The police had vacated Kornhamnstorg at half past three, and Martin had got home at five, blind drunk. He had collapsed in the hall and started snoring like a cracked diesel engine, but he had woken up after a while to run in a panic to the toilet where he had vomited in cascades. Fortunately he’d picked the guest toilet. She could simply shut the door on that and he would have to clean up the next day, Sara thought to herself.
Between the bouts of vomiting, she tried to tell him what had happened, but he wasn’t entirely receptive. Eventually, he grasped that they had found a body on the stairs.
‘Who?’ he managed to say followed by an unfathomable sob.
‘A former terrorist.’
‘Anyone we knew?’ he said, wiping his mouth.
‘No.’
‘Good,’ he said, spitting into the toilet.
And with that, Sara had led him to bed.
She usually put out aspirin and Berocca for him, but he was so drunk right now that nothing would alleviate his hangover.
‘Jesus Christ,’ he said when Sara led him into their bedroom.
‘Time to sleep.’
‘I wuuuuuvvvvvv . . .’
He hugged Sara tightly and tried to kiss her, but the stench of vomit disgusted her.
‘Go to sleep.’
‘Where’s Walter?’
Martin was looking around.
‘What?’ said Sara.
‘Walter,’ said Martin, slightly annoyed. ‘He’s a cat. Where is he?’
‘Why?’
‘For the rats.’
‘I’ll fetch him. But there aren’t usually any rats in bed.’
Martin was placated by this promise, and before Sara had made it out of the room he was already snoring. She gave up on the cat.
Instead she went to lie down on the sofa to try and get another couple of hours of sleep. But at around six she was woken by her mobile.
‘A body outside the front door?’ said Bielke as soon as Sara picked up.
Sara groaned.
‘Who? How? Why?’ said Bielke. The words were like slaps to her temples. He sounded both angry and disappointed in her, and that was definitely not what Sara wanted. She had far too much respect for him.
‘OK,’ said Sara, steeling herself. ‘It’s one of the left-wing terrorists that Stiller was blackmailing so that he wouldn’t tell anyone he gave them birth certificates so they could get new identities.’
‘Wait, wait. He was blackmailing people? New identities? Exactly how much involvement have you had in this? And what do Lidköping have to say about it?’
‘Linköping. And I’m not getting involved in anyone else’s investigation, because they don’t believe it was murder.’ Sara thought it was important to emphasise that.
‘But you do?’
‘Yes.’
‘So you’re carrying out your own investigation? Have you agreed this with anyone? Because you certainly haven’t run it by me.’
‘I know what you’re thinking. But listen—’
‘It’s not about what I’m thinking! It’s about regulations. How we carry out police work!’ Bielke thundered.
‘Yes, it is. You’re right. But I wanted to see whether there was anything in it before I triggered something bigger. That’s what we all do. We review a case first in order to assess whether there is anything to pursue further.’
‘So what’s your plan now?’
‘Now there’s demonstrably been a murder so we have to investigate it,’ said Sara.
‘Not “we”! It’s a case for Södermalm. You’re on the Ekerö case.’
‘Yes, but I know things that—’
‘Sara, you’re working on Ekerö. If you spend another minute on that priest or anything to do with him, you’re suspended.’ Bielke almost growled the last bit.
‘OK,’ said Sara. ‘There’s nothing for you to worry about.’
‘I hope so.’
‘For sure. See you later – I’m going to Stellan and Agneta Broman’s funeral today, so I’ll be a bit late. But that’s just a personal matter. It hasn’t got anything to do with any case, OK?’
A brief silence.
‘OK.’
Sara hung up and processed Bielke’s warning. She really didn’t want to clash with him or betray his trust, but at the same time she felt a responsibility for what she had started off. If she hadn’t gone to Bo Enberg’s, he would probably still have been alive. She only seemed to be making things worse, so the best thing would probably be to step back. But first she had to minimise the damage. Several lives might be in danger.
She scrolled through her call log and redialled Marita Leander. She apologised for calling so early but said she needed to see her as soon as possible. Leander said she couldn’t until later in the day because she had to take the cats to the vet. Sara tried to dissuade her in the strongest terms, but Leander stuck to her guns. Sara told her that she should exercise extreme caution. Another of her old compatriots had been murdered. But Leander said she had no reason to be afraid, she didn’t have as much on her conscience as they did.
Günther Dorch didn’t pick up when Sara called, so she left a message in which she explained that his life might be in danger, and that he should call her as soon as possible.
Then she was unable to fall back to sleep. Instead, she lay there thinking over what she knew.
Rau was still in the shady world that had formed him – as a spy, terrorist or agent. Why did both Säpo and Thörnell seem to be protecting Otto Rau? Surely not just because he was dangerous? She felt there were parts of the puzzle that she was missing.
She got up, showered and dressed. Then she went to 285 Vantörsvägen in Hägersten – the address that Dorch was registered as living at.
No one opened the door when she rang the bell, and when she tried his mobile she couldn’t hear it ringing inside the flat. Even though it was barely eight o’clock, she rang the doorbells of his neighbours on the same floor. A family with young children were in the middle of their stressful morning routine and an elderly couple had already reached their morning coffee break. Neither had seen Dorch for a couple of days, but the old woman had seen him leave with a suitcase. He had been in such a rush that he hadn’t even said hello. Very rude. And Sara had to agree.
So Dorch was gone.
Why?
Even if Sara knew the truth about him, he wasn’t risking punishment just for having been a member of the cell. If he and Rau were guilty of something for which the statutes of limitations hadn’t expired, then it must have been very serious.
Or was he fleeing from Rau?
Like Bo Enberg should have done.
Then it hit Sara. Perhaps he wasn’t fleeing from Rau at all?
Maybe he was hiding precisely because he was Rau.