IT WAS NINE O’CLOCK ON MONDAY MORNING and Sanna Johansson was standing in front of the whiteboard studying a display of photographs. She had been working intensively since arriving at the office and finding two large packages on her desk containing photos from the crime scene as well as some CD’s and DVD’s.
Kalle, who had joined her an hour earlier, was seated at the desk staring at a photo in his hand.
“The hair strand found under the victim’s body is very interesting…”
Sanna shook her head. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll lead us anywhere. It’s synthetic.”
“Really? Have we already received the test results?”
“No, but if it is a souvenir left by the murderer I bet it matches the one found in Gothenburg. We’ll have to wait and see what forensics says.” She ran her fingers through her hair and looked at him expectantly. “Under the circumstances, I’m more interested in where the murderer chose to place the hair strand. He was very careful not to let it come into contact with the victim’s excrement.”
Kalle grimaced. “So you’re suggesting that the murderer uses a wig?”
“Yes, in all likelihood. A black one in Gothenburg and a blond one here.”
Kalle smiled sourly. “It sounds like the murderer could be a woman.”
“Or a man who dresses like a woman… a cross-dresser perhaps.”
“Hmm.”
The sound of Javier’s chuckling and Thorén’s effervescent laughter grew louder as they neared the investigation room. The two of them entered carrying mugs of coffee.
“Javier, did you find a strand of hair at Dexter Fleming’s place in Vasastan?” asked Kalle, referring to a similar case Javier had investigated a year ago.
“Que?” asked Javier in surprise.
“We found synthetic hair strands at the crime scenes in Gothenburg and Ingarö,” explained Sanna.
Javier closed his eyes and scratched his beard. “Oh yes, now you mention it, we did find a strand of red hair. The discovery led us to suspect that the attacker might be a woman, but as you know, we couldn’t follow it up since the investigation was suspended prematurely.”
Sanna felt her cheeks burn. “I feel a bit guilty about that, unfortunately.”
Javier stared at her.
“But now you get another chance!” said Thorén reassuringly.
Javier glanced at her and smiled.
“Yes maybe,” he said.
John Steward walked into the room carrying a pile of photos and CD’s. He placed the items onto the table and sat down and took a sip of coffee from the mug he was carrying.
“More photos! I hope there’s something here that helps you find the creep… Anyway, everything’s in order and it makes pretty gruesome viewing, I can tell you.”
Sanna sat down next to him and glanced at a couple of the images. “Let’s see what we can find out. Good job John!”
“Thanks. I have a good teacher,” he said, smiling proudly.
Sanna smiled to herself. Over time Steward had learned to appreciate her method and understand that there was more to the job that just clicking the camera. The aim was to highlight the shots that best illustrated the appalling sequence of events.
Sanna began to painstakingly inspect a pile of photos. Steward had sorted the material into different groupings. One series of images focused on the victim’s attempts to break free using close ups of his blistered wrists and the scars created by the leather straps. After pinning the photos onto the whiteboard, taking care to display them in order, she lingered in front of a close up of the victim’s penis and the blisters caused by a type of liquid detergent, which had dried out like dripping wax.
Blom, who by now had also joined the team in the investigation room, followed Sanna’s activity with interest. He stretched out his hand and Steward walked around the table to hand him a pile of photos.
Javier slurped down the rest of his coffee and walked over to the whiteboard to pin up a number of images depicting the murder scene. “This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with a murder where the killer has cleaned the crime scene so fastidiously. Sanna and I have worked together on similar cases but haven’t become any the wiser in the process. Can anyone tell me what the murderer is trying to tell us with this pattern of behaviour?”
Thorén scrutinized the photos. “It’s so cold blooded. I get goose-bumps whenever I see a crime scene like this.”
“You’re right. Strangely enough it would be easier to accept if it looked like a normal crime scene, with blood splattered all over the place. A person would have to be incredibly cold hearted to spend time cleaning up after committing such a brutal murder.”
Thorén gasped.
