JAVIER LUMBERED out of his room and down the corridor. He was exhausted. He had spent a long time thinking about how Svenson like to methodically record his experiences with the women he met. He was particularly curious about why he had only documented four women.
He wondered if they were getting the whole picture. As time went by he became more and more convinced that they must have missed something in Svenson’s study. He returned to his room, picked up a file and made his way to Sanna’s office with renewed energy.
“Why do you think that Svenson only kept a diary on four women?” he said, getting straight to the point.
“Good you brought that up. I’ve also been thinking about that,” replied Sanna without looking up from her computer screen. “Especially since we know of at least two more women. I’m very anxious to find out more about Ingalill. It’s strange that we haven’t found anything on her.”
She looked at him with sudden interest.
“Maybe there’s another computer or more files somewhere… It’s unusual for a person like that to suddenly change their routine,” he continued.
“Let’s check Svenson’s attic, or the rest of the house again if necessary. There must be at least one more computer somewhere. If we’re lucky maybe we’ll find some information stored on other media as well,” answered Sanna.
Javier nodded in agreement.
“Take Anders Segelström with you. He’s supposed to be working with the technical stuff.” She regarded Javier thoughtfully. “No, wait. We’ll all go together. I’ll contact Kalle.”
“Okay.” Javier drummed enthusiastically on the doorframe.
AT HALF PAST EIGHT ON Tuesday morning Sanna Johansson and her team assembled in Svenson’s villa, poised to search every nook and cranny.
“We’ll split up.” She surveyed the team members. “Javier and Anders, you search the study and Kalle and I’ll search the attic. Any questions?”
Javier headed off towards the study, Segelström in tow.
Kalle and Sanna made their way up to the attic. It wasn’t just any attic. It was a large space of about one hundred and fifty square metres with a varnished parquet floor and large windows that flooded the room with light, making it seem cavernous. At the back of the room was a large snooker table with cues, balls and chalk. To the left hung a dartboard and in the corner was a stereo. Below one of the windows was an English style desk with matching leather armchairs. To the right was an antique cupboard, also from England. Sanna walked over to the cupboard and Kalle went to the desk.
“Damn, it’s locked!” exclaimed Sanna.
Kalle was concentrated on his assignment. He opened the middle drawer of the desk and dug his arm inside.
“Wait…” he groaned, smiling to himself. “Look here.” In his hand he held a key, which he had found buried at the back of the drawer.
“Try this,” he said, approaching Sanna with a triumphant grin.
“Great!” said Sanna as she unlocked the cupboard door.
They stood there staring at the contents. In the upper section were two shelves stacked with DVDs and a card index file as well as various types of files and storage media arranged in chronological order.
Javier and Segelström came upstairs empty handed.
“Nothing down there. How’s it going here?” Javier stopped in his tracks at the sight of Sanna and Kalle digging in the storage boxes.
Javier and Segelström approached.
Without a word Javier grabbed one of the index files. Segelström ran his eye quickly down the names on another one. He looked over his shoulder, then selected a file and headed over to a quiet corner of the room.
“He’s probably got files on everyone,” said Javier who had already leafed through the files. “Here’s Ingalill!” he declared, inserting a disc into a DVD player that stood on the desk.
The three others approached.
It appeared from the recording that Svenson had been filming Ingalill in secret before meeting her. There were a number of sequences filmed on various occasions and in different locations.
“Good,” said Sanna. “Maybe here are the answers we’ve been looking for. Let’s hope this will tell us why she threatened Ingrid.”
She glanced at the index file.
“Let’s check the rest of the material.”
Kalle and Sanna continued examining the contents of the index files.
Segelström, who had been standing behind Javier, moved forward to examine the film more closely.
Javier walked back to the cupboard, hoping to find more information on Alva Aldhamo.
It was clear that Svenson had spent a great deal of time and effort describing in detail each woman he had been in contact with. He used a variety of methods to connect with these women. He put announcements into the newspapers. He was a member of a number of single clubs and chatted frequently on the Internet. He also joined social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter where he could gather more information on the women he was interested in.
“We’re dealing with a skilled predator,” said Sanna, perched on the edge of Svenson’s desk. “Everything indicates that he was in full control over what he was doing.
“Could he have murdered more women?” asked Javier.
Kalle glanced at Javier. That was something they would definitely have to investigate.
Kalle, Javier and Sanna carried out the evidence material, which was to be impounded. Segelström seemed to be otherwise occupied.
“Segelström, do you feel like helping out?” said Sanna dryly.
“Sure,” he answered in embarrassment.
BACK AT KUNGSHOLMEN Sanna rang Sabine Keikkonen at the National Criminal Technical Laboratory and requested a review of the log file on Svenson’s laptop.
“Save all the information that has anything to do with women, whether its e-mail or chat!”
“Ok, will do,” interrupted Keikkonen with her Finnish accent.
