Jeanette thinks about Niklas Lindgren, the so-called Haga Man. Hadn’t that investigation been hampered by the fact that the profile had been hopelessly wrong? Yes, that was the one.
Many of the country’s most prominent forensic psychiatrists had declared that the perpetrator must be slightly odd, lacking close friends and intimate relationships.
When he was later arrested for eight brutal rapes and attempted murders, he turned out to be an outwardly pleasant father of two, and had been in the same job and the same relationship since he was a young man.
So she’ll have to be careful and not let herself be led by Sofia Zetterlund.
Well, all or nothing. She doesn’t actually have much to lose. Anyway, she needs to talk to Sofia about Ulrika Wendin. She dials the number of the practice at Mariatorget and goes over to stand by the window.
Outside, Kronoberg Park is deserted apart from one young man aimlessly walking his dog. Jeanette watches with idle interest as the dog keeps getting its lead caught around a rubbish bin, stops and looks expectantly at its master.
Ann-Britt answers, and puts Jeanette through at once.
‘Hi,’ Jeanette says. ‘What do you know about putting together a perpetrator profile?’
‘What?’ Sofia replies, and Jeanette thinks she sounds calm and relaxed. ‘Is that you, Jeanette?’
‘Yes, who else?’
‘I should have realised. Straight to the point, as usual!’ Sofia falls silent, and Jeanette hears her leaning back in her chair as it creaks. ‘You want to know what I know about perpetrator profiling?’ she goes on. ‘In purely practical terms not very much, but I presume you study the most plausible demographic, social and behavioural characteristics that the perpetrator might be thought to have. Then I’d probably start by looking at the group where he’s most likely to be found, and with a bit of luck –’
‘Spot on!’ Jeanette interrupts, pleased that Sofia has begun speculating without any hesitation. ‘These days we actually call it case analysis,’ she goes on. ‘That’s less loaded with expectations.’ She pauses before continuing. ‘The point of it, like you said, is to reduce the number of possible suspects and hopefully be able to direct an investigation towards one particular person.’
‘Don’t you ever rest?’ Sofia exclaims.
It’s only been a few days since Johan was discharged from hospital, and Jeanette has already thrown herself back into her work. Is that what Sofia means? That she’s emotionally cold and rational? But how else is she supposed to be?
‘You know I do,’ she replies, uncertain whether she should feel insulted or cared for. ‘But I could really use your help with this. For various reasons there’s no one else I can ask.’ She realises she has to be honest. If Sofia doesn’t accept the job, Jeanette has no one else to turn to.
‘OK,’ Sofia says after a brief hesitation. ‘I presume the whole thing is based on the idea that everything we do in our lives is done in line with our personality type. So a compulsive person will usually have a tidy desk and won’t usually wear a shirt that hasn’t been ironed.’
‘Exactly,’ Jeanette says. ‘And by reconstructing how a crime was committed, you can draw conclusions about the person who committed it.’
‘And now you want my help?’
‘We’re dealing with a probable serial killer, and we’ve got a few names to go on. Some description and a few other details.’ She leaves a dramatic pause to underline the importance of what she’s about to say. ‘Whoever does the case analysis has to avoid looking at any possible suspects. That would just get in the way of seeing the whole picture; it would be a filter that made it harder to see clearly.’
Sofia is silent, and Jeanette can hear her breathing get faster, but doesn’t say anything.
‘Could we meet at my house later this evening and talk some more?’ Jeanette asks, to catch Sofia in case she’s starting to have doubts. ‘There’s something else I’d like to ask you about.’
‘Really? What?’
‘We can talk about it tonight, if that works with you?’
‘Sure. I’ll be there,’ Sofia replies in a tone of voice that is suddenly utterly devoid of enthusiasm.
They hang up, and Jeanette is struck once again by the fact that she knows nothing about Sofia.
Realising you like someone can take a matter of minutes, but getting to know them can take years.
Although Jeanette wants to get closer to Sofia, it feels like too much of a challenge. But she can’t help it. She wants to give it a try, at least.
She decides to call ?ke’s mum and arrange for Johan to stay at his grandparents’ over the weekend.
He’ll be safe with them, and could probably do with a change. Someone to make a fuss over him and give him their undivided attention. Everything she herself can’t offer right now.
?ke’s mum is happy to help, and they agree that she’ll pick him up that evening.
Then there’s the phone call about Victoria Bergman.