Chapter 51
Hanna is still filled with relief at having found the murder weapon as she sits at her computer back at the station. The knife has been sent off to forensics. She really hopes they will be able to secure the perpetrator’s fingerprints or DNA.
At the same time, she is frustrated because they still haven’t got a hold of the mysterious Paul Lehto.
The information about the argument with Charlotte must be followed up as soon as possible, especially now that another witness has confirmed the original tip-off about his volatile temperament and outbursts of rage.
A patrol went to his home earlier and knocked on the door, but no one answered. He is not taking phone calls either. Hanna has tried his wife, but it went straight to voicemail.
It is getting late, after six in the evening, and Daniel has just left. Hanna has decided to stay a while longer. She wants to go through Paul Lehto’s background in peace and quiet.
Anton is still here too, digging into Charlotte’s finances and trying to find links to Bengt Hedin.
Hanna heard about the councillor’s involvement when she got back from Copperhill—it’s important. Anton and Raffe’s speculation about bribes, plus the incriminating text message exchange, cannot be ignored.
She runs a search on Paul Lehto through PMF, the system where you can ask multiple questions with the individual’s personal identification number.
In seconds she is looking at a passport photo of a man with dark hair, narrow eyes, and bushy brows.
He lives in Krok, he is fifty-three years old and married.
There are stepchildren in the equation, and he has worked at the hotel since it opened.
He has a license for a Carl Gustaf 1900 .
30-06 rifle, one of the most common in Sweden. He also owns a snow scooter.
A further search shows that he was stopped by a traffic patrol outside Unders?ker a few years ago, and was fined for drunk driving.
She leans back and opens the top drawer.
If she remembers correctly there should be half a bar of chocolate in there, which should keep her going until she gets home and can make herself a proper meal.
The chocolate is in worse condition than she recalled, whitish around the edges, but it slips down nicely with a cup of coffee she fetches from the machine.
As she munches she checks out the online articles about the hotel murders. The headlines are as striking as before, but there is no sign of the interview Filip mentioned.
Good—hopefully he said no.
Hanna throws away the chocolate wrapper and brings up the Facebook group called Preserve Storlien.
The contributions are crude, and don’t seem to have diminished since the murder.
As usual it is men who are responsible for the worst comments, several threatening various sexual acts that they think Charlotte “deserves,” or in their opinion is “gagging for.”
Hanna tries to avoid brooding over the banal suggestions.
She is so tired of those who think they have the right to comment on a woman’s appearance, or to threaten rape or other forms of assault because they don’t like her opinions or plans.
Most don’t even have the courage to use their own name, but hide behind obviously fake profiles.
She would like to find out who is behind all these aggressive outpourings.
It’s late, but the IT team usually works long hours. She calls Nadim in ?stersund; he has helped her with other cases.
She is in luck. A deep voice answers, and Hanna quickly explains the situation. Could he check out a few posts while she’s on the phone?
“Start with the administrator,” she adds.
Nadim taps away on his keyboard as the minutes pass.
“Okay, her name is Annika W?ster. She’s sixty years old and lives in Storlien—one of about seventy people who are permanent residents. She has children and grandchildren.”
There is nothing in Annika’s profile to suggest that she is capable of violence. Nor is she responsible for the worst comments, the ones Hanna has read and reacted to.
“Can you take a look at those who’ve been the most active in the group?”
“No problem.”
Nadim taps away again.
“That’s interesting,” he says, sounding surprised. “One of the IP addresses seems to come from the council offices in J?rpen.”
Hanna is so taken aback that she sits bolt upright on her chair. “What did you say?”
“It’s an anonymous contributor who calls himself Storlien Man,” Nadim goes on. “I’d say it is a man, judging by the way he expresses himself.”
Hanna scrolls through the posts to find him. He has written delightful comments such as “That fucking cunt should be shot” and his latest little gem, posted after the murder became public knowledge: “That bitch finally got what she deserved.”
Charming.
“Any chance of a name?” she asks Nadim.
“I’ll see what I can do—I’ll have to speak to the council’s IT department.”
“Okay—call me as soon as you find anything.”
Hanna gets up and goes along to Anton’s office. He too is staring at his computer. She sinks down in his turquoise chair and quickly tells him what Nadim has found out—that it looks as if someone at the council has been particularly active in the group called Preserve Storlien.
“Do you think Bengt Hedin could be involved?” she asks her colleague.
Anton ponders for a moment while Hanna glances toward the dark corridor. At this time of day, the lights work on motion sensors. She and Anton are only a few doors apart, but the lights have already gone out following her short walk.
“Of course it could be pure coincidence,” she adds.
“You mean Hedin seems suspiciously mixed up in both the land purchase and the planning permission at the same time that aggressive posts emanating from the council offices appear on the Facebook group?” Anton frowns. “Plus Charlotte sent him threatening text messages.”
Hanna is also finding it difficult to believe in coincidence in this case.
“Could Hedin have been playing some kind of double game?” she wonders. “Taking money in return for supporting the project, while at the same time working against it by posting vicious comments online?”
“It’s not impossible. He didn’t sound especially fond of Charlotte when I spoke to him, and given their exchange of text messages, it sounds as if she was definitely threatening to expose him if he didn’t do what she wanted.”
Hanna tries to process the latest information.
“Do you think Hedin might have resorted to murder in order to protect himself? The message was sent on Saturday evening, and Charlotte was killed two days later. That’s enough time to plan an attack.”
“You could be right,” Anton agrees. “One way or another, Hedin is involved.”
During the course of the day Hanna’s conviction that the murderer is a hotel employee has grown stronger—but the person who stabbed Charlotte and the person who planned it aren’t necessarily one and the same.
Incitement to homicide also counts as homicide. For the right amount of money, there are those who kill on behalf of others.
Paul Lehto could be that man.
Unless he’s just a receptionist who happened to have a bad day?
“What about this?” she says, allowing herself free rein.
“Charlotte paid Hedin a considerable sum of money to push through the land purchase, and to make sure she won planning permission without any problems. When things went wrong and he felt threatened by her, he used some of that money to get rid of her.”
Outside, a car starts up and zooms out of the parking lot, its tires screeching as it disappears.
Hanna pictures the hunting knife, the sharp blade shining in the sunlight when Daniel brushed off the snow.
Maybe they are getting close to a solution.
They could be looking at a serious crime that had to be hidden by an even more serious crime.