The following day Keikkonen contacted Sanna and suggested limiting the analysis to the women who he had been in frequent contact with, otherwise the investigation team would have several hundred pages to go through, which would be impossible to handle.
Sanna agreed. She should have thought of that herself.
SHE REFLECTED ON how the character of the investigation had been flipped on its head. The discovery at the Svenson’s house added a new dimension, requiring another type of approach. She could never have anticipated just how complex the investigation had become. It appeared as if their prime suspect was not just a cold-hearted wife killer but also a pathological offender.
Sanna contacted the prosecutor, Carl-Magnus Alkelius to find out if he was going to be at Kungsholmen that day.
Under normal circumstances the prosecutor would be expected to meet the investigation team every day or operate in conjunction with them. But Alkelius had learned that Sanna Johansson was an excellent team leader, who could be completely relied upon to manage the investigation, so he decided to let her get on with it. Anyway, he had plenty of other things to do.
The rest of the team, including Inspector Blom gathered in the investigation room at Kungsholmen.
“We have a lot of new information and will need more time and more resources,” began Sanna. “I suggest that we begin by finding out if Svenson has any connection to the murder of Alva Aldhamo.” She gazed around the table at the participants.
“Can you expand a little more on that?” asked Alkelius, glancing at the boxes stacked in the corner of the room.
“Let me continue,” countered Sanna. “Alva Aldhamo’s case will have to be reopened on the basis of this new information. Svenson’s diaries reveal that he met her the same day she was murdered.”
“And you’re sure about that?” asked Alkelius.
Sanna glowered at him.
“Did you get my latest report?” interjected Javier quickly before the issue became a point of discussion. He was aware that Sanna was under a lot of stress due to the short deadline they had been given by the Chief Prosecutor to complete the preliminary investigation. That in itself was strange. He was also aware that Sanna expected everyone in the team to keep themselves regularly updated.
“I see,” said Alkelius and leaned back in his chair. “I have to admit I haven’t had time to read all the documents you sent.”
The other members of the team looked at him aghast that he hadn’t even bothered to read up on the investigation he was responsible for.
“Javier, do you have an extra copy of the report?” said Sanna calmly, doing her utmost to exercise restraint.
“Yes, I have a spare copy in my room. I’ll fetch it.”
“Thanks!” said Alkelius, a little flustered.
Sanna had been planning to grill Alkelius but decided not to embarrass him anymore. She decided to brief the team on why she believed Alva Aldhamo’s case should be reopened, which the prosecutor warmly thanked her for.
“If I may express myself in diplomatic terms, we are dealing with an exceptional bastard,” she continued.
“Shouldn’t we contact the Criminal Profiling department?” suggested Segelström.
Sanna was a little sceptical of the reasons for Segelström’s sudden interest. Perhaps it was because Inspector Blom and the prosecutor were also attending the meeting.
“I’ve also been thinking about it. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be much help here,” she continued, staring at Segelström. “We have our offender. What we have to find out is whether there are other crimes that he can be connected to.” She pointed to the boxes.
“Maybe we should contact them anyway?” insisted Segelström.
Segelström and Blom exchanged short glances and indicated their agreement.
“Yes, but not yet,” answered Sanna emphatically.
“Shouldn’t they…” interjected Blom.
“Let me finish, otherwise we’ll be here all night,” she interrupted.
“We’ve confiscated a great deal of material that will require a thorough review before we contact them. In addition, I don’t want the general public thinking we’re a collection of amateurs.” She wanted to say idiots, but decided against it. “In real terms, what we need to do is this:” she pointed at a clipboard where a number of points had been laid out.
- Sift out all irrelevant information.
“We must study his collection in depth and make sure we don’t miss anything,” she explained.
- Draw conclusions.
“We need to decide which women to select for further investigation.” She moved the pen onto the next point.
- Find out if all these women are still alive.
“If more of his women have lost their lives the circumstances surrounding their deaths must be investigated immediately.”
Sanna surveyed the room and focused her gaze on the prosecutor.
- Find out if any of the women have reported him for rape, abuse or suchlike.
“Don’t forget that he calls himself Alexander and doesn’t use his real name,” she added.
- Time frame
- What makes these women interesting, what do they have in common?
“We know that he likes independent-minded women but we need to find out more.”
- Interview some of the women who might be able to give us important information.
“After that, if necessary, we should contact the Criminal Profiling Department,” she said casually, scanning the table. “As you know, we have finally found information about Ingalill, the woman who threatened Ingrid.”
She turned to Kalle.
“Kalle, you take care of it. We need to find out as much as possible about her. Who she is and why the threats as well as her possible involvement in the murder.”
Kalle nodded.
Even though Sanna had wanted to keep the meeting as short as possible and only discuss the evidence it continued for another three hours.
