Chapter 26
A young man with fair hair and a pale complexion gets up from one of the club armchairs and comes toward them.
Hanna immediately assumes he is Filip Wretlind. According to the records, he is supposed to be twenty-three, but he looks younger with his rounded cheeks. He has tucked his longish hair with its center parting behind his ears.
“Are you the police?” he asks.
Hanna and Daniel say hello and shake hands.
A pretty girl of about the same age appears behind Filip and tucks her arm through his.
“This is Emily, my girlfriend,” he explains. “She came up with me when I heard . . . that Mom . . .”
He doesn’t finish the sentence; he seems stunned, as if he can’t quite take in what has happened. His eyes are red-rimmed, the skin beneath them is thin, with a bluish tinge.
Hanna notices some kind of tic as he quickly shuts his eyes and opens them again.
She pats him on the shoulder. “Shall we sit down?” She leads the way to the Malmsten Room, the hotel’s most beautiful lounge area, with wooden paneling and beams on the ceiling. Hanna and Daniel have arranged to interview Filip in there, hoping that the cozy atmosphere might make him feel better.
Daniel turns to Emily. “Would you mind waiting in the foyer? We’d like to speak to your boyfriend alone.”
Filip looks panic stricken. His fingers find Emily’s; he squeezes her hand so tightly that she visibly winces.
“I want her there,” he says breathlessly.
“No problem,” Daniel concedes after a quick glance at Hanna, who nods. This is not a formal interview. If having Emily there is easier for Filip, then that’s fine.
She is surprised to see that he is wearing ordinary sneakers, even though it’s well below freezing outside, with snow on the ground.
They settle in a corner of the Malmsten Room, where they can be in peace. A pleasant waiter brings a tray with four glasses and a carafe of water.
“We’re so sorry for your loss,” Hanna begins. “This can’t be easy for you.”
At first Filip says nothing, his eyes flitting between the police officers and his girlfriend.
“I can’t get my head around it.” He looks up at the ceiling, swallows hard. “I can’t believe that Mom is . . . gone. The whole thing feels unreal. I keep waiting for a text message from her.” He sighs deeply. “It’s easier if I just imagine she’s away . . . Maybe that sounds stupid. Sorry.”
Hanna wants to tell him that he doesn’t need to apologize, but Daniel has already started to explain where they are in the investigation, without going into the most upsetting details.
Filip doesn’t let go of Emily’s hand. They are sitting close together on the sofa, opposite Daniel and Hanna in wing-back armchairs.
“We need to ask you a few questions about your mom,” Hanna says. “Tell us if it gets too difficult.”
“Yes. Absolutely. Of course. I’ll do anything if it helps you find . . . the murderer.”
Filip nods resolutely, as if he is determined to be strong for his mother’s sake.
It is a way of finding meaning in total chaos.
He is clearly struggling, and Hanna feels a new respect for him.
After all, he is only twenty-three. Someone so young shouldn’t have to lose a parent, especially not through a brutal murder.
“When did you last speak to her?”
Filip rubs one hand on his thigh as he thinks.
“A while ago—two weeks, maybe?”
“That sounds like a long time?”
“We mostly texted.” He takes out his phone and clicks on the messaging app. “The last one arrived on Saturday.” He shows them the screen so they can read it for themselves.
Shall I book tickets to ?re for you and Emily on Monday? And have you sent in your application for the fall semester? Love Mom
“What’s that about?” Daniel asks.
“She thought I should get my act together and start studying again.” Filip sounds embarrassed. “I dropped out of the Royal Institute of Technology in February, and Mom wanted me to go back. Or at least apply for a different course.”
“What have you been doing since then?”
“Not much. Gaming, training. Hanging out with Emily and my friends.” He looks apologetic and lowers his eyes. “You kind of flip the day around when you’re playing, then it’s hard to readjust.”
“So why did you drop out?”
Filip looks up. “I had no motivation.”