Sanna took a deep breath and surveyed her co-workers. They, in turn watched her. “Even if it’s the third murder by this particular heavyweight, we’re still no closer to determining the reason for his or her ritualistic behaviour. However, I’m more interested in the letters and what message the murderer is trying to send us. Hopefully that will provide us with the motive.” She picked up her cup and sipped the lukewarm coffee. “One problem is our inability to link the murder to any known serial killers in the country. The attacker has his own unique modus operandi.”
Allan Jonsson and Samir Mohamed entered the room.
Sanna waited for them to sit down and then continued. “As I was saying, we now have three murders. The latest one bears all the hallmarks of the Thom Marks and Dexter Fleming murders. In all probability, they were all committed by the same person and he or she is trying to send us a message using letters of the alphabet.”
Blom opened his mouth to say something.
Sanna looked at him questioningly.
He cleared his throat. “Say ‘they’!”
“They?” repeated Sanna.
“Yes, say ‘they’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’.”
“What a good idea,” exclaimed Thorén, smiling broadly. “Let’s skip saying ‘he or she’ all the time.”
The team members looked at each other sceptically.
Sanna hesitated. “Okay, we can try using a gender neutral pronoun but only when speaking, not in written reports,” she replied eventually.
Blom looked satisfied.
“We’re in a rather tricky situation,” she continued. “What makes our investigation all the more complicated is the fact that the murders were committed in different parts of the country. Our murderer could be literally anywhere.”
Javier raised his eyebrows. “How do we conduct a nationwide search without knowing who we’re looking for?”
“Plus the murderer changes their appearance,” added Kalle. “First it’s a black wig, then a blond one. What will it be next time?”
“What do you mean?” asked Blom, looking disquieted.
“Each time they deliberately leave a different colour hair strand behind,” explained Sanna. “Okay. Do we have any interesting witnesses?”
“I talked to Rolf Andreasson,” said Kalle. “He’s the one who found the body and contacted the police, but he wasn’t much help. He was still quite shocked and to make matters worse his wife had just told him she wanted to move away from the area… Anyway, he didn’t even know what the owner of the house looked like. He suggested we talk to Stina Haag and she described the owner as a fairly ordinary looking man, approximately one metre seventy-five tall. She also mentioned that he was separated from his wife. That’s about all I’ve got from her. To be honest, she was a little uncooperative. I think we should call her in for questioning.”
“But haven’t you already spoken to Aron Alvik?” interjected Sanna.
“Yes, I have. He was rather unhelpful, to say the least,” added Kalle. “He kept going on about how stupid it was to leave a key under the flower pot. Anyway, we agreed that he should contact me as soon as he returns to Stockholm. He’ll try and identify the victim then.”
Javier snorted. “Not just that. He’s also got a lot of explaining to do. What about all the stuff we found at the cottage?”
“I didn’t mention any of that to him. I want to see his face when we interview him.”
“So he had no idea who the victim could be?”
“No, he sounded genuinely surprised. It seems a number of his friends had access to the cottage and he didn’t feel there was any point in speculating before seeing the body.”
Sanna pursed her lips and looked sceptical.
Javier clasped his hands behind his neck and leaned back on his chair. “I have a twenty nine year old man named Niklas Fors. He seemed a bit on edge and said he didn’t want to be involved. My guess is he knows something, so let’s call him in as well.”
“Anyone else? Allan, you were also outside talking to the spectators. Do you have anything to report?”
Allan Jonsson shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “No, nothing. Nobody I talked to had anything to say.”
Sanna glared at him.
“Oh yes,” said Kalle. “One of our colleagues at Värmdö mentioned two brothers living locally who like to keep a close eye on goings on in the neighbourhood. Apparently they’re a bit odd.”
Sanna raised her eyebrows. “Odd? How?”
“All he said was that they keep themselves to themselves and seldom talk to anyone. It’ll be in the preliminary report.”
“Hmm,” said Sanna as she made a note in her tablet computer.
