Chapter 25
Back at the station, Daniel and Anton go straight to the conference room to the left of the entrance, where video equipment makes it easy to link up with colleagues in ?stersund, Ume?, or other places within the northern region.
Grip is at her desk when she appears on-screen. “So where are we?”
Daniel exchanges a glance with Anton. They spent a couple of hours interviewing the five friends individually.
When they had finished they took a look in the guest cabin, but didn’t find anything of note—just lots of clothes, and the signs of two girls putting on their makeup and brushing their teeth in the bathroom.
“It’s hard to say,” he begins. “It seems as if no one really knows what happened last night.”
He briefly summarizes what the young people said, which he and Anton had discussed before leaving.
They had both gained roughly the same impression of what had gone on during Saturday evening.
There had been a lot of partying, and it sounded as if no one was particularly sober when they went off to bed after several hours of drinking games.
They all said that Filippa had drunk a lot more than usual, and that she had been unusually wild and extroverted. One of the boys—William—had mentioned that Filippa and Olivia had almost fallen out over her behavior.
The meeting is drawing to a close when the door opens and Carina Grankvist appears. Daniel gives her a welcoming nod and beckons her in. Carina’s input will be critical in assessing whether they are investigating a serious crime or not.
She sits down next to Anton and slips off her jacket as she greets Birgitta Grip.
“Okay,” Grip says. “What’s your impression, Carina? Are we looking at a homicide?”
“It’s not that straightforward,” Carina replies, unzipping her thick cardigan.
“There are no obvious signs of violence or any other kind of assault. However, with all the snow that drifted overnight, it’s hard to tell if there was another person in the picture.
We can’t find any possible shoe or footprints.
It is also impossible to say whether the deceased went out in the middle of the night of her own volition, or whether someone placed her there.
She was frozen stiff when she was found. ”
Carina unwinds her long knitted scarf and places it on the chair beside her.
“I would really like to see what the autopsy shows before I make a definitive statement. At the same time, there’s something about the situation that bothers me, but you’ll have to take it for what it is, a feeling more than anything . . .”
Daniel leans forward a fraction. Carina rarely expresses herself like this. She prefers to base her judgment on hard facts, and is often cautious in her conclusions.
If she’s getting bad vibes, she should be taken seriously.
“Can you expand on that?” he says.
“Put simply . . . I don’t understand how she ended up in the place where she was found dead.”
This is exactly the same issue that has been bothering Daniel ever since he arrived at Nedre Svedjev?gen.
He pictures the house and the yard. From the front door to the spot where Filippa was found must be at least fifty steps. It took him a couple of minutes to get there in the deep snow.
Plenty of time to come to your senses, even if your blood alcohol levels are through the roof.
“If she’d been wearing shoes, I might be able to buy the idea that she was so drunk that she stumbled outside and happened to fall asleep there . . . ,” Carina continues.
“But who goes out barefoot when it’s that cold?” Anton asks the question on all their minds.
“You would have expected her to go back to the warmth of the house when the cold hit her,” Grip agrees.
From the kitchenette they hear the sound of the coffee machine starting up. Daniel could do with another cup; he hasn’t stopped for the past few hours.
“Like I said, we need to wait for the forensic pathologist before we can determine the cause of death,” Carina says. “But personally I’m not convinced it was an accident.”
Daniel nods. “The cause of death will be key. Did she die of hypothermia, or was she already dead when she ended up in the snow?”
“We need to ask for priority with the National Forensic Center in Ume?,” Grip says. “Make sure the body is sent up there this evening.”
“Already done,” Carina says. “I think she’s on the way now.”
Daniel makes a note.
“What about the parents—have they been informed?” Grip asks.
“Filippa Smeds?s was registered in V?ster?s,” Anton says. “I was going to ask our colleagues in the central region to contact her relatives.”
“As soon as possible, please.”
“What do we do with the other students?” Daniel wonders.
“Several of them were talking about going home this afternoon, but we told them to wait. Personally I would prefer to see the results of the autopsy before we let them go. If they disappear back to Uppsala, it will be a lot more difficult to find out what might have happened.”
From a formal perspective they have no authority to force the group of friends to remain in ?re. However, this can be solved by arranging interviews that they will be required to attend over the next few days. In which case it would be pointless for them to leave.
If you don’t show up for a formal interview, a police car is sent to fetch you.
Daniel knows they will need to speak to the five of them again. If Filippa’s death was not accidental, then the situation will change. Suspicions will fall on those who last saw her alive.
Her friends.
Grip runs a hand over her short, steel-gray hair, looking troubled.
“If they disperse, that could make things very tricky for us. Bearing in mind how Filippa was found, half-naked and barefoot, in my opinion there is reason enough to suspect that a crime has been committed.”
Grip looks straight at Carina.
“I trust your instinct. Something isn’t right. We instigate a preliminary investigation into homicide, manslaughter, causing the death of another person. That gives us access to the whole toolbox.”
“House search?” Daniel asks, and receives a nod in response. Carina is going to have her hands full.
Anton clears his throat. “There’s one more thing.” He tells the group about the angry neighbor who went over to the house the previous evening.
“There’s also a property manager called Staffan Berg who called by while the friends were having dinner,” Daniel adds. “We need to speak to both of them.”
He catches himself wishing Hanna were there. She is a good interviewer, and has a special talent when it comes to talking to young people.
His phone vibrates in his pocket. He glances at the display and smiles to himself.
It’s her, of course.