Chapter 89
After the meeting Daniel, Hanna, and Raffe remain in the conference room. Daniel feels the need to discuss the situation with his colleagues. He is slightly taken aback by Ylva’s conclusions, and by Hanna’s subsequent theory as to how Filippa’s murder could have happened.
If she’s right, she has once again proved what a fantastic instinct for police work she has.
His cellphone rings—it’s an internal number.
Carina Grankvist.
“I’m putting you on speaker,” he says, placing the phone on the table so everyone can hear.
“We spent the morning on Nedre Svedjev?gen with the fire service, examining the site of the blaze,” Carina begins.
“Did you find anything interesting?” Hanna asks.
“Indeed we did.” They can all hear the smile in Carina’s voice. “There is no doubt that the fire was started deliberately—there are clear traces of lighter fluid. That also explains the rapid spread that Olivia and Emil witnessed.”
Daniel sighs. He is pleased to have confirmation, but it is undeniably a depressing explanation. It means they are facing two taxing investigations, while the suspected perpetrator has disappeared.
“Any traces of the perpetrator?” he wonders.
“I’m afraid not.”
There is a distinct buzz on the line, and Carina’s voice fades in and out. It sounds to Daniel as if she is outside; presumably the wind is affecting her phone. Maybe she’s still at the cabin.
“You can imagine what the ground looks like after the firefighters were there with their hoses,” she continues. “There’s no possibility of identifying individual shoe prints or other details.”
“How did yesterday’s house search go?” Hanna asks, leaning closer to the phone. “Have you had time to complete the report?”
“It’s ongoing.” Carina’s voice is stressed, her vowels clipped. “We can’t do everything at the same time. We’re working as fast as we can. However, as you know we didn’t find the victim’s outdoor clothes or boots in the house—they’re still missing.”
Daniel extracts the promise of a written summary as soon as she can manage it before she ends the call.
“So, murder and arson,” Raffe says. “That’s a lot to take in.”
“I’m wondering about something else,” Hanna says. “Do we think the four friends are safe?”
Raffe drums his fingers on the table.
“Do you think they could be in danger? Because of Pontus?”
“I don’t know.” Hanna chews her pen. “But I don’t like it. Maybe we should have officers there overnight, just to be on the safe side?”
Daniel had considered the idea, but decided they didn’t have sufficient resources. Given the direction the case has taken, they are going to need to work even more overtime.
“Pontus is unlikely to return,” he says. “And we’ve got patrols everywhere searching for him.”
Hanna concedes defeat. She draws a circle on her pad before putting down her pen. “There’s something wrong with William’s and Amir’s statements.”
“You mean the fact that Filippa had what appears to be consensual sex before she died, and that it’s hardly likely to have been with Pontus?”
Hanna gives Daniel a grateful smile, pleased that they are thinking along the same lines. “One of them is lying to us. But which one, and why?”
Raffe puts his elbows on the table, rests his chin on his hands.
“They’re young, maybe they’re embarrassed? Who wants to admit they had casual sex with a girl who was then found murdered?”
“That’s not a good enough reason,” Hanna insists. “We’ve questioned them several times. Lying to the police is a big deal.”
Not to everyone, Daniel thinks.
He remembers the years in Gothenburg when he worked on gang crime. Not telling the truth was virtually a reflex action. In Bergsjo, suspects lied constantly when the police asked questions; there was no appetite for cooperation.
“We should bring the boys in for formal interviews,” he suggests. “See if we can get more out of them at the station. And it might be a good idea to separate them too.”
Hanna gets to her feet.
“I agree. Come on, let’s go and bring them in.”