“Okay Allan, you send a summons to Stina Haag and Nicklas Fors. Make sure they come in sometime next week at the latest.”
Allan Jonsson jotted down a reminder in his notebook.
“Anything new regarding the items seized at the property?” asked Sanna.
Thorén raised her hand. “Yup, Allan and I have looked through a bunch of the DVDs. The films show group sex between men and women. Sex orgies. Sadomasochistic games. Sometimes there are several women involved, sometimes just one. But it looks like the sex acts are consensual. Unfortunately, everyone’s covered from head to toe, so it’s impossible to see their faces.”
Allan passed a few photos around the table. The characters were all dressed in black plastic clothes.
“However, judging from the accent, one of them comes from Norrland,” continued Thorén. “He’s the tall, strong looking guy you can hear doing most of the talking. He’s the one setting the rules and always seems to get his way. There’s also a short guy who sounds like a Finnish Swede and a lanky, shrill sounding man with an accent that’s hard to place, as well as two people from Stockholm who only appear in a couple of the films. You don’t hear much from the women except when they’re moaning, presumably with pleasure. One more thing, all the recordings are at least three years old, nothing’s been filmed since then.”
Kalle regarded Thorén thoughtfully. “There must be a reason for that.”
“Yes, and we’re going to find out what it is,” declared Sanna. “However, what we can determine from these films is that the sex was consensual so there’s nothing we can use to make an arrest. We need to find out why they don’t meet in the same place any more. Has the group been disbanded or do they get together somewhere else?” She ran her fingers through her hair. “Kalle, you’ve got to give Aron Alvik a good grilling.”
“Yeah, I’ll be tough on him.”
“He needs to tell us who the victim is and when he last saw him. We also want to know everything about him; where he went in the days before his death, who he met, what kind of car he owns, his bank transactions, car journeys, shop purchases, pubs, restaurant visits – everything! At the same time we’ll check out the other victims. It’s a big job but we have no choice.”
“Do we have the resources for all this?” objected Allan Jonsson.
“No, but we’ll have to make an effort and do our best. Plus we might get some info from earlier investigation reports,” argued Sanna.
Blom twisted uncomfortably in his chair and flicked through his Filofax.
Jonsson’s mobile rang and he left the room.
At the other end of the phone they could hear a woman shouting. This had happened a number of times over the last few days.
A heavy silence descended on the room.
Sanna glanced at the clock on her mobile.
“I suggest we take a break. I have to make a few calls, so let’s regroup in thirty minutes.”
The team filed out of the investigation room. Thorén made her way to Allan Jonsson’s office and was just about to knock on the door when she heard that he was still talking on the phone. She turned and walked towards her office.
Javier hurried to catch up with her. “How’re things?”
“Okay. Why do you ask?” she replied with a faint smile.
“You look a little worried,” he said, convinced Thorén knew something about Allan Jonsson.
“No, I’m just a little tired.”
“What’s up with Allan? He seems a bit out of sorts,” continued Javier.
“Hmm…”
“Do you know what the problem is?”
Thorén looked at him intently. “No, but there’s definitely something wrong.”
FORTY MINUTES LATER Sanna Johansson returned to the investigation room with a steaming café latte in her hand. The team had reconvened and the officers were chatting among themselves, apart from Allan Jonsson, who was deeply absorbed in his own thoughts.
“Okay. The only thing we can confirm from Thorén and Allan’s report so far is that the crime scene was a hangout for people taking part in sex orgies. Was the murderer one of the participants in these films and are the participants all members of the BDSM group?
My hope is that once the victim is identified he will lead us to the others. I suspect there’s a connection between the victim, attacker and the BDSM group.”
Blom glanced at her sceptically. “Yes, that’s one of the possible scenarios, but we should start by looking at sex offenders who’ve been active in different parts of the country.”
Sanna shook her head.
