Anita was in early on the Wednesday morning. She wanted to get odds and ends sorted out before her holiday. She knew that she could see to administrative tasks while the rest of the team worked on the murder of the young man in the van. She was surprised when there was a knock on her door and Liv Fogelström entered.
‘Sorry to disturb you, Inspector Sundström...’
‘Not at all. Come in Liv.’
The constable hovered nervously in front of Anita’s desk. She obviously wanted to say something, though she was finding it hard to come out with it. Anita tried to put her at her ease.
‘Can I get you a coffee?’
‘No. No thank you. That’s very kind.’
Anita pointed towards the spare chair opposite. ‘Why don’t you sit down and tell me...’ Fogelström self-consciously plonked herself onto the chair. This wasn’t the usual cheery, popular-throughout-the-polishus Fogelström that Anita had become accustomed to since she’d become Hakim’s girlfriend. ‘Is there a work problem?’
Fogelström plucked up her courage. ‘It’s about Hakim.’
‘Ah.’
‘It’s your advice I’m after.’ Her voice was almost entreating.
‘I’m not sure I’m the right person to be talking to.’
‘Oh, but you are.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I think Hakim is going to ask me to marry him.’ Silence followed. Anita wasn’t sure how she was meant to respond. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. ‘I don’t know if you heard about the meal we had round at his parents’ on Saturday.’
‘Hakim told me. Can’t have been pleasant for you.’
‘It wasn’t very nice for anybody. Hakim was so angry. You see, I’m a problem as far as his parents are concerned. I’m not a Muslim. I’ve not got the right background.’
‘Well, they seem to have coped with Jazmin cohabiting with my Lasse. It hasn’t always been easy.’
‘That’s why I’ve come to you. You’ve seen all this at first hand.’
‘It’s Lasse you should be speaking with.’
Fogelström gulped. ‘Herr Mirza said that he didn’t want Hakim making the same mistake as Jazmin.’
Anita screwed up her face. She knew that Uday wasn’t delighted with his daughter’s choice, though she now wondered if she had underestimated the strength of his feelings. He was an intelligent, often charming, cultured, westernized Iraqi. She had never personally had any problems with him, though she was aware that Lasse had. As someone without any particular faith, she didn’t find it easy to comprehend those who had an unbending creed, though she had no difficulty in accepting such doctrines. In the course of her work, she had come across many people, both criminals and victims, who had been driven by their theism and guided by their beliefs; often clashing with those who held conflicting philosophies. Malmö was a melting pot. Over forty percent of the city’s population were from foreign backgrounds – twenty percent of the residents were Muslim.
‘I don’t know what advice I can offer you, Liv.’
The normally confident, ebullient girl clasped her podgy hands nervously on her lap. ‘What should I say to Hakim when he asks me?’
‘Do you love him?’
‘Of course I do. What I’m really asking is: is it going to cause on-going resentment? Will parental pressure break us? Break him?’
Anita sighed helplessly. ‘I can’t answer that. Only Hakim can.’
Just then the office phone rang to save her. ‘Excuse me.’ Anita picked it up. ‘Anita Sundström.’ She listened for a few moments. ‘I’ll come right along.’ She put the receiver back. ‘Sorry, Liv, I’ve got to see the chief inspector urgently.’
Fogelström quickly stood up. ‘Thanks for listening to me.’
As Anita followed the young constable out of the room, it dawned on her that she would make a rather useless agony aunt.
By the time Anita returned to her office, she was fuming. She kicked the spare chair in annoyance. It hurt her foot, which only stoked her fury further. Her brief meeting with Chief Inspector Moberg had started ominously with his opening words: ‘Do you want the bad news or the bad news?’
‘Neither.’
‘Hard luck. Bad news number one; you’re going to have to cancel your holiday.’ There wasn’t a shred of sympathy in his tone. It just came out as a bald statement.
This had led to her first explosion before he’d even given her a reason. When he had a chance to justify himself, he explained that it was because the murder case they were investigating had a possible British or Irish dimension and he needed someone on hand with excellent English and British connections. Anita hardly thought that was a good reason to keep her there. She knew it was more to do with Moberg’s obsession with Egon Fuentes that was behind the decision, and he wanted the full team working on the case.