He says it as if it’s obvious. Hanna can’t help wondering if it’s because of his age. She is only about twelve years older than him, yet it’s as if they live in different worlds. She was brought up to grit her teeth and get on with things, even when she doesn’t want to.
Gen Z has a different attitude.
“It was Mom who insisted I should study civil engineering,” Filip goes on.
“I applied to the institute to stop her nagging. Before that I did a semester of economics, but that was even worse. I didn’t fit in.
And she wasn’t happy, because she’d wanted me to go to the Stockholm School of Economics, just like she and my grandfather did. ”
“What did your dad think?” Hanna asks.
Filip shrugs. “I’ve no idea. We haven’t been in touch since Christmas.”
“You haven’t spoken to your father for three months?” Daniel is astonished.
Filip looks away, as if he is embarrassed. He quickly continues. “My dad doesn’t live in Sweden anymore. It’s over ten years since he moved to France with his new wife. They have a house in Antibes.”
“This might sound strange,” Hanna says, “but I have to ask if you know whether your mom had any . . . adversaries.”
At the last moment she decides to avoid the word enemies. It sounds too dramatic, she doesn’t want to scare Filip. Not when he is so devastated and has just lost the only parent who was present in his life.
“You mean people who hated her?”
His lips are trembling. His grief pierces Hanna’s heart. Charlotte’s son might have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he doesn’t seem to have had a particularly easy time.
“Mom could be . . . difficult to like,” he says quietly. “It was way too important for her to achieve her goals, even if she upset people.”
The word upset sounds strange in the context. Presumably it’s more representative of how Filip felt in relation to his mother, rather than the perception of those around her.
“I understand,” Hanna says. “Can you think of anyone who might have been so upset that they didn’t want her to live?” Once again she chooses her words carefully. There is something about Filip that triggers her protective instincts.
“I’ve no idea. I didn’t have anything to do with her business associates. The only one I know is Henry.”
“You mean Henry Sylvester?”
“Yes—he’s my godfather.”
The news takes Hanna by surprise. She exchanges a glance with Daniel; they knew Charlotte and Henry were childhood friends, but not that they were close enough for him to be Filip’s godfather.
Why hadn’t he mentioned it yesterday?
Filip checks his phone, then notices Hanna’s inquiring look.
“Henry is coming here to meet me and Emily in a little while,” he explains. “We’re going to have dinner together.”
They ask a few more questions, but Filip doesn’t have much more to give them. It is time to round things off.
“Will you be staying in ?re for the next few days?” Daniel wants to know.
“That’s the plan.” Filip looks at Emily, who seems to be his rock.
“Are you okay for money?” Hanna asks on an impulse. “This place doesn’t exactly have the cheapest rooms in the area.”
“We’re fine.”
Filip smiles faintly for the first time. He has a lovely smile, open and honest. He seems to be a decent young man.
“Mom had her faults, but she wasn’t mean. The credit card she gave me still works, and Henry will help out if necessary. He was the one who fixed the room here, even though they were fully booked. He was worried that it would be too hard for me to stay in the hotel where . . . where my mom . . .”
He swallows. He doesn’t need to say any more. Hanna understands perfectly.
“That was kind of him,” she says to help out.
She wouldn’t necessarily have associated that sort of consideration with the successful financier.
They are about to get to their feet when Filip makes eye contact.
“I was wondering if I could . . . see her?”
He looks up at the ceiling as if he is struggling to hold back the tears.
Hanna realizes that he doesn’t know the body has been sent to Ume?, where it will remain. It could be several weeks, even months before it is released for burial.
For his sake it is best if he remembers his mother as she was.
“I’m so sorry, your mom isn’t in ?re any longer.”
“There has to be a forensic examination,” Daniel explains. “That takes place in Ume?.”
“Okay.”
Filip’s voice sounds small. Emily edges even closer. Hanna is more moved than she should be. She takes out her card and hands it to Charlotte’s son.
“My number is on there. Call me anytime.”