“Sex offenders tend to attack women, not adult men. But of course anything’s possible. I’d like to check out Aaron Alvik’ role in this hornet’s nest. If he has any connection at all to the films, that will tell us a great deal about him. He could very well be one of the people taking part in the orgies. Considering that the victim was so sadistically raped, we can’t rule out links to a sadomasochistic group. My guess is that Aron Alvik knows or suspects who the murderer is.
Kalle, get him to talk. Maybe he also knows what happened and how everything got so out of hand.”
Kalle nodded, clasped his hands behind his neck and leaned back on his chair. Javier and Thorén exchanged a knowing look.
At that moment Anders Segelström entered the room. He had just returned from attending a doctor’s appointment.
Sanna couldn’t help being curious about how he felt returning to his old job.
Segelström had been the subject of an internal inquiry after abusing his position as an investigating officer by hiding important evidence in a celebrated murder investigation. The case had rocked upper-class society in Stockholm.
From the start there had been disagreement among the internal investigators about the most appropriate punishment – whether to hand him a suspension or redeploy him to another department. However, following pressure from above, Anders Segelström was eventually moved to an administrative post at a division outside Stockholm.
He stared at the information on the whiteboard to familiarize himself with the new investigation and deliberately avoided looking at Sanna directly.
“We won’t waste any time on the women. Let’s concentrate on the male participants. It’s unlikely that a woman is capable of doing something like this,” said Blom.
“At this stage it’s hard to judge,” countered Sanna, giving him a piercing look. “We don’t have any technical evidence to rule that out completely. All we know for sure is that our attacker is physically strong, plans each murder methodically and is probably a seasoned killer, since they have been extremely careful not to leave any clues behind.”
“They?” repeated Segelström with snide smile.
Blom glowered at him. “I think it’s an apt pronoun.”
Segelström’s face burned. Whatever next, he thought. This was the last thing he would have expected from Blom.
“A bodybuilder or somebody used to lifting heavy objects,” added Kalle.
“There are loads of people out there with jobs that require them to lift heavy objects or people – furniture removers, garbage workers, caregivers and so on,” conjectured Javier.
Thorén smiled. “The murderer could also have had an accomplice. Two of the victims are pretty bulky and far too heavy to lift onto the bed or immobilize without a monumental effort, yet there are no signs of a struggle having taken place. Although, come to think of it, I managed single-handedly to bring down a man who was both taller and more powerful than me. Perhaps the murderer could be a woman after all.”
Blom looked at her dismissively and Javier underlined something in the autopsy report. Kalle smiled at Sanna in secret understanding.
Sanna smiled back at him. Last year she had managed to get the better of a man who had tried to attack her. Kalle had been impressed at her ability to bounce back following the traumatic incident.
It’s easy to cope when you set your mind to it, she thought. She clearly needed to widen her perspective and approach the investigation from a different angle. She returned to her original hypothesis, namely that the attacker could be a woman.
“Whether the killer is a man or a woman, the fact remains that they adopt this ritual for an important reason. They want the victim to suffer, hence the torture. So, if our attacker is a member of a BDSM group they would definitely be classified as a sadist. Apart from this, all we have is a few letters and a synthetic strand of hair.”
Javier drummed his fingers on the table. “Let’s keep in mind that a different coloured hair strand was discovered at each crime scene. I’m convinced the murderer’s trying to confuse us.”
Segelström, who was busy typing on his tablet computer, nodded in agreement. Blom suppressed a yawn.
“The fact that the murderer chose these particular victims is not a random decision,” muttered Sanna. “I’m damn sure there’s a specific reason why they were murdered. We mustn’t forget that serial killers leave their own unique signatures in order to fulfil themselves – for the act to be meaningful, so to speak.”
“But why torture them first?” grunted Thorén.
“The murderer has to satisfy his own needs. The methods they use can vary but, in general, the purpose is to elicit certain responses; to control, to torment, to satisfy sexual desire and so on.”
A pregnant silence descended.
Allan Jonsson looked up with renewed interest.
Thorén watched him. She reached across the table for the water jug. Javier passed her his glass and she filled it for him as well. He smiled gratefully.