She had intended to ask Alkelius to secure the go ahead from the Chief Prosecutor for them to immediately starting digging into the old Alva Aldhamo material. But to her astonishment it appeared that Alkelius hadn’t managed to study the report yet, which meant that there was a lot he didn’t know about.
Sanna wasn’t happy about this, to say the least, and realized that if the prosecutor’s lack of engagement continued it could damage the investigation in several different ways. Something would have to be done about it.
“We’ll continue with the meeting tomorrow at eight o’clock. We have a lot to before we can allocate assignments.”
Alkelius nodded and leafed through his calendar in a somewhat agitated fashion.
They all left the room.
SANNA HURRIED TO CATCH UP with Alkelius.
“I’m counting on you. It’s important that you put some effort into tackling this resource problem. You can see we’ve got a lot to go through and we’re already working our backs off trying to beat the deadline.”
“Yes, I realize that,” answered Alkelius. “I have been tied up with other investigations. That’s why I haven’t had time to read all your reports.”
Sanna looked at him in stupefaction.
She was well aware that the Prosecutor’s Office was also suffering from lack of resources and that the prosecutors were constantly complaining about their work load.
It was the same in the police force. She had first-hand experience of this since she and her colleagues were in the same situation. But she believed strongly that if you took on a responsibility you should take care of it regardless of your other commitments. Otherwise you should speak up and refuse to accept the assignment.
“I understand,” she lied. “I suggest that we create two investigation teams. Both will focus on Börge Svenson. I can oversee both teams but I must be able to ask questions and get the answers I need… I don’t want to hear people complaining that they don’t have time because they’re working on the Ingrid Svenson case.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Do you have any ideas about resources?” asked Alkelius.
“I can look at it. Hopefully I’ll come up with something by tomorrow morning.” She continued towards her office. “By the way, we also need to extend the deadline for the investigation,” she added, turning to look at Alkelius over her shoulder.
Alkelius was sceptical.
“One more thing,” she continued. “I heard that Cecile Thorén is back from maternity leave. Apparently, she’s a skilful and hardworking criminal inspector. She could be a good person to have in the team…”
IN THE BACKGROUND The Guns N’Roses song “Sweet Child O’Mine” was playing at high volume.
She looked out of the window, listening to one of Alva’s favourite songs. Maria didn’t care about the consequences. She was aware that sooner or later the cause and effect would make itself felt. She had come to terms with it. None of it mattered any more. If she paid with her own life then so be it. It would be a price worth paying.
Over time she had become active on sites frequented by youngsters. She had also made contact with pedophiles and met people who in some way resembled Alex, the man who Alva had met on her last day alive.
Maria, who she insisted on being called, had completely changed her lifestyle. She had quit her job as a sexologist, sold her apartment in Vasastan and was now living a spartan existence.
Her new plan demanded focus and persistence as well as self-control. Whatever happened she mustn’t become fanatical and sabotage the whole project. She would have to keep a tight rein on her finances. The luxury life she had become accustomed to, as a sexologist, was a distant memory. She had money in the bank and from now on it was important to live as simply as possible. To be self-disciplined and only purchase essential items. Maria wasn’t prepared to become a burden on society and it was crucial not to raise red flags with the authorities. She must avoid drawing attention to herself. She didn’t want to give anybody a reason to examine her private life or discover her existence. Instinct drove her to remain as anonymous as possible.
Her only goal was to continue to actively campaign against sexual violence against innocent women and children. She would let nothing stand in her way or prevent her from realizing her goals.
YEARS HAD GONE BY VERY QUICKLY. What at first had been paralyzing grief mutated into anger and an overwhelming desire for revenge. Although, intellectually, she was convinced that the chances of finding Alva’s murderer were almost non-existent, she refused to waver in her determination to combat sexual violence. On the contrary, her work intensified. She had instead found other scumbags and punished them in one way or another. She convinced herself that she was doing the right thing. She was determined and goal oriented. She had a mission, and that meant taking the law into her own hands. The perpetrators would be made to pay: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. These people had taken it upon themselves to decide who would be allowed to live; who would be used as a tool to satisfy their own desires. They had assaulted the innocent and now she would punish them herself. The guilty men who were still at large, pretending to be law-abiding citizens because the police and justice system didn’t have the capability to incarcerate them.
Maria had often questioned her decision. But the answer was always the same – she had nothing to regret or apologize for. If they had only admitted their guilt and confess their crimes things would have been different. They would have received their judgement and paid for their sins. Many of the cases she had read about involved extreme brutality but it appeared that all the accused had to do to be let off was to deny the charges or claim that he didn’t mean to hurt the victim.
She lost count of how many trials she had witnessed where the accused man was freed because of lack of evidence. There were innumerable examples in the judiciary system. In some cases, even though there was clear evidence that the man in question had raped and abused the victim, for some unfathomable reason the court had released him.
This had become the one and only goal in her life. She would seek out these offenders one-by-one. It was her life’s mission and she would continue until the day she died.