Then came the double whammy. ‘However, we are sending you somewhere sunny first. The Skåne County Police are paying for you to go to Malta.’
‘Malta?’ Anita had no idea what he was on about. What had that to do with Egon Fuentes?
‘The possible downside of this trip is that you’ll be accompanying Inspector Zetterberg to interview a suspect in the case that she is currently working on.’
‘You can’t be serious!’
‘This has come from on high,’ he said, pointing to the heavens. ‘Commissioner Dahlbeck, no less.’
‘What the hell for?’ Anita was incredulous. Losing her holiday was bad enough, but this Malta business was too horrendous for words.
‘Again, your linguistic skills. Apparently, Zetterberg’s English isn’t deemed good enough to deal with the local police or authorities. And she certainly doesn’t speak Malti. Who the hell does? As this is a potentially sensitive case in terms of dealing with another country, the commissioner wants to play it safe.’
‘I bet Zetterberg doesn’t want me there.’ Anita spoke through gritted teeth.
‘It’ll give you two a chance to reminisce,’ Moberg chuckled. He was enjoying her exasperation.
‘And who are we supposed to be interviewing?’
‘Don’t know. She’ll brief you later on this morning.’
Anita’s head was swirling with vexatious thoughts. At this moment she couldn’t decide whom she hated most: Moberg, Egon Fuentes, Zetterberg or Commissioner Dahlbeck.
‘But what about our murder case?’ Anita protested. ‘I thought you wanted me here.’ There must be a get out.
‘I can spare you for a couple of days. So, you’d better go and pack your bag. Your flight is first thing tomorrow morning.’
Anita could hear the bitter disappointment in his voice. That touched her. She realized how much Kevin had been looking forward to her visit.
‘Look, I’m sure we can rearrange. I really want to see you.’ Her initial anger and frustration was spent, though it had re-emerged briefly when she’d explained to Kevin why she wouldn’t be on the plane to Manchester on Saturday morning. He had tried to be understanding.
‘Yeah, yeah of course.’ He didn’t sound positive. ‘It’s just I’d arranged the trips you wanted. To Dove Cottage, and Edinburgh. And I’d booked a meal at the Sharrow Bay, though it was going to cost a month’s pay.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘And I’ve bought a new bed. I wanted you here to christen it.’
‘I’ll make it up to you.’ She cooed seductively: ‘I promise your new bed won’t go unchristened.’
Kevin perked up. ‘I’ll hold you to that. Well, I’ll hold something.’
‘I’ll let you.’ Her thoughts briefly turned to what they might get up to. But they quickly returned to matters in hand. ‘Oh, and I’m off to Malta tomorrow.’
There was a momentary silence at the other end. ‘So, you’re buggering off to the middle of the Mediterranean while you leave me in a wet and miserable Cumbria.’
‘Don’t worry. It’s not going to be fun.’
‘Am I meant to be reassured? Leanne went to Malta, and I know she had a lot of fun there!’ He sounded bitter.
‘It’s work. And you’ll never guess who I have to go with.’
‘As long as he’s an ugly dwarf with no sex drive, I’ll be happy.’
‘That would be preferable, believe me. No, it’s Alice Zetterberg.’
She heard Kevin’s low whistle at the other end of the phone. ‘How on earth has she popped up again?’ Kevin had known at first hand what Zetterberg was like. Memories of her involvement in the Rylander case still plagued his dreams and troubled his waking thoughts.
‘She’s heading up a cold case. My first ever murder investigation, in fact. We knew who’d done it, but we hadn’t enough evidence to convict him. Now the witch is trying to prove we were wrong. Prove me wrong!’
‘I can see her enjoying that.’ Then he added brightly: ‘But as I’m sure you were right in the first place, maybe Malta’s your chance to show her that you were.’
Anita gave an involuntary grunt. ‘I think Malta’s going to be a bloody nightmare.’