“I would like to know what other interests the killer has besides BDSM.” said Sanna, leaning back in the chair and placing her hands behind her neck. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s another even more important link, information that could lead us closer to them. Okay! Kalle and Javier, we’ve got lots to do. Let’s begin with a search of Aron Alvik’s house, and, as soon as we’ve identified the victim, organize a search of his property too. Contact the prosecutor, Carl-Magnus Alkelius, and make sure he’s updated about the situation.”
Javier and Kalle exchanged glances in agreement.
“Thorén and Allan, you continue with the BDSM group. We must use every means at our disposal. We’ll question everyone and seize their computers.” Sanna glanced at her notes. “Javier, look for any other common denominators. Start with Dexter Fleming in Vasastan. Maybe he can lead us to the others.”
Javier scratched his throat and nodded.
“Kalle, check out who he socialized with. Did he know the other victims? We have to persuade the owner of the cottage to tell us everything he knows. I don’t buy that nonsense about the keys. Of course he knows who used the cottage and what went on there!”
”Okay,” said Kalle.
“Let’s find out whether the victim was ever threatened,” she added, almost as an afterthought, while staring at her tablet computer. “Was there anybody who wanted him dead?”
There was another expectant silence as the team waited for Sanna to continue.
Segelström typed feverishly on his computer in an attempt to hide his awkwardness. This was his first case since his demotion. He had asked to be reassigned to another division but was told there were no vacancies. He knew that the real reason was nobody wanted him. And now he was back in the department where he least wanted to be. They had given him no choice in the matter. Segelström was lucky that Blom liked him, otherwise goodness knows where he would have ended up.
Sanna began to write on her tablet computer. She really didn’t want to give Segelström any responsibilities but couldn’t just ignore him
Blom cleared his throat and glared at her.
Sanna looked up. Her expression hardened. She glanced first at Blom and then at Segelström then leaned back in the chair and clasped her hands behind her neck, focusing her attention on an indeterminate spot on the ceiling.
“There must be fingerprints on the objects seized from the crime scene. Check out whether Forensics have come up with any trace evidence that doesn’t belong to the victim,” she instructed Segelström. “I’m also interested in the leather straps. Did the murderer buy them, and if so, where? Or are they hand made.”
“Okay,” he whispered, trying hard to hide his discomfort.
“What have you got planned, Sanna?” asked Blom listlessly.
“Well, as I’m sure you’re aware we have a number of interviews to carry out,” she replied disdainfully. “Firstly, I’m going to contact Ante Knutsson at Värmdö police station and find out more about those odd brothers. According to him one of them does all the talking, the other never says a word.”
Sanna turned to Thorén.
“Thorén, as soon as you’ve identified the BDSM members, organise search warrants and confiscate their computers. Segelström can work with you.”
Thorén and Javier exchanged a fleeting glance and Kalle shifted uncomfortably in his chair looking decidedly unconvinced.
Sanna was determined to have Segelström reassigned again if he showed any signs of returning to his old habits. His withholding of evidence and unwillingness to cooperate in the past had caused enormous problems and she wasn’t prepared to tolerate it in the future.
Being suspended from work had been a very painful experience, both the demotion itself as well as the shame that it carried. Anders Segelström hadn’t had an easy time of it. When his suspension was finally over it had quickly become apparent that that he had burnt his bridges. He was no longer welcome anywhere. Every police district and division knew about him and why he was looking for a job. The only alternative left was to get in touch with Henrik Blom and hope for the best.
Despite assurances that he had learnt his lesson, at first it appeared that not even Blom was willing to give him a second chance. However, after much procrastination he had eventually relented. Anders Segelström would be given a six-month trial period.
“I expect you to behave in a professional manner and do everything you can to restore your reputation. You better not make me regret giving you this chance,” said Blom.
For his part, Segelström was far from satisfied. Although he had his old job back, he planned on moving to another division as soon as possible. He was determined that everyone would discover that he was, in fact, a competent and trustworthy person.